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How do YOU pay for your Macs?
- Thread starter Statelymwhite
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Why not just take that check and immediately pay Amex (or whatever card you use) so that you don't pay any interest and still get the cash back or points plus extend your warranty automatically?
Is it just a discipline thing? There is a smart way to use credit to your benefit. I personally never run a balance (pay all off every 30 days), but people who take advantage of 0% interest over x months deals (as long as they actually pay it off before the term is up) also come out ahead as their cash can be in an interest bearing account during that period.
Smart use of credit is simply discipline.
Same always happens to me.
You should ask the bank for a bank check (aka cashier's check) instead of withdrawing cash. There may be a small fee, but it's safer than cash. You don't need to know the exact amount either - you can pay the remainder with cash, or they will give you change back if it's over.
Sell bank/cashier's check? Most banks do.
Accept them? Everywhere that accepts personal checks will certainly accept bank checks.
Not accept large sums of cash? That's up to the management.
So much fail in this thread, mainly by the "cash only" posters.
In any case, the OP asked about paying for your Mac, not financing it. These are NOT the same thing, but I think a lot of posters got confused on that point.
Besides the benefits that some posters bring up with CC or Amex cards (not the same thing, know the difference), there are other legal protections you get with card usage.
Sticking to a cash-only method is like having just one hammer in a toolbox and using that for every task. As long as you know what the tools really are, when they're to be used, and how to use them, you'll be fine with using most of them.
In any case, the OP asked about paying for your Mac, not financing it. These are NOT the same thing, but I think a lot of posters got confused on that point.
Besides the benefits that some posters bring up with CC or Amex cards (not the same thing, know the difference), there are other legal protections you get with card usage.
Sticking to a cash-only method is like having just one hammer in a toolbox and using that for every task. As long as you know what the tools really are, when they're to be used, and how to use them, you'll be fine with using most of them.
Most people do not pay their CC's at the end of the month. I would guess less than 5% of users do. CC companies miles, points, cash back promotions are all ploys to get people to use the cards. CC's = financial ruin to many people.
No store in America can refuse to accept cash, any amount, any denomination. It's legal tender and by nature of them being open in America they have to accept US currency.
This is extremely true, and to add to the truth, CC companies are banking on that more so than consumers that pay with CCs and then just pay it off the next day. These companies are looking for people who won't pay their bill off before the CC company gets hundreds if not thousands in interest payments. The same goes for any credit based financial system (students loans, tax refund loans, etc)
Those that do charge it then pay it off the next day, obviously have the money to do so, and reap the benefits which isn't a problem.
Now, back on topic, I personally pay for my Macs by getting freelance work that pays for the gear for me to do the job (and lowers their bill for me) or I take that cash and get new gear. I very rarely save up $6000+ for new gear nor can I charge that much if I wanted to.
same here..i paid cash for my MBP and whatnot last year. it ended up being ~$1,600.
US currency is good for all debts public and private. Thats not the same thing as the requirement for a business to accept cash as payment for a good or service. There is no requirement on the type of tenders that must be accepted by a business.
Not sneaky at all. That's pretty standard for this sort of thing. Actually it would be unusual for 0% financing offers to work any other way.
I used barclay for my ipad. Had some issues which I won't go into detail about but barclay fixed it all via email. Paid it off early and then cancelled my card so I can get another 0% offer in the future. All via email, no questions asked.
In the UK anything over £100 is definitely worth paying with on a credit card as if anything goes wrong the credit card company is jointly responsible, so you get better protection.