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I think you’re mixing it up. Nobody actually gets 30% interest in a month. That’s the APR.
roughly speaking, your monthly interest is 1/12th of the APR.
Edit: payday loans might actually get that high tbh… but that’s a separate issue. Credit card APRs will be around 25-30% most of the time
Oh sweet. So I'm completely debt free at the moment but one of my credit cards just increased the limit and gave me 0.9% APR until March 2026. So would this be a good time for me to max it out 😬? I would easily pay it off within 6 months. I drive a Mercedes, fully paid-off, I own the title, and last month the dealership mechanic quoted me $6,000 in maintenance costs for some little issues to fix to keep it good as new. And I am so tempted to dive in and accept their quote. But I would need to use my credit card to do that. 😬 Wise? Or unwise?
I would never max out credit. That’s bad for your credit score. And those tempting offers are great until you don’t pay it all off and get slammed with interest.
Fully paid off Mercedes suggests you're good with money and credit cards.
Learning about the nuances of APR suggests you might be learning the ropes.
If you ARE good with finances, consider opening a new CC to leverage the sign up bonus to charge the 6k repair fee too. It's not uncommon for higher end cards to give $500+ in sign on bonuses. Many will have an annual fee, just product change to a no fee card before it comes due.
If you aren't good with finances, disregard the above. It will lead to ruin. CC debt can snowball into taking years to pay off.
EDIT: Because you're explicitly asking if it's wise or unwise, imo get a second opinion. 6k for minor fixes is wild. Secondly, if you need to go into debt to maintain your vehicle, you do not own the vehicle, the vehicle owns you. I understand there may be personal reasons to drive that car, but if it breaks down on you and you can't afford to fix it, you may want to consider preemptively selling it while the going is good.
The dealership mechanic is always going to recommend $6K in maintenance. I would definitely not do this unless either it's time for them on the maintenance schedule in your owner's manual or you're having a problem.
In the mechanic's defense, it's a Mercedes.
Touche. Was probably just recommending an air filter replacement.
Or a new wiper
LOL, true story: last time I was there I wanted JUST an oil change. NOTHING else. (Because they have a propietary oil filter otherwise I would DIY it). Shoulda cost no more than $300. But the liaison lady said, "according to our records you are due for your 'Service A 'and I told her 'no I am not due for my Service A, I just had it done at a non- Mercedes dealership so that's why it's not in your records. All I need is an oil change right now. I do not need Service A."
3 hours later they come back at me saying they did the Service A and they changed my wipers (although I literally just changed my own wipers the day before!) 😡
and they topped off all my fluids which did not need topping off because I do that myself, and they charged me for it, so what I expected to be a $300 quick trip ended up 3 hours and over $2,000. 🤦🏼♀️ I was livid.
So why am I sitting here contemplating giving them more money? I'm glad I posted this question here because I will listen to the advice of the Lemmy guy who suggests follow the service schedule in the owner's manual. Don't listen to the dealership mechanic, they will always want more money.
Okay yeah if they charge 2k to do like $90 worth of service at jiffy lube, they're just fleecing people. Even worse that you'd just done all of these things recently.
Yea uhh that's just a straight up scam then. Don't go to that dealership anymore. And report them to Mercedes corporate
Wise? Or unwise?
I think it's unwise, even though your bank account probably pays more, so you could make money on the spread. It's a hassle, a distraction, and a small but non-zero risk a payment won't go through or something and you'll end up paying fees or having to spend time getting them reversed. The after-tax earnings on the spread would be under $100 if you borrowed $10k on this card. Focus on doing the stuff that allowed you have a paid-off Mercedes and no debt.
For example some credit cards have ridiculous ~~monthly ~~annual interest like 29.9% While offering a low 0.9% APR.
Some percentage of people will have some event in their life happen that causes them to keep a balance beyond the 5 months (March 2026), and they'll make 29.9% interest from those customers. It's a sketchy business model. Most customers will pay it off before the teaser rate ends, but it's not worth the hassle unless you had some reason to borrow to want borrow a small amount of money and pay it off in 5 months before you heard about this offer.