This fall, my spouse and I dropped our solely little one off in school. I knew it was going to be a tricky adjustment for me. So I did what any gadget- and music-obsessed dad would do: I purchased a piano and put it of their room.

Now, as a lot as I’d have preferred to nab a Bösendorfer Imperial live performance grand, it might need been troublesome to get it by way of the door of our small condominium, and the $300,000 price ticket was problematic. Moreover, my piano abilities may be described as “Chopsticks.”

So as an alternative I made a decision on a well-liked mannequin of Yamaha digital piano. With a keyboard stand, bench, and maintain pedal, the value got here to $975 together with gross sales tax. Let’s name it $1000 for simplicity.

Now, I don’t find out about you, however to me, $1000 is some huge cash. I spent loads of time researching and saving up for the piano. When it got here time to purchase, the retailer supplied me a wide range of zero-interest Purchase Now Pay Later (BNPL) choices. Three installments of $333. Six installments of $167. Even 36 installments of $27.78!

And that obtained me pondering. Though I’d saved up the complete value, couldn’t I beat the financing corporations at their very own recreation by signing up for one in every of these presents and letting the cash sit in my high-interest financial savings account whereas making the funds? Absolutely the curiosity I’d earn on $1000 could be sufficient to make the minor further effort value it, proper?

Now, I’m not simply Piano Dad. I’m additionally Spreadsheet Dad, so I cooked up a spreadsheet to reply that query. I simply immediately obtained an electronic mail from my financial institution telling me my rate of interest went as much as 2.5%, so let’s assume I’d earn that price on my financial savings all through the payoff interval.

Once I calculated how a lot I’d save by paying off in six installments and conserving the curiosity earned, I used to be shocked, and never in a great way.

The reply is $5.22.

5 measly bucks for the trouble of setting this cost plan up in my price range and the twinge of fear that I’d one way or the other miss a cost and pay a late payment that may positively be far more than $5.

Then I appeared on the nice print. There’s a $15 “processing payment” for utilizing the six-month installment plan. Though I might earn curiosity on my cash for six months, I’d be out $10!

The 36-month plan is a bit more fascinating. That one has a $20 payment, and I might earn $37.33 in curiosity over that interval, which places me $17 forward. Besides that this plan requires signing up for the shop bank card, which might imply giving up the two% money again that I earn with my common card. That will value me $20, so now I’m $3 behind on the finish of 36 months.

Now, some BNPL plans are really freed from curiosity and costs (so long as you pay on time), however they’re usually short-term. Learn the nice print—“0%” financing on a bank card reminiscent of My Chase Plan or Amex PlanIt nearly at all times comes with a hard and fast payment that’s going to be bigger than any curiosity you may earn for those who’ve already saved up the cash in your buy.

For a short-term cost plan, the curiosity you earn goes to be peanuts. Selecting a Purchase Now Pay Later plan when you possibly can afford to pay money isn’t like benefiting from bank card rewards or signup bonuses. You’re going to pay surprising charges, complicate your price range, and threat paying late charges or curiosity for those who make one mistake—all to possibly save just a few {dollars}.

There’s another threat I didn’t point out, and I hesitate to carry it up, as a result of I’d wish to faux it doesn’t apply to me. I’m very excited in regards to the piano proper now, as a result of it’s model new. Am I going to really feel the identical method, say, 18 months from now? I don’t know. However I do know that if I get uninterested in the piano and it joins my Closet of Not often-Performed Devices, I’d be very pissed off if I used to be nonetheless paying month-to-month for it at the moment.

So I made a decision to pay money for the piano, and I’m actually having fun with it—thanks for asking! My neighbors could have a unique opinion.

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