Guns on Credit or Layaway

I'm a young guy, but I'm like you. My credit card gets paid off every month (with the rare exception of when I'm short on cash and waiting for my student loans to go through). My credit card is merely a method of payment, not a line of credit. It does have the added benefit of accumulating points that I can use on Amazon...

If you ask me, nothing should be bought on credit period. Your home, being the only exclusion, since 99.9% of us cannot drop the necessary funds for such a expense.

If there are no fees involved in the layaway go for it.

I'm a bit younger as well, but I use my credit card in the same way, paying it off completely every month. I use it so I don't always have to carry cash around for larger purchases, and it is much easier to contest fraudulent purchases made on credit cards as opposed to debit cards.

I don't use layaway/loans (carrying a balance on a credit card) to purchase anything that is not an absolute necessity. I personally view guns as toys or part of a hobby (albeit a useful hobby in the carry/defensive roles) but a hobby none the less. I'll save up over a couple of months to purchase a gun, but there's no way I'm going to choose to go into debt for a toy. I also take the same approach when buying higher cost items like motorcycles.

A lot of my guns I bought on layaway over the years. But never on credit cards or charge accounts with interest. House or car the only thing you should buy as an interest bearing debt. Evertrhing else you can wait til you have full price in hand.

I would probably do a layaway program to keep something from getting bought while I finish paying. I would not buy a gun with a credit card unless I could pay it off within a month or two. Don't keep giving them money for nothing.

I used to use layaway once in a great while when I was young for non-gun items. If I had known about lawaway guns back then, I would have probably used it.

One thing I did use a couple of decades ago was "free financing" offered through a local gun dealer about once a year. You agree to pay off your gun in 6 or 12 months and no interest charges are made. It was nice because you could walk out of the store with your gun that day.

The downside was the guns sold for near retail. Back then, I had no internet to check prices out like today. Yet, the upside was I had no internet showing me every gun the world had to offer either. There was less temptation in some regards.

Three of my LGS have layaway programs with no interest, I use them often. At one of them I have what we call a slush fund. I put money aside for future purchases so when something comes in, the cash is already there.

^ Absolutely. Buying something you can't afford is never smart.

At one time, I had a substantial (based on my income at the time) credit card debt, and most of it was guns and ammo. Since I've had that paid off, I haven't bought *anything* on credit and if I can help it I won't in the future. Heck, my last new (not used) vehicle purchase in 2011 was with cash: a 2012 Jeep Wrangler. Adding up all the interest payments I made equals a bunch of other things I wish I'd had instead. But I'm cheap nowadays, and if I can save fifty cents on something I'd do it.

For me personally, layaway really doesn't have a down side, assuming one can pay it off within the time allowed. You're setting aside a firearm at the current price, and Wal-Mart's plan is pretty straightforward. In the case of the M4 carbine (which is widely sold in my local Wal-Marts), you've got one locked in for up to three months. Who's to say some nut case won't go on another shooting rampage during that timeframe and The Panic sets in again.

I don't use credit for anything other than a house. I do lots of layaway for guns, usually at pawn shops. The only issue with that is that pawn shops aren't like Wal-Mart et al where you get your money back if you don't pay for it. I haven't run into that problem yet. If I do run into a situation where I'll lose the money that I've already paid on layaway, it means that I've run into larger problems than the loss of that amount of money.

Matt

I've used layaway before, but I also share the OP's views on CC purchases. I prefer to pay the balance in full whenever possible, or at least to pay it off as quickly as possible.

Having said that, if you thought there may be another panic or spike price on the horizon, then buying the rifle while it's available and paying the credit card fee may be cheaper than trying to buy it after the price has risen 50% or more.

No to paying for guns with credit cards, and I think I've used a pawn shop's layaway once or twice, but I won't go into debt over a gun. I have too many that I don't use enough, I'd trade or sell one or two of those first.

The only way I'd go into debt or use layaway is for a rare, unusual, or highly desired gun for a better than average price that i'm pretty sure won't easily or quickly appear again if I let it go.

Never understood folks that pay credit cards in full every month. My parents do it. Why even use them if you have the cash. Aren't you essentially paying more because of interest?

Ledgehammer said:

Never understood folks that pay credit cards in full every month. My parents do it. Why even use them if you have the cash. Aren't you essentially paying more because of interest?

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Depending on the card, the interest doesn't apply if paid in full at the end of each month.
The reason a lot of people use credit cards is for the rewards....air miles, cashback, hotel rewards, etc....if you pay your balance off in full every month and avoid those interest charges, and your card doesn't have a ton of hidden fees, the rewards make it worth using a credit card almost exclusively, if you get the right cards.
I do a lot of traveling for work, so I use my card to pay those expenses and repay my card costs with my company's travel reimbursement before the end of the month...so I get loooots of free miles, rewards, hotel stays, etc...
I have taken entire vacations using nothing but card rewards gained exclusively from running company travel funds through my card.
Totally legit, and in my work it's pretty common to do that.

It depends. For one thing none of my CC's have 18% interest. All are 9%-12%. Credit used wisely can work for you. I've ran across a couple of deals that were too good to pass up and paid with credit. Even if I had $200-$300 in interest it was cheaper to buy now with credit in a few cases than to wait and pay cash later.

One particular rifle I found about 2 years ago had not been in producion for 20 years and I'd been looking for one for 5-6 years. I went to a gunshow with the intent to only sell a gun, not buy so I took very little cash with me. In fact funds were low even in the bank at the moment. I ran across exactly what I'd been looking for. A 20 year old rifle, unfired, NIB for $700. The closest current production rifle would have been $1200 and I prefered the older version. I used a CC and paid it off within 2-3 months and have no regrets.

I could have paid cash for the Honda my wife is driving. But with special financing at the time it would have cost me more to pull the money out of the bank. We paid the minimum down and made the payments. In fact we went from a SUV getting 15 mpg to a Honda getting 35 mpg. In the 60,000 miles we've driven over the last 4 years that is a savings of over $8,000 in fuel costs. Even if I had financed at 20% interest it would have been cheaper than waiting 4 more years to buy.

You just have to crunch the numbers. But you do have to be careful that you don't get over extended.

I have vowed off credit cards. Don't have one, just paid my last one off a couple months ago.
I had a lot of credit card debt in my young adults years, much of it to AAFES.

I'm not opposed to layaways, since I usually pay them off in a month or two. Kmart still ha year round lay aways, and I scored a nice family sized tent during a clearance sale. Next visit in, the tent was back up to $275. My layaway price was the $199 clearance sale price.

And because I don't have credit cards, and I don't carry a lot of cash, dropping $20 on a layaway gun is easy, and I can pay it off with a quick trip to the bank.

I don't buy things I can't afford, and I budget and save for things that are outside the standard family budget.

Ledgehammer said:

Never understood folks that pay credit cards in full every month. My parents do it. Why even use them if you have the cash.

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Because buying with cash doesn't put extra cash in my pocket. When using credit cards and paying them off every month, I accumulate reward points that are equal to cash, and this doesn't cost me a penny in any sort of interest or monthly fee. Proper credit card use is 100% free on my end. I can gain almost $400 in rewards every year that I then use to buy powder and primers from Cabela's. That's $400 in components that costs me nothing whatsoever. You can't get that if you use cash for everything.

Ledgehammer said:

Aren't you essentially paying more because of interest?

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Nope. Buying with a credit card costs me zero extra than if I were to make those purchases with cash. Pay off the balance every month and you pay $0.00 in interest.

I buy on credit, get reward points, then pay it off. Money is in my account before the purchas is made.

Got a $1200 gun from Cabela's once for $250.

The reason a lot of people use credit cards is for the rewards....air miles, cashback, hotel rewards, etc....if you pay your balance off in full every month and avoid those interest charges, and your card doesn't have a ton of hidden fees, the rewards make it worth using a credit card almost exclusively, if you get the right cards.

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I have a friend who does that. He has a GM credit card with around a $20,000 limit. He charges everything he buys on the card and writes only 1 check every month to pay off his card. I mean every tiny purchase, even in fast food places. He buys a new GM truck every 5 years. When he buys he negotiates the price and when he pays he gets $6000-$8000 off the bottom line by using his card rewards.

Oh I see. Guess I dont have the right credit cards. Lol