When it comes to buying items, there are several objects many people may not be able to afford all at once. Perhaps there is a winter coat needed but the upfront cost is far too high. Or maybe an appliance died, and it is necessary to purchase a new one, yet the hundreds of dollars it costs is not a workable option. This is where Fingerhut comes in. If you are interested in buying an item in monthly installments, you need to consider signing up with Fingerhut. To do this, you will need to understand how to use the Fingerhut login.
Fingerhut Company Profile
Image via Fingerhut
Fingerhut dubs itself an online mail-order catalog. When you visit the website, it looks similar to what you might see on any other e-commerce website such as Target or Walmart. However, there is a difference. While you are able to purchase products for the full face-value price, you also have the option to pay monthly instead of all at once. This way, if you do need a winter coat but can't afford the $150 sticker price, you can pay monthly installments of $15 (as an example). If this sounds interesting to you, then you may want to consider using the Fingerhut login to create an account.
The History of Fingerhut
Fingerhut is nothing new. In fact, it has been around longer than most current retailers. In fact, William Fingerhut created the company in 1948. The company initially started selling car seat covers although it expanded to function as a mail-order catalog in 1952. The company continued to expand, and in 1995, Fingerhut launched its online website. Within one year, Fingerhut had established itself as one of the top 25 largest credit card issuers within the United States.
The company has been purchased by a number of other retailers. The original William Fingerhut family sold off ownership of the business to the American Can Company in 1979. 20 years later, Primerica, Federated Department Stores bought the company in 1999. Federated Department Stores is better known as Macy's (before this, the company owned a collection of stores, including Target and Hudson's, although Target split off and the company re-branded the other stores as Macy's). This only lasted until 2002, when Petters Group Worldwide bought the company.
The company was sold by Petters Group Worldwide to Bain Capital Ventures in 2004. Bain Capital Ventures owns a number of outlets including Staples, Shopping.com, and Kiva Systems. The company also owns (and makes a considerable amount of its money from) LinkedIn.
Products, Services, & More
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The format of Fingerhut hasn't changed much since it became a mail order service, allowing customers the ability to pay over time in monthly installments. When the company created the website in 1995, it did shift the business model from a mail-based service to an online-based business, but outside of this, the online catalog remains more or less unchanged.
Products Offered on Fingerhut
The company offers just about anything you would consider buying from a standard department store. You will find a number of clothing options sold here, including men's, women's, and children's. You can also find kitchen appliances, televisions, computers, entertainment systems, video game systems, and just about anything else smaller than a car (including sporting gear and jewelry).
Financing
One of the services that helps Fingerhut stand out is the provided line of credit. It is possible to build your credit by taking advantage of the payment plans. Of course, it can also backfire if you miss payments and then it hinders your credit score. However, if you're interested in building your credit score, this is one viable option. It also makes affording certain items that much easier.
You can also pay for an object with your credit card, both in full or over time. It's up to you. There might be times where you want to make a larger purchase with credit, but you don't want to have a sizeable payment to make on your next credit card statement, so instead, you decide to break it up over the course of a few months (or a year).
Between the financial lending aspect of the company and the ability to buy just about anything from the retail outlet, Fingerhut is one of the more unique e-commerce websites that is around today (even though the company has been around for 80 years).
Financing
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In order to do this, you'll need to head over to the Fingerhut.com website. The registration process here will be different from registering an account on other websites like Amazon or Best Buy. Here, you will need to enter your Social Security information. Why? Because you need to see what available credit you have.
As the website works off of providing you credit through the monthly payment options, the company wants to make sure you're able to afford what you're buying. It doesn't want you to overextend yourself and not have the ability to make a payment. Should you file for bankruptcy because you are overextended it is difficult for a company like Fingerhut to reclaim most of what you buy, which is why you will have a cap on your available credit.
Once on the Fingerhut login website, you will want to click the "Apply" option. This will bring up the first page of the registration process. You will need to enter your email address, create a password, type in the password again to confirm it, then type in a customer number (although this is optional). The customer number is something you will have if you've previously shopped through the catalog version of the website (yes, Fingerhut does still send out the catalog at your request).
If you have previously purchased a product with the catalog, you'll want to check your billing statement. It will include the account number on the bill in the upper-left corner of the bill. If you have used the service in the past, you should type in this number, then the registration process will be expedited. Because all of your information will already be on file, you likely won't have to fill out the rest of the information (unless you only subscribe to the catalog but haven't bought anything or applied for an account previously).
Once you click the "Register" option, head over to your email account, then open up the email sent from Fingerhut and click on the link within the email. This will take you to your account where you will complete the registration.
Completing Your Registration
In this new portion of the website, you'll need to complete the Fingerhut login. You may be required to enter the username and password you selected when first filling out all the information. Now, you'll need to include your mailing address, billing address, and include your Social Security information. Here is where you will find out how much credit you qualify for.
After you fill out the information, you will be told how much you are good for. This is the amount you can take out and have on your monthly balance. So if you have an available credit for $500, you can purchase items until you reach this monthly amount. The exact amount you may qualify for will vary, so you'll need to register with the Fingerhut login to find out exactly what you can take out.
No Impact on Your Credit
Don't worry about the application impacting your credit. This is a soft look at your credit score, which will not impact or alter what your current score is. The application is done to decide exactly how much you might qualify for and then what you are able to use within the account. When you pay your amount on time, you will improve your credit score. If you fail to make on-time payments, you will hinder your credit score. If you max out your score, keep in mind that the longer it remains maxed out, the more of a negative impact it is on your credit.
Conclusion
It often is difficult to make larger purchases. Whether you have a small amount of credit, you don't have a credit card, or you just don't want to have a single major purchase show up on your billing statement, you need a retailer that allows you to make payments over time. This is what Fingerhut offers you. While there's the ability to buy an item with a single payment, you can still use the smaller payment method. Whatever you decide to do, you'll need to use this information to create an account through the Fingerhut login website.
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