Seek Credit Cards for Home Renovation But Show Paying Discipline
Credit cards have increased our propensity towards debt but I dare to believe that our credit-savviness is a result of our own paltry attitude towards handling plastic money. Yes, credit cards can allow you that great buying leverage but if your line of thinking is, “I have to pay this amount in the future and future exists only in the mind”, you have got your maths utterly wrong. That day in the future will come at you at the speed of 60 minutes per hour and soon enough you will have to pay. If, however, you can be disciplined with this powerful tool, there is no reason why credit cards cannot become a weapon in your hand. Let me show you how it can help a renovator- one among its many uses.
Renovation-oriented card
It is always a good feeling to be reasonably assured that your card can soak up a better part of your renovation costs. All you have got to ascertain is making all the renovation-oriented purchase through that particular card. This helps you in tracking your expenses better.
Interest-free period
It is a prerequisite that you buy from a card which has a 55 day, free-of-interest period. This way, you will not incur any holding costs in the event of paying the entire due in 55 days’ time. Quite a powerful leverage one must admit!
Buyer protection
It is good to opt for home renovation shopping with a card endorsed with Buyer Protection. There can be times when your supplier goes bust. In such times, money paid in cash or cheque cannot be contested (without using legal jargons and its associated costs) but your Buyer Protection will ensure that you recover your credit expense.
Balance Transfer
When I said a great weapon in the renovator’s arsenal, I wasn’t inclined to talk through my hat. It actually is. Just remember to use it prudently. Today, such cards have a variety of balance transfer options. The moment you close in on a due date you can shift your balance to another provider (at zero or pretty low interest rate). This way, you can keep extending the debt without paying anything more than (or very little in excess of) what you originally owe. Warning- things though can go drastically wrong in terms of late fines if you keep missing the due dates and timely transfer of balances).
Can hit our credit rating
Having talked of credit cards in high esteem, departing from the general notion that they are muddying the economy, it is my duty to talk to you about using the cards in a disciplined way. It is not new to us that maxed-out cards (those nearing the upper ceilings of their limit) can give us a poorer credit rating. Also, due to the longer-term fees involved, added with our propensity to carry the debt, credit cards may also bring us at the centre of a debt whirlpool.
My recommendation to you is to go for it during home renovation but not forget at any rate that the key word here is DISCIPLINE.
How have you maximised credit benefits in the past?
