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Please stop purchasing at BestBuy

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Dan
Don't boycott Best Buys , What you should be doing is boycotting your wife
for not knowing how to wash dishes by hand

Minimum total purchase of $499 required. Required minimum monthly payment is greater or $10 or 1% of balance, plus billed finance charges, plus any late fees, or it can also be 2.5% of balance if card issued by Chase.

Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if plan balance is not paid in full within 18 months, or if minimum monthly payments are not made.

Offer valid at BestBuy.com® and in Best Buy® stores. (For cards issued by Chase bank, offer valid in store only.)
HSBC Financing Info

On approved purchases on the Best Buy consumer credit card by HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. Min. finance charge = $2. Certain rules apply to the allocation of payments and finance charges on your promotional purchase if you make more than one purchase on your credit card. Call 1-888-367-4310 or review your cardholder agreement for further information.
HSBC Deferred Interest Info Variable APRs as of 10/1/2009:

Plan A: Standard 24.24%; Default 29.24%. Plan B: Standard 27.99%; Default APR: 29.99%.
Chase Financing Info

On cards issued by Chase Banks USA, N.A. approved promotional purchases will be Deferred Interest/Interest Free Special Purchase with payment transactions. During the promotional period finance charges will accrue at the Deferred/Accumulated Finance Charge APR. As of 10/1/2009 the Deferred/Accumulated Finance Charge APR, Purchase APR and Default APR may be as high as 30% and may vary. See cardmember agreement for account specific APRs, terms and conditions. Until further notice, cards issued by Chase may only be used for in-store purchases.
 
I think what you are saying is don't use a credit card with high interest rate if you do not pay in time.
BTW best buy and futureshop is the same.
My VISA card is 5.24 % ..........!
WHY don't you use something like that instead of badmouthing the business: :D

Gerry

--

If you go into Home Depot and someone offers to help you and he is not an employee, you are in Canada :-)
 
Great insight Gerry, valuable information!

I guess this thread can now be brought to a close seeing that your unique wisdom cleared up everything :-)

Cheers

--
'The truth is rarely pure and never simple' Oscar Wilde
 
Soenda said:
It does seem like the greatest concentration of Americans who never use credit cards have somehow inexplicably gathered here at DPR. Hard to fathom in a photographic community known for its taste in expensive gear. ;)
--
http://www.pbase.com/soenda
Click to expand...
Hello,

1. A Canadian, not an American
2. I've had a credit card since my first job at 12k/year, 500 dollars limit.

Over the last 27 years I paid interest may be 2-3 times and only because I forgot to pay on a due date. I never bought anything with a credit card that I could not pay for right away. I use it as a convenience tool, I do not need to carry cash all the time and occasionally fly compliments of Aeroplan.

Rgds
 
Wow, tons of frustration/anger in this specific topic. The reality is (at least to me) that credit cards are a gamble and can be very dangerous. I have just one and it is not a store card. I learned the hard way that store cards are the worst when it comes to interest rates and changing lenders, so I paid them off and never used one again.

On another note, BestBuy, aside from when it has some good sales, is one of the most expensive places in the country for electronics. Yes, if you get a DVD deal out of the 5.99 bargain bin or there is a great deal in the weekend flyer, you make out very well. Compare the average price of something in BB to Amazon, B&H, Adorama, etc... and you won't be making that purchase from BB, I assure you!

All in all, read the fine print, know your options, and don't use/cancel the card if things are not looking good.

Happy Shopping folks...
 
If there's one thing we should all have learned from the current mess - don't live beyond your means.

If you have to borrow to buy camera gear for a hobby, you probably don't need it.
 
As bad as it all sounds, the distribution of wealth is a feature of embedded captialism. It's what you want in freedom for the economy. Once the government intervenes to help out those 80% who are being ripped off by the wealthiest 10-20%, everyone runs around with their hands in the air screaming "socialism"

So suck it up and live with it because that's what you want.
 
catesnap said:
As bad as it all sounds, the distribution of wealth is a feature of embedded captialism. It's what you want in freedom for the economy. Once the government intervenes to help out those 80% who are being ripped off by the wealthiest 10-20%, everyone runs around with their hands in the air screaming "socialism"

So suck it up and live with it because that's what you want.
Click to expand...
Underlined by the fact that there is virtually no emmigration from capitalism to socialist countries (Cuba, Venezuela, China...)
Rgds
 
jpp said:
Totally wrong about the culprits!

Who declared that every American should own its house was Carter, and the one who forced the Banks to be less demanding before giving credit was Clinton.

But this has nothing to do with photography anyway, just with the power of biased media.
--
Just passing by...
Click to expand...
Well, keep on passing. It was tradition in my family that the American Dream included owning a house--I can recall my parents talking over that subject as they got ready to buy their first house, when I was about 10 or 11. That was back in 199 or 1950. Somehow, I doubt either Carter or Clinton were involved.

--
Charlie Self
Meandering Mind: http://charlie-self.blogspot.com/
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

 
I do the same thing for my Lowe's and furniture store cards. Store cards are generally a rip-off. And, BTW, I don't buy camera stuff from BB, we are fortunate in Indianapolis to have a fine local camera store that usually has prices that are competitive with B&H.

--
http://rogerd.smugmug.com
wssa #326
 
Marcamera said:
catesnap said:
As bad as it all sounds, the distribution of wealth is a feature of embedded captialism. It's what you want in freedom for the economy. Once the government intervenes to help out those 80% who are being ripped off by the wealthiest 10-20%, everyone runs around with their hands in the air screaming "socialism"

So suck it up and live with it because that's what you want.
Click to expand...
Underlined by the fact that there is virtually no emmigration from capitalism to socialist countries (Cuba, Venezuela, China...)
Click to expand...
Well, that would be true except for one important distinction. All of those countries are under totalitarian control. None of them are countries in which you can openly criticize the system of government. Each of those countries have ruling governments which claim socialist underpinnings, but upon inspection they are actually all authoritarian systems.

You would have to look to Europe to see a few systems of government that have a kind of a socialist system in practice.

It has been interesting to witness over the years so many people referring to countries like the USSR, China, and Cuba as socialist governments when the actual ruling elements have been ruthless dictators and small groups of people that rule by the use of fear and oppression.

When you hear much of the nonsense about where socialism has failed, it makes you shake your head as you realize that socialism was never the system in power in the first place. They somehow forget that Stalin, Castro, Mao, Khrushchev, Chou En Lai, and Chavez ruled or are ruling with an iron fist. The people that use those countries as examples rarely want to let go of their reference to those countries because their arguments against the big bad gorilla (socialism) lose their impetus.

Dan
Member said:
Rgds
Click to expand...
 
Not talking about the American Dream but about making it possible through government regulations. When I was starting out you needed 20% down on a home and your monthly mortgage payment could not exceed one weeks salary. I had to have a cosigner when I bought my first new car to establish credit and you could not have one late payment or the banks would not lend you any money. All those regulations were removed to make it easier to buy a house, car or whatever.

There are now debit cards so you don't have to carry cash and can be used to buy online, so there is really no need for a credit card. unless you don't mind paying 20 or 30% in interest.
Charlie Self said:
jpp said:
Totally wrong about the culprits!

Who declared that every American should own its house was Carter, and the one who forced the Banks to be less demanding before giving credit was Clinton.

But this has nothing to do with photography anyway, just with the power of biased media.
--
Just passing by...
Click to expand...
Well, keep on passing. It was tradition in my family that the American Dream included owning a house--I can recall my parents talking over that subject as they got ready to buy their first house, when I was about 10 or 11. That was back in 199 or 1950. Somehow, I doubt either Carter or Clinton were involved.

--
Charlie Self
Meandering Mind: http://charlie-self.blogspot.com/
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

Click to expand...
--
Tom
 
This is what I think happened, because they cannot renege on a 0% deal just because they want to:

1) They notified you of an increase in rates for new purchases which does not affect your new balance. Not likely given the predatory rate which is most likely a "default" rate.

OR

2) They notified you of an increase in rate for your entire balance, but when that happens you usually have the right to decline, not use it for new purchases and finish paying it off at the old terms, which is spelled in there somewhere.

OR

3) You missed a payment (even by a couple days) and by contract that gives them the right to immediately increase your rates.

OR

4) The minimum payments have been on the raise recently. You may not have noticed in the last bill and you paid less than minimum last time which allowed them to increase your rates to the default rate.

OR

5) You missed a payment or defaulted on a different card with someone else, and they gave themselves the right to hit you on this unrelated account for that (a practice soon to be outlawed by the credit practices bill).

The best advice is to not use credit cards as loan instruments habitually. Use them as a convenience and only for money you already have in the bank, and pay it off in full every time.

--
-wotevah
 
wotevah said:
This is what I think happened, because they cannot renege on a 0% deal just because they want to:

1) They notified you of an increase in rates for new purchases which does not affect your new balance. Not likely given the predatory rate which is most likely a "default" rate.

OR

2) They notified you of an increase in rate for your entire balance, but when that happens you usually have the right to decline, not use it for new purchases and finish paying it off at the old terms, which is spelled in there somewhere.

OR

3) You missed a payment (even by a couple days) and by contract that gives them the right to immediately increase your rates.

OR

4) The minimum payments have been on the raise recently. You may not have noticed in the last bill and you paid less than minimum last time which allowed them to increase your rates to the default rate.

OR

5) You missed a payment or defaulted on a different card with someone else, and they gave themselves the right to hit you on this unrelated account for that (a practice soon to be outlawed by the credit practices bill).

The best advice is to not use credit cards as loan instruments habitually. Use them as a convenience and only for money you already have in the bank, and pay it off in full every time.
Click to expand...
Instead of speculating about what happened, why don't you read my posts in this thread to understand exactly what happened?

Its not that complicated. Read the posts, please.

Dan
wotevah said:
--
-wotevah
Click to expand...
--

If you enter into a discussion with the intention of winning a debate you will likely learn little about other perspectives and almost certainly frustrate yourself and the person you oppose in verbal combat.
 
Tom C said:
There are now debit cards so you don't have to carry cash and can be used to buy online, so there is really no need for a credit card. unless you don't mind paying 20 or 30% in interest.
Click to expand...
Debit cards are no better, with mandatory overdraft "protection" with large penalty fees coupled with sneaky reordering of purchases to hit maximum number of overdrafts, because you pay a $25-35 penalty per incident.

"45 percent of the nation’s banks and credit unions collect more from overdraft services than they make in profits"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/09debit.html?_r=1

Also, reversing charges on debit cards is not as simple as with credit.

As I said earlier, if you have the discipline to use the credit card as a convenience (i.e. exactly as if you had a debit card instead), then you have no problem.

--
-wotevah
 
I have read all of your posts and still get the feeling that there is a part of the story that is missing. What you are claiming that Best Buy did is illegal according to my understanding and I can't bring myself to believe they broke the law on such a grand scale and got away with it. I think it is more likely that they sent you advisory information far ahead of time and you discarded it with the other promotional trash they stuff in the envelope. I suspect that at least one of the scenarios the previous poster enumerated is pretty close to the truth.
 
What you have described is likely missing some key elements, so I advanced some ideas as to what you may have missed.

The entire difference between a "fixed" and "variable" rate is based on the fact that they can't just decide to change the fixed rate on their whim until it expires. There must have been some event stipulated in the contract you signed, that allowed them to do so.

Even as some providers did increase rates across the board in areas with high risk of bankruptcy, they did not do that to fixed rates (until their expiration) and did not increase the variable ones to default rates, so there is got to be more.

--
-wotevah
 
Cedarhill said:
I have read all of your posts and still get the feeling that there is a part of the story that is missing. What you are claiming that Best Buy did is illegal according to my understanding and I can't bring myself to believe they broke the law on such a grand scale and got away with it. I think it is more likely that they sent you advisory information far ahead of time and you discarded it with the other promotional trash they stuff in the envelope. I suspect that at least one of the scenarios the previous poster enumerated is pretty close to the truth.
Click to expand...
Would you please show me in any of my posts where I stated or suggested that BestBuy had done anything illegal? Anywhere, please. I look forward to your reply.

I have no doubt that the contract terms that I agreed to allowed BestBuy's contracting financial partner (HSBC) to modify the agreement with a specified period of notice, in this case 60 days. Rather than pay a predatory rate of interest, I paid off the $600 and will not use the services of BestBuy or HSBC in the future.

People are reading way too much into this.

Dan
 
pinnacle said:
Marcamera said:
catesnap said:
As bad as it all sounds, the distribution of wealth is a feature of embedded captialism. It's what you want in freedom for the economy. Once the government intervenes to help out those 80% who are being ripped off by the wealthiest 10-20%, everyone runs around with their hands in the air screaming "socialism"

So suck it up and live with it because that's what you want.
Click to expand...
Underlined by the fact that there is virtually no emmigration from capitalism to socialist countries (Cuba, Venezuela, China...)
Click to expand...
Well, that would be true except for one important distinction. All of those countries are under totalitarian control.
Click to expand...
And do you know why they are under totalitarian control?

Because there is no other way to keep in power a system, socialism/communism, that is against human nature
pinnacle said:
None of them are countries in which you can openly criticize the system of > government. Each of those countries have ruling governments which claim > socialist underpinnings, but upon inspection they are actually all authoritarian > systems.
Click to expand...
You confuse economic with political descriptions.
pinnacle said:
You would have to look to Europe to see a few systems of government that > have a kind of a socialist system in practice.
Click to expand...
Nonsense, they have political parties leaning to the left but in full support of the economic system they operate within - capitalism.
Again, you confuse economy with politics.
pinnacle said:
It has been interesting to witness over the years so many people referring to > countries like the USSR, China, and Cuba as socialist governments when the > actual ruling elements have been ruthless dictators and small groups of people > that rule by the use of fear and oppression.
Click to expand...
Socialism and communism breed dictatorship, they are systems that have ben imposed on people through regulations, restrictions on private enterprise, taxes, elimination of opposition.
pinnacle said:
When you hear much of the nonsense about where socialism has failed, it > makes you shake your head as you realize that socialism was never the system > > in power in the first place. They somehow forget that Stalin, Castro, Mao, > Khrushchev, Chou En Lai, and Chavez ruled or are ruling with an iron fist. The > people that use those countries as examples rarely want to let go of their > reference to those countries because their arguments against the big bad > gorilla (socialism) lose their impetus.
Click to expand...
I think you should stick to credit card subject. You have no idea what you are talking about. You turn the result into cause.

Care to answer this: Why , despite all the shortcommings of capitalism, there are millions of people dreaming of emigrating to the West from socialist countries, many succesfully.

Has there ever been massive migration from a capitalist country to a socialist one?
Wake up, this is real world we are living in.

Rgds
 
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