Q: My daughter just graduated from high school and I promised her a new laptop as a graduation present. Is there a certain credit card that is best for purchasing a new computer?
A: One option some stores offer for expensive purchases such as a computer is 12 months (or some other amount of time) same as cash.
This is the way it works: you purchase an item, and you make monthly payments. As long as you make all your payments on time and pay it off within the promotional period, you don’t pay any interest. Zero.
However, if you miss a payment or don’t pay it off within the promotional period, interest is calculated from when you purchased the item, not from the end of the promotional period or from when you missed the payment.
If you’re not sure if you can pay it off on time and you have a credit card with a lower interest rate, go with that card instead.
As far as actual credit cards, there isn’t necessarily one card that stands out as the best to buy a computer with.
If you already own a credit card, it’s probably best to use one of the cards that you have, unless you were already planning on getting a new card or are using up more than half of your available credit. Opening a lot of credit card accounts can hurt your credit score.
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Of the cards you already have, it’s best to put it on the credit card with the lowest interest rate.
Although you may be tempted to put it on the card that will give you the most rewards points, don’t do this unless you can pay it off before it starts racking up interest.
Even if you think you’ll be able to pay it off when you get your next paycheck, be careful, because things happen. You don’t want to be stuck with a 20% interest rate because you miscalculated how much money you’d have left after paying your bills.
