With all the talk about identity theft, I have found one way to shop online and not have to worry about having my credit card number stolen.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I am looking for Bill Me Later websites. My husband doesn't have any credit. We are trying to buy some things and thought that we might be able to build our credit at the same time. Thanks so much.
By Rachel Fitch from KY
There are a couple sites to buy things at with no credit but they won't help your credit at all or at most very little.
The most affective way to build up your credit (I was told) is to acquire a credit card that you provide the limit on. For example you give them $200 and they give you a card with a $200 dollar limit. When you use the card they bill you just like it was a credit card.
Walmart website actually has the bill me later option however I had a friend who used the bill me later option and then had to return the item because it was defective. That was 6 months ago and she's still trying to get her money back. Their customer service is horrible.
I read that if you are late paying that it is very detrimental to your credit and also, as another poster said, it really does not build good credit the way a credit card will.
Most places that offer "Bill Later" options don't even report your payment history to the major credit bureaus, so using this option won't help improve your credit.
I want to order clothes and household items online, but my credit rating is not good.
By ladyred from UK
I have no idea what is available in the UK, but if you order from other countries the shipping rates will be really high. Also if you order from some of those companies by the time you pay interest the cost of the merchandise will be 2-3 times higher than the listed cost.
Instead of getting caught up in paying more for the same product due to higher interest charged by these kind of companies. The best rule of thumb is to save a set amount each day-like for instance don't buy that soft drink (or anything else you chose to do) and save the $1.25. do this for 7 days and you will have $8.75 in one week. In two weeks just from this one very little change in lifestyle you will have $17.50. Then you can shop at just about anywhere that is offering a sale online (make sure and look for free shipping offers). If you don't have a credit card to pay get a prepaid credit card.
You could also save this amount until you have enough to set up a secured credit card. Any holiday, birthday coming up - request money to go toward your secure credit card. Look for change on the ground, have a yard sale anything to get money to add up to the required secure amount. Use coupons at the grocery store and get the money back to go in your secure credit card fund. I have a jar on my dining table that has my name on it and a sign above that says "Goal $100 by May 3 for my AVON order", it is funny but my husband and grown kids (and sometimes the grand kids) put change in that jar and I add to it.
Do this and make you a sign "money for ......". Your secure credit card could be used as a tool to rebuild your credit because you would have a set amount of credit. Then you could purchase the items on this credit card (never charge more than 1/2) and pay the full balance each month (from from "soft drink" savings). Right now you can get 2 shirts at my favorite company for this amount. You can get any of your beauty products (high quality shampoo for color treated hair, conditioner, & hairspray for $9.99).
I know I sound like I'm rambling email me and I'll be glad to help give you some ideas. I'm like the queen of coming up with ideas to fund a project.
Please does someone out there know if there is there a secured credit card I can apply for? There seem to be a lot of choices; I want to go with something other than First Premier credit card.
By Nellie
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I am looking for a shopping site that you can buy now, but pay later with no or bad credit.