4 Times It’s OK To Use Your Credit Card for Home Improvements

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Pulling out your credit card can seem tempting for home improvement projects with expensive price tags. However, this is often a bad financial move that leaves you burdened with debt and paying a lot of interest.

While you’d ideally use money on hand for home improvement projects, using your credit card could make sense in certain situations.

It Can’t Wait

Some updates, such as new flooring or a fancy new bathroom, could wait until you save up enough to afford the home renovations without debt. However, you might sometimes encounter situations where you need to urgently renovate your home to keep it in good condition and avoid costly issues later. 

Perhaps there’s an issue with your roof and holding off on a replacement could lead to leaks that damage your home and leave you with a huge bill. Similarly, getting new doors or windows could be necessary for your home’s security or energy efficiency. After carefully considering the consequences, the risk might justify using your credit card.

You Have a 0% Interest Offer

Whether you’ve recently opened a regular credit card or store card, your home improvement purchase could qualify for 0% interest for a specific time frame, such as one or two years. Since you’d avoid the drawback of interest charges, using a credit card could be OK if you’re certain you’ll pay the purchase off before any interest starts accruing. 

However, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cautioned about potential 0% interest catches, such as deferred interest. This could leave you with a big interest charge if you have even a small portion of the balance on that purchase remaining after the promotional period. You should also read the fine print for any penalty rates for late payments.

You Can Save Money

You can sometimes get a one-time or ongoing discount on home improvement purchases if you use a credit card affiliated with the retailer. For example, MyLowe’s Rewards cardholders get 5% off qualifying purchases throughout the year as well as a larger discount when they first open the account. 

Turning to your credit card may be OK if it saves you significantly, but don’t forget the potential interest. This move is wiser if you combine it with a 0% interest promotion or pay the whole balance when the bill comes. Otherwise, the interest charges could far exceed the discount.

You Get Other Credit Card Perks

Depending on your credit card, you could access several perks if you charge your home improvement purchase. For example, you could get rewards points or cash back, an extended return or warranty period, or purchase protection. Some credit card companies even have retailer-specific discounts you can activate through their websites. 

These benefits can make charging the purchase reasonable, especially when you have cash to pay it right off. Otherwise, be cautious that you’re not spending more to get perks and that the purchase won’t burden you with years of debt payments or high interest charges.

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