The best credit cards for home improvements of September 2026

A home equity loan or line of credit is an option for financing home repairs and renovations. But if you qualify for the right credit card, you can save on interest with a 0% intro APR offer. Large home improvement projects can also be a great way to earn a big sign-up bonus on a new credit card, which could further boost your renovation budget.

Below, CNBC Select rounds up the best home improvement credit cards. For more on how we made our picks, check out our methodology.

Who's this for? The Wells Fargo Reflect® Card is a top option for financing home upgrades because it features a best-in-class 0% intro APR offer and no annual fee.

Standout benefits: You can receive a 0% intro APR for nearly two years. New cardholders receive 0% intro APR for 21 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers. After that, a variable APR of 17.74%, 24.24%, or 28.49% applies. To qualify for the intro APR, balance transfers must be completed within 120 days from account opening. There is a balance transfer fee of 5% with a $5 minimum.

Who's this for? The Citi Double Cash Card is an excellent choice if you want to earn cash back on home repairs because it earns at least 2% cash back on all purchases (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay).

Standout benefits: In addition to generous flat-rate rewards, the Citi Double Cash comes with a 0% intro APR for the first 18 months on balance transfers completed in the first four months of account opening. Once the intro APR ends, a variable APR of 18.49% - 28.74% applies. There's an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer ($5 minimum) within the first four months, then the balance transfer fee increases to 5% of any amount you transfer ($5 minimum).

Who's this for? Anyone interested in turning their home upgrade expenses into a big chunk of travel rewards will want to take a good look at what the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers.

Standout benefits: Often, the most valuable feature of a credit card (especially for the first year) is the welcome bonus. However, you rarely receive an intro bonus just for getting approved for the card, and that's where your big renovation expenses can come in handy. The Sapphire Preferred offers 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. It wouldn't be unrealistic to qualify for this card's welcome bonus by using it to pay for a single home renovation project.

Who's this for? Typically, store cards aren't as valuable as the best rewards credit cards, but they can have their uses. If you're planning to make a big Lowe's purchase for your home, the MyLowe’s Rewards™ Credit Card offers a strong savings of 5% off eligible purchases.

Standout benefits: New cardholders qualify for a 20% discount on eligible purchases, up to $100 off. You can opt for special financing in lieu of the card's 5% discount. However, the financing offers provided by this card are deferred interest offers, which aren't as valuable as stand 0% intro APR deals.

Whenever you have a big purchase you can plan for in advance, it can make sense to open a new credit card and use that expense to qualify for a massive welcome bonus. Home improvement expenses are an opportunity to earn bonuses worth $1,000+ in travel or hundreds in cash back.

If you want to earn a welcome bonus with a home repair, first ask yourself whether the expense can be paid for with a credit card. You can typically use your credit card when purchasing appliances or supplies from a home improvement store, but the same may not apply to contractors.

If the team replacing your floors or siding doesn't accept credit cards as payment, you have options. You may be able to use services such as Plastiq or Melio to send a payment; however, you'll typically pay a surcharge of around 3%.

All in all, be sure the rewards you're earning are worth it — which is generally only the case if you're earning a big, limited-time welcome bonus.

If you have a strong enough credit score to qualify, intro APR credit cards are one of the best options for financing home renovations.

But there are caveats. For example, you need a credit limit high enough to cover your expenses, and if you use contractors, they'll need to accept credit cards as payment. Otherwise, you may only be able to finance part of the cost and need to use a bill pay service to pay your contractors. Still, the best intro APR credit cards provide no-interest financing for 18 to 21 months, which can be worth the cost.

For all the potential drawbacks, intro APR offers are distinctly better than the deferred interest financing, which is typically available through store credit cards. Deferred interest offers charge you no interest for the duration of the offer. However, if you haven't paid off your balance in full by the time the deferred-interest offer expires, you are retroactively charged interest for the entire time.

So if you have six months of deferred-interest financing and only pay off 90% of it in those six months, you'll owe interest for the full six months. If you were in the same situation with an intro APR, you would only start paying interest on the remaining 10% once the six-month intro APR expires.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card list is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best home improvement credit cards.

To determine which cards offer the best value for travel, CNBC Select analyzed over 250 major credit cards issued by U.S. banks and credit unions.

We compared each card on a range of features, including rewards (e.g., cash back, points and miles), annual fees, welcome bonuses, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fees and foreign transaction fees.

When choosing the best cards, we focused on those with travel-centered rewards and benefits, including flexible travel programs that let you redeem rewards for travel and transfer rewards to travel programs. We paid special attention to cards with travel perks, such as travel insurance, elite status benefits or airport lounge access.  

We considered additional perks (e.g., ongoing travel or merchant statement credits), cardholder protections, the application process and how easy it is to redeem points.
 
We also considered CNBC Select audience data when available, such as general demographics and engagement with our content and tools.  

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Information about the Lowe's Advantage Credit Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.