Is this credit card a good idea?
Casual Eddy
The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
The Astral PlaneRegistered User regular
Ok so my macbook was stolen, big time. Here's the problem, I need another one for school and sanity's sake, but I don't have enough money - only 800 out of the 1000 or so i'll need. But apple is offering their 'juniper' credit card and 90-180 days of no interest payments for purchases made with the card when you get it. The only thing is, I have no idea if this is a good card or not to get. I don't know shit about APR or whatnot. I do have a fairly steady income as a waiter but paying this off over 3 months instead of one day would be extremely helpful. I was planning to get a card anyway to build credit slowly, but I still have no idea if this card is ridiculous and will leave me deeply endebted for months and years to come even if I'm able to pay for most of the cost up front.
Here's the card: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&nnmm=ucred
What say you who are more financially savvy than I?
Here's the card: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&nnmm=ucred
What say you who are more financially savvy than I?
Casual Eddy on
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In your place, I would buy a less expensive laptop (potentially a refurbished one) that would work for school and wait until I had the money to pay for the more expensive one. You could use this credit card for that potentially to start your building your credit history, but when starting out with no credit history, it's a good rule of thumb to be 100% certain you'll be able to pay it off when making charges.
If this is the only card you can get to purchase your machine go ahead and go for it. Though make sure you pay it off well before the 0% grace expires.
You could check out creditcards.com to look for card offers with lower %APR or better rewards, but if you don't have much credit history obtaining financing from the company from which you're buying goods may be the only way to get a limit that will cover the purchase.
You don't have to worry about %APR if you just pay off the balance.
I'm a renter at the moment, and thusly have no insurance. My parents live in a different state.
jeffe's idea was more or less my plan. I was hoping to pay it off within a month or at least two, which I'm quite confident I can do.
Alright, thanks for advice. As long as I keep the balance at 0 when the interest kicks in, I should be okay then.
bad bad bad bad bad bad bad
if you do not pay off the -full- balance by the interest free period, they charge you full interest for the "promotional purchase"
which means 24% interest on that 1000, not that 200.
you're sure you have no renter's insurance? And is your legal address at home or did you move it to your apt.? The latter means you could still be on their homeowners I think.
True, and it's 24% on all promotional months, meaning he gets F'd in the A on that deal.
and I will have the balance paid by the end of the period. Assuming this, I will not get effed in the ass right?
My sister had her trumpet stolen while at school in another state, and my parent's homeowner's policy still covered her. If you're an undergrad and full-time, you might be covered.
a few months ago, with my mom's credit card.
hmm
I'll check about the homeowner's insurance.