Rooms to Go and Hobby Lobby - What do you think?

[Sheisaking]

Hi!

I'm a short time away from my closing and i'm super excited. I spent the weekend furniture "shopping" and can't wait to actually make the purchases. I would like some feed back on two accounts i'm trying to obtain. I would like to purchase all of my furniture from Rooms to Go or Ashley Furniture. I would like to apply for credit but don't want an unnecessary inquiry. My score is in the low 700s, but I have a few inquires in past 6 months (mainly due to working with different lenders for my home loan). I also have 3 new credit cards (shopping cart trick) opened within the past 3- 5 months. 1 have 2 baddies, both about 6 years old. I have no lates and all other accounts on credit are perfect. What is the chance that I will get approval at these stores? I would also like to get a hobby lobby card. My credit utilization is 2% and my DTI is low. Any advice? Of course, I will not be doing any of this until after closing. 

[elleng81]

I purchased furniture at Ashley Furniture two days after closing. My scores are lower than yours and I was approved with GE (the have both GE and Wells Fargo but I believe Wells Fargo is the primary lender - they have a credit kiosk in the store). I got 0% financing for 12 months and a decent credit limit (after calling Credit Solutions because my original offer was only for $1k). Hope this helps!

[user5387]

This sort of question is hard to answer.

You can probably be approved for the cards, but whether it's a good idea or not depends on your priorities.

For example, let's say that you get a $2500 furniture card, and put $2200 on it, and pay it back over the next year.

In such a case, the high utilization will hurt your scores.  But you may save money by doing things this way, and only you can make that call.

[Sheisaking]

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@elleng81 wrote:

I purchased furniture at Ashley Furniture two days after closing. My scores are lower than yours and I was approved with GE (the have both GE and Wells Fargo but I believe Wells Fargo is the primary lender - they have a credit kiosk in the store). I got 0% financing for 12 months and a decent credit limit (after calling Credit Solutions because my original offer was only for $1k). Hope this helps!

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Thank you for the feedback. Did you have any collections or anything like that on your reports? How much were you approved for, if you don't mind sharing. 

[Sheisaking]

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@user5387 wrote:

This sort of question is hard to answer.

You can probably be approved for the cards, but whether it's a good idea or not depends on your priorities.

For example, let's say that you get a $2500 furniture card, and put $2200 on it, and pay it back over the next year.

In such a case, the high utilization will hurt your scores.  But you may save money by doing things this way, and only you can make that call.

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I'm still debating as well. This is my first home and I have no furniture at all. I'm weighing out my options. Thank you for letting me know the good and bad. Do you know if furniture store cards are reported the same as credit cards, or are the reported like installment loans you would get for an automobile?

[user5387]

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@Sheisaking wrote:

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@user5387 wrote:

This sort of question is hard to answer.

You can probably be approved for the cards, but whether it's a good idea or not depends on your priorities.

For example, let's say that you get a $2500 furniture card, and put $2200 on it, and pay it back over the next year.

In such a case, the high utilization will hurt your scores.  But you may save money by doing things this way, and only you can make that call.

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I'm still debating as well. This is my first home and I have no furniture at all. I'm weighing out my options. Thank you for letting me know the good and bad. Do you know if furniture store cards are reported the same as credit cards, or are the reported like installment loans you would get for an automobile?

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I believe they are reported like regular CCs, and FICO scoring doesn't distinguish them.

If someone manually reviews your report, they may treat them differently.

You could get a regular installment loan for this purpose, but you obviously would have to pay interest.  Installment loans don't drag down your credit the same way that high CC utilization does.

[09Lexie]

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@Sheisaking wrote:

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@user5387 wrote:

This sort of question is hard to answer.

You can probably be approved for the cards, but whether it's a good idea or not depends on your priorities.

For example, let's say that you get a $2500 furniture card, and put $2200 on it, and pay it back over the next year.

In such a case, the high utilization will hurt your scores.  But you may save money by doing things this way, and only you can make that call.

---

I'm still debating as well. This is my first home and I have no furniture at all. I'm weighing out my options. Thank you for letting me know the good and bad. Do you know if furniture store cards are reported the same as credit cards, or are the reported like installment loans you would get for an automobile?

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Most are reported as store cards.  If you are concerned about util, pick up the necessary pieces, sofa, dining table..you don't have to fill the house with new furniture now. 

[Sheisaking]

Thank you for the feedback. I didn't consider util. My don't want to drastically decrease my score, but at the same time, I don't want to sleep on the floor either. Lol. If I can get approved, i may just stick with the key pieces for now

[user5387]

Ashley is in the credit pulls database, and you might wish to look at that.  One idea would be to see if you can get some headroom, for example a $4000 CL for a $1000 purchase.  This would help with utilization.

The Hobby Lobby card appears to be a regular Visa, underwritten by US Bank, rather than a real store card.  I'm an REI member, and they have a similar card for that store (5-1 reward structure).  The reason I haven't sprung for the REI card is that the rewards are not general enough; I'd rather have 5% back at some place like Amazon, or 3% on groceries.

[FinStar]

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@user5387 wrote:

Ashley is in the credit pulls database, and you might wish to look at that.  One idea would be to see if you can get some headroom, for example a $4000 CL for a $1000 purchase.  This would help with utilization.

The Hobby Lobby card appears to be a regular Visa, underwritten by US Bank, rather than a real store card.  I'm an REI member, and they have a similar card for that store (5-1 reward structure).  The reason I haven't sprung for the REI card is that the rewards are not general enough; I'd rather have 5% back at some place like Amazon, or 3% on groceries.

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The Hobby Lobby Visa comes with no AF or $29 AF depending on creditworthiness (same with the APR)

IMO, and as Lexie pointed out, you can get the basics to furnish the home without going overboard.  Some credit financing options can be attractive but don't get trapped.  Also, you'd hate to take a HP for a furniture TL and not be approved for the expected amount.  Just something to think about.