Orleans, ON
Well I guess I'm one of the few that financed my way through pinball purchases. I used MBNA credit card to do so with some loopholes here in Canada. I'm sure they're similar promos in the states and most likely better.
0% balance transfer for 12 months with a 1% transfer fee. So if let's say I borrowed $5000 my only fee to borrow $5000 for 1 year is $50. Now here is where most people mess up. You must pay the minimum every month in order to stay on the promotional rate. If you miss a payment you default to 20%+ interest. The other thing is the balance must be paid off before the end of the term.
WHAT I DID
I applied for a line of credit before making the purchase. Once line of credit approve I paid with my credit card that gave 2% cash back ($5000, and got $100 cash back at the end of the year). Before the month was up I got a balance transfer for 1 year for 0% and the 1% charge (- $50). I paid money here and there throughout the year and ended up with a balance of let's say $900 at the end of the year. Before the promo was up I paid the balance with the line of credit.
I then immediately reapplied for a second credit card from the same company but I didn't ask about the promo rate. Once I got the new card, I asked to transfered the allowable blance from the old card to the new hence merging the cards together. Since this was a new card, I could apply for another promo term of 0% for 12 months. Asked for $5000 + $900, to cover the balance on the line of credit, for a total of $5900 and bought another machine.
When all was said and done I had paid $0 interest on my payment and ended with more cash in my wallet because of the cash back at the end of the year.
Yes you have to be disciplined and jump through a few hoops but I found this system works for me. I get to enjoy the game and pay it chunks at a time without paying interest.
