Forest River Credit Card: What a Mistake!
Forest River is an outdoor recreation company owned by Berkshire Hathaway that manufactures recreational vehicles (RVs), pontoon boats, commercial trucks, buses and trailers.
One way Forest River makes it easier for consumers to purchase their products and services is by issuing the Forest River credit card.
How does the Forest River credit card work? What are its benefits and drawbacks? That’s what this article is all about!
In this Forest River credit card review, you’ll find answers to all your questions. So, make sure to read this review well before applying for the card. So, let’s dive straight in ⏩ ⏩
Limited Benefits of the Forest River Credit Card
There are many features that you can get when you become a Forest River credit card holder. Some of these features include:
The Forest River credit card is a revolving credit line that allows you to buy products or services from Forest River dealers as long as you have credit available on the card for your purchase.
You can use this card to purchase almost any Forest River products you want. The credit card finances all new and usable towable products, parts services and accessories, and also marine products.
Depending on your credit history, you may qualify for credit approval up to $10,000 and maybe even higher. Higher approvals require manual approval from their credit team. It’s not clear if there’s a minimum purchase required to qualify for promotional financing, since every forest river dealer can offer consumers a different promotion. If you’re a new forest river customer, make sure you check the promo offer carefully.
The card can be beneficial for outdoor enthusiasts that spend a long time using their RVs and other related products.
The card is also beneficial if you’re a dealer because it helps you to offer promotional plans to your customers, as well as flexible payment terms.
This card has very limited features/benefits compared to most credit cards, really just the ability to finance a purchase and pay it off later and no annual fee.
So, here are the main features of the Forest River credit card:
✅ No annual fees. The first benefit is that there isn’t an annual fee. An annual fee won’t be justified for a credit card that is just for buying products and services related to your outdoor experiences and not for everyday use.
✅ Promotional financing offers. Another benefit that the card provides is promotional financing offers. Keep in mind that some of these offers come with promotional fees. The fees vary based on the promotional financing offer that’s available at the time of your purchase.
While some credit cards can’t be used right away, Forest River provides you with a temporary card that you can use immediately after you’ve been approved.
You should receive your physical card by mail in about 7-10 business days.
Last, but certainly not least, the biggest benefit of getting a Forest River credit card is being offered flexible payment terms that suit your needs.
?
Are you interested in other credit cards?
Check out our credit card hub!:
- Personal Finance Guru Credit Card Hub
Major Drawbacks of the Forest River Credit Card to Consider
Now that you know the limited features of the Forest River credit card, let’s discuss the serious drawbacks of the card.
As best we can tell, the only way to apply for a Forest River Credit card is in-store. We could not find any online application. However, if you need to log in to your credit card account, you can access your online account here.
You should also know that the card’s ? 29.99% APR is a very high rate.? If you can, you might be better off financing a purchase from your savings account, rather than risk paying huge deferred interest on this revolving line credit card.
While you might be tempted to get the card due to a promotional financing offer (such as 0% interest for a certain period of time), we found a couple of examples of promotional fees that the Forest River credit card will charge you for the privilege:
? The card charges $50 for promotions of at least $500 with a duration of 12-18 months.
? It also charges $125 for promotions of at least $1,500 with a duration of 19-100 months.
Another major thing to know before applying is that this credit card doesn’t offer rewards like points or cashback.
Lastly, the late fee and returned payment fee are not high, they lie in the range that other similar credit cards charge.
● Late fee up to $40
● Returned payment fee up to $35
You Must Fully Understand This Before Applying!
What’s important to understand about these types of cards is that their flexible payment options might be another term for deferred interest. This basically means that the card provides you with financing options with no interest for a specific promotional period.
This sounds good, right? But here’s the drawback:
The issuer, Forest River, will keep track of your interest from day one. So, if you fail to pay off the entire balance by the end of the promotional period, you’ll be charged for the accumulated interest all at once.
That’s why you need to know exactly what payment options you’re agreeing to and if you 100% can commit to them.
Additional account details
Who is offering what can be confusing with this private label credit card. TD retail card services is the servicer for this card. They are who you will make monthly payments to. You can find login details for the forest river card here (you can access your account online).
This is a visa credit card, they’re the processor. This is considered a retail financing credit account.
Conclusion on the Forest River Credit Card
In short, the Forest River credit card can be advantageous for those who love spending time outdoors in their RVs or boats who are 100% sure they can repay the promotional balance within the promotional period.
It can help you a lot as a customer to get repairs that you can’t pay for right now or buy essential parts. If you use the card correctly, you won’t experience any problems or extra fees (including no annual fee).
Keep in mind that the APR rate is sky high, so using this credit for any purchase that you’re not sure you can pay it off within the time limit will cause you a lot of harm, proceed with extreme caution!
Editor's Note:
At Personal Finance Guru, we want to help you maximize your lifestyle through personal finance. You can trust the integrity of our independent financial advice. Our opinions our own and have not been provided, review, approved, or endorsed by any advertiser or financial product provider. To support and grow the site, however, we may receive compensation from the issuers of some products.