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Subject:Buying expensive software From:geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA Date:Tue, 17 Jun 1997 12:48:44 -0500
If you occasionally have to purchase an expensive software
package (e.g., just for a single contract) and don't have
lots of free cash floating around, think seriously about
negotiating a "personal line of credit" with your bank.
(That's Canadian jargon; there are probably different names
elsewhere in the world, so a brief description:)
A line of credit is a cross between a chequing account and
a credit card: you keep no money in it, but like a chequing
account, you can write checks on it (or sometimes withdraw
cash) just as if there were money there; as with a credit
card, the transactions become part of a loan that you must
repay at a specified rate of interest. The advantages over
a credit card are that the interest rate is usually very
low, often not much above prime, and the payments don't
necessarily need to be made each month. (Depends on the
arrangement... sometimes there _is_ a minimum monthly
payment.) Based on your credit history and negotiating
skill, the bank will set various limits beyond which you
can't proceed. A line of credit lets you buy important
stuff like software and then carry the loan until the new
job earns you enough money to pay off the loan. Over the
few months this should take, the interest shouldn't amount
to much.
Of course, if you're running a freelancing business, you
probably want to negotiate a traditional small business
loan for startup capital (and to pay your own living
expenses until you start hauling in the work). You should
definitely establish an "emergencies" account chock full of
readily available cash, just in case you have a slow month
or need to purchase something on the spur of the moment and
don't want to take out another loan.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
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