1) When you applied for a credit card, if your credit score is average or above, you will have at least a credit limit of 500$. So you can purchase the PS3 right after being approved for the card. The rebate is instant and will be applied as a 100$ credit off the card, the only thing you will have to do is pay the balance the month after.

2) Being refuse for a credit card will greatly affect your credit but not being approved. If you want to apply for a house loan and have multiple credit card you just have to cancel them prior buying the house, or the bank may ask you to cancel them if you dont have a good credit score.

3)I myself have 3 credit card, each of them keep offering better interest rate and trying to lure me into using them more. When I purchase my car, I didnt have anyproblem receiving a 30 K loan at 0%.

Hence the credit card deal is way better, for anyone having good credit score.

1. I don't think you read the fine print-- it takes about 2 months to get the rebate.
2. I'm not sure if being refused for a credit card hurts your credit (I've never heard of that but I've never been refused so I don't know) but opening credit cards does in fact affect your credit.  Go ask your parents, they'll tell you.
3. I really doubt you got a 0% loan unless you had some insane collateral.  Even if that statement was true, I doubt you could get that today.

Anyone that actually knows what they are talking about will tell you that the credit card deal is not a good deal.  Something like the Dell deal is much better and you end up saving about the same amount in the long run minus the credit hit.

Oh, and another thing, you can ask your parents to apply for it and pay them back. They can cancel the card a month after if they want. I remember doing that when I was 16 because I wanted to order something online.

Now that will definitely screw up your credit.  Opening cards for the sake of one not-so-great deal is bad enough but opening a card, making a single purchase and immediately paying it, and then closing the card is definitely a bad idea.

1) what twesterm said
2) Just getting one hits your credit score for at least 6 months.
3) most people have "average" credit, and average credit doesn't cut it when it comes to getting loans at good rates. Why make your credit worse. My credit took a huge hit because I didn't know that when you move your auto payments get canceled and you have to manually pay the last month bill for your utilities. Not only that, they didn't notify me for over 4 months. Oh, and I'm sure that 0% will last 1 year, and then skyrocket along with past interest being added on. Since you didn't read the fine print on the PS3 offer I'm betting you didn't read the fine print on your car loan.

Yeah, they do some shady stuff with auto pay.

I had loan against a CD on my car loan and then setup an auto pay.  I had a really low interest rate but if I ever missed a payment I was fucked.

Thankfully I had autopay setup so everything was fine and dandy...until the last payment.  For some odd reason when you have a loan through Chase and have autopay setup the last payment must be done manually.

So of course not knowing this and just missing the letter they sent months before notifying me of that I missed it.  Luckily I know the banker and had perfect payment history so they called me and I didn't get seriously screwed over but man that was scary.

LOL about asking my parents, im 25 yo and im a sales manager (I prolly know more about credit than my parents). And yes being refused is what affect your credit. 0% on car is the most popular promotion in Canada. Opening up a credit card doesnt affect you credit score but it may affect you if you want to receice another loan in the future. Not because your credit score will be lower but because it could be easier for you to get in debt, so the bank may ask you that you close those extra credit card before lending.

About the fine print saying that it takes 2 months to get the rebate, can you point me where it is, because ive just read the term and agreement and theres nothing of that sort.

Ok guys, if what your saying is true, than credit in the U-S and Canada doest work the same. I bought my car 2 years ago, still at 0%, it was 5 years at 0%, its common here. Opening up a credit card or closing up a credit card doesnt affect your credit score here, I can certified that.

And I also always read the fineprint before signing a contract!

back when the ps3 was $400 i got at ps3 from dell for $323.

yes, well that may be the case. I didn't realize you were from Canada at first or I would have suggested this. In the US you can get 0% for the first year (pretty common) but after that it typically skyrockets. Any credit card you open is at least a 6 month hit, and unless you have way to many credit cards, closing them is a bad idea. If you have a lot of credit cards closing one is good as it reduces how much available credit you have.