How can I get a MacBook by financing? If I am 18 and

[themumu]

... The guy asked how to do something, not whether or not he should do it...and yet the vast majority of responses skipped over his question and elected to answer (without being asked) the latter question. That's kind of annoying.

The thing is, the guy admitted two key things:

1. He has no stable income with which to pay for the laptop himself.
2. His father already has bad credit.

The reason why it makes complete sense to urge the OP to wait and not go into further debt for a laptop is that the kind of financing a person with no income and bad credit can get, is the kind I would not wish on my worst enemies. You will be hard pressed to find a 0% offer when you have no income and bad credit, you'd probably be looking at 20% or more. It's the irony of this world that people who need the money the most, have to pay the most to get (via high interest rates), while people who are well off can get tens of thousands of dollars with 0-1% interest and re-invest it to increase their wealth further.

That Apple financing page that someone posted above states your interest rate would be 23-27%. Why in the world would you want to pay that much? It's insane and will look reasonable only to people who are really bad with math. If it was 0% I'd be like, sure, I can take the $2K I was gonna pay for the laptop and put it into a savings account that pays 2% and pocket the difference. But it makes no sense at those kinds of rates.

So in theory, one can get financing and maybe they will offer you a loan at 27%. But it would be stupid to take that "deal", unless you can have extraordinary circumstances that necessitate you get that laptop at any cost.

 

[blackreplica]

You're repeating your father's mistakes. Get into the habit of saving up for the things you want before you buy them. Never mind the laptop, your future is in serious jeopardy if you continue with this sort of financial behaviour

 

[yangchewren]

There is lots of excessive inference in this thread as to OP's condition.

If I could recommend a solution, despite it being very specific:

I'm guessing you are 18 and are college-bound or soon to be college bound. Have you considered studying hard and getting a scholarship?

Scholarships may provide additional payments for living/material expenses, laptops are a pretty common item included.

I won't know what is available in your country, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask and apply.

Aside from this I would agree with the advice mentioned by previous posters: either withhold the purchase till a later date or buy something more affordable (2nd hand, refurb, pc) to live within your means.

 

[TheEnthusiast]

You're repeating your father's mistakes. Get into the habit of saving up for the things you want before you buy them. Never mind the laptop, your future is in serious jeopardy if you continue with this sort of financial behaviour

Let's not get carried away now. This is just one decision. There are lots of things that can impact a person's future.

OP, it's probably not wise to finance the laptop without having a steady income. Plus, you'll end up paying more in all likelihood. If you're 18, and assuming you are attending or plan to attend college, then the route of a scholarship may be a smarter financial path. There are thousands of scholarships available. Also, you could look into the possibility of internships that provide a stipend (I have done this). Of course, that's assuming you have relatively good grades.

Honestly OP, your first real mistake was posting on this forum for advice.

 

[Orr]

OP's posting history is pretty epic. I'm surprised more people don't bother to glance at that stuff first for nonsensical posts like these.

 

[john123]

The reason why it makes complete sense to urge the OP to wait and not go into further debt for a laptop is that the kind of financing a person with no income and bad credit can get, is the kind I would not wish on my worst enemies.

I completely, absolutely, 100% agree with this statement and pretty much everything else you said. My beef was twofold:
1) The people replying didn't do so with the same level-headedness, level of detail, and objectivity that went into your post. Instead, it was heavy on the snark.
2) It wasn't coupled with real answers to his question. (Without even trying to, you provided some key information to answer his question, such as what the terms would look like with Apple financing.)

In a nutshell, I just think that had people phrased things more like you did, it would have been more helpful to the OP.

 

[saturnotaku]

It's the irony of this world that people who need the money the most, have to pay the most to get (via high interest rates), while people who are well off can get tens of thousands of dollars with 0-1% interest and re-invest it to increase their wealth further.

Tell that to American Suzuki Motors and Mitsubishi Motors America, who loaned people who "needed the money the most" at next to no interest and see where that's gotten them. The former declared bankruptcy and ceased selling cars in the U.S. and the latter is still attempting to recover from those decisions.

Lexus and BMW engage in similar practices, yet they're thriving. I wonder why that is?

 

[Ai-apple]

Tell that to American Suzuki Motors and Mitsubishi Motors America, who loaned people who "needed the money the most" at next to no interest and see where that's gotten them. The former declared bankruptcy and ceased selling cars in the U.S. and the latter is still attempting to recover from those decisions.

Lexus and BMW engage in similar practices, yet they're thriving. I wonder why that is?

Lexus and BMW give loans to those who can afford to pay, not those who need the money for something they cannot afford it.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

My philosophy is (except for education) if you cannot afford to pay for it when you purchase it, you probably don't need it.

That goes for education as well.

>

 

[jondunford]

why don't you sell one of your kidneys to purchase the machine? you only need one

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...325/Chinese-boy-sells-kidney-to-buy-iPad.html

 

[john123]

That goes for education as well.

>

Groan...

 

[Zeov]

My laptop is 6 years old and I don't want a PC laptop because I tried windows 8 and it was a horrible experience. New laptops would be hard to downgrade. MacBooks battery last much longer and better built quality.

you can come up with all the arguments why a Mac would be better.. same thing could work for cars, food, clothing and houses, but if you can't afford it, don't buy it .

i have too many friends that did this and now owe way to much money at the age of 22, because they had stupid judgement at 18.

sure, it sucks that some spoiled kid on the internet is telling you what you don't want to hear, but in the long run this is the right thing to do.

 

[nateo200]

Do what I did: Find a aunt or uncle that has good credit and have them buy it then pay them. Basically you defer the banks lack of trust on you to your family who hopefully trusts you more. I don't have amazing credit because I'm only 20 but I do have a solid source of income so I had my aunt by my rMBP and I pay her. Just make sure you are 100% sure you will have the income to make the payments for the duration of the plan, that is basically what banks are looking at, they look at job history and what not, they don't want people who can't pay. So build credit and in the future you can do it yourself....I hate financing...my whole family does (except for my aunt oddly enough) my mom paid cash for a brand new SVU, my dad did the same so generally speaking I save my money up...I figure I can justify it if I dont get into a bad habit of financing everything...

As for the other comments, probably right if you cant afford it dont buy it but allot of artists rely on a nice computer and can't afford it really but if the computer is one of your primary tools its worth the risk...again you really have to balance it out. I would say don't get giddy over a MacBook if you have no money unless you need the specific features...a Chromebook might be good for a casual surfer but for a video editor its an insult.