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Buying a computer/Credit questions
Calebros
a k a TimesNewPwninRegistered User regular
a k a TimesNewPwninRegistered User regular
So I'm buying computer parts and assembling them myself. What I want to know is if I should go with this Bill Me Later (which I'm leaning against) or their Newegg Preferred Account thing. I want to pay for installments as It'll take me a while to save up to buy it all up front but if I pay for it in installments it'll be a minimum of like 30-50 a month and that is very doable (I'll be making about 500-600 a month or so. First job and it's at Walmart part-time).
Or maybe I should just save and pay for it all at once?
Personally I think it'd take me forever to save up for it because I'd have that 'well, I want that computer, but I really want this thing now,' mentality, whereas if I made a payment plan I'd be forced to pay, thus taking willpower and impulse out of the equation. My mother has the mindset of 'if you don't have the will to save up for it, how could you possibly make payments?' which I don't understand because she's basically asking how I could do something I'm forced to when I think I might decide not to were it an option, which is half the things everyone does ever.
She thinks I'd be damming myself into credit hell right away if I made a plan to pay in installments. I don't see why, since everything I make right now is all profit since I don't have to pay for rent or utilities or even gas because I don't have a car.
Opinions?
tl;dr - installment plan or save
Or maybe I should just save and pay for it all at once?
Personally I think it'd take me forever to save up for it because I'd have that 'well, I want that computer, but I really want this thing now,' mentality, whereas if I made a payment plan I'd be forced to pay, thus taking willpower and impulse out of the equation. My mother has the mindset of 'if you don't have the will to save up for it, how could you possibly make payments?' which I don't understand because she's basically asking how I could do something I'm forced to when I think I might decide not to were it an option, which is half the things everyone does ever.
She thinks I'd be damming myself into credit hell right away if I made a plan to pay in installments. I don't see why, since everything I make right now is all profit since I don't have to pay for rent or utilities or even gas because I don't have a car.
Opinions?
tl;dr - installment plan or save
Calebros on
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also, do minimum payments on credit things seriously barely cover the interest? my family says that and that just seems ridiculous.
There are various reasons to go into debt, but I'd say that buying a computer isn't one of them. However you should be able to easily calculate how much the computer will cost you with the installment plan and if you cool paying the x amount of dollars more that it costs to get it now then go for it.
am i correct in thinking that as long as i can whittle away at the principal, the interest per month will go down as well?
I think I'd save up like $600 before getting it.
Or should I really just save up all of it before buying?
I'm impatient, but I do what I have to when I have to.
edit: ok fuck i've already decided what im gonna do. save up at least half of it and then do the preferred account thing. wont take too long to get the computer or pay off the remaining thing, especially knocking off $50 of the principal at a time if i can.
unless anyone has anything theyd like to add, we can actually lock this (man this was a waste of forum space :P)
That said, why don't you just take a short term job. Deliver pizzas, tend bar, get a paper route, wait tables. It shouldn't take more than a month and a half to save up enough money, even if its part-time.
OP mentioned he has a part time job at WalMart. Which brings to mind another point -- job security. Small payments sound all well and good, but what happens if WalMart decides they can do without your services? All of a sudden you've got a bill to pay and no money coming in. Don't let yourself be put in that position unnecessarily. You've obviously got some kind of computer access. Make that last and save up the cash.
I'm pretty much more willing to pay off $600 over the course of about a year than I am to wait an extra 3-4 months of saving as much as possible (aka going out with friends as little as possible) and being forced to stay on this computer the whole time
Also, what do you want to do with this computer? Games? Or do you need it for something else?
Alright, let's grant you the job security (even though I think you may be being slightly overconfident in that area). I'll say this again, curb the need for instant gratification now. If you're not willing to wait the extra months of savings and what that will mean, you don't need whatever the thing is you're trying to buy. This isn't a case of needing something and being unable to wait -- i.e. a car to get to work as mentioned previously.
Is it possible that everything will work out just dandy for you if you go ahead and settle for making payments? Sure, but I'd strongly advise against doing that with this circumstance and getting into the habit of doing it in the first place.
I would find it easier to wait longer to save up for the computer if every single thing I do weren't based around one. I'm in college training to be a sys admin so not only do I want one for games, I want one so I have a computer to mess around on and not fuck up the entire family's computeraccess in doing so.
Not to mention I've been missing out on playing games with my friends for over 5 bloody years now. I'm so tired of waiting.
then one month after that would double the ease
and so on
but dammit i want a computer that doesnt blow ass. this one is nearing 7 years old i believe. something like that
Yeah, but trust me, you'll feel better about it if you can just save up the cash and have the whole thing done at once.
I had a problem with instant gratification in college and I'm still paying that shit off and will likely still be paying it off in a few years. Pick up a PS2 cheap and a shitton of games for a fraction of the price of a PC.
Sure, you say you have job security, but what happens if tomorrow, you get rear-ended by some asshole on a cell phone, and can't work for a couple of months? Or it turns out you can't hold down a job and do well in school at the same time?
You're basically betting on money you don't have, and you're taking a risk with essentially zero return. It's not a good investment at all.
Or, you could do what I did, gut your old computer, hang on to the case and power source, and replace everything else. I got a total upgrade, including buying a new OS, for $600.
You might not be as extremist as me (saving up for the computer cost + making sure I have got some cash left after the purchase). But just go play at your friends' house for that while. What would it be? Three months? Also at April 22nd the prices of processors will be cheaper.
Really, it's been said. If it isn't neccesary NOW, don't go into debt. If you get into debt, get out as soon as possible. I paid cash for my PC, and save the 50 bucks that the minimum payment would be towards my next computer. In the 4-5 years it'll take for my computer to become hopelessly outdated that 50 bucks have grown to over 2000 in a savings account, and I'll be ready to pay cash for my next PC. Whereas, had I done it on credit making minimum payments, I'd have no money saved and the same outmoded box with no way to upgrade (save, you guessed it, credit).
Granted, it may not be the soundest financial management, but it beats paying interest hands down.
Save up enough for a computer, and then pay it off all at once. There so much to gain going this route.
For example,
1) Cheaper Prices. thus allowing you to buy sooner as you make that money.
2) Better computer. If you decide not to buy earlier you can buy a better computer for the same price
3) Don't have to pay any interest. I view interest as throwing money away. If you're making payments of $40 a month you're going to be paying a lot more extra. That $1200 computer turns into $1400... $1500...
Something tells me you're just going to do it anyway but please trust the members of this forum. All of us is saying to wait. None of us is saying to do it now.
But I also bought a cheap computer, custom-built from low-cost OEM parts. That was when a cheap computer was $1500, now they're $500. If I were you I’d just save up for two months and buy a cheap $500 PC.
I like to go out and do things, though.
$500 PC won't do anything other I want it to do other then turn on.
Regardless, I think I'm going to buy it piece-by-piece. First though I'm going to get the best PCI graphics card I can for this old rig, maybe get a bit more RAM, and deal with that for a little while longer.
In regards to Than's (nice to see Warburton is back in action, by the way :^:) suggestion, this computer is currently the family computer and I wish to have my own computer, so I can have all the settings the way I want them and also in case I'm messing around and I fuck things up, I don't screw over the entire family.
I'm kinda glad I got talked out of this. I still think I might have been able to do it, but better safe than sorry.