0% financing at Best Buy for 18 months on TVs $299 and up.....is this a good way to go?

[nitsuj3580]

I see best buy has been having these 0% deals the past couple months. Current one is 0% financing for 18 months. They even had one up to 24 months also recently.

I'd love to buy a nice tv but can't blow $1500-2000 all at once. but if I divided $2000 by 18, that's about $83-111/month which is doable.

Is this a good way to go? Thanks for the opinions.

 

[vi edit]

I did on Sunday. Cept it was only for $600 worth of stuff

You have to apply for the Best Buy card.

 

[RossMAN]

Yes assuming

1) you get a good TV (personally I would avoid the overpriced Sony WEGA)
2) you pay the entire balance off before the 0% APR expires otherwise all the interest has been accruing and you will easily be hit with several hundred $ of finance charges
3) buy the extended warranty if it doesn't cost too much

 

[ElFenix]

if you have really good credit you can get that offer... might be easier to get a 0% discover

 

[olds]

As long as you pay it off before 18 months and there are no fees, it's a great idea.

 

[Joyride]

My parents have bought 2 computers on that and I just got a washer/dryer with 18 months

Just make sure you get it paid off in the 18 months or you get the 18months worth of interest tacked on

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
if you have really good credit you can get that offer... might be easier to get a 0% discover

All you need is a Best Buy card. Whatever credit it takes to get one of those.

Yes, it's an excellent way to buy IF you pay the item off before the time period elapses. Forget those warranties, they are useless wastes of money. If you are an electronics-buying type of guy, you'll save so much money over the years by not buying extended warranties that when something you buy finally does break, you can pay to have it repaired and still be ahead.
Extended warranties are for cars and houses, not TV's.

 

[vi edit]

Yes, it's an excellent way to buy IF you pay the item off before the time period elapses. Forget those warranties, they are useless wastes of money. If you are an electronics-buying type of guy, you'll save so much money over the years by not buying extended warranties that when something you buy finally does break, you can pay to have it repaired and still be ahead.
Extended warranties are for cars and houses, not TV's.

Uh, I disagree, COMPLETELY.

Most TV's come with a 1 year warranty, AT MAX. A $1000 flatscreen TV might cost $60 for a 4 year extended warranty through Best Buy. There is not a single repair that could be done to that thing that would cost less than extended warranty. And...if you've done any research on sony TV's, you'd see that those $60 are VERY well spent.

 

[nitsuj3580]

cool, thanks for the input guys

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Yes, it's an excellent way to buy IF you pay the item off before the time period elapses. Forget those warranties, they are useless wastes of money. If you are an electronics-buying type of guy, you'll save so much money over the years by not buying extended warranties that when something you buy finally does break, you can pay to have it repaired and still be ahead.
Extended warranties are for cars and houses, not TV's.

Uh, I disagree, COMPLETELY.

Most TV's come with a 1 year warranty, AT MAX. A $1000 flatscreen TV might cost $60 for a 4 year extended warranty through Best Buy. There is not a single repair that could be done to that thing that would cost less than extended warranty. And...if you've done any research on sony TV's, you'd see that those $60 are VERY well spent.

I also disagree especially after reading this.

I can afford $0.04 per day ($60/4 yrs) for an extended warranty policy. If the price were $150 or higher on a $1,000 TV I'd reconsider though. As always pay using a premium cc (VISA, MasterCard, Amex) which usually offers 1 year of extended warranty coverage for free.

 

[nitsuj3580]

buy extended warranty coverage, is that another year on top of the manufacturer year warranty? so two years total?

 

[ElFenix]

i've gotten the extended warranty twice, and used it once, so its good by me

of course, you can't use a premium card and get the 0%

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Yes assuming

1) you get a good TV (personally I would avoid the overpriced Sony WEGA)

What would you recommend? I've seen a lot of praise for the $300 Akai at Costco (hope I got the brand correct) but that seems like an awful lot of money to pay for a 2nd-tier brand.

2) you pay the entire balance off before the 0% APR expires otherwise all the interest has been accruing and you will easily be hit with several hundred $ of finance charges

BINGO. That's why Best Buy (and other retailers) can afford to finance purchases with no interest. They easily recoup the difference from people who make mistakes.

While not paying off the entire balance is a common problem, equally dangerous is being late on any payment. That would probably trigger loss of the 0% interest plan, plus begin acrrual of all interest from day 1 at an astronomic rate (usually 24% or so).

In general, I disapprove of these financing deals because it totally encourages people to live beyond their means, and get saddled with high debt load.

Usually, I would not recommend extended warranties (easy, lucrative profit for the retailer) but that does vary on a case by case basis.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Yes, it's an excellent way to buy IF you pay the item off before the time period elapses. Forget those warranties, they are useless wastes of money. If you are an electronics-buying type of guy, you'll save so much money over the years by not buying extended warranties that when something you buy finally does break, you can pay to have it repaired and still be ahead.
Extended warranties are for cars and houses, not TV's.

Uh, I disagree, COMPLETELY.

Most TV's come with a 1 year warranty, AT MAX. A $1000 flatscreen TV might cost $60 for a 4 year extended warranty through Best Buy. There is not a single repair that could be done to that thing that would cost less than extended warranty. And...if you've done any research on sony TV's, you'd see that those $60 are VERY well spent.

If you're talking about a very expensive TV, then MAYBE....if it is a notoriously unreliable unit. Of course if it is, then why would you buy it in the first place?

I have a home FULL of electronics, appliances, etc. Much more than the average person. I have never bought an extended warranty but ONCE. And that was a mistake.
Once again, like I said, if you are a big electronics buff, ESP's are a waste of money. I never said fixing the TV would cost less than the warranty.......but it most likely WOULD cost less than the house full of warranties that you'd have if you bought a lot of stuff. 40-60 bucks a pop.......on my washer, dryer, stove, microwave, refrigerator, multiple stereo components, video camera, computer components, console games, etc, etc, etc.
All the warranties I DIDN'T buy on all that stuff, more than makes up for any money I MAY have to spend on a repair.

What have I had to spend money on? A fuse for my dryer. Less than 10 bucks. That's it.
How about the receiver I bought a warranty from Circuit City for back in 1989, the only thing I ever bought one on? It broke about 6 months after the 5 year warranty expired. Big deal. It was already obsolete 3 times by then, and the warranty, like 99.9% of all ESP's, was a waste of money.
Play the odds, and you'll be better off without an extended warranty.

 

[isildur]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Yes, it's an excellent way to buy IF you pay the item off before the time period elapses. Forget those warranties, they are useless wastes of money. If you are an electronics-buying type of guy, you'll save so much money over the years by not buying extended warranties that when something you buy finally does break, you can pay to have it repaired and still be ahead.
Extended warranties are for cars and houses, not TV's.

Uh, I disagree, COMPLETELY.

Most TV's come with a 1 year warranty, AT MAX. A $1000 flatscreen TV might cost $60 for a 4 year extended warranty through Best Buy. There is not a single repair that could be done to that thing that would cost less than extended warranty. And...if you've done any research on sony TV's, you'd see that those $60 are VERY well spent.

I also disagree especially after reading this.

I can afford $0.04 per day ($60/4 yrs) for an extended warranty policy. If the price were $150 or higher on a $1,000 TV I'd reconsider though. As always pay using a premium cc (VISA, MasterCard, Amex) which usually offers 1 year of extended warranty coverage for free.

I just got one from BB here locally (it was 24months here) - their EW plan was another $250.

"...um, thanks but I think I'll decline..."