Best Buy 0% CC

So we don't really do too much CC arbitage, but we've always done the 0% CC offers. I've actually considered doing it for furniture, but haven't been able to find the right furniture. Anyway though this month I just finished paying our 0% CC bill to Best Buy. It feels really nice to be able to not have the payment hanging over our heads.

The very first time we did a 0% CC we had the cash on hand to pay for, but it seemed a better cash flow purpose to use the Best Buy CC. We didn't make a lot of money and were purchasing our first condo together. We had pretty much scraped every penny to afford the 10% DP, closing costs, etc such that it was tough for us to part with our last $1k to pay for our washer/dryer/fridge. We preferred at the time to keep the little money we had as an emergency fund and charge instead those three items.

Turns out it was a good idea. Three days after we closed and the washer hose broke flooded the downstairs unit. We fortunately had home owner's insurance though we were not living there yet. But we did have to pay the $1k deductible. So our little cash money went to that instead of our CC. That's what got us hooked on paying for things with a 0% CC.

Borrowing money from a CC at 0% still seems risky to us. But buying stuff seems acceptable. I don't know what the difference is. DH financed his first car as well $5k, but as a foreigner it was a good way to build credit, and keep cash on hand in case of emergencies. We still have the car 7 years later, though the loan was retired after 3 years.

I've asked DH whether we're done playing with 0% CC deals. He says he's not sure he'll ever pass up a deal to finance something at 0%. Me, I'd like to be at the point one day of affording everything cash up front easily. It may or may not happen. I am not going into debt, but I'm not sure if we could ever part with our money when the opportunity to make more were presented.

But I'm not a CC abuser, so I cannot speak as someone whose experienced CC debt. Our debts have been a mortgage, 1 car loan (no plans of more unless it's 0%), and student loans. So for us personally our debts have been tied to our educations. Thus we've never lived beyond our means, it's just that affording the tuition 100% in cash, while working we haven't been able to accomplish. We don't take out any school loans for living, just purely tuition purposes. And we've paid for part of the tuition in cash as well when I was an undergrad and DH now.

So while we'd like to live debt free, I don't know if we ever will. Yes, sounds crazy, but DH is a major leverage fanatic. I wrote months ago how aggressive he is with investing and has no qualms about losing our investments. And the same risk tolerance is applied to our debt/leverage. I don't think he'd leverage us broke, but he would be willing to gamble.

Our next 0% purchase, I forsee maybe furniture, maybe a car but who knows.