topic Home Improvement Financing in Credit Cards

Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 15:59:13 GMT

Hello all! I finally bought my house last year!! My credit is still good, but does anyone know what the minimum credit score is to finance for home improvement? I want to change out my floors and thought about getting them financed through Lowes, Home Depot or Lumber Liquidators--all through Synchrony Bank/GE Capital. I called the merchants and Synchrony Bank asking for the credit criteria and no one can tell me. I wasn't asking for specifics, but just a round-about acceptable score. If I applied and don't get approved, then that will definitely stay on my credit for two years and bring my scores down. I know my Credit Karma scores which is from Experian (high 600s) and Equifax (low 700s) will be different than my FICO score. Any suggestions or your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:03:24 GMT

synchrony is super easy for the lowes card. as a data point they pulled equifax that was like 670, got it for $700 then got an instant CLI to $12k. lower income.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:03:51 GMT

idk if they SP my TU or not for the instant CLI because TU was almost 700

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:40:25 GMT

Grats on the house! I banked my cc rewards to pay for my new sink/faucet. Next - countertops & flooring this summer.

You can see if you pre-qual for HD - go to the credit services link then scroll down to the bottom right of the page

It's likely that you'll have to do 2 HP to get a decent limit - see forum posts about it.

You might also consider opening a new card with a long 0% APR timeframe - depends on how much you're going to finance & how soon you'll pay it down.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 15:01:49 GMT

If your score is over 720 and plan more renovation in the coming years, I would suggest a HELOC. Low interest rates, lots of flexibility.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 15:07:36 GMT

while that's a good option, lowes offers 0% so that is nice too.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Kidcat — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:02:15 GMT

I'm doing a hybrid of both right now. Financed a kitchen reno $35k at 5.99% (not zero because I will need longer to pay). I'm finalizing up a Heloc. At first I was going to pay off Lowes because it has a lower rate, but Heloc's are variable...so I may keep the Lowes (even though it will hit my credit for high utilization I still think it's worth it).

So OP, as one said if you know you will be doing things long term a Heloc is a great option, keeping in mind that they are variable rates. Lowes and Home Depot have special financing for large purchases or projects. If I were you I would have both if doable.

I know with Lowes even if you're buying small things and you know you will pay in full, you can get 5% off the purchase.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 18:26:36 GMT

In march i went to lumber liquidators to pick out flooring before purchasing and once i gave some info to the sales rep i was preapproved automaticly for 15000 $ I noticed the high interest rate and ripped up the offer. I later returned to make purchase and i had a big enough order to do zero financing for 6 months so i let them do a hard pull. 1500 was my biggest credit line now i see other creit cards i own are following the higher limit. I am paying my flooring down as fast as i can but i dont want to pay too soon bc id like them to continue reporting on my credit report. I wiont have much need for this card. but ill try to use it when i can.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 18:32:00 GMT

Home Depot is CITI, NOT Synchrony!!

Re: Home Improvement Financing

UncleB — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 20:43:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Home Depot is CITI, NOT Synchrony!!

I was about to mention that as well.

Some people have good luck with Home Depot/Citi credit, but it's fairly well-known on here that Lowe's credit/Synchrony tends to be more generous with their credit lines, and more forgiving with a less than perfect credit profile. You can (usually) get a SP credit line increase with Lowe's, while with Home Depot/Citi most CLIs are HP.

This is just 'in general'... as always, the usual "YMMV" disclaimer will apply.

(Side note: the promotional financing also varies between the two... depending on your circumstances one might be better than the other).

Re: Home Improvement Financing

SouthJamaica — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 20:58:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all! I finally bought my house last year!! My credit is still good, but does anyone know what the minimum credit score is to finance for home improvement? I want to change out my floors and thought about getting them financed through Lowes, Home Depot or Lumber Liquidators--all through Synchrony Bank/GE Capital. I called the merchants and Synchrony Bank asking for the credit criteria and no one can tell me. I wasn't asking for specifics, but just a round-about acceptable score. If I applied and don't get approved, then that will definitely stay on my credit for two years and bring my scores down. I know my Credit Karma scores which is from Experian (high 600s) and Equifax (low 700s) will be different than my FICO score. Any suggestions or your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I know this is off topic in a way, but let me just say this:

the worst financial thing I ever did was to borrow against my home

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 05:20:19 GMT

Amazing post...

Re: Home Improvement Financing

RonM21 — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 12:51:56 GMT

I'm on the side of Lowes, do to them being more generous and they have financing that can help also.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 14:45:00 GMT

Don't apply to any of these suggestions. Apply for a Citi simplicity card with 0% for 24 months. Use a second HP to get the credit line you want. I just did this with Diamond Preferred and was approved for $30k credit line no problem.

Zero percent for a long time and you don't have to guarantee with anything, especially not your house.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:22:41 GMT

It's hard to take your advise seriously when you basically say "ignore what everyone that knows what they're talking about is saying and listen to me"

There is nothing wrong with a lowes card. I would rather take one HP and then a SP to get a high CL than 2 HPs for a CL probably lower than the lowes. Just sayin..

Re: Home Improvement Financing

kdm31091 — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:35:28 GMT

How many projects do you expect doing over time? You may do better with a generic reward card with more flexible benefits, because many of them offer 0% for 12 or 18 months. This way, you don't up with a card sitting in a drawer that provides little long term benefit. If you are a truly devoted Lowe's shopper, it can make sense. Otherwise, if you just want to finance, there's plenty of 0% offers on more flexible products.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

UncleB — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:37:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Don't apply to any of these suggestions. Apply for a Citi simplicity card with 0% for 24 months. Use a second HP to get the credit line you want. I just did this with Diamond Preferred and was approved for $30k credit line no problem.

Zero percent for a long time and you don't have to guarantee with anything, especially not your house.

32valve, that's a very valid suggestion for the folks who can get it (it's ideal, really) but I suspect either of those might be out of reach for our OP, or even if approved the limit is likely to be too small for his/her needs.

Here's why I say this:

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all! I finally bought my house last year!! My credit is still good, but does anyone know what the minimum credit score is to finance for home improvement? I want to change out my floors and thought about getting them financed through Lowes, Home Depot or Lumber Liquidators--all through Synchrony Bank/GE Capital. I called the merchants and Synchrony Bank asking for the credit criteria and no one can tell me. I wasn't asking for specifics, but just a round-about acceptable score. If I applied and don't get approved, then that will definitely stay on my credit for two years and bring my scores down. I know my Credit Karma scores which is from Experian (high 600s) and Equifax (low 700s) will be different than my FICO score. Any suggestions or your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Obviously none of us here are underwriters (or if there is one among us, he or she is being very quiet) but based on the above blue it looks like a Synchrony card with a promo would be the best chance of an approval with an easy CLI.

Home Depot would be my second choice, but of course that brings Citi into the equation and we know how they can be.

I agree that using a HELOC would probably be my last option, but the original post doesn't even mention that - it came up later. Unless we are told otherwise by the OP I feel we can likely disregard that option altogether.

Side note: as the new owner of a Diamond Preferred I'm not trying to "shoot down" your idea - it's actually a great one! - I just think it might be a more difficult approval for the OP's credit profile than a Synchrony card, such as Lowe's (of course, based on anecdotal data points). Obviously if the OP is feeling 'adventurous' he/she might decide to give Home Depot a try anyway, and just might get lucky. In any case I wish nothing but success wherever the end decision leads.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:38:39 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
How many projects do you expect doing over time? You may do better with a generic reward card with more flexible benefits, because many of them offer 0% for 12 or 18 months. This way, you don't up with a card sitting in a drawer that provides little long term benefit. If you are a truly devoted Lowe's shopper, it can make sense. Otherwise, if you just want to finance, there's plenty of 0% offers on more flexible products.

I suggest HELOC earlier in the thread, but with Simplicity now 24 months, there is no point in anything else. You know of other cards that offer 0% for 24 months?

There is also no AF, so there is no harm in sock drawer the card after the promo. Or close it and do it again? Or transfer the line to another/new card.

Re: Home Improvement Financing

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 07:02:30 GMT

Nice idea of financing.