[YummiYummi]

Has anyone went through that with Best Buy? Buy now and pay later? Are they trustable? Since I know some companies offer the same type of service like Bill Me Later or Paypal Pay Later, and they all turned out to be scamming people. I just want to make sure it's like how they say it, and there won't be any fees charged unless it's 18 months LATER. Please let me know if you gone through this or any similiar promotions Best Buy offered like this one.



*** Thank you guys! You might've just convinced me to reconsider those bill me later companies.

[dot1q]

Best Buy, Bill Me Later or Paypal Pay Later are all legitimate. Why do you say they are scams? As long as you pay your complete balance before the expiration, you don't get charged a penny more. I've used these and many other store specific promotions many times and they all work the same way.

[YummiYummi]

Are you sure? Because I've read reviews on what they do to you. They start charging you out of no where.

These are reviews of Bill Me Later.

http://www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=Bill+Me+Later

[xstarBURST]

So the process is like Lay-away?

[YummiYummi]

Also will Best Buy do this to you too? Read below.


"Your Credit Score Could Take a Hit. If your goal is to get away from paying with plastic, be especially cautious about services like PayPal's Pay Later and Bill Me Later, which function as a line of credit. "Any new account -- especially one that immediately carries a balance -- is considered a risk on your credit report," said Gerri Detweiler , a credit adviser at Credit.com. Opening one new account could push a credit score of 707 down to 697 for six months, according to Fair Isaac Corp.'s FICO Score Simulator.

Even worse: Your score could drop by as much as 100 points if you come close to maxing out the line of credit, said Ms. Detweiler. For someone planning to shop for a mortgage, home equity line of credit or other loan, the difference could lead to higher interest rates and thousands of dollars more in payments. Even if you aren't planning to make a big purchase, a drop in your credit score could prompt your creditors to raise the rates on your existing accounts.

You Will Pay High Interest Rates. If you carry a balance with alternate-payment services, you face exorbitant interest rates. PayPal's buyer-credit option charges a variable 22.75% annual rate, while Bill Me Later has a variable interest rate of 19.99%. For comparison's sake, standard credit cards carry an average variable rate of 13.89%, according to Bankrate.com. (For consumers with great credit, those rates could be much lower.)

You'll Get Weaker Protections. Security is frequently touted as one of the upsides to alternate-payment programs. After all, there is no credit-card number to steal. "But that means you won't have the same protections as if you were paying with a credit card," said Consumer Federation's Ms. Grant. "[Fraud] coverage is extremely limited, and whatever protections the service does give you are voluntary."


Source: http://www.filife.com/stories/beware-of-bi...-later-services

[dot1q]

^

Of course your credit score could possibly take a hit. You are opening up a line of credit. Responsibilities to maintain this account is no different than any other credit card you may have. You do have to understand that its no different than opening a new credit card. As for high interest, it shouldn't matter because the intent is to pay everything off before your promotion ends. The weaker protection things sort of weak case. I guess it depends from one creditor to another, but with most of the reputable creditors, its a non issue. Basically, these aren't necessarily downsides. You just have to use these "no interest" options properly and know exactly how they work. The reason why many retailers offer these is that many people don't make their payment in full and then get swamped by all the interest that accrued during the grace period.

1) DONT EVER use these unless you absolutely know you're going to pay it off on time.
2) DONT max out the credit you are approved for. This is no different than any other type of credit. When you get approved for your purchases, you're not just getting approved for the total amount of your purchase but a higher amount.
3) DONT open a million accounts at every store there is. I'd stick with the general creditors which you can use at numerous different merchants.

As long as you stick to the above, these plans are fine and work well. In a way I prefer these over traditional credit cards because 1) Its no interest when you carry a balance during the promotion time and 2) you are obligated to pay something off by a certain date. With regular credit cards, you just tend to spend more and more and push off payments with just minimum payments.

[YummiYummi]

So basically I have a choice to pay monthly or not pay at all WITHIN 90 days??

So then why would they charge you if your grace period hasn't been officially up yet? That's just the part I don't understand.

And you went through this before?

I am sure I am going to pay before that times comes, but I really have to make sure. I don't want to get myself into that kind of mess if I knew it could've been avoided.

I don't know I have a bad feeling about it for some reason. I want to go with Best Buy 18 months, they seem to be more reliable I think? Maybe, because they don't have as much bad reviews as the others. But I guess opening a credit card with them will affect my credit too either way.

[dot1q]

So basically I have a choice to pay monthly or not pay at all WITHIN 90 days??

And you went through this before?

I am sure I am going to pay before that times comes, but I really have to make sure. I don't want to get myself into that kind of mess if I knew it could've been avoided.

I don't know I have a bad feeling about it for some reason. I want to go with Best Buy 18 months, they seem to be more reliable I think?

Yeah def go with the Best Buy if its giving you 18 months. But I think Best Buy uses "Bill Me Later"??? I could be wrong. I'm not sure which creditor you are talking about in your first statement, but I've personally been using Bill Me Later for years and never had any issues. I make a lot of purchases and frequently on Newegg.com (which uses Bill Me Later). I get 6 or 12 month promotion with my purchases and I've never had paid a cent more as long as I paid it on time.

The only small detail you do need to know is that if you make a purchase again in the future with the same line of credit but doesn't qualify for a no interest promotion, you need to make sure that when you make a payment that you want to reflect against your original purchase (which has the promotion), you need to explicitly state it along with your payment. Take for example, you bought something for $500 dollars which qualifies for no interest for 12 months. Then you buy something for $20 bucks with the same account say 11 months later. Your balance is $520. When you make the $500 payment, you have to state that this for the original $500 purchase. Otherwise they will credit $20 for your second purchase and $480 toward your original meaning you still have a balance of $20 on your promotion offer and unknowingly you think you just have to pay $20 next month (with a tiny bit of interest) the following month. Wrong because the $20 balance is not from your second purchase but from your original purchase and now that 12 months have expired, you'll get tacked with all the interest that accrued on the original $500 (at some ridiculous 20+% rate). Even with additional promotional purchases some creditors try to be slick and distribute the payment evenly among your multiple purchases rather than apply your payments to your oldest purchases first. The safest bet is when you make your full payment at some point, just call and make sure that it is credited to the promotional purchase you are intending to pay off.

So to add another rule of thumb to my post above....

4) ONLY use these accounts for promotional purchases. Besides why in the heck would you ever want to make non promotional purchases which is going to carry some ridiculous interest rate.
5) When you have multiple promotional purchases on the same account, just make sure when you make your payments that it is reflecting toward your oldest purchase. Even if a penny is in balance on your original amount, they will slap on all the interest that it did accrue from day one. YES, they calculate the interest from DAY ONE of your purchase and if you don't pay it off during your promotional period, they will add this interest accrued to your balance. This is a common mistake many people make who first try these offers. They think that interest will only start accruing after the promotional period and assume that they can be a month or two late with the payoff thinking whats the big deal on a little interest being added to the small balance I currently have.

Lastly, I cannot stress again that you will only benefit from this when you pay it on time. 18 months is nice and all but try to pay it off as soon as possible. You don't know what your financial situation is going to be in 18 months and waiting till the last minute is a definite no no. The fact is more people get hurt by these kinds of offers because they don't pay the balance on time. If you're going to use, be responsible.

[YummiYummi]

How bad will it affect my credit if I want to buy and pay later for something $800-1000? Because I do owe money to the bank at the moment too. And will it still let me qualify for the bill me later if I owe money already?

[CatGoesMeow]

How bad will it affect my credit if I want to buy and pay later for something $800-1000? Because I do owe money to the bank at the moment too. And will it still let me qualify for the bill me later if I owe money already?

few points on your score nothing to worry about unless you are boarderline on average/poor credit where every point counts..

Better yet, what i would do is open a American Express Blue Cash Card get 0% interest for 12 months .5 -1.5 cashback on top of that an all your items warranty is doubled =)

[dot1q]

It really depends on your current credit history. There is nothing wrong with having existing balances. If your current credit is normal to strong then the impact of an additional account is almost none. Unless you're planning to buy a house or car in the very near future where every credit score point counts (and even then assuming you are borderline for their qualifications), it will make no difference. For example most car loans give high advantages for credit score of 750 or higher. If you have 752 now for example and you want to buy a car within the next few months, then there might be a small risk which will impact your car purchase. But if a major credit purchase is not in the near future, then the impact is almost none.

As for approval, it depends on your current credit score. Unless you have horrible credit, you're most likely to be qualified. But then you have consider how much credit you are getting approved for. You might still get approved but might not qualify enough to cover the balance of the purchase. At which point then all you end up is with a credit check by the creditor on your credit history which negatively impacts your credit history (but very slightly). I personally see no major issues with 1-2 nonsecured credit applications a year (approved or not). Car loans and mortgages are a different story and multiple credit applications for such don't impact your credit history/score nearly as much compared to applications for things like credit cards, lines of credit, etc. As long as you have 5+ years of credit history and you have normal credit, I don't see getting approval for $1000 being too difficult. If you have upper 600's, then a $1000 approval should almost be guaranteed.

Also, whatever your limit is going to be, use it responsibly. Although you can qualify for no interest for long grace periods, it is still essentially a credit card. Don't go splurging on the notion that its "interest free". I actually have a pretty high limit on Bill Me Later and believe me I get tempted almost everyday (especially being the tech junkie I am). Good luck.

few points on your score nothing to worry about unless you are boarderline on average/poor credit where every point counts..

Better yet, what i would do is open a American Express Blue Cash Card get 0% interest for 12 months .5 -1.5 cashback on top of that an all your items warranty is doubled =)

Take it from Cats (about the Amex). He's an Amex spending junkie...

[CatGoesMeow]

Take it from Cats (about the Amex). He's an Amex spending junkie...

I should be getting 450 cashback this month, which brings down my macbook price!! Hurrayyy for cashback!!

[cooki-e]

18 months? free? I never heard of anything like that. I know about 3 months no pay no interest free and within the three months grace period, you can pay whenever as long as you pay it all off. If you don't, interest will charge you back from the first month. If you want to extend the 3 months, you do have to pay admin fees which are charged right when you do the purchase. For example, for 1 year no pay no interest, you'll have to pay an admin fee of 69.99 and so you can pay whenever you want. I believe there is another one where it is 1 year equal payments no interest which is has a cheaper admin fee but you have to do monthly payments. Hope this helps!