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.