Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Perhaps all furniture stores have financing plans that they don't rub your face in, I've never asked. But my experience is that the furniture stores who loudly advertise their "no payment until June, no money down, no interest" are very much like the buy here/ pay here used car lots. Their prices are much too high and the quality is often marginal. They are places that take advantage of financially naive people.
One of my tenants bought a recliner at a no money down, no interest sale. Fortunately for her, she sat down and actually read her contract. She discovered that she had signed a contract for 38% interest and if a payment was one second late, the interest came into effect, not for the balance, but for the entire purchase back to the original day of purchase. She was scrambling to get it paid off.
That type of store (or car lot ) is geared towards convincing people who don't have a lot of money to buy something they can't really afford and getting them roped into usurous interest rates.
People who are money smart either pay cash for a chair, or they put it on a money back credit card and pay it off, on line, when they arrive home with their new chair.
OP will get a better chair, debt free, if she saves up her money and shops at several stores, comparing quality and price before she buys.
I will disagree with this for a couple narrow cases. Often furniture stores or appliance stores will offer '90 days same as cash' or '1 year free financing' where there are no finance charges if you make the payments on time for that period. Unless they will give you an additional discount for paying cash it can actually be better to take advantage of the plan. This assumes that you make all the payments on time so that the penalty clause doesn't kick in. They offer these plans because they are paying finance charges on their inventory and want to move it so they can update their inventory
The other case has to do with car financing. I have sometimes found that there are promotions that make it more economical to finance the car and use my money elsewhere. Even when I do this I pay off the finance plan early but having the flexibility is useful.
That’s what I was trying to say. Why use money that is earning 5% or more to buy a car a 1% financing?
I think there are reasons to justify financing something. If the table she likes is on sale now, and may cost more in 90 days, and she can afford to pay 1/3 for 3 months, there is nothing wrong with that. There is no reason to fear financing if you use it to your advantage and remain in control.
We can afford to pay cash for things, but we always use other people’s money, if it doesn’t cost us anything.
While that may be true in your situation, it is a much, much different situation when you have zero dollars in savings, have great difficulty paying your current bills and work a minimum wage job (where your manager has "discussed" your work with you- i.e. you have a very real risk of being fired and having zero income, too).
Do you really think that it will be easy to completely pay off the bill for an "expensive chair" in the three months before the interest starts (from day one)? Really? I stand by my advice for the OP to save the money first instead of buying anything on credit, in her situation.
And, that is even ignoring that the OP lives in a motel room and does not even need to buy any furniture at all.
Theres a chair that I want for my room. Its actually more like a long chair and I love the way it looks! I wanted to buy it and put it at the end of my bed so i can sit in it when I watch TV. That or I was thinking of putting it in the corner and buying some nice pillows for it. Either way it's a really beautiful chair.
I found one at a place near me and its expensive so I was thinking of getting on a a payment plan for it. It'd be 90 days and if I get it paid off by then I don't have to pay any extra on it, just what I owe. I was thinking about doing it. I really want it, but should I wait and save up and pay cash or should I get a payment plan?
Now I know a lot of people get their furniture used. I'm actually all for that and have done that before. but even if I found one on craigslist or somewhere I have no way to go get it, no car or truck. And a lot of ads want to meet or want you to come pick it up. This place offers free delivery so thats also why I'm leaning more toward it.
Anybody else paying off furniture? is it worth it?
OP, it's not a good idea for you to do this, at this time, IMO. Because you don't even know if you'll have a job from one week to the next, given your work situation. 90 days is actually a reasonable time to pay it off (not too much interest accruing) IF you can afford the monthly payments, which I somehow doubt. But still, it doesn't sound like you're in the most stable situation. Probably, those chairs will be around awhile. A year or two, even. So there's no rush. I would recommend you resolved your work situation first, then you can make a commitment to buy one of those chairs.
no I decided it would be a bad idea, especially since my credit card isnt paid off. Sometimes i have a bad habit of spending money I haven't made yet lol. Plus I would have to pay it off in 90 days and with my trip coming up I don't think it's a good idea! Thank you everyone for the opinions though! I can see why some do it.
no I decided it would be a bad idea, especially since my credit card isnt paid off. Sometimes i have a bad habit of spending money I haven't made yet lol. Plus I would have to pay it off in 90 days and with my trip coming up I don't think it's a good idea! Thank you everyone for the opinions though! I can see why some do it.
Good call on the furniture.
Do you really need the trip? Not sure that's a good replacement until the credit card is paid off either.
Deleveraging is boring and draining, but the nice thing about paying a credit card off is you can...always spend the money again later...but you shouldn't.
My sister lives near Chicago. I got to visit her this weekend. Almost the whole place is decked out in alley give-aways and she's made it quite nice. She doesn't mind refinishing a nice wood piece someone doesn't need anymore. Patience and knowing what you can fix vs what's junk/not what you need is key.
You're in a frugality forum -- where from my reading over the years -- many people are just downright ANTI-credit and you ask about buying on time? Surely you had to know most people would say" no, don't do it."
So did you want someone to "suggest" or persuade you out of doing it?
I LOVE credit...especially 90 days, six months or one year "same as cash."
Sometimes I've had the money to pay cash, and wanted to keep that money in MY pocket making interest rather than lose that growth, minuscule as it's been in some cases.
But I've also always had a "secure job." (as secure as anything is these days)
I confess I'm not good at delayed gratification. And only YOU know you're financial/job/life situation.
I could be hit by a truck tomorrow. So if want I want is financially in reason (affordable) to my way of thinking --I buy it. Period.
Others, many here, say if you can't afford to pay cash...that by definition means "you can't afford it."
If the chair will make you happy only you can decide whether to buy it.
If worrying about not being able to pay it off before the interest-free period will keep you up at night -- then how much enjoyment will you get from the chair anyway? You'll look at it and worry/stress out.
But IF you'd buy the chair ANYway, even if the original higher price were what the added interest would have included -- think about that also.
KEEPING THE MATH SIMPLE OF COURSE....
If I were to see an item (a chair) I wanted let's say for $500....and any finance charges I'd pay (IF I pay any at all) would be $50 ....if the cash price of the chair had been $550 would I have been willing to pay that for it anyway, if that had been the regular price of the chair? If so personally I don't see the difference.
Interest paid on an item doesn't keep me from getting it. IF the interest is the difference between affordability and not -- then I can't afford the item in the first place. Finance charges are the cost of having the credit. And that doesn't bother me at all.
Thanks and I'm sorry. I am honestly not trying to play dumb. i don't talk to many people in real life. My guy is busy right now and i don't have many friends here where I live yet. i don't have anybody to really talk to in real life so normally I come here to talk and ask questions. i don't tell people I have a learning disorder for them to feel bad for me, really i don't. i just know that people on here have called me weird before or have asked me if I'm slow so i just wanted to explain why I am like how I am. I don't come here to fight with people, just to talk and ask questions. i get pretty lonely in real life and theres always people on here. It honestly isn't more than that. I just come here to talk.
I am thinking about taking a break from on here. Yes, people are nice but some people are just mean and only want to keep bringing up stupid stuff Ive done or said. Yes I can take the truth and I handle it pretty good but it also can be stressful. I have gotten messages that I need to stop posting.
That is rude and you can report those. You can also put people on ignore who say rude things to you and you don't have to see their posts. I hope you don't leave because a lot of people care about you here. I think it's a bit of a life-line.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
