Have you been considering a home renovation during the festive season?
Deciding to redecorate will breathe life into your space. There may be other reasons for remodelling your home such as increasing its value for the purpose of selling it.
It’s an expensive endeavour but spending your savings on it is not the best idea. Here’s where the role of a credit card comes into play.
While there are other ways of financing the renovation, namely – personal loans and home equity loans, there are many immediate benefits of using a credit card instead.
Why Use Credit Card for Renovation?
Following are the benefits of using a credit card for redecorating your home:
- Cashbacks and Bonuses
As credit card payers, you get anywhere between 1-2% cashback on every transaction. That number certainly adds up when you review your bills each month and saves you a lot of money.
Besides, a new credit card can get you attractive sign-up bonuses. To win that bonus, you have to spend a minimum amount. By using the new credit card for home renovation, you can easily cross that threshold.
Such a big purchase can earn you enough miles or points to take a vacation!
- Zero Interest for New Cardholders
Many credit card companies offer a 12-month period for new cardholders during which they don’t have to pay a dime in interest. Renovation shoots up your bills by a huge factor – in five to six digits, depending on your requirements.
You may already be paying interest on other credit cards. Hence, this is something that may prove to be truly valuable for you since we are talking about a big purchase here.
You will, however, pay the interest after the promotional rate expires. Therefore, you should review the payment plan very carefully.
- Interest-Free Bill Payment
Thanks to grace periods and how billing cycles work with credit cards, if you clear your bills in 30 days, it’s interest-free! The payments incurred for redecorating your home should, however, be made in full to enjoy free financing.
Hence, if you can pay your bills upfront – 30 days post-purchase, a credit card is an excellent choice to finance your renovation.
- No-Interest Promotions
While one may argue that other financing avenues may be safer or cheaper, using your credit card strategically is a smart and economical move.
According to CNBC, over 58% of credit card users are leveraging no-interest promotions. This puts credit card payment in the ‘low-cost’ category. If not the complete remodelling budget, if you apply for credit card you can certainly finance a significant part of it through your credit cards.
- Viable Funding Source Student Homeowners
For young homeowners, it can be a bit more challenging to handle the expenses – considering they have students loan debts to clear off.
Besides having budget constraints, they may not have the feasibility of using the other financing alternatives.
If you are a student homeowner, credit card(s) can make your dream come true – to design the space that reflects your personality.
- Maximum Returns DIY Enthusiasts
Do you love DIY projects?
Some of you may choose to redecorate your home yourself. While it would save you costs required for hiring an interior designer, you will still have to fund home decor items.
A regular store card does not offer good returns. This is where a credit card can make a substantial difference.
You can maximize your rewards on transactions made at home improvement stores such as Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, and many more!
By becoming a member of over 5-million strong card payers club at CRED, you will claim exclusive rewards while shopping with renowned brands.
- Expedites the Process
Getting the loan approved may be a better alternative for you if it keeps the cash flow intact. However, depending on the vendor you choose, the approval may take a lot more time than what’s desired.
That makes credit cards more instantaneous and lucrative if you intend to finish the renovation as quickly as possible. Check out the best HDFC credit card or any other credit card and get started on your home remodelling project today!
Key Financial Considerations
Before embarking on a home redecoration project, it’s not just the financial liability that you should ponder upon.
- Review Your Home Additions
What home decor contents are you planning to buy?
How much will they cost?
It’s best to have a detailed plan in place to avoid unnecessarily adding your expenses. Some people opt for renovation to increase the value of their home before selling it at a good price.
Besides, the more expensive items you purchase, the more valuable your house becomes. That will influence the cost of your home; hence choose wisely. You will also need to update your homeowner’s insurance to cover the new items that you have purchased!
- Role of General Liability Insurance
To turn your home upgrade vision into reality, you will need to hire a contractor who has general liability insurance as well as workers’ compensation insurance.
In an event that the contractor causes damages to your property, general liability coverage will cover the expenses incurred in repair.
Apart from that, the workers’ compensation insurance will cover the medical expenses if someone injures themselves while working on your property.
- Keep a Buffer
There is a good chance that during the home improvement process you may run into unexpected expenses.
As a result, you may cross the budget that you had set initially. For this reason, it’s extremely important to build a buffer. If such a circumstance does arise, you will have an additional breathing space to squeeze in the overruns.
Conclusion
Choosing a credit card for financing your home renovation project can be a wise decision depending on your remodelling plans and financial circumstances.
Credit cards offer attractive cashback, bonuses, miles, extra points, and other rewards. You should, however, ensure that those rewards are greater than the interest rates.
Paying your bills on time can help you negate the higher interest rates often charged on credit card purchases.
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