There are many ways to finance a home improvement project.

1. You can pay cash – though I know of very few people who actually do that.

2. You can take a home improvement loan, which is what many people do.

3. You can take a home equity line of credit. Many people do this when it comes to any home improvement projects as you can get a lower interest rate.

But my friend Tom recently, decided to put a new deck in his garden for the summer. He got a few quotes from contractors and it turns out he has to spend about $25,000. Rather than take a home equity line of credit, he decided to take up on one of the 0% apr offers that he regularly gets in the mail. But he came over and asked for my advice as to which card he should get.

I first asked him what his credit score was – close to 800 was his answer. OK – it looks like he could probably get a good with a lengthy 0% teaser period with a low interest rate after that. I told him that were a few things he had to be aware of when he chooses a card with a 0% balance transfer deal.

Firstly, there preferably should have no balance transfer fee for the introductory offer.

Secondly, it should allow you to write a balance transfer check to however you want.

Thirdly, it should have a low interest rate after the end of the 0% introductory offer

Lastly, the introductory period has to be long enough to make sense. In today’s environment, 12 months or longer would be a good deal.

The Card I recommended

I recommended the Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Rewards. Though it is a business card, you can apply for it even though you have no small business. You will simply treated as a sole proprietor. The reason I recommended this card is that it has the longest 0% apr introductory offer in the market at the moment – 15 months. Yes, you get a 0% apr for 15 months. There is also no balance transfer fee for the offer and the interest rate after the offer is low at 7.99%.

I referred Tom to the page on this site with a list of 0% APR Credit Cards. Tom took my advice and got the Advanta Card. Because of his outstanding credit, he was actually given a $20,000 credit line. So he essentially got a $20,000 loan for 0% for 15 months.

Update – Advanta is no longer offering this card. The only card I would recommend today is the IBERIABANK Visa Platinum, which offers a 0% BT deal for 6 months. It is the only 0% deal that does not charge a balance transfer fee.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 02:22 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.