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If you’ve ever seriously looked at financing a home improvement project, you know how expensive it can be so. Construction supplies, hiring a qualified contractor and various fees for permits can quickly add up. Most people can’t afford a large project to remodel or add an addition to their home without some form of home improvement financing.

Banks can often give out home improvement loans, but banks expect you to pay back not only the loan, but also the interest accrued on the loan. Though interest rates are still relatively low, they amount of interest you pay can still be stunning. A $10,000 bathroom remodel may actually end up costing you $15,000 by the time you’ve paid back all the interest. Banks and traditional lending t not always the cheapest source of home improvement financing.

Instead of a traditional bank loan why not look into some of those credit cards offered by the larger home improvement stores?

As long as you have decent credit and a plan to pay them back, it’s usually an option worth considering. Banks and lending institutions don’t always like to advertise the fact that they are just one possible source of financing, especially for large home improvement projects. Most larger hardware and home supply stores now offer a variety of different cards and credit plans, depending upon the size of your project, your credit score and what you hope to accomplish with your home improvement.

Advantages of Home Improvement Credit Cards

Zero Interest on your home improvement financing for a Limited Time: Many of those big chain store credit cards give you a period of six or 12 months with no interest charges as long as you use the credit card in their store to buy their home improvement products or contract their services. The Lowe’s Credit Card is famous for offering zero percent home improvement financing deals. A year without interest could save you thousands of dollars in payments depending on the size of your project!

In-Store Home Improvement Discounts: When you initially use those home improvement store credit cards you will often get a small discount as well. You might save 5% – 10% on the total cost of the project, which could be a pretty good chunk of change at the end of the day. Any form of home improvement financing that saves you money in the long run is worth considering.

All-In-One Home Improvement Financing Solution: Instead of working out your home improvement financing through one company, waiting for a check and then visiting a dozen stores to find a kitchen faucet you can go to one store to get the home improvement loan in the form of a credit card and then buy a faucet, a sink, a refrigerator, all the cabinets and even hire and schedule the installers all at one time. You don’t necessarily need a big hardware store credit card to do this, but things do seem to go much smoother this way.

How can these home improvement stores such as Lowe’s and The Home Depot offer these cards with such great rates? Traditional banks make their money by giving you a loan and charging you interest. The home improvement stores don’t have to make money on interest because they are already making a profit on you buying items from their store for retail price. These hardware stores are essentially giving you a no-interest loan for a short period of time so that you can buy more of their home improvement products and services!

It’s a sneaky type of a home improvement loan, but everyone wins! 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! Even more enticing: most of these home improvement credit cards have no annual fee and they have online account management options.

You can see why these cards are so popular. A limited time of no interest payments, possible discounts and the ease of ordering everything in one store makes these cards one of the easiest and most affordable forms of home improvement financing.