Financing a purchase via 0 interest credit cards

We have the cash to do it now, but the idea of interest free financing intrigued me, just to not have that large cash outlay.

And it would be 33-36 months. There is a 21 month one available now and there is always a 12-15 month available.

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If 15-month or less term is all you need, why not just delay the purchase for 15-months, save up your $ for your purchase during that time, and then purchase outright...

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Because he can have it now at no cost.

I've thought about doing this for some home renovations, specifically a new backporch/patio

Haven't done it yet though.

I have the cash as well. I just hate actually using large sums of savings

I'm in a different situation, but similar idea.

I got $8,000 with 21 months interest free on a credit card offer. I've taken that money and used it to prefund my IRA (I usually find the previous year's contribution only). If I time this right, I should be able to about $1500 extra dollars in my Roth account by doing this (funded my lending club account). That's better than any rewards program I have seen.

If you're slipping into the realm of financing wants because credit is cheap, that's a bad move. If you're taking advantage of stupid cheap credit to make more money, it's a good idea.

FTR: I don't intend on ever even paying transfer fees. It takes me about 3 months to put $8k on a credit card, so I can just use the last three months to transition into the next offer or pay it off if I can't find one.

Is that balance seen differently than a mortgage or car balance? I assume it is, but is it seen more negatively than those?

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if he plans on buying a house soon.

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No

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he already has a 700+ score of course.

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Yes

My utilization rate is usually anywhere from 0-15%, depending on when the report is run, and I've never carried a balance. Don't they aggregate all credit limits and utilization to determine your rate? So if for example I am currently utilizing $5k of $65k, my UR is 7.7%. If I were to get a CC with a $25k limit and put $20k on it, that would bring me up to 25/85, or 29.4%.

The balance transfer fee would be something to deal with at that point. I know there are cards out now that allow zero fees, but they may not be available when I need them. Some offer the convenience check method, which would avoid the fee, but those usually come with their own fees.

At worst, paying 3% once on what's left of the balance would probably still be worth it. I could make that $250 or whatever it is with the money I retain over paying all cash. Or just pay it off in the 15/18/21 months I have the 0% interest and not transfer at all.

I am not too worried about the credit score aspect. My score is excellent, as mentioned my UR is low, and another account in good standing would probably help.

You want to maintain your utilization under 8-9%. Ideally between 1-2%. Also only let one of your credit cards report a balance every month around 1-2% utilization.

You're looking a 20-40 point hit on your credit score if you go from 10-11% to repeatedly showing a ~30% utilization.

You said you're not buying a house anytime soon, so may be that could work for you. You need to do the cost/benefit analysis of the worst case scenario - which would be a 30-40 point hit depending on other factors. That said - after you do pay off the card though, your credit score will steadily rise back up. Probably not immediately but 4-8 months.

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How did you calculate that?

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No way to calculate. Just experience. I can go as far to say that I can guarantee your score will drop at least 20 points if you have a spotless thick file. Otherwise it will be more.

Here is a tool that will help you: LINK /