I am 100% against Marine Depot's new financing options

[Waynerock]

0% APR for a Red Sea tank with 12 month payments. Don’t see the problem just don’t miss any of those 12 payments.

 

[SaltyMarine07]

I agree find something with good miles that has had the hard depreciation hit already. The way I approach things I may finance is not what im going to get back out of it its the enjoyment I will have from having it. So not what its worth to someone else but its worth to me. If the 10k aquarium is worth it to you and you do not think you will regret it then go for it as long as you can afford it. Got my tank and accessories on the way and cannot wait to see how awesome and frustrating this hobby can be. Gotta love sales around this time of year and Marine Depot had what I was looking for I feel for a good price. I look forward to learning and talking to everyone.

 

[Potatohead]

mostly, although I recognize for most people, the necessity of having a car outweighs the financial math. The smart move s to buy or lease a 2 yr old car since the bulk of depreciation in a car occurs in the first 2 years.

If you can finance a car for under 3%, which is very easy, you are nuts to pay cash for it. Depreciation is a complete non factor, it's going to happen no matter how you pay for it.

 

[NS Mike D]

If you can finance a car for under 3%, which is very easy, you are nuts to pay cash for it. Depreciation is a complete non factor, it's going to happen no matter how you pay for it.

3% is the cost of money. It only makes math sense if you can earn more than 3% with the cash you have on hand. Math is math.

 

[Potatohead]

3% is the cost of money. It only makes math sense if you can earn more than 3% with the cash you have on hand. Math is math.

Well yes, that was the point.

 

[JEREMY HELMINIAK]

So wait I’m confused buying something on a credit card is better than using affirm? I have used affirm before for the simple fact that I needed a new light setup for my tank, my kessil lights crapped out on me and we’re out of warranty and I didn’t have time to wait around for a deal somewhere I needed lighting, so I used affirm for my purchase. Now why did I use affirm you ask. It’s simple yes I paid interest on them but the less amount of time you choose to pay the less you pay in interest. Now if I would have used a credit card chances are I would have just made my minimum monthly payment and paid on them for god knows how long. In other words affirm is not like a credit card in my opinion you choose how long you want to pay on something but more importantly you always pay the same amount and know up front how much you’re going to be paying and when it will be paid for. In my case I paid about 200$ more than I would have if I would have had the cash up front to pay for the lights. I can live with that given the convenience of me being able to get myself out of a emergency. If I would have used a credit card I most likely wouldn’t even be half way paid off by now. So I guess it’s all how you look at it and everyone’s decisions are different and everyone’s situation are different but if you can afford to make a payment on something that you want or need to keep you in the hobby because you don’t have 1200$ for a lights for your tank but can swing a 117$ payment a month for a year go for it.

 

[mcshams]

People often want to "police" other peoples' actions, and as a general rule, this can be dangerous principle to live on. Both companies AND the consumers should carry a responsibility to act morally (and that's questionable), but to educate themselves in their own behavior and consequences that they carry. Such as ignorance is not an excuse to break the law, so should ignorance in getting into bad credit debt and other situations. You can't just BLAME the irresponsible selfish company for offering it WITHOUT blaming the irresponsible person for taking up the offer.

As several pointed out, the housing market crash of 2008 was the same principle. Mortgage lenders/banks got greedy and careless...but NOT without the help of people making some SERIOUS bad decisions, unethical decisions, on how much house they could afford etc.

The principle of freedom however, is that you have the ability to be an 'idiot' or 'genius' to your own peril. You have that ability in medicine as well (I work in medicine)... and you can literally CHOOSE not to go with scientifically evidence-based medicine and choose something like essential oils. It is never my opinion that matter towards your medical care, only that when called upon, I provide the best care I have available.

Generation-wise however, we must be careful as to how we cast wide-angled judgement on an entire group of people. I can pick any generation throughout history and find 'faults', 'irregular belief and behavioral' peculiarities that just don't make a lot of sense, similar to how we seem to harp on 'millennials' and such.

Mind you, I have opinions on peoples' decisions, both favorable and not. Being tolerant of different decisions does NOT have to go without your opinion..because I'm surely not bashing anyone's opinion here. I do believe a lot of people over-judge, live as though they didn't expect the consequences, etc.

Take care everyone.

 

[Jeremy hall]

We all know that the reef hobby can be very expensive - the sky really is the limit when setting up your new system. We've all been in scenarios where we've wanted something that's just out of our budget and we start thinking about the things we can sell, or how we promise ourselves to be more financially responsible after this purchase. Let's face it - today's younger generation(s) are more financially reckless and impulsive than ever and I don't think it's right for Marine Depot to be encouraging this type of behavior. You can save yourself thousands of dollars just by waiting for the next person to get divorced or get out of the hobby and buy their setups.

Also... If you're going to spend a whole ton of $$ on a purchase why not put that on a real credit card where you not only get protection and rewards like cashback, points, sky miles, etc? I spent $1600 at Lowe's on a new washer and dryer and got 0% interest for 12 months. I didn't even have great credit at the time, it was just a promotion lol.

Sorry new here been scrolling through topics for days now ...any way I'm seeing divorce is quite common in this hobby what the heck is going on

 

[Jeremy hall]

We all know that the reef hobby can be very expensive - the sky really is the limit when setting up your new system. We've all been in scenarios where we've wanted something that's just out of our budget and we start thinking about the things we can sell, or how we promise ourselves to be more financially responsible after this purchase. Let's face it - today's younger generation(s) are more financially reckless and impulsive than ever and I don't think it's right for Marine Depot to be encouraging this type of behavior. You can save yourself thousands of dollars just by waiting for the next person to get divorced or get out of the hobby and buy their setups.

Also... If you're going to spend a whole ton of $$ on a purchase why not put that on a real credit card where you not only get protection and rewards like cashback, points, sky miles, etc? I spent $1600 at Lowe's on a new washer and dryer and got 0% interest for 12 months. I didn't even have great credit at the time, it was just a promotion lol.

Been scrolling through the feed back on this popped up on a topic I was searching what's up with divorce in this hobby it's mentioned alot in the ten pages of comments

 

[leptang]

Been scrolling through the feed back on this popped up on a topic I was searching what's up with divorce in this hobby it's mentioned alot in the ten pages of comments

14+ plus year reefer here, if its your hobby its your hobby. Im sorry for the one's that can't expand or continue their endeavours to have some pieces of mother earth in the living room. You can either take on good debt or bad debt, thats you. Love what you do and love others and your live stock too. I have used Marine depot option to pay later to save my awesome passion reefing!

 

[Jedi1199]

Just my $.02

Credit is a tool. It is neither good nor bad. It is how the individual uses it than makes that determination.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, (late teens, early 20s) I made most of the same "poor" decisions that I see a lot of people of that age making today. Financing items for instant gratification, based on the idea that what is happening today will never change. I had a great job and was building towards my career. Got a credit card and started spending. It never occurred to me at the time what would happen if I lost my job. My mother had warned me about abusing credit "spend only what you can afford to pay back at the end of the month". But, just like most young adults, I thought I knew better. Suffice to say, I was wrong, and paid a heavy price to learn that lesson.

Today, I have an extremely good credit rating. It took MANY years of hard work and effort to rebuild that. My mothers words still ring in my head every time I consider a purchase "Spend ONLY what you can afford to repay at the end of the month".

Some things are unavoidable.. The Air Conditioner goes out. The water heater decides to pump several hundred gallons of water onto the floor... Just be careful that you don't allow yourself to succumb to the temptations of instant gratification. That Chinese food you HAD to get tonight, may cost you a house in 5 years...

My $.02
Steve

 

[Fishyfish22]

I'm 24 and in school. I have a decent credit, previewed the marine depot to see what the financing was and saw I was instantly approved for 4k... I immediately noped out of there, it feels sort of predatory in a way. Like credit card companies who target freshmen on campuses or people newly turned 18. 18 year old me would not have made the same decision sad to say, but sometimes it's a powerful lesson in self finance.

 

[CubsFan]

Just my $.02

Credit is a tool. It is neither good nor bad. It is how the individual uses it than makes that determination.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, (late teens, early 20s) I made most of the same "poor" decisions that I see a lot of people of that age making today. Financing items for instant gratification, based on the idea that what is happening today will never change. I had a great job and was building towards my career. Got a credit card and started spending. It never occurred to me at the time what would happen if I lost my job. My mother had warned me about abusing credit "spend only what you can afford to pay back at the end of the month". But, just like most young adults, I thought I knew better. Suffice to say, I was wrong, and paid a heavy price to learn that lesson.

Today, I have an extremely good credit rating. It took MANY years of hard work and effort to rebuild that. My mothers words still ring in my head every time I consider a purchase "Spend ONLY what you can afford to repay at the end of the month".

Some things are unavoidable.. The Air Conditioner goes out. The water heater decides to pump several hundred gallons of water onto the floor... Just be careful that you don't allow yourself to succumb to the temptations of instant gratification. That Chinese food you HAD to get tonight, may cost you a house in 5 years...

My $.02
Steve

This is all kinds of great advice here. Chinese take out probably won’t be the game changer of home ownership, though.

 

[Jedi1199]

This is all kinds of great advice here. Chinese take out probably won’t be the game changer of home ownership, though.

You don't think so? Let me explain.

Here was my personal experience and, IMO, BIGGEST problem.

Small purchases $20 here, $15 there, add up fast. It is SOOOO easy to convince yourself that "Oh I can pay this off no problem".. Then the bill comes and you realize that you have spent $300. Add in the couple large purchases that were a few hundred dollars each and OMG I owe $1200 to this credit card at 28% interest!!! what the heck happened????

Don't think that is realistic? I beg to differ.. CC companies prey on this exact parameter!!!

So yes, That Chinese food you order tonight, very well may be the deal breaker when it comes time to apply for a home loan.

Cheers
Steve

 

[goggs29]

Its called freedom, one can choose how they aquire what they want. If we should only have one option then let me know so I can change the flag that is flying out front.

 

[Jedi1199]

Its called freedom, one can choose how they aquire what they want. If we should only have one option then let me know so I can change the flag that is flying out front.

I thought we were discussing financial responsibility, not political rhetoric. If I am mistaken, please let me know now, so I can opt out of this topic. I have zero interest in political discussion.

 

[DWill]

Welcome to capitalism.... Retailers don't look out for the consumer, they look out for themselves.

I’m not sure the company MD uses even runs credit or does anything. Maybe they just look at the total and you don’t spend enough they don’t approve you.
Not too long ago I de iced I would use MD’s financing to buy a G5 XR15. I could have just used my debit card as I always do but thought what hell it’s interest free I’ll just split it into a couple payments.

I have a 800+ credit score. Mostly because I have a bunch of available credit that I don’t use and I always finance things like cars far longer than I should so that I have “aged” accounts.

So, I applied. Within two to three minutes I had a answer and was turned down. A few days later, just for fun, I put about $2k of things in my cart and applied for credit… just like magic I was approved. I didn’t buy the stuff. I just had a feeling the credit decision was more about how much credit you were asking for than about your credit worthiness.

my guess s the formula they use factors n the probability of missed or late payments. A small purchase, less chance you’ll miss or be late. A larger purchase higher chance. Miss a payment or pay one late and they collect the full amount interest from the day you got the loan.

 

[reefviper101]

We all know that the reef hobby can be very expensive - the sky really is the limit when setting up your new system. We've all been in scenarios where we've wanted something that's just out of our budget and we start thinking about the things we can sell, or how we promise ourselves to be more financially responsible after this purchase. Let's face it - today's younger generation(s) are more financially reckless and impulsive than ever and I don't think it's right for Marine Depot to be encouraging this type of behavior. You can save yourself thousands of dollars just by waiting for the next person to get divorced or get out of the hobby and buy their setups.

Also... If you're going to spend a whole ton of $$ on a purchase why not put that on a real credit card where you not only get protection and rewards like cashback, points, sky miles, etc? I spent $1600 at Lowe's on a new washer and dryer and got 0% interest for 12 months. I didn't even have great credit at the time, it was just a promotion lol.

I personally do not see the problem or issue with affirm i have good credit still used affirm for a resent walmart purchase then a brs purchase got fair rate and payment plan.

 

[Mawlbec]

Love how this thread resurrected with r/wallstreetbets on our minds.

 

[CubsFan]

You don't think so? Let me explain.

Here was my personal experience and, IMO, BIGGEST problem.

Small purchases $20 here, $15 there, add up fast. It is SOOOO easy to convince yourself that "Oh I can pay this off no problem".. Then the bill comes and you realize that you have spent $300. Add in the couple large purchases that were a few hundred dollars each and OMG I owe $1200 to this credit card at 28% interest!!! what the heck happened????

Don't think that is realistic? I beg to differ.. CC companies prey on this exact parameter!!!

So yes, That Chinese food you order tonight, very well may be the deal breaker when it comes time to apply for a home loan.

Cheers
Steve

I agree that small purchases add up and cc companies prey on folks that dont pay up, but over a 5 year period of occasional Chinese take out, you won’t break the bank. It’s like saying that young folks could be out buying houses if it weren’t for that avocado toast and owning an iPhone. I’d say get a side of egg rolls. If you’re in the realm of buying a home, you probably know how to budget your money. It’s a major purchase. If you can’t manage small credit card purchases, you’re not going to get to the point of buying a home. It’s like financial advice from someone who thinks you need a picture ID to buy groceries.
$25/monthx12mos=300/yr x 5 yrs= $1500 bucks. That Chinese food is far more likely to affect 1 month of rent over that period of time than your down payment on a home. Home ownership is not in everyone’s grasp and it only gets further away at the pace the US is moving. Good for you for keeping those tight purse strings, though. To each his own.