Could a 0% APR Card Help if You Can't Pay Your Home Repair Bill?

Uh oh. It's raining hard, and you just noticed a leak in your bedroom ceiling. And since you're a homeowner now, there's no landlord to call -- a fellow homeowner I know likes to say, "You're the landlord now!"

And after a call to a roofing company, you're staring down a big repair bill. How will you pay it? Is a 0% APR credit card the right fit here?

Yes -- and here's how

There are a few ways a 0% APR card could help you cover a home repair.

When you have cash savings

In an ideal world, you'd have the money saved to pay for the repair, perhaps in the high-yield savings or money market account that houses your emergency fund. In this instance, it could still be worth using that 0% APR card to pay the bill, then immediately paying off the card with that money.

Why bother? There are a few reasons. You'd get the benefit of using the card in a way that creditors like to see, and being rewarded with a boost to your credit score. But the best reason to do this is to earn rewards, if your 0% APR card offers them.

Many of our favorite 0% APR cards come with rewards programs -- click here to explore your options.

Home repairs don't often fall under the umbrella of a card's bonus categories, which is a bummer. But even earning 1% on a bill of, say, $10,000 is pretty sweet -- that'll get you $100 in cash back.

When you don't have cash savings

If you don't have the money saved to pay for the repair, no shame -- you're in good company. According to the Federal Reserve's October 2023 Survey of Consumer Finances, the median balance across transaction accounts (including checking and savings accounts) among Americans was just $8,000.

If you're staring down a home repair bill of $10,000 and have that median balance in your own bank accounts, a 0% APR credit card could give you time to pay off the bill over time, without interest (or at the very least, with less interest). If your card has a period of 15 months with 0% APR and your bill comes to $10,000, you could make 15 payments of $667 and pay off the balance before interest comes due.

Even if you can only swing a payment of $500 a month, that'll leave you with a balance of $2,500 by the time your 0% APR period is up. And paying credit card interest (which currently averages 23.37%) on a $2,500 balance is loads better than paying it on a $10,000 balance.

If you're paying $500 a month toward a $10,000 balance without an intro APR offer, you'll end up paying $2,792 in interest and pay the card off in 26 months. For a $2,500 balance, you'll be debt free in five months and pay just $156 in interest.

No -- here's what to do instead

Maybe your credit score isn't quite high enough to qualify for a 0% APR card, or your income isn't sufficient to get a large enough credit limit to fully cover your home repair bill. Either way, a 0% APR card won't work for you in this case. You have other options, though.

A personal loan

You won't get 0% APR on a personal loan, but you'll still save plenty of money over using a credit card that's charging you interest. Depending on your credit score, you may qualify for a loan with an interest rate as low as 7.99%.

And you'll get a fixed monthly payment and know for sure when your loan will be paid off if you make all those payments. Check out our favorite personal loans here.

A home equity loan or line of credit

If you have been paying on your mortgage long enough to have built up equity in your home, you can tap into it to pay your repair bill.

A home equity loan is a set amount of money you borrow from your equity. It's like a second mortgage with a fixed interest rate, and you'll pay it back the same way. A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is more like a credit card in that it comes with a variable interest rate and you can use money from it, pay it back, and then spend it again as needed.

If you need to make a home repair, it's a good idea to consider all your options to pay for it. And that includes a 0% APR credit card, so be sure to add them to your list.