I want to buy a laptop (around $500) for my girlfriend for Christmas but I need to save money for rent so I'm looking at buying a walmart credit card. They have discover cards too but idfk the difference between these things. The APR for the credit card is 22.90%. Does that mean that no matter what I have to pay 22.90% more than $500, meaning the laptop basically costs $614.5? Or does APR mean that if I still owe money by the end of the year, THEN I'll have to pay that much more?

 

I basically need to know if using the credit card will be the exact same price as if I simply bought the laptop with cash at the till.

 

(sadly $500 is the cheapest I can find... <_< unless someone knows a cheaper place, let me know)

If you pay off your credit card debt timely, it will cost you the same amount. However, if your late on payments or whatever, itll cost you more. Also the 22% or whatever it is(i thought 21% was max legal?) isnt quite what it seems. Most credit cards have something called compounding intest, i dont want to fully explain what this means, but your basically going to pay alot more than what you though 22% interest was.

I want to buy a laptop (around $500) for my girlfriend for Christmas but I need to save money for rent so I'm looking at buying a walmart credit card. They have discover cards too but idfk the difference between these things. The APR for the credit card is 22.90%. Does that mean that no matter what I have to pay 22.90% more than $500, meaning the laptop basically costs $614.5? Or does APR mean that if I still owe money by the end of the year, THEN I'll have to pay that much more?

 

I basically need to know if using the credit card will be the exact same price as if I simply bought the laptop with cash at the till.

 

(sadly $500 is the cheapest I can find... <_< unless someone knows a cheaper place, let me know)

 

APR is the rate you'd have to pay on any unpaid balance at the month, for a month. The monthly interest rate is a little lower than the APR, but since the monthly rate compounds monthly, it becomes higher.

If you make minimum payments on your card for that purchase, you'll pay well more than 23% more. I don't know what the fee schedule is for that particular card, but you'll probably end up paying more in interest than what the laptop costs (say, $2000 total instead of $500).

 

 

Using a credit card for temporary loans like that is not a wise decision. Some stores will offer loans on large purchases. Getting into debt like this temporarily might seem like a good option, but in the long run you'll pay more for it.

 

 

Wait for the day after thanksgiving, thats when computers are usually super cheap.

Personally, I would recommend 'Buy now pay later' offers, instead of using a Credit card to loan you money, even if the computer might be more expensive. PC World did that offer a while ago, not sure if they still do it now.

 

Or just save up, do a few hours of work, and use cash instead. I'd say since most of us here are good typists, data inputting is a reasonable job choice to consider before anything else (Working in Mcdonalds really sucks)

Damn ok thanks guys,

It seems your question has been answered, so i'll lock this. Next time, please post in the real life help and advice thread - http://forum.tip.it/topic/245618-real-life-help-advice/. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

 

-Shiny.