Considering Financing a Macbook Pro

milehigh

For school. Anyways I've got an existing credit card that I could put it on with a fairly low interest rate, and just pay that off. However Juniper (Apple's sponsored bank for financing) could have a slightly lower rate depending on if I qualify.

Now my question is, if I don't qualify for the lower interest rate after applying, I'll just use my other card. Is there any downside to this? I mean, if I apply, am accepted and don't use the card, is there going to be a hit to my credit, or can I just cancel the card immediately?

I was wondering the same thing if I applied for an auto loan awhile back, if I apply and get a line of credit but decide I don't want to use it, am I penalized for it?

noir_blood

I would be careful about putting high cost things on credit right about now. Unless you have a fixed APR, credit card companies are starting to high up the interest rates with little notice

Ludious

If you apply for a credit card your credit score generally takes a 2-3 point hit (But only with one of the 3 credit people).

If you close an account you also take a hit. (not sure about numbers there)

So if you open and close a credit account you're looking at a 4-6+ point hit to your score for nothing.

edit: applying for it and doing nothing with it only nets you a temporary point loss. HOWEVER, if you let that line atrophy and close out on its own, you still get that same account closure point hit.

musanman

Considering we really have no idea how our credit scores are calculated I don't think it's appropriate to throw around numbers for opening/closing accounts. It's pretty unique to his past.

Opening an account, using it for the computer, and not using it anymore will probably be a wash. I'd say the downside to this is the downside to anything with a credit card: paying interest. Find the cheapest rate and run with it.