I bought my first pinball machine with a credit card, and then took out a loan for my third (new Stern). I have a reliable/stable job where I can afford the payments, so this was about the only way for me to get the machines I wanted without having to save up for a year. It's worked out for me, but I can see how many wouldn't want to go that route.

If I were buying NIB I would possibly buy it with a credit card for more protection, but I'd have the cash on-hand to pay off the full balance before ordering.

I don't like owing someone money. I get annoyed every month when I make the mortgage payment, so I don't keep any other debts.

amazing just how prudent and fiscally responsible pinheads are! begs the question why so many buy a nib and sell it within a short time of owning? either the game sucks or there are other financial pressures that dictate the need to liquidate a nib asap because they had no business buying in the first place.

if everyone only bought nib with cash on hand i suspect the industry would be in a much worse place. i only use cash myself to buy machines and when i see 8000-9000 for a nib machine its very easy to direct that capitol in so many other areas.

Yeah, we don't see too many bragging about buying on credit for some reason.

I am cash and carry and I only buy from pinphila.

I can't afford NIB pins, hence me not ever buying any. I'd also never rack up credit card debt and pay for them on credit, which would make the machine cost me even more. Seems like a lot of folks share that sensibility which is good to see.

If I don't have the cash on hand I don't buy a game. I would never pay interest on a loan for a pinball game.

Just so we have a counter-point

I love overpaying with credit and being in debt until I am a pile of old bones.

I prefer it when my paycheck instantly vaporizes the very day I get paid.

Not really

Exactly. I owe on my house about another 27 years at 3.875%, I owe about 4 years on my car at 3.65%, I have savings that I could pay off both the car and house (basically that would deplete my savings) with but in the current market I am making well over my interest rates on investments. All major house renovations are paid in cash, swimming pool, game/movie room addition, etc. I pay for pins with cash. Mortgage interest is a tax deduction. I get a monthly vehicle stipend from work to cover the payment.

Agreed. Another example of money working for you. In this case, carrying a note helps offset tax. For me, my main home and rental property help offset the amt I get hit with at year end. Sadly, mortgage interest is on the chopping block for certain wage earners.

I bought my first pin with a CC. I used a 0 % for 18 months card, its almost already paid off. I like to have a large balance in savings in case of emergencies and commit myself to a 100-200 dollar amount payment on the card over the 18 months. I always make sure i get the item paid off before any interest hits. I am a guitar player, also and i do the same stuff with expensive guitar gear. However after this current card gets paid off, i might go to a cash only type situation.

When I was buying our home, we had zero balance on our credit card, and our lender urged us to put something on there before we submitted all of our info. I had the cash to buy a pin, but she wanted us to use our credit card, so I bought an IJ (WMS) on the credit card through PayPal. I paid it off right after we secured the home loan, but it did the trick.

Other than that, no, I don't buy games on credit. I can't say that I've never been tempted, but I'd rather not go down that road, especially after having two kids.

I have only payed cash to date but have no machine that is considered a or b title but recently started to think about taking small personal loan which i can get at less then 4% unsecured to make a bigger purchase. I look at the four wheelers I bought over the years it was easier to make $150-$200 monthly payment then save
$7000 up. and even paying interest for 3 years the pin is not a bad thing they seem to hold a value better then atv, snowmobile, etc. the amount I lose in value and interest I'll trade for the fun me, my family and friends get from hours of playing the new Pinball. I will never be debt free until they lower me in the ground so I figure enjoy what you can now I have had friends pass away early in life that never got to enjoy life. With that being said I would never buy more then I can afford to pay for but lets just say my banker knows me well!
As for the car dealerships ... I work in Sales and I would say we strive to get you the best rate if we can with the banks we work with great but if you have better rate at credit union we are happy you are saving money and will take their check as well. A happy customer is more likely to be a repeat customer in my experience!!

Straight cash money. No cash = no game.

JJP is supposed to come out with a new E-plate credit card that once you buy $6000 stuff, it unlocks exclusive new game features in WOZ.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/eplates-credit-card-gets-you-exclusive-modes-for-woz/page/5

I took out a line of credit for around 50k. It's open ended. Only reason I took it out was to renovate the house. Didn't end up using it. Looks like its time to buy another pin. Just found a beautiful Indiana jones by Williams. I think it is credit worthy!!

Are you looking to adopt? I don't eat much and I know how to work on pins.. Think Zach Galifianakis in the hangover franchise, but less hairy.

EXACTLY!

Gas Monkey only deals in cash. And so do I. Own 37 of them in the last 4 years. Still have 25 units but will need to be selling a few when spring comes.

I have a great example of when to use credit.

Wife is upset but accepting the fact a NIB Luci will happen this year. Wife will shit bricks when semi pulls up with a NIB MET too . Wife checks account, only $6500 gone, wife says what happened, I say 2 for 1 deal.

Over the next 6 months I sandbag just enough earnings out of her sight to pay off the 0% balance without setting off any obvious alarms.

Deep down she knows, but she doesn't reeeeeally know

Hang on a minute. How long were you in rehab, and what kind of rehab?

Same. Minus the car bit

To some extent, one's view of credit is dependent upon one's circumstances. I have had to move many times over the years and therefore never made a dime off of a house. (I did, however, lose over $70k due to the housing market collapse. Ouch!) Our financial situation would have been very different had I been like others in my family who worked at the same place their entire career. Not trying to make excuses, and in fact I have always had the cash to pay for pins, but that is only because I did not buy them several years ago when I couldn't afford them. I know what it's like to be in lean times when a little bit of credit (e.g., a home equity line or car loan) can get you over a difficult hurdle. Of course, a lot of credit can get you in very serious trouble. 'Just trying to say that wisdom doesn't dictate a single course through life. You do the best you can to play the hand you're dealt.

"Agreed. Another example of money working for you. In this case, carrying a note helps offset tax. For me, my main home and rental property help offset the amt I get hit with at year end. Sadly, mortgage interest is on the chopping block for certain wage earners."

Fn AMT!!!!! This Boshie infuriates me.

Hey,

I'll offer both points of view on this, as I've sat (and probably still sit) on both sides of the fence.

I am more inclined to use credit to buy a game when a good opportunity on a used game presents itself as opposed to when buying new. To me, there is some value there. There was a game that came up for sale locally last year that was underpriced by about 20 or 25 percent, and I didn't have the cash sitting there. To me, it made more sense to pay a relatively negligible amount of interest over the course of a couple of months than wait for the same title to come up for sale again for the going rate. An underpriced game and a hundred bucks interest is still cheaper than a game priced at market value bought with cash on hand. I don think I could do that for a NIB game, because that advantage just isn't there for me.

With that said, there did come a point where I wasn't comfortable with that debt sitting there, and I shuffled games and money around to deal with it. I'm currently socking away money for a yet-to-be-determined game, but I'd rather do that than have to put myself into debt again. With that said, if a $3000 AFM came up for sale, yeah, I'd borrow the money in a heartbeat.

Just my two cents...

Luke

sometimes on ebay trans (aprox 20% maybe), i do paypal- and i would never link paypal to a debit, so it ties to a credit card, i get 1% back and can float it for a month, not a big deal.

I bought a machine on a credit card. Was not into the game when I got it. Paid high interest on the card. Still have the game and not sold it yet. Bad, bad idea.

What's it do, make the lights work properly?

Knuck, Knuck, knuck.