I have been receiving offers for "Zero Balance" loans and "Zero Balance" lines of credit. In fact, several banks have sent me both. What are the differences between the two? Most importantly, which--if either, is likely to have the more positive impact on my credit score? Many thanks.
Lines of credit would report as revolving which, in theory, would help more because they would provide avaliable credit. The term "loan" could mean anything but, it would likely report as an installment or at least could; ergo, no avaliable credit.
So what would be one of those (usually furniture stores) gimmicks like "no payments until............ be?
"Same as cash" offers are actually loans. A finance company will pay the retail company for the amount you charged and then take on the debt and charge you ridiculously high interest rates if you don't pay it off within the grace period.