Guns on Credit or Layaway

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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?
Like everyone else we pay the bills monthly in full and use the points. Till last year I pretty much used AMEX exclusively when I could. We got points. Problem with American Express points was they weren't that great. So we cashed in something like 150,00 points for $1,500 in Home Depot gift cards for pending home improvements.

Now we use the Cabelas card. Every year over the holidays we sent out those yummy Cabelas food samplers. We have about a dozen close friends we send the bacon and other samplers to. This year we have several hundred dollars in Cabelas bucks which will cover everything and leave me room for some ammo.

Heck, we even use the Cabelas card at the local supermarket to buy gift cards and get a ten to twenty cents off every gallon of gasoline we buy at their get go service stations. Between ten and twenty cents off a gallon of gas for every $50 spent.

Like a few members mentioned, you can get the cards to work for you. Now if I manage 2014 real good I'll end up with a new rifle or handgun from Cabelas. :)

Ron

PS, I should point out I used an 18% APR in my example. It was just an arbitrary number and as mentioned your mileage will vary.
 
I love layaway. I can put a gun in layaway at Bud's or my LGS and give them cash every week, and my wife has no idea!

No credit cards though......you can get in trouble with those things.
 
Get a cabelas card. Pay it off every moth. Get "free" guns with points. I used to do Gander but the points would start to expire.

.17 Savage (gander)
.50 TC Encore (gander)
20 ga Ithaca Flues
20 ga LC Smith
12 ga Husqvarna Model 17 hammer gun
12 ga Meredin
.38 Webley revolver
.380 Mauser HSC
Glock 20 (this summer)

All on points. Plus some fishing stuff. I mostly save for guns.
 
I have no credit cards at all. My favorite LGS has layaway and I've used it a couple of times. I'm sure I'll use it more in the future. Sometimes I forget they do, which may be good for me.
 
My LGS has a pretty fuzzy layaway policy. On paper I think they give you 90 days, but in reality, as long as you keep paying on it and pay it off, I don't think they care too much.
 
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?

I get to use someone's else's money for a while when I use my credit card. Then I pay it off when the bill comes.

I do not use debit cards as I feel the security is insufficient at this time. If the card gets hacked, you could lose all the money in your bank account.
 
I have purchased firearms on layaway plans, but not on credit. At this point in my life, any firearms related purchases are wants not needs, and I see no reason to place myself in debt for non-essentials.

If I have the cash, no problem. But no credit.
 
I too buy everything with my credit card. Everything. Bottle of water at the C store, credit card. Groceries, same. Gasoline, yeah that too. And guns, ammo and components. I collect a ton of points and use them for travel mostly. All by monthly bills get automatically paid by credit card. Truck payment, clothes, dinner out, credit card.

Last year we used our USAA points for an Alaska 14 day cruise, then rented a car in Seattle and took 3 weeks driving back to tour the northwest. Yep, all on points.

I do use a Chase card also because they offer 5% cash back on selected categories, and when that's hotel or gas purchases, we really rack up the points. But it gets paid off every month.

The trick is to pay the card off, in full, every month. I do this by having the card payment in full automatically deducted from my USAA bank account.

When I was much younger and foolish, I thought I needed every store's credit card, and ran up some impressive balances. Then we decided that was a bad thing and started paying the cards off every month. Now we work with one primary card and one secondary card and that's all we have. Much better that way.

Layaway is something I haven't used in many years, but it's a good concept as long as the store doesn't charge anything extra for the service. But I still prefer a credit card. :D
 
I buy everything with my credit card and never have more than a few dollars cash on me only for things that I have to have cash for or an emergency. I get my bill every month and pay it off in full every time. I have never paid a penny in interest. I use like as if it were cash but its safer than cash.
 
Back in the olden days most of my guns were bought via layaway. Fifty bucks here, 20 bucks there, I just didn't have the money or the credit cards. Without layaway, I wouldn't have half the guns/hunting equipment I have now. When I'd pick one up, I'd put another on layaway at the same time. Seems I always had something on layaway. Even though I have the cash or credit to use now, I still use layaway for many high ticket items. It's just easy and doesn't cost anything. I say use the layaway when available (if you can stand waiting for your new gun!)
 
Buying guns, ammo, etc. on a credit card is fine so long as you're paying off the balance monthly and not accumulating high interest debt. Building a credit history and improving your credit score can only help you for other loans such as a mortgage or car loan. Plus like others have said you can accumulate reward points with some cards.


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No guns on credit but I do use the layaway plan all the time at my local gun/pawn shop. 90 days to get it out and they are flexible should I need an extra month.
 
I'm too financially conservative to put guns on a credit card or layaway. If I get the gun on layaway 3/4 paid for them have an emergency where I need to use the remaining funds I'm going to loose that money. I think that if I can't afford it in cash right then then I don't need to buy it. That said I like the idea of the Cabela's credit card. I think I would use that as long as it got paid off every month. It's hard to argue with free guns.
 
I use a credit card to pay for everything. For awhile I was using one to pay all my bills including my mortgage. They were giving me rewards points on all purchases as well as well as the bill pay service. Why wouldn't I use it? If I use cash the cash just goes away. If I use the credit card I get a percentage back. Unfortunately most rewards programs have been gutted and you're lucky if you get 1% back. But 1% is still better than nothing.

For a long time I carried balances on credit cards. I recently secured all my debt and the credit card, I only have one now, gets paid off monthly. I won't purchase a firearm if I don't have the money to pay the bill at the end of the month. Which is why I won't use layaway either.


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I still think not spending cash tends to make you a little looser on your purchases. Cc companies know that. Trust me they're not losing money on these deals.

At my lgs the cash price beats the CC price by a nice chunk every time. You're blowing up to 5% by putting it on a cc when you're just gonna pay it off month end anyway...
 
I still think not spending cash tends to make you a little looser on your purchases. Cc companies know that. Trust me they're not losing money on these deals.

True and it is what the credit card companies are hoping for. They make money on the transaction and hope to make more on the interest.

But the competition between credit card companies has gotten so intense, they need to offer incentives to suck, I mean lure, potential customers in. I feel that I am getting more offers for credit cards than before the 2008 crash.

It all depends on how disciplined you are. If you feel that you cannot reliably pay off the balance every month, then you are better to not use the credit cards.
 
We have a very large gun store here that once a year puts on a six months interest free sale.
Several years ago after a home burglary in which my guns and everything else that had any value was stolen I bought a replacement Remington 700 just this way.
I have impeccable credit and walked right out the door with that rifle unpaid for and killed a buck with it weeks later.
Once the slow as molasses insurance company cut my loss check I paid it off.
But I could have just paid the six months interest free if I chose to.
 
I like the layaway approach personally as long as you are reasonably certain you can pay for the item(s) within the allotted amount of time. I have purchased a couple guns that way... often spur of the moment decisions that I don't have the free cash for all at once. Once could argue that in which case, you can't afford it. But we do the best we can.

My opinion, if you don't have the funds, then financing a gun is bad business.

I agree except most layaway plans do not include any kind of financing cost (interest). Stores do this to spur sales especially on large ticket items. Many choose to shop at Walmart or similar stores simply because they have the layaway plan.
 
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.
+1 I've never used WW layaway for guns but I've gone this route at a couple of LGS and it worked great.

Kudos to the OP for this thread, debt can be a cruel taskmaster and impulse buys for guns and ammo could be a temptation big time, a CC with no self-control is a recipe for trouble.
 
Buying on lay away or credit removes an important consumer tool IMO. It won't work at the big retailers but guns, tools, trucks that are bought with cash or paid in full with a check leave lots of room for negotiation of price. When you have to use a lay away the seller knows he has to wait for his money and and that the buyer wants the item enough at the moment to lay down cash and potentially not be able to complete the transaction.
Cash and carry for me and if buying from a large, non negotiating retailer I'll often use a card and free money and points until I get the monthly statement.
Debt is the bane of our society and like cocaine for the masses.
 
Buying on lay away or credit removes an important consumer tool IMO. It won't work at the big retailers but guns, tools, trucks that are bought with cash or paid in full with a check leave lots of room for negotiation of price. When you have to use a lay away the seller knows he has to wait for his money and and that the buyer wants the item enough at the moment to lay down cash and potentially not be able to complete the transaction.
Cash and carry for me and if buying from a large, non negotiating retailer I'll often use a card and free money and points until I get the monthly statement.
Debt is the bane of our society and like cocaine for the masses.

Years ago when Kathy (my wife) and I began to look towards retirement we knew that being totally debt free would play a major roll in the scheme. Several years ago we replaced Kathy's truck. We have not bought new in decades but like good condition, low mileage used (same as most of my guns). Found her a nice Yukon Denali at a local dealership. They wanted $12,500 and I offered $10,000. Interesting as when doing a test drive besides a driver's license the sales guy wanted our phone number. They would not come off the $12,500. I thanked them and we went home for the day. Kathy wondered why the phone number?

Next morning (Saturday) at 8:00 the salesman calls and tells me another couple is considering the truck. I told him if you have a couple that will pay the asking price by all means sell the truck. Then he suggest I stop in and talk to his manager. OK, I can do that so I meet the manager. I finally told the guy as he gets into financing I don't want financing (which they make out on). It's like this. You want to sell the truck? I will write you a check right now for 10K plus tax and title. That is as good as it gets. I drove the truck home with a temp tag and later Kathy took me back to get my truck.

This also works well with guns. I see a gun I want I make a cash offer out the door. While this is nice to be able to do it didn't come easy. We are finally at that point in life. Twenty years ago? Not that easy. :)

I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond in this thread and provide the logic to their decision making process. It has been informative.

Thanks
Ron
 
I look at lay-a-way as virtually the same as using OPM.

New guns, not so much...but a used gun that I've maybe been looking for and don't have all the funds, at that moment? You bet I'll put it in lay-a-way so as not to miss that opportunity.

At my LGS's, they don't have to negotiate the price down :scrutiny:, but there's no interest charges :), an if I can't for some reason pay it off in the proscribed amount of time?? They know I'm good for it and won't back out of it.

Sam
 
Look at 99.9% of the gunbroker sellers. They all say add 3-4% for CC. I have literally gone into my lgs and saw a gun for sale at 500. I said what is your cash price he said 475. Boom I saved 25 bucks by paying cash baby. Some things never change. Cash is king.
 
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