Man playing on a teblet from Best Buy.

Best Buy Financing Credit Score Requirements

Are you looking to get some credit at Best Buy? This retailer has some great financing programs to make just about any purchase affordable, but what credit score do they require to get approved? Let’s take a look.

Getting Approved At Best Buy

Best buy has a number of great deferred interest financing deals that can let you stretch out a purchase over time. This can make it very easy to secure a large purchase, but there is a catch. You need to have a decent credit score for Best Buy financing, but just how decent does it need to be?

We believe in being brief, so we will not string you along. The answer is 630. With a 630 credit score, you are very likely to get approved for Best Buy financing. Of course, nothing in life is guaranteed, so your results may vary.

Don’t have a 630 score? We may be able to help you get a cash loan offer.

Get a free quote for financing.

Financing At Best Buy

If you are fortunate enough to have a good enough credit score for Best Buy financing, you need to be careful. Their financing deals can be very rewarding, but there are some real risks as well. Here is what you need to be careful about.

Overspending

Once you get credit, it is far too easy to overspend, ,because credit does not feel like real money. There is a detachment that can cause you to make some errors in judgement.

Here is the situation. You go in to Best Buy to purchase a 50 inch television for 800 dollars, and you decide to go ahead and apply for financing. The answer comes back and you are approved for 4000 dollars in credit. Do you have the discipline to not change your mind and purchase an 80 inch plasma for 3000 dollars? Many people do not.

Before you apply for financing, decide on a budget and stick to it.

Deferred Interest

One thing that many people do not know is that those zero interest deals come with interest. It is simply being deferred, but it is accruing and it is likely accruing at greater than 20 percent.

If you make all of your payments on time and pay off the balance before the term ends, the interest disappears. But, if you miss a payment or do not pay the financing completely off in time, that interest gets added back to your account.

Make sure that if you use Best Buy financing as your credit source, you pay the balance off at least a month before the term ends.

Making Payments

It is nice to assume that you will be able to make a payment, but you need to plug it into your budget and make sure that the numbers work. The problem is that when you use a Best Buy credit card to cover the money you need this second, they will not tell you your payment. You will need to figure out what the payment will be when the statement arrives.

Take your purchase price and divide it by the months of differed interest and you will have your payment. For example, you spend 2000 dollars and have 18 months of differed interest. This means that you will need to make 18 payments of 112 dollars. Fit that payment into your budget before you commit to the purchase.

Ways To Improve Your Credit Score

But what if your credit score is not good enough for Best Buy financing? Well, you will need to improve your credit score. Seemingly a tough task, but if you understand how your credit score works and have patience, it is well within your ability. Here is what you need to do.

Pay your bills on time.

It is important that you pay all of your bills on time because late payments can lower your credit score significantly. On time bill pay makes up a solid third of your credit score, so this is extremely important.

To keep a slid on time payment record, take advantage of all of the tools that your creditors provide. This mainly means automatic payments and payment reminders. This might seem intrusive, but on 30 day late payment can send your credit score plummeting.

To further reduce the chance of a missed payment, have a well written budget and set aside one day at the beginning and one day in the middle of the month for making payments.

Limit the amount of debt you carry.

Debt is a huge problem, especially credit card debt. If you are carrying balances on your credit card, you should know that anything over 10 percent is costing you points on that credit score you need for Best Buy financing.

Credit card debt is tricky though, with most of your minimum payment going towards the interest. To pay down your debt, you need to have a plan and one of the simplest plans is the debt snowball plan.

The debt snowball method is a budgeting technique that helps people get out of debt by paying off their debts with the smallest balance first. It is an effective strategy for getting out of debt because it forces you to prioritize your payments. It also provides you with a sense of accomplishment each time you pay off another loan or credit card.

Debt snowballing can be effective for those who have had trouble getting out of debt in the past because it forces them to prioritize what they need to pay and provides them with a sense of accomplishment each time they pay off another loan or credit card.

Keep your accounts open and active as long as you can.

Credit age is another factor on your credit score, both in the average age of credit and the oldest account on file. You want to have older accounts, which is why it is important to establish your credit ASAP.

It also means that, once you pay off a credit account, you should try to keep it open. The only reason to close an old line of credit is if you are being charged an annual fee. You should also periodically use these accounts to keep the creditor from closing them. Just remember to pay off the balance as soon as you get a statement.