Sony Visa Card

Is anyone buying the new Sony Vaio laptops with the Sony Visa Card? (different from the Sony Only Card)

I'm interested in getting $100 credit, as well as no payments for 12 months.

I'm a college student, going into my 3rd year, do you think I'll be approved?

and to get the $100 credit, it says you must make a purchase of $299+ within the first 45 days of approval of said card.

I just applied for it, but I feel like I might have made a mistake. They aren't going to charge the card UNTIL they ship out the new Z series laptops huh? So 45 days might run out before they actually ship out the dang notebook huh? That really sucks

 

With very little credit history, you probably will not get the 0% interest. Plus, applying for a card will slightly ding your credit even more...which could cost you later. Those promotions are designed to make them money, not give you money.

I suggest getting cards from Visa/MC that are not just for one store. Things like a PayPal, eBay, Kohls', Best Buy, etc cards are not good for 'younger' borrowers.

 

Yea, I'm applying for the Sony Visa Card:



Not this one:



It says:

As long as I buy the laptop with said card, I'll get 0% interest for 12 months (1 year). This is from what I understand. You're telling me that even if I apply, and get approved, I won't get the 0% interest?

I'll admit, I'm very young, but how does applying for the card ding my credit as well? Can you elaborate? I already applied, and if I messed up my credit history this early in life, I seriously hate Sony for tempting me.

 

I got $150 credit last year for my purchase of my FZ laptop. Then the sony card is useful in terms of rewards. Just got a 8 GB flash drive.

 

That's really good news.

I applied today for it, how long did it take you to get approved and ready to order?

*Note, I am entering my 3rd year in college this coming fall, so I'm relatively young as well.

btw, you got 0% interest right away...right?

 

MegaMan, I'm probably going to be applying for that card as well.

I just graduated college and have had a physical credit card (not an ATM/credit card) since '05 and will very likely get approved. You might want to check out the AMEX Blue card or an easier credit card to get approved for if this doesn't work out. A lot of credit card companies have similar no interest/no payment deals for the first 6-12 months.

 

just fyi for anyone buying with a discover credit card, if you to sonystyle through the referral link on discover's site and buy with a discover card, you get 5% back. bought 2 laptops back in may and scored about $150 cash back.

and i'm in agreement with Greg, credit cards for a particular store aren't a great idea for younger people. in fact, i don't think they're necessarily a great idea for older people either.

 

The Sony Card above lets you use it anywhere Visa is accepted.

 

Please be very careful about them!

They should. But in any case, when they send you the contract papers to sign, read it very carefully. If you're not sure about any technical term just ask them.

I haven't paid a single penny in my entire credit card use history. I buy only what I can afford and what I 'need' - rather than what I 'want'. If you're buying something that is very expensive like a laptop for example then always look for the option of 0 interest payment- for e.g., pay full amount in 12 installments. That way you're winning in two ways
o No burden in the long run
o Better credit history => better purchase options and so on

They cr card companies want you to be unable to pay on time- that's where they make money. Have look at Secret History of the Credit Card (PBS). In it, even a Harvard Law professor said that she doesn't undertsand everything mentioned under the card's terms and conditions!!

I've seen one of my very close friends carrying the burden of credit card for more than 4 years- he's almost done paying though. It all started with a trip to Switzerland which he couldn't afford!

 

Hey NYYankeeGirl, tell me when you get apply and approved for the card, I wanna know the timeframe for approval.

I applied yesterday July 15th Tuesday, and I haven't gotten a SINGLE email back at all yet so I'm a bit worried.

Did anyone apply and get some kind of email back instantly? Whether it was a thank your for applying, or your application is processing email?

 

ash, that was a great documentary from frontline.

megaman, there is always a chance you will be turned down, but again it depends. the 0% interest for 12 months is fine, except when you are late on a payment to sony, or even possibly to anothher card company, or late on any other bill for that matter. It may state in the contract, if you are late or default on any other payment to any other institution (bank, cable company, phone, etc), sony or the firm that provides the credit has the right to raise the interest on that card back to whatever was mentioned in the contract, be that 18, 24, or 28 %, again not sure.

then there is always the fine print when you sign up. for example in canada we have the MC sony card.

New Sony Card Members earn 2000 BONUS Sony Points with first purchase ††

†† This is a one-time offer for new Sony Card credit cardholders, or existing cardholders who qualify for an additional account. To qualify for this offer, cardholders must use their account for at least one purchase or cash transaction. Please allow 8-10 weeks from the first transaction date for the bonus points to be posted to the account.

again I have no idea where the link is for this card you mention, if you could post it, I wouldn't mind reading more, since I am sure there are some loopholes for sony.

So even if you get accepted, and buy a laptop and begin paying it off, you may not be able to pay it off in the 12 months with no interest. This is assuming you do not default and sony does not increase your interest from 0 to 19 or whatever. So perhaps in the long run once the interest goes up from 0, that $100 you saved by using the car disappears due to the interest charges now piling up on the account of no more 0% interest.

You have 2 choices.

1. buy it using the card, and pay it off in under the 12 month period as not to have any interest added onto your card. at the same time remembering as not to default on the payment or any other payments you make. (I am assuming you have some kind of income? or a loan to pay it off right away or gradually?)

2. buy it normally, no credit card, if you can afford it.

Remember interest is a killer and best avoided on large purchases.

"At a 19.99% annual interest rate, a $100 balance would accrue a monthly interest charge of $1.70"

what price of a laptop are you considering?

at 1500, there might be around 25 bucks or so of interest each month, 4 months and that $100 is looking useless assuming you default on a payment and sony removes 0% interest on you.

With credit cards, never think short term gain, always think long term loss.

sorry for the rant.

 

thanks ascariss for the detail you have provided

Here is the direct link for said Visa Sony Card:

https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wc...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644488778

and the pdf with full details here:
https://ccsic.fni-stl.com/cgi-bin/p...pdf&DOC3=CMA27131.pdf&IDC=8101&IDNUM=&CLOSE=1

are there any important details I need to know about this card that you read in the included links?

 

Ok I quickly glanced through the pdf and got most of this out of it

some things that catch my eye right away are the small superscripts near a lot of the words

11.99% variable, here is the kicker

Rates, fees, and terms may change: We reserve the right to change the account terms (including the APRs) at any time for any reason, in addition to APR increases that may occur for failure to comply with the terms of your account. The APRs for this offer are not guaranteed; APRs may change to higher APRs, fixed APRs may change to variable APRs, or variable APRs may change to fixed APRs. Any changes will be in accordance with your account agreement

rates will go up for any reason, which I stated in the previous post. It is also possible that once the 12 month promo period is over the rate will go up depending on how you have been repaying, if you never were late and all is well the rate should not go up, but it will like with most promo periods.

Like most store credit cards, they have high interest rates, and this one is no different, note
Default APR: Up to 28.99% variable

Interesting to note as well

The Qualifying Purchase will accrue periodic finance charges from the date of the purchase at the Purchase APR as provided above; however, you will not have to pay any finance charges/interest on the Qualifying Purchase if you make at least the required minimum payments necessary to maintain your account in good standing and pay for the Qualifying Purchase in full within twelve (12) billing cycles. Your monthly statements will show the amount of the deferred finance charge that is accruing and will become part of the balance if you do not pay the purchase price in full by the expiration date. After the expiration date, the balance due on the Qualifying Purchase, including all accrued finance charges, will bear interest at the Purchase APR

basically the thing you bought, is building up interest, but you are not paying it, if you do not pay it off in the 12 months, you have to pay it off once the period is over which is not good, and meaning the interest built up has basically killed the saving 100 bucks idea.

also as I mentioned earlier
[/b[Please be aware that the 12 month promotional period may be affected by and could be shorter depending upon the timing and amount of
your payments and your other account transactions, including other promotional financing transactions.[/b]

if you default or screw up on your payments, that 12 months promo period can be removed or shortened.

rates will also go up on you for these reasons:

-We do not receive at least the minimum payment due by the date and time due
-you exceed your credit line
-you make a payment to us that is not honored by your bank. Your APRs may increase as of the first day of the billing
cycle in which the default occurs

We may consider the following factors to determine the default rate:
-the length of time your account has been open; the existence, seriousness and timing of defaults
-other indications of your account usage and performance
-information about your other relationships with us, any of our related companies or from consumer credit reports.

if you ask me, the card is not worth it unless you know for 100% you can pay it off in less than 12 months as not to acrue any interest.

 

ascariss, you'll not be liked by those financial product desingers :lol:

Very good post

I couldn't agree with you more. Another general point I'd like to mention here.

I may be wrong but financial institutions are one the very few business entitties that are legally able to change their conditions and still able to force you to carry on with the contract. It won't happen, for eg. in a mobile phone contract - if your connection provider changes it's terms &/or condition then you have the right to opt out of the contract without any payment. But with cr card it's different, as ascariss pointed out that you're to sign a contract where they have the right to change terms and conditions any time they like.

Because FI are now getting nervous in present world economic condition, the possibility of change in T&C is higher than before.

 

sorry to bring an old thread back to life...but i've got more questions...

I still haven't received a response from Chase or Sony about if I'm approved or declined for the card.

1.) How long do these things usually take to process and approval? (My 1st credit card)

2.) What's a minimum finance charge? On this Sony card, it says $1.00 is the minimum finance charge. Does this mean I have to spend at least a $1.00 a month when I get this card or I can't charge less then a $1.00 for any of my purchases with this card?

Here's the link to the details:
https://ccsic.fni-stl.com/cgi-bin/p...pdf&DOC3=CMA27131.pdf&IDC=8101&IDNUM=&CLOSE=1

 

IMO, it's really not a good idea to feed a mindset of living on credit cards - they are just a means of keeping you chained to debt, even if you are being careful and conscious.

That being said, buying something big and nice like a new Sony Vaio is a sanctioned activity.



Keep your wits about you.

 

i purchased my Vaio CR 590 CTO recently using sony card (instant approval for $6000 credit line).
got back $100 within 10 days. additionally got more than 7000 points by multiplying 5 points for each doller of the notebook cost. sony gave back $71 on my card.
so effectively my notebook costed me only $1230 (Inc. tax +free ship) with following specs.
Intel Centrino Core2Duo T9300 (2.5 GHz)
4 GB DDR2 RAM
250 GB 5400 HDD
Fingerprint Reader + Integrated 1.3 MPixel Video Camera + Microphone + Bluetooth 2.1 (with A2DP)
14.1" XBright-Eco screen
Overall its excellent notebook. I'm very happy with the price and performance of notebook. Invested the savings towards and extra battery and AC adapter.

 

you got instant approval? huh...I guess I got declined....

I applied for it back on July 15th...so I'm actually still waiting...

When did you apply and when did you buy your laptop?

Can also someone answer my finance charge question?

 

No, there is no minimum spending -- I have the card for four years and I only use it when I buy Sony stuff, which is like a once-every-two-year event (accessories and stuff, not a whole laptop).

Like some have said, this is not really such a great card because you can only spend your reward on Sony stuff, so I don't use it often. However, it makes up by having a lightning fast credit process if you buy directly from sonystyle: you can usually get your purchase credit (not just the reward points, but reward points actually converted to statement credit) in the account before your next bill is due so I usually end up carrying zero balance on the card and the reward point -- unlike other reward cards that you may have to accumulate to certain amount before you can cash out, which usually take several months.

The finance charge mentioned in the paragragh is telling you that you are carrying a balance, which typically means all kind of crazy charges will start to occur, but in this deal you don't have to worry about it as long as you pay the minimum monthly payment, which should be zero, but you need to confirm that, each month. Remember, 0% interest just means when you buy it for $1000, the total amount you pay in the 12 months will be $1000 instead $1250 or other crazy numbers, it doesn't necessarily mean you can write a $1000 check on the last day -- some deals require you to at least pay $10 or $50 each month and then you and write a check for the remainder on the last day, although these are rare.

Hope this helps, and by the way, I think you got denied. Try give Chase a call and see what's going on.

 

These are good points, but it's probably worth pointing out that Sony card gives reward points on every purchase, but give the highest (5 points, so 5%) in sonystyle. The reward can be used on any new Sony merchandise, including DVD and BD released by Sony Pictures, purchased from any "normal" retail (so no auction site like eBay) -- it's not limited to one store, but it is limited to one brand.

 

Megaman, I never applied for a Sony visa card, but when I applied for my first credit card (Bank of America) in my own name, it took about 1.5-2 months (I think I applied early Sept., got it around Oct/Nov-ish) before the credit card arrived in the mail. I had assumed I was rejected too, but it turns out the process was just really slow.

One other thing to keep in mind if you're planning to use this for a big purchase - this is your first credit card and your credit limit might be low the first time around. I know that my initial limit was $1000.

Best of luck with this!

 

Thanks, I'll just have to hope that they will be merciful...lol

I read through the T & A, and I found this excerpt to be quite interesting:

I think, if I am approved either for $1000 or $100, I can still make a 1 time purchase at sonystyle.com only up to $5,000. Just enough for me to grab a brand new Z...even the the preconfig one at $4000 is up for grabs!!

 

Just and update for you guys.

I got approved...me, a college student with criminal record...lol, just kidding, no criminal record AND no credit history

What's the approval I got? Well...It's enough for the Z590 CTO, a 2 year ADH service plan, and 2 notebook accessories!!

I just want to let everyone know that I applied July 15th in the morning and received my actual card today August 7th (just in time for free shipping)

I got the $200 Campus Offer and $100 First time card credit discount with no interest on payments for $12 months as well as 5pts for every $1 I spent.

This seemed like a really good deal, and I would suggest more people to jump on this Sony Visa Card then their other black Sony only financial card.

 

MegaMan...... I belong to creditboards Dot com, and know all about different types of credit cards. Sony is underwritten through Chase, which is a Prime lender, but they are very forgiving when it comes to BK and lates. I have this card, and never used it for anything. I just keep it open for age. The card kinda sucks, because you cannot convert it to a different type of Chase card, because Chase has a contract with Sony, and the cards must always remain Sony Visa's. Please call 800-480-1870. This is the direct number to Chase's credit card underwritting. Ask them what the status is, and if you're declined ask them if they can re-evaluate your application. I have used this number over and over again, and always come out with an approval. Hope this helps!

 

I think you better read the post right above yours...lol

 

>>Hey NYYankeeGirl, tell me when you get apply and approved for the card, I wanna know the timeframe for approval.

I just saw this. I essentially got instant approval. They gave me a number to call to verify it was me applying for the card, not some thief.

I got the financial card for the 18 month no interest, no payments.

Now I just need to get a job to pay this off.

MegaMan, you should consider getting another credit card, a real one I mean. Most of these company credits cards (e.g. Best Buy, Sony, Target) are scams beyond their initial offer. As I said earlier, consider AMEX's Blue card for students:

https://www124.americanexpress.com/cards/loyalty.do?page=bluestudent

 

He did get a real card - Visa underwritten by Chase. I've used one as my primary card for years.

 

Did everyone just skip my post without reading? LOL

I did get the sony visa card...hence the title and previous posts

 

>>>He did get a real card - Visa underwritten by Chase. I've used one as my primary card for years.

I know that, what I meant to say is that its rewards and APR suck beyond the initial purchase compared to other cards.

 

I'm in the same situation. Have applied like last Wednesday for it, and still no word. I'm just looking to take advantage of the 150$