Financing a lawn mower is a good option if you don’t want to dish out hundreds or thousands of dollars all at once. Your ability to get financing depends on your credit score, but luckily, you don’t need excellent credit to get approved for a lawn mower financing plan.
Find out what types of financing you can get with your credit score, how to get the best deals, and what alternatives you have if you’re trying to buy a lawn mower with a troubled or nonexistent credit history.
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Can you buy a lawn mower with a bad credit score?
Yes, you can buy a lawn mower with a bad credit score. You can get a lawn mower with no credit check at all if you simply pay for it in cash.
However, when people ask this question, what they often mean is “can you finance a lawn mower with bad credit?” The answer to that question is still yes—it’s sometimes possible to get lawn mower financing even if you have bad credit. However, it will be trickier, and there’s a point past which it won’t be possible anymore.
What is the minimum credit score to finance a lawnmower?
There’s no universal minimum credit score required for lawn mower financing—it’s entirely up to the store or lender. However, many companies that offer lawn mower financing require at least a credit score of 560.
Bear in mind that even if you are able to finance a lawn mower with a poor or fair credit score, you won’t get the best financing terms. To qualify for a good interest rate, also known as an APR, you usually need a good credit score (a FICO score of 670 or higher).
FICO Credit Scoring Ranges
What are standard APRs for lawn mower financing?
APRs on lawn mowers vary widely since companies are allowed to set their own rates. Most offers come with APRs that fall within the broad range of 6%–35%.
The interest rate you’ll get depends on several factors:
- Your credit score and history
- The store or lender you finance with
- The cost of the lawn mower you want to purchase
- The size of your down payment
To get the best deal, you should compare offers before signing a contract and be very careful when reading the terms of your agreement for a lawn mower loan.
3 tips for financing a lawn mower
Even if you know exactly what type of lawn mower you want and you’ve settled on a particular brand and model, don’t just jump at the first financing offer you see.
There are ways you can leverage your strengths to get the best deal, save money on your dream lawn mower, and even use your purchase to build credit.
1. Check your credit before you apply for financing
Don’t go in blind. Just about any company that offers lawn mower financing will run a credit check on you before making you an offer, and knowing ahead of time what they’ll see will give you an edge by allowing you to address problems in your credit history.
You can get your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. These reports generally don’t contain credit scores, so you’ll need to try a different approach to check your credit score. Fortunately, there are several places where you can get your credit score for free.
If you notice that any of your credit reports contain errors, get them corrected immediately. You can do this by disputing the item on your credit report, either online on each credit bureau’s website (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) or by mail using a credit dispute letter template.
2. Make sure you understand the terms of your contract
Never sign a financing contract without reading the fine print. What may seem like minor details can make a huge impact on the overall cost of a lawn mower.
Pay particular attention to these factors:
- Length of the repayment period
- Frequency of payments (monthly, etc)
- Type of interest rate (fixed or adjustable)
- Added fees
The frequency of payments is especially important for smaller loans. Some lenders may give you terms that appear more attractive at first glance but are actually more expensive because payments are due every 2 weeks rather than every month.
3. Keep on top of your payments
Your credit is important for securing a good deal, but it’s a mistake to stop paying attention to your credit as soon as you’ve made your purchase.
Your financing agreement can appear on your credit report and affect your credit score. Whether financing a lawn mower builds up your credit or damages it all comes down to how you handle your payments.
Since your payment history is the most significant factor that goes into calculating your credit score, making all your lawn mower payments on time and in full will help you establish a positive credit history and get a good credit score. By contrast, a single late payment can do major damage.
Lawn mower financing options for people with bad credit
If you have poor credit, then you have a few options for buying a lawn mower. You won’t be eligible for the best offers, but you may be able to get special financing for people with bad credit.
Check out the companies below. All of them offer financing with very low credit score requirements.
Roadrunner Financial Zero-Turn Mower Financing
Roadrunner Financial is a lender that offers financing for various types of vehicles, including zero-turn lawn mowers. They work with over 40 original equipment manufacturers and have programs specially for borrowers with poor credit or minimal credit histories.
Here’s what you can expect:
- APR: 6.99%+
- Minimum credit score: 550
- Repayment term: 24–72 months
Where to apply: Roadrunner Financial website
Shop EZ Credit
Shop EZ Credit is a lender that offers various types of financing specifically for people with low credit scores. They offer financing for a broad range of lawn mowers. Here are the options you can choose from:
- Zero-turn mowers
- Riding mowers
- Push mowers
- Used mowers
- Robotic mowers
Where to apply: Shop EZ Credit website
Other ways to get a lawn mower with bad credit
There are also ways to get a lawn mower that sidestep the issue of financing entirely. The obvious solution is to simply buy a mower outright with cash, in which case you won’t need to undergo a credit check for financing.
If you do this, consider looking for a secondhand lawn mower. Buying a used mower is usually cheaper than buying a new one.
Some of your other options include:
- Rent to own: Rent to own or lease to own is similar to financing except you won’t own the lawn mower outright. Instead, you make rental payments that you can put towards purchasing the mower later down the line. To get an idea of prices and terms, check out lease-to-own offers from companies like Lowe’s, Leaseville, and RTBShopper.
- Trading in: If you’re looking to replace an old lawn mower with a newer or better model, then consider finding a lawn mower dealer that’s willing to accept a trade in. In this case, you’ll bring in your current lawn mower, and they’ll give you credit toward a new one, which can offset the cost of purchasing a new mower.
Buying a lawn mower with a personal loan
Another way to finance a lawn mower when you have bad credit is to take out a personal loan for bad credit.
This has one key difference from standard lawn mower financing. Many lawn mower financing offers come in the form of a secured loan (meaning that the loan is backed by the lawn mower itself, which your lender can repossess if you stop making payments).
By contrast, most personal loans are a type of unsecured loan, meaning that your lender won’t repossess your lawn mower. Instead, they’ll send your unpaid debt to a debt collection agency. You’ll then start getting calls from debt collectors and see a collection account appear on your credit report.
This obviously means that taking out a personal loan to pay for your lawn mower can be risky. However, if you’re sure you’ll be able to pay the loan off, you can explore one of the bad-credit personal loan options below.
How to quickly raise your credit score to finance a lawn mower
Since your credit profile plays a major role in determining what deals you can get on a lawn mower, you should make sure that your credit score is as high as it can be and that your credit report is blemish-free.
It usually takes time to see results from most methods for improving your credit score, but if you’re set on buying a lawn mower ASAP, you can try out these credit hacks designed to get you a rapid score boost:
- Become a credit card authorized user: As long as the primary cardholder has a good credit history, becoming an authorized user can instantly increase your credit score by adding the account holder’s payment history to your credit report.
- Sign up for Experian Boost: This is a free service that can raise your FICO score almost instantly. It gives you credit for the bills you’re already paying, including streaming service fees, utilities, and phone bills. The average user sees a 13-point increase in their credit score after signing up. 1
Is financing a lawn mower a good idea?
While financing a lawn mower is relatively simple, you should still carefully consider whether it’s the right time for you to make this big purchase.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself beforehand:
Are you financially stable enough to make the payments on time?
The last thing you want to do is commit to a payment plan only to have it hurt your credit score.
This is particularly important if you plan to make even larger purchases in the future (such as a car or home) because a mismanaged lawn mower loan can hurt your chances of getting approved for other loans.
Is your credit score strong enough?
You’d be amazed at how much of a difference a few percentage points on your interest rate can make to the total amount you end up paying for a new lawn mower.
Applying for financing while your credit score is low could end up costing you several hundred dollars more than it would if you waited until your credit score was in the good or excellent credit score range.
How much debt do you already have?
It’s easy to finance every purchase and break it down into small, manageable monthly payments. However, these payments can easily add up and eat away at most of your paycheck.
Take a close look at all the other monthly payments you’re already making and calculate your debt-to-income ratio to determine if you can comfortably afford the extra monthly bill from lawn mower financing.
