Advanced Cash-Advance Techniques
by Scott Bilker
Scott Bilker is the author of the best-selling book
"Credit Card and Debt
Management." He is also the Editor and publisher of the FREE
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Dear Scott,
I recently read your article about buying a card with a card. I
have a 0% interest
card and plenty of balance so it seems like a good idea. Problem
is the seller is a
private party. Obviously I can't use a convenience check or a cash
advance or I'll
blow the interest strategy. Is there a way to pay a private party
so that it appears
as a purchase on the card and not an advance? I have checked out
PayPal but I'm not
sure the seller is Internet active. Thanks.
--Tracy
Tracy,
Thanks for writing!
Note: Everything I suggest in this response
is what I would do. You must be careful
to analyze your specific situation to be sure that it will work
in your benefit.
Glad to hear the you read my article, Consider
Financing Your Next Car with a Credit
Card!
It's great that you have a 0% deal on your
credit card. I've used these deals in the
past to purchase a few vehicles. Actually, it may not be such a
problem that you
seller is a private party. It's the same problem that you may face
at a dealership.
Dealership say they accept credit card payments
however, many will not let you
purchase the entire car with your credit card. They'll allow you
to put your down
payment on the credit card but not the entire amount. This is because
they don't
want to pay the merchant fees for accepting the card. These fees
are probably at
least 2%. Therefore, a dealer would also ask you to use a personal
check or bank
check.
You need to find out if your 0% deal is good
for cash advances. I'm guess that this
may not be the case or else you wouldn't be asking, nevertheless,
you should give
your credit card bank a call and tell them that you'll write yourself
a check, and
deposit it in your account, as long as it's at the 0% rate.
If that doesn't work then ask them if they
would give you that 0% rate if they, the
bank, did a direct deposit into your checking, or savings, account.
The key is to
get that money in your account at the 0% rate, preferably without
any cash advance
fees, then use that money to write a bank-check to car seller.
Say it's the case that they still will not
do this. They would probably entertain
the idea of your transferring the balance from another card at the
0% rate, this way
it's not a cash advance. Then, check with you other credit cards
to find out if you
can get a cash advance, with no fees. If so, you can write a check
with the second
card, deposit it into your account, buy the car, then immediately
call the 0% bank
and do a balance transfer. When the smoke clears you'll have that
car at 0%.
You just need to do one more thing which, is
to mark your calendar as to when the 0%
deal expires. You must be sure to pay that off before they hike
your interest rate.
Also, don't be late paying on that 0% deal! It's probably true that
the offering
bank will slap you with a crazy-high interest rate as a penalty.
I've seen some as
high as 26% for late payers.
Good luck and please let me know what happens!
Regards,
Scott
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