Hot take: paying off a 0% APR card early is a waste of money unless you have no discipline

Here's the thing - I got a 12 month 0% APR offer on a store card for some furniture, about $1,200. Everyone says pay it off ASAP to avoid risk. But I took that same $1,200 and threw it into a 5% high yield savings account for 11 months. Made like $55 in interest, then paid the card off the month before the promo ended. My buddy says I'm playing with fire if I miss the deadline. But really, who misses a deadline by accident if you set a reminder? What do you all think - is it smarter to just be safe and pay early, or is leaving money on the table dumb?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_price22d ago

Felix said "the stress of tracking it isn't worth the pocket change" and that's the part I really disagree with. Setting a calendar reminder on my phone takes 30 seconds, it's not exactly a high stress operation. I've done this with three different 0% cards over the years and never came close to missing a payment, it's really not that hard. If someone can't handle one reminder on their phone, they probably shouldn't have a credit card at all.

felixw6822d ago

Nah man I gotta push back on this a bit. That $55 you made is basically a cup of coffee money spread over a year, and one slip up where you forget to set the reminder, or the payment system glitches, or you're sick that day and bam you're hit with deferred interest on the full $1,200 from day one. That's like a $150+ charge easy, eating up your $55 plus some. Banks count on people doing exactly what you did and tripping up, that's why they offer these deals. I've seen friends get wrecked by this on Best Buy cards and Amazon store cards thinking they're being smart. Just knock it out in two or three months and move on with your life, the stress of tracking it isn't worth the pocket change.