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I loved my TigerDirect perfered account for those reasons as well it offered 12 and 18 months options as well for larger purchases, love the hidden tradeline, and Tiger Direct warehouse was about 60 miles away, so standard shipping usually ended up on my door, the day after it shipped quite often before the purchase posted to the account, it was a sad day when TigerDirect discontinued the card and WebBank is not providing a way to convert to a simular product, BML or NewEgg would of been awesome choices for conversion, but not ready to take a HP currently.
@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
@GatorGuy wrote:I would never switch to Bill Me Later over a credit card because you don't have the same price protections, warranty,etc. Most prime cards will have huge benefits over BML in this regard. I don't buy things that I can't pay in cash for so I'm not concerned about carrying a balance.
you post comes off as kinda Snobbish!
1 - The places I use BML offer their own extended warrenties that I have no problem with picking up should I deem it worthy, not to mention a lot of the so called CC warrenties have you jump through so many hoops ( its almost a Gimmick in my book)
2 - and this is "Snobbish" part......I'm not limited to carrying balances, but having 6 months 0% interest and no reporting, it's an advantage to those like myself that knows how to manage their Credit and their Cash flow..... You never carry a balance GOOD FOR YOU! Pat yourself on the back.
I'm sorry that you read so much into my post that you took offense. My points are simply that you mentioned it for big ticket items. These are the most important purchases to make on a CC in my opinion. Like I said, it goes beyond a simple warranty there are protections against price drops, breaking or theft. All of this at no additional cost. If you dont like credit card warranties, I guarantee you that you won't like having to deal with an extended warranty company.
As for saying it is snobbish to mention that I PIF, I couldn't disagree more. I never said I was better than anyone. Not sure why you are so sensitive about it since you say you able to pay in full but choose not to. 90% of this country is capable of paying off their balance if they manage their money and use a CC as if it was cash. Doesn't matter if they make $10k a year or $1 mil a year. So again, nothing snobbish just giving another opinion, not just for you but for other readers as well.
@GatorGuy wrote:
@Blackbeauty212 wrote:
@GatorGuy wrote:I would never switch to Bill Me Later over a credit card because you don't have the same price protections, warranty,etc. Most prime cards will have huge benefits over BML in this regard. I don't buy things that I can't pay in cash for so I'm not concerned about carrying a balance.
you post comes off as kinda Snobbish!
1 - The places I use BML offer their own extended warrenties that I have no problem with picking up should I deem it worthy, not to mention a lot of the so called CC warrenties have you jump through so many hoops ( its almost a Gimmick in my book)
2 - and this is "Snobbish" part......I'm not limited to carrying balances, but having 6 months 0% interest and no reporting, it's an advantage to those like myself that knows how to manage their Credit and their Cash flow..... You never carry a balance GOOD FOR YOU! Pat yourself on the back.
I'm sorry that you read so much into my post that you took offense. My points are simply that you mentioned it for big ticket items. These are the most important purchases to make on a CC in my opinion. Like I said, it goes beyond a simple warranty there are protections against price drops, breaking or theft. All of this at no additional cost. If you dont like credit card warranties, I guarantee you that you won't like having to deal with an extended warranty company.
As for saying it is snobbish to mention that I PIF, I couldn't disagree more. I never said I was better than anyone. Not sure why you are so sensitive about it since you say you able to pay in full but choose not to. 90% of this country is capable of paying off their balance if they manage their money and use a CC as if it was cash. Doesn't matter if they make $10k a year or $1 mil a year. So again, nothing snobbish just giving another opinion, not just for you but for other readers as well.
Maybe I did read to much into you post. The way you worded your statement "I don't buy anything I can't pay for in Cash" comes off as a bit judgemental like that other person insinuated that anyone who carries a balance must be overburdened with CC debt.
I was simply looking for comparisions of BML to Prime Big Ticket Purchase Credit Cards. You prefer big purchases on Credit Cards because of Protections, that's cool. I'm not someone who puts a whole lot of stock in Warrenties and Price Protections, because a lot of it tends to come with hassle, not to mention I haven't had a need to take advantage of those features...If I feel like its something valuable that I would want those protections I know other ways of doing it.
But I am big on saving money, being able to manage my cash flow, and maintaining nice low utilzation....and BML assist me better in these area's better than most CC's can and its not some just some intro offer that will expire leaving me to shop for another CC the next time I wish to take advantage.
Bill Me Later is nice. I've used the 6 month no payments no interest promo for a few items. The only reason I opened it was because it's a hidden trade line. I use it alot for small purchases also thru paypal since you can use your bill me later account for paypal too for added security makes it even better.
I have a Best Buy card too and it get's about 90% of my 0% stuff because they offer longer finance terms.
One other thing to add, it is difficult to beat CC rewards with a 0% offer. If you have a card like CSP and use it decently you could transfer your points for a rate of 3ccp. This would be the same as a 3% return. So to pass up that reward, you would need to match that in the same amount of time by investing your money. 3% in 6 months means you would need to have your money getting 6% just to breakeven. Or higher than 6% if you wanted to best the CC rewards.
Just something to keep in mind when deciding between taking rewards or a 0% offer.
Don't forget that a normal usage of a CC and PIF will give you between a 1 to 2 month interest free loan. When you make a purchase, you have between the purchase date and the end of the statement, which could be as much as a month if near the beginning of a statement. Then between when the statement cuts and your payment due date is approximately as much as a month.
As GatorGuy points out, the rewards are just too good to pass up if I have the money to pay for the item outright. If I buy a $3,000 computer on my card, I can pay it off long before it's due, and then pocket $45 in cash back rewards.
If an emergency resulted in a big outlay of cash on the other hand (say my heat pump dies and I don't want to pull $10k out of savings), I'd think about 0% financing. I'd try to look for something with a longer term than 6 months if possible. The longer the money can stay in my pocket, the more its worth to me.
frugalQ wrote:
For those who like to pay for big ticket items with a cc...
Can you call the card issuer and ask if if there are any 0% offers they can extend to you?
Yeah you can call, sometimes people receive targeted offers for 0% as well.
To answer the original question...Yes. I do like using BML to buy things...honestly i havent bought anything major but I plan to possibly buy a new computer on it in the relatively near future once the new Mac Pro comes out as ive been patiently waiting to upgrade my work computer for a couple years now...I dont worry that much becuase it would be covered under Apple Care and the balance wouldnt be showing for the 4-6 months I have budgeted to pay it off, which is whats great about it.