If you own a home and would like to do some renovations, it can be challenging to come up with thousands of dollars at a time to do some of the bigger renovations such as remodeling a bathroom, changing the layout of the kitchen, or building a new deck.
Home improvements can increase the value of your home, and in some cases also save you money on energy costs. If you don’t want to wait on your home improvements, here are a few ways to pay for them.
Get an Unsecured Loan from a Bank
If you have good credit, you may qualify for an unsecured loan with a low interest rate. Banks are willing to lend money to creditworthy borrowers, sometimes at rates as low as 5% APR.
Before you even apply for an unsecured loan, you will want to shop around at many different banks and see who is offering the best rates.
Consider a 5 year $8,000 loan. If you get a 5% rate, you’ll pay $1,058.19 in interest over the course of the loan. If you get a 7% rate, you’ll pay $1,504.58 in interest. Shopping for the best rate in this case could save you over $400.
Look at many different offers including Clydesdale Bank loans to make sure you find the best interest rate.
Get a Low Interest Credit Card
A credit card is actually just an unsecured line of credit that you can use anywhere they accept plastic. It’s very similar to an unsecured loan.
If you are going to use a credit card to buy your home improvement materials and pay contractors, the most important aspect of the card is the interest rate. Rewards do not matter if you are going to carry a balance; you should just look for the lowest rate.
The other benefit of credit cards is that some may offer a 0% introductory rate for a certain period of time. If you will be able to pay off the full balance of the card before the promotional rate expires, it is a great way to borrow money while paying little to no interest.
Keep in mind that some of the promotional rates will charge deferred interest if the whole balance isn’t paid before the promotion expires. That makes it very important to pay it off in a timely fashion.
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Or you could just be patient and save the money. But then… there’s nothing to sell from savings now is there… I mean banks don’t make money out of mr and mrs home improver who puts pennies away until they have enough.