Fingerhut has been around for decades and has been offering credit facilities to make it easier for people to buy the things they want. However, is Fingerhut Credit for you?
What makes this credit facility great, and what should you be wary of when considering it? Read on as we explore the pros and cons of the Fingerhut Credit.
What is Fingerhut?
Fingerhut is an online shopping website that aims to help people buy whatever they want by offering credit accounts with affordable low monthly payments.
Fingerhut is a 73 years old company that was started in 1948 by Wiliam and Manny Fingerhut. Then, the merchandise was automobile seat covers.
Today, Fingerhut offers much more than car seat covers. The first expansion happened only four years after it started. In 1952, Fingerhut added towels, dishes, and tools to its product offerings. The company has continually added to its catalog after that, and now Fingerhut sells virtually everything.
What is Fingerhut Credit?
The Fingerhut Credit Account is a credit facility issued by WebBank to Fingerhut customers allowing them to buy whatever they want and make affordable low monthly payments.
Fingerhut offers two forms of credit – the Fingerhut Revolving Credit Account and the Fingerhut Freshstart Account.
Fingerhut Revolving Credit Account
The Fingerhut Credit Account is a revolving line of credit like regular credit cards that allows you to shop whenever you want up to a credit limit.. However, it can be used for purchases only in the Fingerhut online store.
Fingerhut FreshStart Account
Fingerhut FreshStart Credit Account is designed for persons who do not qualify for the regular Fingerhut Credit Account.
The Fingerhut FreshStart Account allows you to make a one-time purchase that is a minimum of $50. However, you’ll have to make a down payment of $30. After which the balance is paid in monthly installments.
If you pay off the balance, with no late payments or return payments, you can then qualify for the Fingerhut Credit Account. Thus, FreshStart Account helps you build buying power with Fingerhut.
Pros and Cons of using Fingerhut Credit
Pros
- Access to a wide variety of high-quality products
- No hidden fees
- Accepts bad credit
- Low monthly payment
- Help build credit
Fingerhut Credit gives access to a wide variety of quality products
Using Fingerhut credit facilities, you can shop from thousands of products in the Fingerhut store. Having continuously expanded, Fingerhut is now a true one-stop shop for consumer goods. It offers virtually everything you need.
The departments that you can shop from are:
- Electronics and Office
- Video Games
- Toys and Games
- Home and Furniture
- Clothing and Shoes
- Jewelry and Watches
- Health and Beauty
- Sports, Fitness and Outdoors
- Tools and Home Improvement
- Baby and Kids
- Patio and Garden
- Arts, Crafts, and Sewing
- Pets Supplies
- Luggage
- Movies, Music, and Books
Fingerhut offers high-quality products from your favorite brand names like Samsung, Dyson, Skechers, KitchenAid, and more. Each department holds a variety of products. For example, under “Electronic and Office”, you’ll find the following products.
- Audio – Bluetooth Speakers, Boomboxes, Headphones, Radios
- Cameras & Camcorders
- Car Electronics – Amplifiers and Subwoofers, Car Stereos and Receivers
- GPS and Navigation
- Cell Phones
- Computers and Laptops – Desktop Computers, Gaming Computers, Laptops, Computer Networking
- Tablets
- Smart Home
- TV and Videos – All TV, DVD and Blu-rays Players, Streaming Media Players
- Home Audio and Theatre – Sound Bars, Speaker Systems, Stereo Shelf Systems
- Wearable Technology – Fitness Trackers, Smartwatches
- Office
There are no hidden fees when using Fingerhut Credit
When using the Fingerhut Credit Account, there are no annual fees, membership fees, or over limit fees. There are no hidden fees when using Fingerhut Credit, and this is not something that can be said about many other credit facilities.
Fingerhut Credit accepts people bad credit
It is relatively easy to qualify for a Fingerhut Credit Account because even people with credit challenges are accepted.
It is not news that people with bad credit find it difficult to access credit facilities. However, if you do not qualify for credit elsewhere, Fingerhut is very likely to say YES to you.
You make low monthly payments when using Fingerhut Credit
Fingerhut Credit Account makes it easy to pay for the things you buy in the store. It is not just the opportunity to pay for your purchases in monthly installments, but that the monthly installments are very low.
Your monthly payment actually depends on the size of your purchase. However, it starts at just $9.99 per month. At the upper end, for purchases of $1,400 and more, the monthly payment is just 5% of the purchase price.
Fingerhut Credit helps build credit
Fingerhut Credit helps you build your credit score by reporting your payment history to the credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, TransUnion.
Your FICO score is calculated from many different pieces of credit data including payment history. In fact, 35% of your FICO score comes from your payment history. So, when your regular on-time payments are reported to the credit bureaus, your score is positively affected.
However, this also means that a delayed or missed payment will also be reported to the credit bureaus, and that will adversely affect your credit score/ rating.
Cons
- Limited use as a credit card
- Products are relatively more expensive
Fingerhut Credit has limited use as a Credit Card
Fingerhut Credit is not like regular credit cards which can be used for purchases in a wide variety of stores. Fingerhut Credit can be used for purchases only in Fingerhut.
This means that Fingerhut Credit is for you if you are someone loyal to the Fingerhut brand. If you’d want to sometimes get your stuff from some other store, Fingerhut credit is not for you. This is because pursuing a new credit when you already have a line of credit can be detrimental to credit score/ rating. So, customers usually prefer having a credit facility that allows them to shop from different stores.
Products in the Fingerhut store are relatively more expensive
When using Fingerhut Credit, not only will you be forced to buy products from Fingerhut, but you may find these products priced cheaper in many other stores. So, the Fingerhut credit which supposedly makes purchases more affordable actually makes you pay more.
