Financing a major product purchase through retailer ($3200 camera)

[Anonymous]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I figured general credit topics was as good of a place as any (almost went for the credit cards section)  I am looking at purchasing a new camera and the body is $3200 which is a decent chunk of change, I'd also need lenses but for the sake of approval am thinking of only financing the body but have no idea when this may actually become feasible.

What would you figure is the minimum FICO score required to get approved for store financing of a $3200+ purchase? I am confident I am not there yet (low 600's) but was wondering if maybe 650 there would start being hope for something like this? 660? higher?

I know full well that if I was to go apply for say, a Best Buy card I'd probably get stuck with a $300 limit yet I hear of people with less than amazing credit financing large purchases from stores like Best Buy... do they consider higher lines of credit when you're specifically applying to finance an actual product at the time instead of just giving you a tiny starting limit?  Reason I ask is that my fiance was able to finance a $1600 purchase from a store last year and her credit was low 600's at best but if she were trying to apply for a credit card she couldn't even get approved for a $300 limit around the same time.

Do retailers relax on requirements in order to sell something?

I'm trying to figure out how I'd apply for financing a product online without actually just applying for the store card alone.


Cliffs:

Minimum score for $3500 financing through a store (like Best Buy for example)
Are initial credit lines higher when applying specifically to make a major purchase over just applying for the card alone?
How the hell did my fiance do it but couldn't get approved for a CreditOne bank card? lol

[Anonymous]

I'm obviously intending to use this camera professionally as a business tool, I wouldn't dream of spending $5000+ on a camera if I was just going to use it for hobbyist reasons (I sure am though!) It's hard to swallow the startup costs at the moment which is why I have  never gotten started, credit is slowly starting to get back to the realm of usefulness though and I'm hoping I can get this photography / cinematography gig off the ground sooner than later.

I'm thinking 640+ I could probably go for a small personal loan too but it's difficult for me to verify my self-employed income.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'd also need lenses but for the sake of approval am thinking of only financing the body but have no idea when this may actually become feasible.

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Professional glass can easily outrun the cost of the body but hopefully you're already aware of that.

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@Anonymous wrote:

What would you figure is the minimum FICO score required to get approved for store financing of a $3200+ purchase?

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No telling.  First off, it's never just about score alone.  Additionally, limits extended to a given credit profile can vary from creditor to creditor.  Don't assume that all store financing creditors are exactly the same.  Try to see if the relevant creditor has entries in the Credit Pulls Database,

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@Anonymous wrote:

do they consider higher lines of credit when you're specifically applying to finance an actual product at the time instead of just giving you a tiny starting limit?

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Limits are based on what one's credit and income qualify for -- not transactions.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Reason I ask is that my fiance was able to finance a $1600 purchase from a store last year and her credit was low 600's at best but if she were trying to apply for a credit card she couldn't even get approved for a $300 limit around the same time.

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That's due to the difference in the underwriting criteria of the creditors that I mentioned above -- not the product(s) purchased.  Store cards can have lower bars for approval but can also tend to come with higher APR's.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm thinking 640+ I could probably go for a small personal loan too but it's difficult for me to verify my self-employed income.

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I'd suggest pulling all your reports, learning to assess your credit and working on addressing whatever deficiencies may exist with your profile versus assuming that you're just stuck with whatever your scores happen to be.  This is just a starting point but we're happy to help if you're willing to give us a better idea of your credit profile.

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the detailed response, very helpful!

And yeah, I'm aware that I'll end up spending twice as much on glass than I will the body, most of the Zeis lenses I have been looking at which are native to the camera run around $1000/ea on average which aren't "that crazy" compared to how much they can get up to, I was planning on buying glass a little at a time as my finances alllow... I could go the cheap route temporarily running lower cost adapted lenses but that seems pointless.

Everything else you said (I get caught up on the camera stuff, lol) all makes sense though, I am thinking I may be in the realm of credit worthiness for something like this within the next 6 months or so at the rate everything has been improving, still a long ways to go though maybe It'll be a year still but if that's the case I'll just find a way to buy the camera w/ cash... the startup costs are rough (I'm a self employed creative pro so verification can be tricky at times too since income stream can be all over the place) I ALWAYS pay my bills on time these days but it's hard to convince someone of that without an actual employer.

I think once I finally attain my tools I'll be able to use them to generate new streams of income though, even if it's just supplemental for now.

really appreciate all the detail in your response!