I Used Capital One Quicksilver’s 0% APR for a $2,700 Purchase — Was It Worth It?
I recently made a purchase of about $2,700 at Nordstrom. Instead of paying the entire amount upfront, I opened a Capital One Quicksilver credit card with a 0% introductory APR on purchases for 15 months.
I already planned to make the purchase, so the 0% offer didn’t change what I was buying. What it changed was how I chose to pay for it.
What made the decision even more interesting was that the offer I received also included a $200 welcome bonus after meeting the required spending amount.
So I wanted to know: was using the card actually better than simply paying cash?
My Plan: Pay $200 a Month
A $2,700 balance divided over 15 months would be about $180 per month.
I don’t want to wait until the very end of the promotional period, though. My plan is to pay $200 per month.
At that rate:
$2,700 ÷ $200 = 13.5 months
That means I should have the original purchase paid off during month 14, assuming I don’t add other purchases to the balance.
That gives me a little breathing room before the 15-month introductory APR period ends.
The $200 Welcome Bonus Was a Big Part of the Value
The Quicksilver offer I received included a $200 cash bonus after meeting the required spending requirement.
Because I already had a large purchase planned, I didn’t have to buy extra things just to chase the bonus.
That distinction matters to me.
Spending $2,700 just to earn $200 would obviously make no sense.
But if I was already going to spend the $2,700, earning a bonus for choosing one payment method over another is different.
I Also Earned Regular Cash Back
Capital One Quicksilver earns 1.5% cash back on everyday purchases, subject to the card’s terms.
On approximately $2,700, that works out to:
$2,700 × 1.5% = $40.50
So the potential rewards tied to this purchase are approximately:
$200 welcome bonus
+ $40.50 regular cash back
= $240.50
That’s a meaningful amount on a purchase I was already planning to make.
Why I Didn’t Just Pay Cash
I could have paid the entire $2,700 immediately.
Using the 0% introductory APR lets me keep more of my cash available while I pay the purchase down over time.
That doesn’t mean I consider the money unspent.
The purchase still cost about $2,700.
The credit card just changed the timing of when the money leaves my account.
That’s the part I think is easy to misunderstand with 0% financing.
A smaller monthly payment can make an expensive purchase feel cheaper, even though the total purchase price hasn’t changed.
The Minimum Payment Is Not My Payoff Plan
I’m also not planning to use the minimum payment shown on the statement as my strategy.
The minimum payment tells me what the card issuer requires.
My personal goal is different:
Pay $200 every month until this purchase is gone.
Having a fixed target makes it easier for me to know whether I’m on track to finish before the promotional APR expires.
So Was It Worth It?
For this particular purchase, I think so.
I was already planning to buy the item. The Quicksilver offer gave me:
0% introductory APR for 15 months
a $200 welcome bonus with my offer
approximately $40.50 in regular cash back
and the ability to spread the payments out at $200 per month
That’s potentially about $240.50 in rewards from spending I was already going to do.
The key for me is that the 0% APR is a payment strategy, not permission to spend more.
I’ll update this post after the purchase is fully paid off and compare the plan with what actually happened: how long it took, the rewards I actually received, and whether I would use a 0% APR offer this way again.