Credit Card Lay Away for Big Purchases

You have a budget per month for your credit card. Perhaps you pay all your bills with your credit card, as well as your miscellaneous expenses like going out to clubs, etc.

There is one service I wish big retailers would provide here and that is credit card lay away. This is the way I picture it working. Let's say for instance you see a laptop that costs 2000 dollars. You don't want to apply for store credit because you know you won't get the lowest APR or you may not even qualify. But you do have a credit card that has a limit of 1000 dollars per month. Now you don't have the cash to pay the rest of the laptop and your credit card doesn't have enough funds to purchase the laptop. Why can't the retailer facilitate this process for you. Let the retailer bill you each month for part of the laptop. For example it would be billed on your credit card 4 times for the next 4 months or next 8 months. So:

May 25th - charge 1 for 500
June 25th - charge 2 for 500
July 25th - charge 3 for 500
August 25th - charge 5 for 500

This way you have a grace period each month and the interest won't add up. You're not putting up the cash up front. And you are still paying this per month as you would. Of course, if you only pay 250 for the first month of the 500, the apr on the card is going to add up. But that's up to you to decide what would be the best payment option for you. Once you do this, you can pay for it in parts, using your cc, and you won't have to pay the 2000 dollars in full.

I think many retailers would benefit from this, like best buy, radio shack, etc. Of course there are going to be problems with this, like for example the expiration dates, or someone cancels a card, or someone cancels an order. These are all workable problems. This is just a short article, and I'm just thinking out loud, if I were to have a retail store as big as best buy, I'd probably take the time to write a business plan and do this. But I think this concept could benefit a lot of people, and would increase sales.

How to buy a new car by leasing

Nowdays with the economy being what it is, most, not all, car dealers have dropped their prices and are practically begging for your business. Right now is the best time to negotiate a lease/purchase for a new car. How does this work? First thing you need to do is find the right car for you, and know your budget. I negotiated a lease on a volvo S40, which came out to about 358 a month for 3 years. The msrp was negotiated down to 22K with taxes and everything. So for three years, i'll be paying 358 dollars, which comes out to about 12888. I put down 3000 dollars. Now, after the lease is over, the buyout lease price I got quoted is 11500. So in reality, I'm sort of getting a low finance loan through a lease. In total, i'm only paying 2388 in interest. So at the end of three years, I'll put down 5000 dollars, and then finance the rest. At the same time, the monthly payment is lower throughout the 3 years. Comparing that using a car loan finance calculator, :

To finance 22000, 3000 dollars down, at 7.43 % ( would've been my interest rate ), for 48 months, I would have to pay 458.77 a month. Yes I would have been done paying the car, but my monthly payment would've been higher. I would rather have lower monthly payments, and just save money during my lease term and then pay it off at the end.

Nowadays, some dealers are offering 0% apr for financing, but it's difficult to get credit, and with the banks being what they are, you have to have flawless credit. So this way you can sort of afford to get a new car, and not have any hassles or problems of repairing it or having it break down.

How to pay off your student loans using your credit card.

Nowadays, it is very difficult to pay for college. Back in 1998, when I started at Fairleigh Dickinson University, I didn't get a full scholarship to attend. So like every student in the US, I had to apply for student loans. By the end of graduate school, I owed about 30,000 dollars. Which isn't a lot compared to other college graduates out there. So after getting a job, I started paying them monthly, but the interest rate was really high. On one loan I had a variable interest rate of 8 % and on the other loan I had an interest rate of 5.8% fixed.

I decided to use my credit card to do a transfer balance to the 8% loan. I had a 0% apr, so I figured I might as well use it. I knew that in a year I could probably do a lot of damage to it and that the good thing was that after a year, the 0 % apr would turn to 2.8% APR. This was a capital one credit card I used. I know right now that discover offers a lifetime apr of 3.3 % for transfer balances. But remember when you do this, you will end up paying a higher monthly payment for a few months. For the first few months, my minimum monthly payment was about 540 dollars. But as time went it went down because your monthly payment for a credit card depends on the balance carried. Also, if you do this, never, ever and i repeat, NEVER EVER use the credit card with your loan balance for any purchases. Keep this credit card as your sole lender.

This also works to your advantage because some cards offer cash rewards or points for each balance transfer.

paying your mortgage with your credit card without the cash advance fees.

When you pay your mortgage, you write a check out every month to your mortgage lender, and that's the end of the story. You gain nothing and go through this for 12 months a year, for 30 years. What if you could gain something? Thank your credit card for this and getcashforcredit.com for this.

What if you could gain at least something except a simple thank you? Well now you can. If you go to www.getcashforcredit.com, this site gives you cash without borrowing from your credit card at the cash advance fee. You select the amount of your mortgage and buy a cash gift for the amount. For example my mortgage is $2000 dollars, so I would buy a $2000 cash gift. For this they charge $210 dollars. So your total would be 2210. This is significantly less than the cash advance fee you would get plus the apr your credit card would charge you.

Once you do this, just wait for your check to come through the mail. Depending on the shipping option, usually comes within 2- 3 days. At the end of the month you will have a charge for 2210 on your card that you can pay which includes your grace period. If you had done this through your credit card, you would not have had a grace period and would have been accumulating interest as soon as you got the cash.

Wait for your credit card statement to come through the mail and just pay it. Your total charge will be $2210. In my case at least. Now I am gaining 26520 points on my card per year which i can cash in for travel or cash back rewards. If I had just done this through my normal checking account, I don't gain anything, just a "Thank you for your payment".

Credit Cards are not always Evil

Some would say that credit cards are evil, well perhaps those in huge debt. But personally, I love the ideas of credit cards. I get to spend money that I don't necessarily have, but need to have at the end of the month, and I don' t have to carry cash around. My credit card limit is 20,000 dollars, so really it's like carrying 20000 dollars in my pocket. I pay everything with my credit card, my cable, gas, plane tickets, food, my items at cvs. When I can't pay something with my credit card, I feel like I'm being robbed and I'll tell you why. I have two credit cards, an Amex and a citicard mastercard. In my Citicard, I gain cash back rewards, so after a certain amount of points, I can get a check for the amount of money I have spent. So every 2 or 3 months I get a check for 50 dollars from Citicard. I mean it's not a fortune, but money is money. In my Amex I get point rewards, which I can redeem for just about anything. I usually use it for airfare. So every month I accumulate points, and in 4 or 5 months I already have enough points for a discount on my plane ticket. Plus when I use travel rewards I get the best deals that no one sees. I actually wish I could pay everything with my credit card. Right now the only thing I can't pay with my credit card is my car lease and my..oh crap I have to pay my light bill.....damn you PSEG.

How to get cash from your credit card without the cash advance fees and high APR interest rates.

There are times when you need to pay for something in cash because the place you are shopping at doesn't accept credit cards. Sometimes you need cash to go on vacation and need the cash for spending money, or you need to go on a weekend trip to vegas and need the cash to gamble. Even though nowadays, just about everywhere they accept credit cards, but there are still times when you need that cold hard cash. I was in that same situation back in January when I went on vacation to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. I needed cash to spend but I didn't want to withdraw cash from my checking account. So I called my credit card company, because I thought to myself, perhaps they can give me a cash advance and this way I can take spending money to RIO and gain points. Being the cautious person I am, I call up the company to make sure that the APR is the same as the purchase APR. Well I was wrong. The APR was about twice the amount and they charged me a 3% fee, as well as no grace period. I asked them I needed 400 dollars and I asked them to estimate how much I would owe at the end of the month. They said I would owe 491 dollars. This was a no no. So that is how my idea was born. What if there was a site, where I can use my credit card as a purchase, and then I would get shipped a check for cash at the same time gaining points. Getcashforcredit.com was born. This is how it works. Getcashforcredit has a bunch of gift cash cards that you can buy. So for example, I need 400 dollars in cash because I want to have gambling money for my vegas trip. So I go to getcashforcredit.com and buy a 400 dollar cash gift card. They charge me 400 dollars plus their 30 dollar service fee. I check out and use their paypal to pay 430 dollars. Now this is a purchase, and I receive an email confirmation. I confirm my address with them and in 2 or 3 days I receive a check for 400 dollars. Now I can spend this any way I like, and at the end of the month on my billing statement I have a charge for 430 dollars. Now this is a purchase, and NOT A CASH ADVANCE, so the apr hasn't added up during my grace period. So now I pay the 430 dollars in full, and at the same time I am gaining points on my card for cash or travel rewards. So it's a win win situation for everyone. The fees peak at 6000 dollars, which you have to pay 210. But that is still much less than getting a 6000 cash advance from your credit card. I dare you to call your credit card company and ask them how much you have to pay at the end of the month for a 6000 dollar cash advance. Then come back and let me know....