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Financing furniture sounds like a great idea when you’re looking to spruce up your home on a tight budget, but are those no-interest, no-payment offers as good a deal as they seem? Not usually.

Furniture financing offers typically carry the following little-known pitfalls:

They hurt your credit score. You plan to make regular payments when you finance your furniture, so your purchase should help to build your credit history and boost your score, right? Unfortunately, no. Typically the companies that furniture retailers use to finance your purchase are seen as creditors of last resort. You may have a great credit history, but just having credit through one of these companies makes you look like a credit risk and damages your record.

They kill your negotiating power. Cash is a powerful negotiating tool. Ask a salesman to give you a discount for paying cash, and you’ll probably get it. Not so when it comes to financing your purchase. This means you’ll often pay more for the privilege of delaying your payment.

What else could a cash purchase get you? Think free delivery, free setup or freebies like an extra piece of furniture. If you can dream it, a cash purchase may be able to help you to obtain it.

They anticipate future income. You know how much money you make today, but there’s no way to know how much you’ll make tomorrow. You might lose your job, become ill or suffer a financial hardship that you didn’t prepare for. Unfortunately, financing plans aren’t forgiving. They simply won’t erase your debt just because your circumstances have changed. This simple fact makes financing any purchase a risk.