Purchasing from HP

I have a couple of questions about purchasing from HP. When I bought my Dell Inspiron notebook about 6 years ago, Dell charged me interest on the notebook, and for the longest time I was paying the interest and not even putting a dent in the amount due because all I was paying was the interest. For the longest time the amount due on my bill never went down because of the interest. Has anyone else had this problem?

Anyway, I want to know if HP does this also. I am buying online and I added the HP HDX16t to my cart and put in all my info and the grand total came out to be $1,500.24. I saw no mention of interest but I'm afraid that they are going to charge me interest just like Dell did. If it says I'm going to pay $1,500.24 then that's all I'm going to pay. I don't want a huge interest rate that I'll be paying for years and years.

Also, I am using my paypal account for the purchase, but I want them to take it straight out of my checking account so I am using my debit card for that. HP says they only take credit cards so is it possible to use a debit card?

One more thing. I haven't submitted my order yet obviously, but I saw no option to charge my paypal account for monthly billings. Will I have this option after I submit my order? I don't want them to charge the entire $1,500 to my account in one payment because I don't have that much money in the bank. And even if I used my credit card, I only have $700available credit. So I can't use my credit card, unless I don't need to have$1,500 available credit. If all I need is the monthly payment for available credit then I can use my credit card. Otherwise I want them to take it out of my checking account through my debit card.

btw, I'm asking these questions on this forum because HP's business hours are only from 9am to 7pm and it's already 8pm over here. I am pretty desperate for an answer today because the coupon code I am using to get a good deal expires tomorrow according to the website I got it from.

 

There are 3 payment options:

1) Pay with your credit card or debit card.

2) Pay with an HP credit card backed by HSBC Bank with No Interest for 90 days. Apply online at checkout.

3) PayPal which you pay the whole lump sum.

Hope that answers your questions.

edit: Btw the coupon on this site says it's good to 4/10/09.

 

Ok So I definately want to use my debit card. And that will automatically make it so my payments are monthly and not in one lump sum right?

Still wondering about the interest though. I noticed that with the HP credit card there is no interest for 90 days. I'm assuming from that that HP does charge interest on their products. Am I correct?

 

A debit card is like cash just like paying with PayPal. HP has nothing to do with the credit card. It's backed by a bank. That's who you're really dealing with and who you will make your payments to..

 

Oh that's right so I'd be telling the bank how much to give them for every month. And then the bank sends the money to them. Lol sorry I'm such a newb when it comes to this stuff.

Again, what about the interest? Will I only be paying interest when I make a late payment? Or is the interest always there?

 

Wow you really are a noob LOL.

OK lets go over the basics. A debit card is like cash. If you make a payment with a debit card, money is immediately taken out of your checking or savings account that day. If you buy your HP laptop with a debit card you will make 1 payment for the full price of the laptop. So if your laptop was $1500.24, you need to have $1500.24 in your checking or savings account because that's what you'll need to complete the transaction with HP.

PayPal works similar to a debit card. Once you setup your PayPal account it will have access to the checking or savings account you have. If you want to pay HP with PayPal you need to have $1500.24 in your account or you won't be able to buy your laptop. Also if you overdraw on your account your bank may charge you overdraft fees as well. Consider it as bouncing a check. Please tell me you know what that is LOL.

Your best option is to buy the laptop with the HP credit card. Apply online and you have 90 days to buy it without interest but you still have to make three equal payments for the total amount.

 

Lol yes I am noob to the max lol.

Ok but I want to make payments of like $60 monthly. Before I complete everything it keeps saying I can make payments as low as $54. But when I actually input all my info and it gives me the total, it gives me no option to pay monthly. The only way I can afford this laptop is if I can make small payments monthly.

 

Yes that's for the HP credit card. You have to apply and qualify for that. Everything else requires you have the full amount in your checking or savings account.

 

I just applied for it and didn't qualify So I guess that means...I can't buy it? Unless I take out a loan or something

 

Credit is a loan, just a very short term loan, typically with very high interest rates (20-30%). I highly recommend doing a little bit of reading before you buy anything:

http://www.credit.com/life_stages/starting_out/How-Credit-Works.jsp
http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/debt-management/credit-card.htm

 

If you did not get accepted for the HP credit card, then the only way to buy it is to pay cash, as in pay 1 time in full. You would then have to have the funds to cover the full cost of the laptop.

Or you can apply for small loan from your bank.

Or you can use your credit card to pay it full. But that means you will be paying monthly to your credit card company.

 

Mate, a bit of advice. You can't afford this laptop. The last thing you want to be doing is taking out a lone to buy a rapidly depreciating good such as a laptop of which you will ultimately end up paying a lot more than its fair value through loan interest.