Question about Best Buy 0% interest deals

[oznerol]

Best Buy customer support (ATOT),

I'm in the market for a new TV. I generally buy everything online because it's cheaper, usually tax-free, and you don't need to deal with lines, but with such a big purchase I just feel more comfortable getting it someplace I can easily return it to in case there's any issues at all.

That being said, I've seen some promotions they had with 0% interest for 2 years or whatever - using their Best Buy credit card, of course. I have the cash to pay for it up front, but if I can pay 5% a month for 24 months and keep my cash in savings, why not?

So anyway, basically I want to know how it works - do you need to sign up for the card in-store, or can I do it online beforehand? Have any of you had any problems with it or is it really 0% interest for x years?

They don't have a promotion going on right now, but I'd like to be ready when they do (it's quite often), so I want to sign up for the card online now and not have to deal with it in-store.

I've looked on their site and it gives no information.

:beer:

 

[RossMAN]

Without reading your OP.

1) It's an inquiry on your credit report.

2) You lose perks/rewards you would have earned on your regular cc but I think BB's cc has BB points? Ooooh ahhhh

3) Most Visa, MC and Amex cc's offer free 1 year extended warranty if you pay with that cc.

 

[SSSnail]

Adding to RossMAN's pearls of wisdom, only get the 0% if you have the cash to pay it off in the alloted time.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Adding to RossMAN's pearls of wisdom, only get the 0% if you have the cash to pay it off in the alloted time.

Oops I forgot that. Yeah make sure to make your payments on time, never go above your limit and pay it off in full BEFORE the whatever date.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Without reading your OP.

1) It's an inquiry on your credit report.

2) You lose perks/rewards you would have earned on your regular cc but I think BB's cc has BB points? Ooooh ahhhh

3) Most Visa, MC and Amex cc's offer free 1 year extended warranty if you pay with that cc.

I was hoping for a RossMAN reply...

Anyway, all of my current credit cards (3), are out of their 1-year no interest time zone (well, 1 will get there in April), so I can't use those. I have no issue signing up for a new card. The 2+ years of 0% interest is more valuable to me than the 1-2% cash back.

I'd get a separate bonus rewards card, but Best Buy gives more than 1 year of 0% interest, and from what I've seen that's incredibly rare - my Amex only gave me 6 months :brokenheart:.

And yea, yea, I know how to handle my finances. 5% of the total for 24+ months will have it all paid off ~a month early.

Still wondering how the sign up process works - and if I need to do it in-store the day of purchase or if these deals are general and open to anyone who has a BB credit card (and not just a one-time "thanks for signing up" thing).

 

[spidey07]

In RossMan fashion, and I'm sure he'll correct me...

Why not negotiate then use BB 10% off coupons, do 0%, and take advantage of free money?

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Adding to RossMAN's pearls of wisdom, only get the 0% if you have the cash to pay it off in the alloted time and will leave the money in an account earning at least 5% interest.

Fixed. Even still, on a $1000 tv you won't earn more than $100 in interest over 2 years @ 5% minus say $25 in taxes. You might net $65-70 bucks in the end. The downside is if you miss a payment (assuming it's not no interest, no payments, the deals can vary) you get >20% percent retroactive back to the purchase date.

IMHO, if you're going to temp fate do it all out. Assuming you'll qualify for a decent credit line (say >10K), apply for a credit card @ 0% interest, get a check in your name, deposit in your account, buy the tv with it and leave the money in a high yield savings earning interest while you make minimum payments. Do that for 2 years and with a high enough credit line and your tv just became significantly cheaper.

 

[jatwell]

One BIG thing to consider is generally all of these offers are DEFERRED interest.

Miss or even be one day late on any payment or let it go past the 24 months and the ENTIRE deferred interest gets charged to your account. The interest usually still accrues and gets popped on your account as soon as of the above happens.

Most regular 0% offers on standard cards just don't charge any interest in during that period, nothing accrues.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Without reading your OP.

1) It's an inquiry on your credit report.

2) You lose perks/rewards you would have earned on your regular cc but I think BB's cc has BB points? Ooooh ahhhh

3) Most Visa, MC and Amex cc's offer free 1 year extended warranty if you pay with that cc.

I was hoping for a RossMAN reply...

Anyway, all of my current credit cards (3), are out of their 1-year no interest time zone (well, 1 will get there in April), so I can't use those. I have no issue signing up for a new card. The 2+ years of 0% interest is more valuable to me than the 1-2% cash back.

I'd get a separate bonus rewards card, but Best Buy gives more than 1 year of 0% interest, and from what I've seen that's incredibly rare - my Amex only gave me 6 months :brokenheart:.

And yea, yea, I know how to handle my finances. 5% of the total for 24+ months will have it all paid off ~a month early.

Still wondering how the sign up process works - and if I need to do it in-store the day of purchase or if these deals are general and open to anyone who has a BB credit card (and not just a one-time "thanks for signing up" thing).

Then I would go for it if you have properly budgeted your finances. Just make sure to pay it off on time or pay $$$ finance $$$

Which TV's are you considering?

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Adding to RossMAN's pearls of wisdom, only get the 0% if you have the cash to pay it off in the alloted time and will leave the money in an account earning at least 5% interest.

Fixed. Even still, on a $1000 tv you won't earn more than $100 in interest over 2 years @ 5% minus say $25 in taxes. You might net $65-70 bucks in the end. The downside is if you miss a payment (assuming it's not no interest, no payments, the deals can vary) you get >20% percent retroactive back to the purchase date.

IMHO, if you're going to temp fate do it all out. Assuming you'll qualify for a decent credit line (say >10K), apply for a credit card @ 0% interest, get a check in your name, deposit in your account, buy the tv with it and leave the money in a high yield savings earning interest while you make minimum payments. Do that for 2 years and with a high enough credit line and your tv just became significantly cheaper.

Good luck finding a safe place to earn 5% after today's rate cut

 

[Supermercado]

I've been wondering this same thing as I decide how to purchase my TV in the next couple months (after deliberating for nearly a year, I'm fairly certain it's going to be the Panasonic TH-50PZ77U). I could buy it outright if I wanted but the idea of spreading it out for no extra cost and earning what I can by investing what I wouldn't have spent all at once seems like a good idea.

 

[oznerol]

Haha, guys, I'm not looking to max out my credit card to get an irrelevant amount of interest, nor am I looking at getting an "insane deal" on a TV. I actually have a 10% off coupon, but other than that, I really just want to spread out payments without paying interest. That is it. I can pay on time.

Really, all I want to know is if these promotions are open to any BB customer with a BB credit card (so I can sign up for one now online and not deal with it in-store), or if they're 1-time promotions for new credit card applicants. That, and I guess also if anyone has a BB credit card, how easy is it to pay online - or how is it's web interface in general? I hate writing checks,

Regardless, I'm looking at a 42-46" 1080p HDTV - the Sharp Aquos and Philips Ambilight TVs are two that I like. I'm also open to suggestions. I'd say my budget is in the $1-$1800 range ($1500 is the sweet spot, I'd say).

 

[RossMAN]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=40&threadid=2129653

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=40&threadid=2129653

I saw that - weary about buying something this big on-line, and also that particular model didn't get reviewed so well - in particular it lacks a VGA-input, which is something I'd like.

 

[Ramma2]

I see no reason to not do it that way. We bought our Panasonic plasma with the BB card, 3 years no interest. We pay 50$ a month and it will be paid off well before the due date.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
I see no reason to not do it that way. We bought our Panasonic plasma with the BB card, 3 years no interest. We pay 50$ a month and it will be paid off well before the due date.

Yes, exactly - excellent. So my question - did you have to sign up for it that day, in-store, or did you just use your existing BB credit card?

And do you pay the bill online? I'm wondering how easy/difficult it is.

 

[rudder]

Unless Best Buy has changed.... just make sure you make your payments 7 days in advance to avoid complications. I did the zero percent deal on something a few years back. Their website required 2 business day processing. Got burned when I went to pay on a Friday with a Sunday due date not realizing they only processed Mon-Fri. Got the late fee taken off... but it sucked nonetheless.

 

[pulsedrive]

Originally posted by: ducci
Haha, guys, I'm not looking to max out my credit card to get an irrelevant amount of interest, nor am I looking at getting an "insane deal" on a TV. I actually have a 10% off coupon, but other than that, I really just want to spread out payments without paying interest. That is it. I can pay on time.

Really, all I want to know is if these promotions are open to any BB customer with a BB credit card (so I can sign up for one now online and not deal with it in-store), or if they're 1-time promotions for new credit card applicants. That, and I guess also if anyone has a BB credit card, how easy is it to pay online - or how is it's web interface in general? I hate writing checks,

Regardless, I'm looking at a 42-46" 1080p HDTV - the Sharp Aquos and Philips Ambilight TVs are two that I like. I'm also open to suggestions. I'd say my budget is in the $1-$1800 range ($1500 is the sweet spot, I'd say).

The finance deals at BB are always open to all BB Cardholders. No special "have to sign up right now" deals.

 

[cheezmunky]

Originally posted by: pulsedrive
The finance deals at BB are always open to all BB Cardholders. No special "have to sign up right now" deals.

 

[Mermaidman]

I no longer go for the "no-interest for n years offer" because it's just another thing to clutter up my mind and not worth the net benefits. If you're a worrywort like me, everytime I look at the TV, I'd think "Hmm, did the payment go through without any complication? Hmm . . . How many more months before the TV is paid off?"

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: jatwell
One BIG thing to consider is generally all of these offers are DEFERRED interest.

Miss or even be one day late on any payment or let it go past the 24 months and the ENTIRE deferred interest gets charged to your account. The interest usually still accrues and gets popped on your account as soon as of the above happens.

Most regular 0% offers on standard cards just don't charge any interest in during that period, nothing accrues.

That's only partly true, if you go past the promotional period you just start accruing interest at the non-promo rate (which is going to be outrageous). There is no penalty for not paying it off before the end of that period, except that you start paying interest. The deferred interest only comes into play if you are late.

A combination of pricematching + 0% can get you a great deal on a TV, I picked up a 61" 1080P DLP a year ago this way. Pricematched to a printout from frys.com, added a 4 year service plan (the price of which was based on the pricematched TV price), and put it all on the BB card @ 0%. I ended up out the door at hundreds cheaper than the advertised sale price on that TV and one free bulb replacement (via the BestBuy warranty).

One thing to keep in mind with BB store cards: The initial limits usually aren't very high, even if your credit is decent. My initial limit was crap ($800 I think), & from what I've heard on creditboards this is relatively normal. They are very good about regular limit increases, though, I've gotten steady increases every 6 months up to nearly $9,000 now.

Viper GTS

 

[oznerol]

Alrighty - thanks you guys.

Finally got the info I wanted. I applied online, got approved, $2500 limit. I think that's pretty good - though I'm not the biggest fan of charging more than 50% of my limit on a single card. I don't plan on spending more than $1800 on a new TV, though most likely in the $1200-1500 range.

Now to just wait for a good deal.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Don't do it. The company Best Buy used for their cards years ago, Beneficial, was shaddy at best. I fell for it and I sent my payments in on time every time for over a year, then one day I noticed that my last payment was not received. I called them and they said they had received it but they couldn't process it due to a system issue. But this system issue didn't stop them from dumping a years worth of interest at their insane 20% rate on my account and tell me I'm shit out of luck and that I should get my payments in on time, this just after confirming that they had my payment and that they just didn't want to process it.
They are in business to make money, not give free money. They will fuck you over one way or the other.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Don't do it. The company Best Buy used for their cards years ago, Beneficial, was shaddy at best. I fell for it and I sent my payments in on time every time for over a year, then one day I noticed that my last payment was not received. I called them and they said they had received it but they couldn't process it due to a system issue. But this system issue didn't stop them from dumping a years worth of interest at their insane 20% rate on my account and tell me I'm shit out of luck and that I should get my payments in on time, this just after confirming that they had my payment and that they just didn't want to process it.
They are in business to make money, not give free money. They will fuck you over one way or the other.

BestBuy cards these days are Household. As long as you understand the rules & play by them you'll be fine.

Viper GTS

 

[razor2025]

I'd rather charge it to my Amex. Another year of hassle-free warranty service beats the hell out of 0% scam.