Financing a TV how bad is that?

[Necromantic]

if you pay your purchase off before it shows up on your monthly statement - it does nothing for your credit.

This is not correct. I've done this for years and it's why my credit score is over 800. My banker even said an easy way to build rolling credit is to pay for gas on your credit card, turn right around and transfer the funds immediately from your checking to credit account.

[Witchblade77]

This is not correct. I've done this for years and it's why my credit score is over 800. My banker even said an easy way to build rolling credit is to pay for gas on your credit card, turn right around and transfer the funds immediately from your checking to credit account.

interesting, because I was told that you have to wait until you get your statement, because that shows you can responsibly carry a balance to credit reporting agencies - paying off too soon, just shows you are not really using your credit. maybe things changed? this was something I was told over decade ago.

the goal is still the same though, charge small purchases, things you would be spending on like bills or gas and then pay them off in full to avoid interest while still actively using credit.

[Necromantic]

the goal is still the same though, charge small purchases, things you would be spending on like bills or gas and then pay them off in full to avoid interest while still actively using credit.

They are, yes.

As you and others have said, there are smart ways to finance things. Generally, it's not a good idea for people who can or will struggle with the payments alone. That's what these places bank on... people who will struggle but really REALLY have to have that item RIGHT NOW. About 20 years ago, I worked in a store kinda similar to Rent-A-Center but rather than renting, they financed you the furniture. They made it sound really sweet with statements like "you will own it, not rent it!" but if you cannot pay, the contract says they can repo the furniture AND you're still required to pay the balance and are left with nothing. In just a year, I saw 3 young men who couldn't have been older than 21 who thought "whow! a big screen TV!" and not realizing they were about to pay 3x the MSRP plus interest, which ended up being $300 a week payments. None of them were able to keep up and ended up getting the TVs repossessed. The company turns around and sells them as used for only 2x the MSRP and sues the original buyers for the balance.

[ghotihook]

They are, yes.

As you and others have said, there are smart ways to finance things. Generally, it's not a good idea for people who can or will struggle with the payments alone. That's what these places bank on... people who will struggle but really REALLY have to have that item RIGHT NOW. About 20 years ago, I worked in a store kinda similar to Rent-A-Center but rather than renting, they financed you the furniture. They made it sound really sweet with statements like "you will own it, not rent it!" but if you cannot pay, the contract says they can repo the furniture AND you're still required to pay the balance and are left with nothing. In just a year, I saw 3 young men who couldn't have been older than 21 who thought "whow! a big screen TV!" and not realizing they were about to pay 3x the MSRP plus interest, which ended up being $300 a week payments. None of them were able to keep up and ended up getting the TVs repossessed. The company turns around and sells them as used for only 2x the MSRP and sues the original buyers for the balance.

I don't think anyone thinks that financing something at a 0% interest is stupid. It is actually paying interest on item with depreciating value which is stupid. Obviously there are emergencies (if for some reason you can't save cash) come up where there is no other option but to finance, but again, that's not what we are talking about. It's stupid for people like the OP who are buying luxury or other depreciating assets that get themselves in trouble or pay massively over MSRP because of interest that are making stupid decisions. Also, I am not calling the OP stupid, cause I don't think he has made that purchase yet.

[Necromantic]

I don't think anyone thinks that financing something at a 0% interest is stupid. It is actually paying interest on item with depreciating value which is stupid. Obviously there are emergencies (if for some reason you can't save cash) come up where there is no other option but to finance, but again, that's not what we are talking about. It's stupid for people like the OP who are buying luxury or other depreciating assets that get themselves in trouble or pay massively over MSRP because of interest that are making stupid decisions. Also, I am not calling the OP stupid, cause I don't think he has made that purchase yet.

Nobody who actually knows about financing will think it's stupid. There are people in this thread who have said it was but you can tell do not understand that there are things like 0 interest, which can be good IF you can make the payments and pay it off before the "0 interest" period ends.

But yes, you are right, there are emergencies which too doesn't make it "stupid". As far as the OP, he was just asking. Maybe he doesn't know about 0 interest options. Maybe he could easily pay it off in that time and doesn't want to pass up a really good price drop sale. We don't know but you gotta love those who jump on the opportunity to call someone else on the internet "stupid".

[ghotihook]

Nobody who actually knows about financing will think it's stupid. There are people in this thread who have said it was but you can tell do not understand that there are things like 0 interest, which can be good IF you can make the payments and pay it off before the "0 interest" period ends.

But yes, you are right, there are emergencies which too doesn't make it "stupid". As far as the OP, he was just asking. Maybe he doesn't know about 0 interest options. Maybe he could easily pay it off in that time and doesn't want to pass up a really good price drop sale. We don't know but you gotta love those who jump on the opportunity to call someone else on the internet "stupid".

I was one of the first people in this thread to call it stupid. I think MOST financing is stupid. Obvious omissions are zero interest and mortgages, the former not having to pay anything extra, the latter obviously almost impossible to do without financing. I have friends or people I know who have financed cars, kitchen tables, tvs, remodeling projects, and I even know someone who financed a pair of shoes! I think the biggest problem is people just have absolutely no idea how save money for things like that. They don't have emergency funds and they don't save for the fun stuff they want.

When you talk about financing something what people are usually talking about are paying interest on items because you cannot pay fully for them. I know too many people that just waste money on buying things NOW and paying interest instead of saving up for an item and paying for all of it. I am not saying you shouldn't buy luxury items or the fancy new technology, but don't pay extra for them! Hell, I own a luxury car which is absolutely a terrible investment, because they will only lose value, but instead of financing the car, I saved for several years and paid cash.

[draynay]

It depends on the TV. I paid 2 grand for a LG C1 OLED TV. It looks amazing and is equally amazing for games, which I use often.

That's the other thing, I'd rather have my 4k OLED over an 8k, that tech is more valuable to me than the pixels. The 8ks have QLED which is OK, I have that on my laptop and its a good display tech, just not quite what OLED can do. There are 8k OLED TVs but they're $20,000 and up and I hope those are outside the scope of this thread, I'd hate to see anyone overreaching at that price. By all means buy it if you can afford those, just maybe don't go $20k into debt over it.

[Necromantic]

I was one of the first people in this thread to call it stupid. I think MOST financing is stupid. Obvious omissions are zero interest and mortgages, the former not having to pay anything extra, the latter obviously almost impossible to do without financing. I have friends or people I know who have financed cars, kitchen tables, tvs, remodeling projects, and I even know someone who financed a pair of shoes! I think the biggest problem is people just have absolutely no idea how save money for things like that. They don't have emergency funds and they don't save for the fun stuff they want.

When you talk about financing something what people are usually talking about are paying interest on items because you cannot pay fully for them. I know too many people that just waste money on buying things NOW and paying interest instead of saving up for an item and paying for all of it. I am not saying you shouldn't buy luxury items or the fancy new technology, but don't pay extra for them! Hell, I own a luxury car which is absolutely a terrible investment, because they will only lose value, but instead of financing the car, I saved for several years and paid cash.

There are sometimes circumstances surrounding that. I was saving up for the TV I mentioned in this thread. I would have had the money 6 months later to pay it in full. However, there was a huge random-ass sale for it that happened and the damn thing had not even been out for a month, plus they were tossing in a free 2 year accidental coverage warranty which alone are $300, so all-in-all, it was $800 saved. With a 0 interest finance, I'll have it paid before the year is over. If there was no deal, I would have just saved and got it at a later month.

Yes, some people may be talking about paying interest and if they're not, sure, they could have said it from the start but that's why I started out my response to the OP with questions rather than insults. I've only recently started peeking in this off-topic subsection and the amount of unnecessary insults, sealioning and incompetency I see here is very staggering.

That's the other thing, I'd rather have my 4k OLED over an 8k, that tech is more valuable to me than the pixels. The 8ks have QLED which is OK, I have that on my laptop and its a good display tech, just not quite what OLED can do. There are 8k OLED TVs but they're $20,000 and up and I hope those are outside the scope of this thread, I'd hate to see anyone overreaching at that price. By all means buy it if you can afford those, just maybe don't go $20k into debt over it.

I will pick 4K OLED over 8K any day of the decade. As we go from SD to HD to 4K, etc, we just get sharper. Some people will not see any difference at some point unless they are the extreme rare people who pause video and zoom in for some reason. When 4K came out, it brought HDR to light which is a better thing than even 4K. If 8K are not bringing anything eye-catching along with it, it's just marketing and numbers.

[Shadowferal]

I was one of the first people in this thread to call it stupid. I think MOST financing is stupid. .

I'll go you one better, and it seems you might agree to a point; financing anything is stupid. If I could pay cash for everything I would. As I posted before a good credit is a double edged sword. It shows I can be responsible suckered paying an exorbitant fee to use someone's money to pay for my purchase..(and the higher that credit score the bigger the sucker I feel)..because banks never make enough money using other methods to begin with.
Living in a very capitalist society where "a sucker is born every minute" is more true than anyone cares to admit.

[ghotihook]

There are sometimes circumstances surrounding that. I was saving up for the TV I mentioned in this thread. I would have had the money 6 months later to pay it in full. However, there was a huge random-ass sale for it that happened and the damn thing had not even been out for a month, plus they were tossing in a free 2 year accidental coverage warranty which alone are $300, so all-in-all, it was $800 saved. With a 0 interest finance, I'll have it paid before the year is over. If there was no deal, I would have just saved and got it at a later month.

Yes, some people may be talking about paying interest and if they're not, sure, they could have said it from the start but that's why I started out my response to the OP with questions rather than insults. I've only recently started peeking in this off-topic subsection and the amount of unnecessary insults, sealioning and incompetency I see here is very staggering.

I pretty much agree with everything you're saying. And you're talking about nuances. Ofc there will be rare or extreme versions where it is a good idea, but for the vast majority I still think what I say is true.

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I'll go you one better, and it seems you might agree to a point; financing anything is stupid. If I could pay cash for everything I would. As I posted before a good credit is a double edged sword. It shows I can be responsible suckered paying an exorbitant fee to use someone's money to pay for my purchase..(and the higher that credit score the bigger the sucker I feel)..because banks never make enough money using other methods to begin with.
Living in a very capitalist society where "a sucker is born every minute" is more true than anyone cares to admit.

Oh yes we do definitely agree. However most people I know that have amazing credit scores are good with their finances, but I get what you're saying. It's massively easier to get approved for financing if your credit score is good. I never really thought of it that way. They will see something like "if your have good credit you can get an amazing 1.5% interest on your loan". People get think they are getting deal when they could just wait X amount of time and not pay that money.

[Necromantic]

Oh yes we do definitely agree. However most people I know that have amazing credit scores are good with their finances, but I get what you're saying. It's massively easier to get approved for financing if your credit score is good. I never really thought of it that way. They will see something like "if your have good credit you can get an amazing 1.5% interest on your loan". People get think they are getting deal when they could just wait X amount of time and not pay that money.

Which is why I feel bad for people who get suckered into financing something and have no idea what high interest rates are. They see this low number and think "oh, that can't be bad" but do not understand the math behind it. Some interest rates are right in your face. The absolute worst I ever saw was a pet store at our mall that will finance their $3000 dogs to people. Just for kicks once, I checked my finance rate with my credit score over 800 and it was nearly 60%. I asked the manager how and he said people with bad credit can be up to 200%.

[Shadowferal]

I once had a credit card that if I ever needed it, I could have put $35k on it. After a while I asked myself "Why do I need this?" Sure it's nice if I had some sort of an emergency...and percentage wasn't bad. But...*shredded* called the bank and let them know. (To be sure)
I have moments when i feel suckered, but falling for that temptation, that would be stupid.

[ghotihook]

I once had a credit card that if I ever needed it, I could have put $35k on it. After a while I asked myself "Why do I need this?" Sure it's nice if I had some sort of an emergency...and percentage wasn't bad. But...*shredded* called the bank and let them know. (To be sure)
I have moments when i feel suckered, but falling for that temptation, that would be stupid.

Yea, I own a single credit card with a $16K limit just to help my credit score. I have only gone over $10K once and that is what I was building my home theater. But then I paid the full balance when it was due. The sad thing is when I pull my credit score it says "Good" instead of "Excellent" because I don't have enough available credit. I think am supposed to have $50K available credit for "Excellent" That always baffled me.

[Shadowferal]

Yea... I knew my credit score was going to take a hit when I shredded that card. (Credit-debt ratio plummeted)
I didn't care.

[Witchblade77]

Yea... I knew my credit score was going to take a hit when I shredded that card. (Credit-debt ratio plummeted)
I didn't care.

I... don't understand this. I mean... I used to for a little while think that way, but right now, your credit is checked for bloody everything. I keep my old credit cards that literally only get one small bill with autopay charged to them and NOTHING else, solely to keep my credit to debt ratio as high as possible. because holy hell does it make a difference. including for interest free financing availability. (paid zero interest on our matress purchase and now paying zero interest on puppy's medical bill)

[Fencers]

to first, exactly the point I was making. this is what I do, but in order to be able to do that for larger ticket items - I save up for them first and then make a credit card purchase knowing that I CAN pay it off in full as soon as I get the statement. IMO, if one doesn't have the discipline to save first... they probably may want to rethink spending money on such non essential items as 8k TV. if they can easily make the payments? then they can then make those payments into their savings account BEFORE the purchase. IMO

It's sound advice, but remember one might not have the same purchasing opportunity later on. That is the power of credit. Also, the danger. Naturally.

to the second. well... I can't say I would or would not have done the same or similar with 100% certainty.. wait... yeah I can. when I was younger, I would have done it. now? nope. I've personaly learned to appreciate beautiful things I cannot justify prioritizing - vicariously. because it honestly always comes down to choice.... do I get a gorgeous $500 set of absolute best in slot pencils when I already have perfectly good functional set that cost me fraction of that price? or do I throw that money towards my mortgage principal and reduce the time it will take to pay off as well as interest?

I have a different view of this. I think life is to enjoy and savor in the flesh. I would prefer nothing to the lesser of something I desire. That is to say, I am not interested in enjoying life on a "best bang for the buck" basis necessarily.

There is pretty good arguments in the here & now why 8k televisions are still good purchasing options that Rtings, Digital Trends, and Tom's have done. The introduction of the TCL premium line alongside Hisense and Vizio, brands that were sub-premium just a year ago, with newer refined models from Samsung, LG and Sony have really made 8k TVs a solid option even for non-8k content.

FWIW, I used to do a lot of Television product testing at my day job. I kept up with the industry even though I am working on different product categories now. 8k really isn't that 'cutting edge' anymore. Sets like the Samsung Q900TS really can make non-8k content pop, only paying a little more than much-lauded CX in some cases. Or even the Xl line from TCL, which mostly got rave reviews.

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I... don't understand this. I mean... I used to for a little while think that way, but right now, your credit is checked for bloody everything. I keep my old credit cards that literally only get one small bill with autopay charged to them and NOTHING else, solely to keep my credit to debt ratio as high as possible. because holy hell does it make a difference. including for interest free financing availability. (paid zero interest on our matress purchase and now paying zero interest on puppy's medical bill)

Bro, I do this for every one of those little CCs I no longer care about and auto-pay every month. Credit score out the yin yang.

When those rotating categories come in... mmm, the sweet sweet miles.

Gotta work the system, bois.

[Witchblade77]

It's sound advice, but remember one might not have the same purchasing opportunity later on. That is the power of credit. Also, the danger. Naturally.

I have a different view of this. I think life is to enjoy and savor in the flesh. I would prefer nothing to the lesser of something I desire. That is to say, I am not interested in enjoying life on a "best bang for the buck" basis necessarily.

There is pretty good arguments in the here & now why 8k televisions are still good purchasing options that Rtings, Digital Trends, and Tom's have done. The introduction of the TCL premium line alongside Hisense and Vizio, brands that were sub-premium just a year ago, with newer refined models from Samsung, LG and Sony have really made 8k TVs a solid option even for non-8k content.

FWIW, I used to do a lot of Television product testing at my day job. I kept up with the industry even though I am working on different product categories now. 8k really isn't that 'cutting edge' anymore. Sets like the Samsung Q900TS really can make non-8k content pop, only paying a little more than much-lauded CX in some cases. Or even the Xl line from TCL, which mostly got rave reviews.

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Bro, I do this for every one of those little CCs I no longer care about and auto-pay every month. Credit score out the yin yang.

When those rotating categories come in... mmm, the sweet sweet miles.

Gotta work the system, bois.

for the first... yeah... in the end it really comes down to personal priorities. for me top of the line (or even close to top of the line) tech is just not one of them

for the second, yes, life is to enjoy, but for me it again comes down to risk vs reward ratio. does buying something that is out of my budget make me happy enough long enough to outweigh the stress that comes with carrying consumer debt? 99% of the time, for me the answer is "no" especially when "close enough" alternatives are readily available and are MUCH cheaper. its not that I'm saying to never spend on anything fun, EVER. but rather weight pros and cons carefully.

for the third, EXACTLY! unless you have shopping addiction so bad that having that credit card is akin to keeping alcohol in a house as recovering alcoholic - why cancel long established credit card with such a high limit, when you could be playing the system instead of the system playing you?

[Shadowferal]

I... don't understand this. I mean... I used to for a little while think that way, but right now, your credit is checked for bloody everything. I keep my old credit cards that literally only get one small bill with autopay charged to them and NOTHING else, solely to keep my credit to debt ratio as high as possible. because holy hell does it make a difference. including for interest free financing availability. (paid zero interest on our matress purchase and now paying zero interest on puppy's medical bill)

It's just me...flying solo here. I have a credit card and my bank's debit card. I'm near "excellent" on the score, I really don't need anymore than what I have beyond living expenses, which I keep fairly lean on. (No choice, since income is just as lean)

[vindicatorx]

I just realized Black Friday is little over 2 months away ill wait till then maybe ill find a deal

generally speaking the best time of year to buy a TV is the end of January early February. The TV's they put out for black friday are generally lower quality. I personally wouldn't buy an 8k TV as there is no point. I would personally get one of the better 4k TV's which run around $2k.

[Mhyroth]

Do people not have like an emergency fund or something? Couple of thousands aside for emergencies like dentist, doctor, car breaking down etc ?
Reading this topic worries me at how people will handle future setbacks (even smaller ones).