Remember, it beats inflation in a theoretical sense, but only if you actually will do something with the extra cash today. If your salary won’t change during the loan, and you’re not investing the money you didn’t spend, then you’re not realizing any gains against inflation. In fact, you’re just giving yourself less money tomorrow, when inflation should make other goods more expensive.
My only catch is this loan requires a soft credit report - I have a freeze on most of my credit scores (used to be there were only 3 now there are a few more). Even a soft pull will hit that barrier.
Hypothetically, you could pop that money into a checking account with extremely marginal interest and still make money. Better in your pocket than Apple's, I guess.
The $25 you might make from saving $1000 is, to me, not worth the cost of having a reoccurring debt to service. Especially in the face of layoffs etc. I suppose someone might say a monthly payment is preferable to less savings in that situation… so I guess the financing could work in your favor depending on your situation.
A 0% is always better than paying upfront. There is the money you make from your saving account, the safety of having more available savings...
The only downside of taking a 0% loan is if you're bad at finance and getting that loan makes you spend more. Either by buying something more expensive that you would without the loan, or buying more stuff with the money you didn't have to give upfront.
