Hi guys. I planned on buying a MacBook Air and applied for the Barclaycard to finance it. Now, with the refresh coming up and the back to school sale on the way I've decided to hold off on buying a MacBook. However, I am now stuck with the Barclaycard. For those who have had the card, should I keep the card or cancel it? (My 30 days to buy a Mac will be up soon). I planned on only using it to buy the Mac. I'd rather not have it as a regular credit card. Any advice is appreciated.
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Financing Mac with Barclaycard
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Not cancelling a credit card can be very very bad for your bank account
You didn't say where you are, so I assume you're in the UK. Ask your bank if there are any charges for owning the credit card. If there are no charges for owning it, no reason to return it. But you should never, ever use a credit card for financing things. It is very, very, expensive. You can use it to have a guarantee if you get ripped off (if you buy things from a company that goes bankrupt and lose money that way, the credit card company must repay you), or to make funds available in the short term (if you have money that isn't immediately accessible you can use a credit card for short term).
Not cancelling a credit card can be very very bad for your bank account
You didn't say where you are, so I assume you're in the UK. Ask your bank if there are any charges for owning the credit card. If there are no charges for owning it, no reason to return it. But you should never, ever use a credit card for financing things. It is very, very, expensive. You can use it to have a guarantee if you get ripped off (if you buy things from a company that goes bankrupt and lose money that way, the credit card company must repay you), or to make funds available in the short term (if you have money that isn't immediately accessible you can use a credit card for short term).
Not sure if you're in the UK or not, but thats not strictly true (the bold part).
Many credit cards come with a special offer, such as no annual fee and a 0% rate of interest for the first 16 or 18 months etc.
I always use the credit cards in this way - even though I have the funds in my account to pay for the item, I still take out a credit card with such an offer.
You just need to make sure you repay it all before the offer term is up, otherwise thats when the interest hits.
So..
1. Open a 0% credit card - some even give you a voucher etc for just opening a card with them!
2. Pay the minimum balance due every month (usually somet silly like £25)
3. Just before the offer ends and interest hits, pay off the card entirely.
4. Close the card!
By doing this you are in effect getting an interest free loan (as long as you ensure you pay it off within the offer period). As long as you stick to the above, you wont incur any extra interest or charges, and have spread the cost of your item over the offer term. At the same time, by paying all minimum payments etc on time you are building a stronger credit history - good for when you close the current card and move on to the next one!
I live in the US. I am a college student. I applied for the Barclaycard only to purchase a Mac with the 0% interest offer. Now that I'm waiting to buy a Mac, I'm not sure what to do with the card. I'd rather not keep it, but I don't want to hurt my credit history by canceling it
Not that you asked. . .
You should never use credit to buy anything that doesn't make money.
That is, never use credit to buy consumables.
If you use credit to buy a consumable, let's say a computer, you do get the computer sooner than if you saved up to buy it. But your overall cost is much higher, due to the miracle of compound interest.
As Ifti pointed out, there are specific situations where you can reduce or eliminate the interest cost. However, these situations rely on you to refuse using the credit card in the future. You think you'll be smart and cancel that card. Will you?
You should never use credit to buy anything that doesn't make money.
That is, never use credit to buy consumables.
If you use credit to buy a consumable, let's say a computer, you do get the computer sooner than if you saved up to buy it. But your overall cost is much higher, due to the miracle of compound interest.
As Ifti pointed out, there are specific situations where you can reduce or eliminate the interest cost. However, these situations rely on you to refuse using the credit card in the future. You think you'll be smart and cancel that card. Will you?
Purchase APR for this card is 22.99%, which is ridiculous and good for nothing. Anyway, you have it, you stuck with it. Few things you can do with the card so it doesn't hurt your credit:
-Don't cancel the card before 1 year mark. Lenders don't want to see a trade line with less than one year of age. Keep it for one year then you cancel it later. It will however stay on your credit report for 7 years.
-Depend on your income and your credit. If they give you a toy card with few hundreds to a thousand dollars credit line. Call them and ask for a recon for a higher credit line.
-If the card is inactive for sometime, the lender will close it. Every one to two months, use it to buy some candies and pay it off to keep the card active.
In the future, read the fine print (APR, AF,...) before you apply for a CC. I generally don't apply for store cards. Those cards have tiny CL and the lenders are sub-prime lenders. It saves you few bucks on interest but so what? If you lose your source of income and can't make the payment, the card that you use to buy a computer will destroy your credit. Is it worth it?
Save your pennies and pay cash. If you have to use credit to buy anything short of a mortgage on a primary residence.....you can't afford it.
Don't get sucked into the world of 0% for the first x months or whatever other kind of promos they are running these days. The VAST majority of people don't pay their debt off in time to take advantage of the promo and then you are hit with all x months of deferred interest at once.
Stay away from the credit cards. You'll be happier in the long run.
Don't get sucked into the world of 0% for the first x months or whatever other kind of promos they are running these days. The VAST majority of people don't pay their debt off in time to take advantage of the promo and then you are hit with all x months of deferred interest at once.
Stay away from the credit cards. You'll be happier in the long run.
If you have the white card, keep it. They offer special financing (0%) usually once a year on Mac products (at least they offer it to me...it may depend on your credit, etc.). Might be useful in the future if you decide to get another Mac.
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While sound advice for most people, credit cards offer many advantages if you use them responsibly and never carry a balance. For example:
- Some offer extended warranties
- Many offer rewards
- Better fraud protection than most bank accounts
- Improves credit rating when used responsibly (good for getting low interest rates on cars, houses, etc.)
- Probably a lot more I am omitting.
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While sound advice for most people, credit cards offer many advantages if you use them responsibly and never carry a balance. For example:
- Some offer extended warranties
- Many offer rewards
- Better fraud protection than most bank accounts
- Improves credit rating when used responsibly (good for getting low interest rates on cars, houses, etc.)
- Probably a lot more I am omitting.