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I don’t normally believe in having store credit cards/lines of credit because they normally charge exhorbitant amounts in interest and they usually only get people in trouble.  The one exception I have to this rule is our Best Buy credit card.

I’ve had my Best Buy card since I bought my laptop in the winter of 2003.  At the time, I had something like 18 months interest free on the purchase of my laptop and I planned my payment accordingly so that it would be paid off before interest kicked in.

Once my laptop was paid off, the next big purchase that was made was a TV somewhere around May of 2005 when we moved into our 3rd apartment together.  Again, they offered an interest free period of around 18 months, and it was paid off before interest kicked in.  Next came our Nikon d40x digital camera last summer before we went to Hawaii.  Again…paid off before interest kicked in.  Throw in another laptop for hubby (when his got stolen from his hotel room on a business trip) and follow that up with a 40″ Samsung HD LCD television this past March, and we’ve never paid interest on anything purchased with our Best Buy credit card.

Are you noticing a pattern?

I know some people would say that saving up for these larger purchases and then buying them with cash is a better option than using a credit card.  Especially if you aren’t going to be able to pay off the balance before the accrued interest kicks in.

In my opinion, using the Best Buy credit card is a better option for us because it helps to boost my credit (showing that we can make payments on time while carrying a balance that never accrues interest) and we are able to have the item in question NOW instead of LATER.  (Yes, that is the shopaholic in me.)

But really, we’ve never purchased anything that we weren’t planning on buying anyway, and we’ve always paid off the balance before interest ever kicks in.  This year we were promoted to a Reward Zone Gold Member since we spent a certain dollar amount there in the past 12 months (thank to our recent television purchase).  This means we earn even more cash back on our purchases, which is nice!  I love when we make a large purchase and get gift cards in the mail for using their free rewards program!

I know that not everyone would agree with my philosophy on this.  Would you rather save $125 per month over the next 18 months before being able to get the model/brand of TV you want…or would you like to be able to go to the store, get the TV you want today (or after researching it, of course) and still pay that same $125 towards your purchase over the next 18 months?  I like the latter option, and that has worked for us for quite a few years now.  It’s basically same-as-cash but you get the item now rather than a year and a half down the road.

It’s better than being completely reckless and charging it on a credit card that starts accumulating interest right away because you can’t wait and want the item NOW.  I think my option satisfies the shopaholic and frugal-minded parts of me!