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Disarm D'arcy wrote:Never used credit, except for my car

Yeh I'm going to need a newer one of those fairly soon. I probably should be a responsible adult and not spend anymore money on gear...

I use Sweetwater's credit quite a bit. Dropped Netflix and some other subscriptions and now that just pays off gear on a monthly basis. When you have three years to pay it off, it's pretty manageable.

Wes Mantooth wrote:Dropped Netflix and some other subscriptions and now that just pays off gear on a monthly basis.

My version of this was "I'll quit drinking coffee - that'll cover my payments!" Except I didn't actually stick to it.

I use Paypal credit for Reverb and the like. No problems here, but I don't really buy anything I can't afford with it?

That's good to hear, I was reading reviews about PayPal credit and it all seemed to be horror stories.

Casavettes wrote:That's good to hear, I was reading reviews about PayPal credit and it all seemed to be horror stories.

I opened a second PP account around July to get a Wombtone from PGS (because you can't have PP credit & PP Smart Connect on the same account). At first everything worked smoothly. Then after a couple purchases, I couldn't buy anything, despite having $900 free on the account. I called and got the run-around multiple times. Then it seemed to finally be resolved. Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend and it failed again. I missed out on all the Mr. Black stuff I wanted, because the flangers, the limited runs, and some others were sold out.

About 24 hours later I griped at PayPal and they put me on hold for several minutes. Their explanation was that the e-mail associated with the account became unlinked and apparently this is a fairly common problem. ----What the fuck?!?! THE E-MAIL ADDRESS IS THE ACCOUNT! How does an account become detached from itself? It took about 20 minutes to get resolved, but finally I was allowed to use my account again. For the last 4 months the account has been working without problems. I continue to have small hiccups here and there with both PayPal accounts (can't pay my bill, can't view my statement, can't review certain account pages in order to do routine maintenance). PayPal's customer service is hot garbage, but it's still nowhere near as bad as AT&T or Comcast.

In terms of scary stuff (fraudulent charges, double charges, claims not handled properly), I've never had any of those problems thankfully.

At one time I had a personal loan with our credit union that was devoted to gear. It came out to $150 or so a month (maybe less, between $120-150), I paid it off every 2 or 3 years and then renewed it. I had to apply by listing the specific gear I was going to buy and getting loan for the exact amount. If it turned out I didn't like it, grew out of it or wanted something else, I sold or traded it. That allowed me to beef up my guitar, bass and recording gear over the years and it was very reasonable, affordable and GOOD for my credit as I was paying off a loan monthly. I don't have that anymore, because we consolidated all our debt into one low interest loan to help pay for some home improvement before our son was born, then a home birth with a midwife out of pocket. I would do it again though, if my wife was working full time and I could justify the extra monthly payment. The interest rate was way more reasonable than any credit card. If you have a credit card with a decently low interest rate, you could always save up the money for the gear (or half of it or most of it) and then just go ahead and pay it off every month. That's also pretty good for your credit, if you already have some established and you can afford the payments. You pay more than the minimum, but you don't clear out your balance before the end of the month, so it just shows the credit company you have money, spend it and pay your bills.

My experience is limited to my own life and I'm one of the only people I know who's never had absolutely dreadful/ruined credit, so it may not apply to you or most people, but it might be helpful.

Affirm pisses me off because they won't flat out tell you what they're willing to give you.

It's dance and sing every time.

Only issue I've ever had with Paypal other than when my account got hacked was recently. They took pro care of the hack btw and were great on the phone.

My credit card though is the issue I had. Darkglass Electronics sent me an invoice and it would NOT let me pay the fucking thing with my credit. I tried everything and called them four fucking times. The lady I got that finally helped me by just talking to me, said they have no clue why it's blocking the transaction. That is the first time that has EVER happened. I told her I was pissed because I had just sent them a 700 dollar payment and paid off my account the other day (a few months before I paid off 2k!). Still nothing she could do.

So I had to bypass the system and forfeit the 6 months interest free. Sent money to my homie Excane through paypal credit, then had him send it back. I ate fees on it, but I was able to finish the transaction with Darkglass. I ended up paying more but I was determined to win. LOL. Now I owe money and have to scramble to make it up, which happens, but fuck, I wasn't going to give up.

I've done hundreds of purchases through them and that's the only problem I've had with the cc ever. What's weird about Paypal CC though is I don't think it helps your credit score at all. It didn't even come up in my credit report that I had that card. So weird.

Tried to use Paypal credit to "Pay for goods and services"..no option to use credit so called Paypal and they told me you can't use it when sending money only when buying from a store. Ok, fine.

Tried to use it to pay for my 4046-M through East Stomp Boutique today and when I tried to choose my funding source it said Credit was not available on this transaction. Ok...so when the heck CAN I use it!? Do I just buy something on eBay in the blind hope the option is there when I come to pay?

The Sweetwater credit card is pretty awesome. Most things at their shop you can get 24-months at 0% financing any time. And then a couple times a year, they do 36-month and even 48-month financing on certain brands. Bought a Les Paul last year that way. A sweet new Les Paul for $68 a month and no interest? Yes please!

I also have an Amazon card. Works pretty much the same way. And in fact, it's the same lender (Synchrony). Overall, I'm happy with how everything has gone.

Is it better to buy gear all cash all upfront? Sure. It's also better to have been born rich, but that ain't my reality.