I studied the application and its financing offers, here’s what you need to know…

The Ashley Furniture credit card was previously managed by Citi Financial, however a couple years ago it was switched over to GE Money.

How do the promotional offers work?

Since GE Money took over it appears they have switched up their strategy. Because they really want people to apply for their credit card, they offer an incentivized deferred interest promo.

However, their stores are franchises, so the offers can vary greatly depending on the specific store. I called three stores in random parts of the country and the best credit card offer I found was in Los Angeles:

• For purchases financed for 48 months, there is a 10% discount on the purchase and the APR is 0% if the full amount is paid off during that time.
• If a financing period of 24 months is chosen, the discount goes up to 15%.
• Lastly, an option to finance over 12 months is available with a 20% discount.

Some people have alleged the discount is partially an illusion, claiming Ashley Furniture has inflated their prices around the time this new credit card program went into effect (and therefore, the discount is being given on higher prices than in the past). Whether that’s true or not I cannot conclusively say – I would need a product by product price comparison of before and after to find out for sure.

On the other hand, the other two Ashley Furniture stores I had contacted didn’t have offers nearly as lucrative – most of them were more along the lines of a traditional 0% deferred interest plan and without discounts (or a 10% discount was offered only if $3,000 or more was spent).

What’s buried in the fine print?

The most important thing to understand about the Ashley Furniture card offers is that they use deferred interest.

The only way you will pay 0% is if you pay off the entire amount before financing period is up. If you don’t, you will be charged 29.99% interest on the full amount going back all the way to the date of purchase.

For this reason you really need to think long and hard if you’re going to use one of these offers. The idea of going for a shorter offer to get a bigger discount may make sense at the register, but if you aren’t able to follow through and pay off the full amount in time, it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg in interest charges (which would definitely offset the value of the discount).

Can you apply for their credit card online?

There is not an application available online. I searched their website and it said you need to go to one of their stores to apply for it. With 2013 upon us, it’s pathetic they still don’t have online applications.

Verdict?

The Ashley Furniture card offers at the Los Angeles store were good, but stores in other parts of the country had only average offers. It’s really a hit or miss. However one thing they all have in common is they appeared to be geared towards big purchases. If you are spending less than a $1,000 you may not be able to get any offers depending on your location.

Alternatives?

Here is a great sponsored offer that pays a great cash bonus upfront, plus give you 0% on purchases and/or balance transfers.