Credit Card Question

[blazsox]

I am looking to buy a Mac bundle from BestBuy in the next week or so. I applied for a BB card and got approved for a $1200 credit line (that way I can take advantage of their 18 months no interest offer). I will have to shell out about $600 of my own money to complete the purchase and was thinking of putting that on another credit card to give me some time to transfer the money from my savings to the checking account.

However what I am curious about is that the other card I was planning on using is my Walmart Discover card. It will work and all but right now the only purchase I had on that card was a 19" HDTV I bought back in September with a no interest offer for 12 months. Basically I am paying the $15 minimum a month off of it and have no interest payments until Sep. 2009 (I'll be raising my payments come early Spring to pay it all off before then). If I were to put the $600 purchase on this Walmart card, I am curious to know how payments would work. Now my plan is to pay off that full $600 when the statement comes in, alongside the $15 minimum payment for the TV. But if I were to not pay off the full $600, I would only have to pay interest on that and not that of the payment for the TV correct?

[BillyBob29]

I don't have a Walmart Discover but if their payment policies are anything like the Best Buy card then you can all customer service and have them direct your payment toward a specific financing plan, if you have more than one plan going at the same time.

[theeipi]

in general, your payments will get applied to the promotional purchase. that means for the $600 you put on the walmart card you will be paying the FULL interest rate until you pay off the original TV purchase and start making payments to the computer.

it isn't worth it. you're better off just making the transfer between savings and checking or paying cash.

[wubb]

in general, your payments will get applied to the promotional purchase. that means for the $600 you put on the walmart card you will be paying the FULL interest rate until you pay off the original TV purchase and start making payments to the computer.


Oh damn, that is devious.

[Quillion]

Payments are almost always applied to the lowest interest rate first. Whether that's a balance transfer, a promotional purchase or whatever.

Very devious.

[electronicthroat]

I'm going to be getting a new Macbook sometime soon, I hope. My Powerbook is starting to act flaky.

I'd love to just put it on one of my credit cards, but I don't want to have that bill over my head. I'm doing it the old fashioned way of just putting money back every paycheck.

I personally wouldn't use the Walmart Discover card. I'd just pay the $600 cash if I had it. I don't like to mess with credit cards if I can help it.

[Xevious]

The trick with the Best Buy card is that you should send in money before the bill arrives.

I noticed in the past that the bill arrives and I only have a small window of time to send in the payment. This caused a lot of problems sometimes..

[blazsox]

The trick with the Best Buy card is that you should send in money before the bill arrives.

I noticed in the past that the bill arrives and I only have a small window of time to send in the payment. This caused a lot of problems sometimes..

I pay all my credit cards online. I still wait for the paper statements just for my own records (I'm lazy when it comes to printing them out). Once the paper statement arrives I pay off the statement balance. In the case for the BB card I did the math for the 18 months no interest offer. I have to pay a minimum of $67 a month in order to go the full 18 months no interest. I'll start with that and begin upping my payments towards the spring that way I can pay it off in full before hand in time for my next big no-interest offer purchase next holiday (hoping for a kickass surround sound system).