Guitar Center...financing 0% for 48 months?

Of course, that's the 'trick' - but there are thousands (millions?) of people out there with credit card debt beyond their ability to pay off. You don't think that GC (and every other place offering 'credit for everyone') knows this and is capitalizing on it?

do'H!

greed has no bounds
nor does lack of ethics
 
I'm still not seeing why it's somehow the merchants fault that some people spend beyond their ability to pay off...or that they offer 0% financing...?

Nor the drug dealers for hooking people?

If you can't afford it, then you don't buy it. I mean, these are not adolescent children with credit cards who still can't do basic arithmetic.

people are incredibly stupid evil greedy naive and illogical

...
I'm not talking about some tragic situations that force someone to spend all their savings, etc...l'm talking about people who simply buy regularly beyond their means because they are allowed to carry a balance, and can't control their spending...but that's not the fault of the banks/CC companies.

whose fault is it. should such people be protected? should the govt bail them out like the banks who lost their shirt a while back?

These are often the same people who carry a grudge against anyone that is better off than they are....and expect the government and the rich to bail them out.

people are incredibly stupid evil greedy naive and illogical

what do you do about humans when most of them are
incredibly stupid evil greedy naive and illogical

do we owe them help to protect them
or should everyone be free to destroy their lives and then suffer?

this is one tough philsophical question
 
what do you do about humans when most of them are
incredibly stupid evil greedy naive and illogical

do we owe them help to protect them
or should everyone be free to destroy their lives and then suffer?

this is one tough philsophical question

Not sure why you are adding words when you quote me? I never said "Nor the drug dealers for hooking people?"
Charity is often wasted on people who make no effort to help themselves.

AFA trying to save the world...I'm going to try and fit that into my schedule for next week, but right now I'm more focused on some new audio gear purchases and the current 0% interest deals.

Keep me posted on your saving efforts. I'm sure you are making a big difference in the lives of audio gear shopaholics. :)
Me...I'm a lost cause. I just bought a couple of more guitar amps and some more high-end tube mics. I got a great deal on them...too hard to pass up.
 
Not sure why you are adding words when you quote me? I never said "Nor the drug dealers for hooking people?"
Charity is often wasted on people who make no effort to help themselves.

AFA trying to save the world...I'm going to try and fit that into my schedule for next week, but right now I'm more focused on some new audio gear purchases and the current 0% interest deals.

Keep me posted on your saving efforts. I'm sure you are making a big difference in the lives of audio gear shopaholics. :)
Me...I'm a lost cause. I just bought a couple of more guitar amps and some more high-end tube mics. I got a great deal on them...too hard to pass up.

no words added
comment inserted though

i think we need better schools, not the pc crap we have now, better parenting to instill a culture of common sense and to set the right path of staying out of debt, maybe some other stuff.
 
...better parenting to instill a culture of common sense and to set the right path of staying out of debt, maybe some other stuff.

That's what I was saying...people need to learn basic arithmetic and some self-control and responsibility...but when the parents are out of control, it's hard for the kinds to learn anything of value from them! :D
 
That's what I was saying...people need to learn basic arithmetic and some self-control and responsibility...but when the parents are out of control, it's hard for the kinds to learn anything of value from them! :D

good point

society messed up a couple generations ago and now we are seeing the results which cant be reversed
 
better parenting to instill a culture of common sense and to set the right path of staying out of debt, maybe some other stuff.
I have never had any credit card debt in my entire life. I taught my kids that if you don’t have the money to pay for something, then you simply don’t buy it. Credit cards are just a convenient way of not having to carry around a lot of cash.

Of course the result of those lessons were that both my millennial kids have 5 figure credit card balances. It isn’t always the parenting. :rolleyes:
 
Credit cards are just a convenient way of not having to carry around a lot of cash.

With all due respect..... A debit card is a convenient way of not carrying cash.

A credit card is a convenient way of carrying around money you dont have. :D

It's funny how language plays into manipulating perception.

Debit sounds bad, implying taking something away, whereas credit implies adding something, so it's good.

Applause to you for never accumulating CC debt. I'm sure you did your best to teach your kids. However the mktg, societal and peer pressures can be so much greater than your wisdom. We live in a world where it's a normal accepted thing to live beyond one's means.

The mktg campaign to take us from a world with no credit cards to the debt ridden society we live in today, has been long, intense, and very persuasive.

Most people I know who are responsible with the plastic learned the hard way. (myself included).
It's a hard lesson, but once learned, one never fogotten.

Despite the best upbringing, there are too many who have fallen prey to the trap.

Banks and the credit industry are a lot like Vegas. The house always wins.
 
With all due respect..... A debit card is a convenient way of not carrying cash.
.

You are correct. But used properly a credit card can do the same thing, with the added advantage of a 30-60 day float before you actually have to part with the money. To me, this gives you an advantage with the merchant or contractor, since you haven’t actually paid yet and can dispute the transaction. I assume you can dispute a debit card transaction (dunno I don’t use one), but the money’s already been taken from your account so you’ve lost a lot of leverage.

Plus, debit cards didn’t even exist at the time I got my first credit cards. :)
 
You are correct. But used properly a credit card can do the same thing, with the added advantage of a 30-60 day float before you actually have to part with the money. To me, this gives you an advantage with the merchant or contractor, since you haven’t actually paid yet and can dispute the transaction. I assume you can dispute a debit card transaction (dunno I don’t use one), but the money’s already been taken from your account so you’ve lost a lot of leverage.

Plus, debit cards didn’t even exist at the time I got my first credit cards. :)
My recollection is that there were ATM cards pretty early, and I had one of those before my first credit card, but they only worked at ATM machines, and there were not POS terminals. Credit cards were actually used by putting them in one of those gizmos with a stack of paper and carbon paper (before carbonless copy paper!), and a roller made copies for everyone. Amazing technology :).

But, as far as being able to dispute transactions, no, there's no protection from fraud or theft with your debit card. Now, most banks do have a policy for their cards that mimics credit card legal requirements to limit your exposure to $50 in case of theft, etc. But, it's only a policy. So, if you put your debit card number into a computer, and it gets saved somewhere that gets hacked, and all your money is emptied from your account, you might be screwed. With a credit card, you are out $50 max.

Plus, credit cards almost universally offer some kind of "points" or cash back version. The wife and/or I fly for free somewhere probably every other year. And, yes, we pay off the card religiously every month. (We do have more than one, but only one gets used for everything so points add up faster - the other couple are backups for when traveling.)

I agree that the credit "no interest for x months" stuff is a bet, and there will be more losers than winners, i.e., "the house" always wins in the end. Just be smarter than average and it's Ok. And, it's not GC (or whomever) that's making these rules. They are in the job of moving refrigerators, microwave ovens, color tvs, and custom shop guitars. If they don't do that, they're out of business, so when the banks come along and offers some help in accomplishing that, they really don't have a choice if they want to stay in business, i.e., don't blame GC.
 
You hit it with #2. If you’re late, or don’t pay it off fully in the 48 months, you owe ALL the accrued interest. .

JFC. I forgot about this. I bought a couch last May with 0% interest and I'm close to paying it off in full but I figured if I paid it off in 13 months instead of 12 the interest on that one extra month wouldn't infuriate me.

And THIS is why I still check in here periodically, MODS. lol.
 
Yeah...I guess that can happen in some cases.
TBH...I never bothered to check if the 0% stuff had any impact on my credit rating, at this point...my credit rating just doesn't matter all that much to me.
It only matters if you actually need to apply for more credit for anything...and if paying off those 0% interest accounts and closing them would improve things (if for some reason I needed credit and my rating had gone down)...I would just pay off the balances.
Like I said, I only do the 0% interest stuff when I know I can also buy the items outright, but simply don't feel like giving them all the money at once. :)

0% interest is free money no matter how you look at it.
 
JFC. I forgot about this. I bought a couch last May with 0% interest and I'm close to paying it off in full but I figured if I paid it off in 13 months instead of 12 the interest on that one extra month wouldn't infuriate me.

And THIS is why I still check in here periodically, MODS. lol.

but if you dont pay it off by the end date of the freeby then you OWE ALL THE INTEREST FOR ALL THE MONTHS

read the fine print in your contract
that is how they can afford to make such offers

too many people end up paying even more when they dont pay it all on time
 
Yes. I know. Did I not make that clear?

I forgot about that predatory financing trick until I checked this thread. When I realized it I spent 20 minutes trying to log into that account. Didn't work. No matter what I did I couldn't get access to that login. Tried resetting the password but I can't find the fucking account number. It's on none of the paperwork. I've been making monthly payments through my back account which also doesn't have the entire account number. lol.

I have until May. When I get the statement next week I'll pay it off in full plus $1.
 
apparently not

looked like you thought you paid one month interest if you were one month past the freeby end date

I THOUGHT that until I checked in here and read that post I quoted. Then mentioned THAT'S why I still check in on this forum that's all but dead.
 
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