It was less than a month before Christmas, and I had bought no gifts yet. I had my money stashed in the bedroom, waiting to go shopping. I had paid my credit cards off, and I had two that were waiting to be maxed out. That’s when my hopes of Christmas got dashed. My husband told me we needed to have the furnace replaced. I knew what that would cost, and I wasn’t happy. I had my credit card in my back pocket, and it gave me a thought. I asked if he thought they would give us credit at the HVAC company. He said we could ask, but we had to talk to the HVAC technician who would talk to the HVAC company sales department. When the HVAC technician arrived to discuss the new furnace, we broached the subject about getting credit to pay for the furnace. We knew we could pay it off in a year, if they would extend the credit to us. We had heard they sometimes did this for their customers, but we had only been their customers for two years. After helping us choose the right furnace for our house, he called the HVAC company. He gave us an application and told us to fill it out. He then put the paperwork into his computer and sent it to the HVAC company. Half an hour later, we already had a response to our application. Our furnace would be delivered and installed in about three days, and we had twelve months of no interest payments to pay it off.