Deferment Period

When you get those skeezy marketing pitches for credit cards...you know, the ones from a retailer where there are no interest payments for the first 6 months...those 6 months are considered to be in the deferment period.

Student loans and new mortgages typically have deferment periods, in addition to credit cards. That is, interest on those loans is deferred for 6 months.

Note the keyword here in "deferred"—not "forgiven." The interest just accumulates and you pay it later, not now. But you still pay it. Sorta the same way contributions you make into your 401(k) are tax-deferred, not tax-forgiven. Defer too long and you risk forgetting those big IOUs. Bad things happen.