Almost any home remodeling project ends up being much more expensive than you think it will be. The cost of materials, labor and permits all add up to large sums of money by the time everything is said and done. It’s not cheap to work on your home.

You could borrow cash from a bank to help pay for all the work, but banks always expect you to pay back not only the loan, but also the interest. A $10,000 bathroom remodel may actually end up costing you $20,000 by the time you’ve paid back all the interest. Instead of going for a bank loan, why not look into some of those credit cards offered by the larger home improvement store chains? As long as you have decent credit and a plan to pay them back, it’s usually an option worth considering. Those credit cards have several unique advantages:

Zero Interest for a Limited Time: Many of those hardware store credit cards give you a period of 6 to 12 months with zero interest charges as long as you use the credit card in their store. Some home improvement credit cards offer no interest as soon as you open them. A year without interest accruing could save you thousands of dollars in payments depending on the size of your project!

Big Store Discounts: Home improvement store credit cards often give you sale prices on items you buy or services you contract through the store. You might save 3% – 10% on the total cost of the project, which could be a pretty good chunk of change by the time you’ve added it all up.

Convenience of Shopping For Everything At Once: These large home improvement stores now offer just about everything you could need to improve your home and most offer lots of contractor services to actually do the work for you. Instead of visiting a dozen stores to find a kitchen faucet you can go to one store and buy a faucet, a sink, a refrigerator, all the cabinets and even hire and schedule the installers all at one time. With one store credit card you can purchase the materials you need as well as hire someone to do all the work for you!

These hardware credit cards can end up being a win-win for both the customer and the store. The store sells more inventory and makes more profit while the customer is able to “borrow” more money to make home improvements without having to pay any interest for a limited time! A limited time of no interest payments, possible discounts and the ease of ordering everything in one store makes those large hardware store credit cards a pretty good idea in many cases!

Tags: Credit Cards, credit rating, equity, finances, home, home depot, home improvement, home improvement credit card, home improvement financing, home improvement loan, house, loans, lowe's, money