Comments on: Do You Take Advantage of 0% Financing Offers?

By: tester

tester — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:35:22 +0000

I bought a TV at Best Buy and had lots of issues with the financier(HSBC) because I missed a payment. The TV ended up costing me $400 more and put a small blemish on my otherwise perfect credit history.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:08:05 +0000

Financé and I were lucky enough to find a dealer offering 0% financing for 60 months plus cash back on the new vehicle we were shopping for. While it is hard to resist the urge to pay extra and get rid of that monthly payment faster, it makes absolutely no sense to do that since it is TOTALLY free money!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:04:02 +0000

I used the offer, but with one condition on myself. I take the money for the purchase and take out a CD for the time period of the 0%. Of course, at my credit union, rates are better than commercial banks, but the minimum CD investment is $2,500. I bought furniture for our new house this way and I used the one year no payments, no interest, to generate interest income instead of making payments. Although it IS more trouble than just paying with cash, I feel so SAVVY using other people’s money for ONCE after spending so much on credit card debt in the past!!!

By: Stacey

Stacey — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:59:55 +0000

0% got us thru our home remodeling–we figured we could make payments on the cards as our income allowed. Also utilized 0% on all our appliances. Normally I wouldn’t be so cavalier about debt and God knows I have had my share of sleepless nights b/c of it, in case things didn’t go “according to plan.” Nonethless, all has been paid off over the past several months. I appreciate not having had to draw an additional $50K+ on our equity line at 4% or so at the time. But yes, normally I prefer receiving my affinity card perks (Discover rebate, Upromise, etc.) and not messing around w/additional payments to track.

Yes I know 50K+ is nutty, but our home value has held up and my kitchen will sell my house when that day comes…

By: kitty

kitty — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:37:51 +0000

I’d agree with Dave at 11 too. Unless it is a large purchase or interest rates on bank deposits go up, it’s likely not worth it. It doesn’t have to be a car or a house, it could be something like furnace/A/C/coil replacement, but it has to be large enough to be worth having the hustle of remembering it. I do consider it every time, but so far all the offers I saw didn’t seem to be worth it.

I can understand people doing it, even 2.8% on a $1000 is extra $28 which is close to what I recently paid for a pair of very nice designer shoes at TJ Maxx (they get more stuff from expensive stores than usual these days); or a blouse on sale even at good store. You need to take off taxes, but if one is in a lower tax bracket it may make sense. It’s really a matter of choice – whether for you the hustle is worth it or not.

By: zed

zed — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:07:26 +0000

I don’t bite when it comes to the 0% financing.
I prefer the n% off on initial purchase when you signup for their store credit card. I payoff the balance when the statement arrives then cancel the card. Image it raise havoc with my FICO score but I see that as a good thing — it curtails the CC offers in the mail.
Done that to HD several times now. 10% off on a big purchase is a good deal.

Come to think of it I’m going to need a new water heater soon …

By: Vaughan Johnson

Vaughan Johnson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:27:13 +0000

As long as you’ve got the cash in the bank to cover it then by all means go for the 0% financing but if you don’t you’ve got no business owning whatever it is that you’re buying. A house and car would be the only things I’d finance that I couldn’t afford to pay cash for.

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:44:50 +0000

I have never taken the 0% financing offers but numerous times I have used the 0% cash advances that many cards use to offer. The thing is, I would put the cash in a good money market fund and make money using the credit card company’s cash. This was back when interest rates were higher and there was no cash advance fee, or it was capped at something reasonable. I had a pretty good thing going for a couple or few years. At one time I had free use of up to $90K in free cash that would earn me an extra $1000 to $1200 per year.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:08:14 +0000

I like using OPM, too. The payments and keeping track does become a hassle, though. “The juice not being worth the squeeze” as Dave #11 said may be a good point.

Plus… What if your income stream stops (layoff)? Suddenly the idea doesn’t sound so good. I must say I’ve used 0% a number of times, though.

By: PRGal

PRGal — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:10:58 +0000

Wow, perfect timing, JLP! Purchased some nice office furniture (I freelance) for our home office and they offered us 12 months Same-As-Cash (No Interest/No Payment). We snatched it up. It comes due on May 10 – all $5,000 of it – and the money’s sitting in our savings waiting to be paid online mid/late April. Wooo hooo!

They may bank on people overlooking the fine print, but as long as you’re vigilant about those things and REFUSE TO PAY INTEREST EVER (like us), it’s a pretty good deal!