Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Buying a Mac on CREDIT !!!

I

igmolinav

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 15, 2005
1,126
4
Hi,

I want to buy a new Macbook or Macbook Pro next summer. I feel attracted to buy it in monthly installments. (My brother has said that it could be paid with his capital one credit card).

As I was looking at the Apple website I saw that one can do a purchase in monthly installments with the Juniper Visa Card.

I wonder if my brother´s credit card can be used to do the payment.

Thank you,

igmolinav.
 
I wouldn't advise it--and certainly not with the Juniper card. Just save! At least until you've got 75% of the money. The stress you face from having unpaid bills just isn't worth it.
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

I want to buy a new Macbook or Macbook Pro next summer....
Click to expand...
Start saving now(unless you waiting until then due to your income starting in the summer) and you'll have the bulk of the money by the summer.

I'd STRONGLY advise against any credit, especially if you're young.
 
Skip the Juniper card, they use double cycle billing which is a gimmick to squeeze money out of you.

Only buy on credit if you can use a card with 0% interest thru the duration of your payments. Even still, I would just advise saving....if you're not going to get it until 6 months from now, then you're better off saving and paying it all at once.
 
To the OP:

Loans from credit cards (i.e. not paying off in full each month) have terrible conditions. Seek a loan from your bank, which will have considerably better terms.

voyagerd said:
I'm probably going to buy a new Apple laptop on credit, but plan to pay it off 100% with the first bill.
Click to expand...

... that's not really buying on credit. You might as well use a charge card.
 
buying a computer on credit is like buying confederate money hoping it's value will increase.

you will end up paying close to twice the amount of the computer, and will take 3-4 years to pay off.

save up like i did. its worth the wait for the day the fedex guy asks for your signature.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1C28 Safari/419.3)

While I understand your desire to buy a new Mac as soon as possible, I would urge you to try and pay for it in cash if possible.

That said, if you really need/want it now then atleast do the financing through your local credit union or bank.
 
Important advice: NEVER use a credit card to borrow money. Use it as a convenient way to pay (easier than cash, check, etc.). ALWAYS pay 100% of your balance each month or you will get slammed with interest and end up losing thousands. SAVE your money. Besides, they are coming out with a new MBP soon, so you shouldn't buy now anyway.
 
termina3 said:
... that's not really buying on credit. You might as well use a charge card.
Click to expand...

Not quite. That's how i do it. I use my credit card all month for all my purchases and then pay the balance in full at the end of the cycle. This way, I use their money for free all month (since i'm not carrying a balance, I never pay interest) while my money keeps gaining interest.

I mean, you could do it the other way and get reamed on interest....but I don't like paying more for things than I have to. More importantly, though, is this builds my credit history (the whole using my credit card instead of debit card/cash) thing. I have an extremely good credit score and I've just graduated from college this past may.
 
Juniper does not accept everyone. Its just as hard to get a Juniper card as it is to get any other card, the only difference is that the Juniper card sucks. Anyone who qualifies for a Juniper card could easily get a much better card somewhere else from a real bank.

Dont be fooled in thinking you can get a Juniper card just because it says you can pay 10 bucks a month or whatever in the bottom corner. If youve never had a card before then you wont be getting your first from Juniper, and you very likely wont get a credit limit large enough for a computer. First cards usually have very low limits and it can be extremely difficult to get one that isnt a student credit card.
 
MBHockey said:
Not quite. That's how i do it. I use my credit card all month for all my purchases and then pay the balance in full at the end of the cycle. This way, I use their money for free all month (since i'm not carrying a balance, I never pay interest) while my money keeps gaining interest.

I mean, you could do it the other way and get reamed on interest....but I don't like paying more for things than I have to. More importantly, though, is this builds my credit history (the whole using my credit card instead of debit card/cash) thing. I have an extremely good credit score and I've just graduated from college this past may.
Click to expand...
Looks like someone else has it down. ;)
 
Let's get this straight... y'all seem to think charge card=debit card. This has led to me looking like an idiot who can't tell red from black.

There are three prevalent plastics out there:

Credit: Visa, MC, select Amex, etc.
  • Option to pay off in full at end of billing cycle
  • option to pay a minimum, and take a loan on the remainder
Charge: American Express, Diner's Club (does anyone even use it anymore?)
  • MUST pay off at end of billing cycle
  • same protections as credit, if not better
  • often carries an annual fee
Debit: Your bank
  • Deducts direct from your checking account
  • Few or no fraud or theft protections
 
get it at best buy

and get the best buy credit card


no payments/interest for 3 months


that will give you 3 months to pay it off
 
macdim said:
Any fees on this Best Buy credit card?
Click to expand...

not that im aware off

(source: im work at best buy)

and we always offer our card

cause it gives you 3 months to pay stuff off with no interest which is good

but after the 3months if you dont pay it back...its a huge interest
 
Eric Lewis said:
...it gives you 3 months to pay stuff off with no interest which is good

but after the 3months if you dont pay it back...its a huge interest
Click to expand...

Is that the only benefit? 3 months without paying? No other in-store incentives (example: percent off purchases over a certain amount, etc.)?
 
When I bought my MBP last November, I had the cash in hand but used my Amex Blue card. Paid it off when I got the bill. I got 5000 rewards points from Amex which is equal to a $50 gift card for store in their rewards catalog.
So, yes, save and pay cash for the new Mac. CC's are nothing but trouble if you carry a balance.
 
warranty doubling

If you're thinking about using a credit card to pay for a big purchase (others have already provided opinions I agree with about that), here's another consideration: some credit cards offer a warranty doubling benefit. I have one that does, and it saved me money when a LaCie disk drive I bought failed for the second time just before the second year of ownership was up. The card doubled their one-year warranty, and I got a new drive free.

This is a substantial benefit, as good IMHO as airline miles or other points. If you combine it with some interest-free time interval, and pay the balance off before interest is due, a credit card purchase can be a good deal.

Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back