buying things on finance?

Avoid it if possible but realistically it's not a bad thing if you can't afford something.

must have ocuk have things on finance but they won't admit it for some reason. Finance/loans are a way of life.

We have it for the Missus' car and sofas but avoid it wherever possible as its nice to not have debts hanging over you.
 
Got fairly expensive dental treatment on 0% finance (Hitachi). Yes, I can afford to pay it off in one go, but why? £2.25k over three years amounts to £60 odd a month.

I would have been a fool to pay up front and bought a Telecaster instead :D Now I have a Tele to match the Strat and Les Paul and new teeth as well. Win.
 
FatFishMonster said:
I could afford paying things back at say £15 a month for say a new pc or games console, but i can never afford to buy things out right.
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If you can never afford to buy things outright then you shouldn't be buying them on finance (assuming not interest free etc) as this means that you'll have to cut corners in other areas in order to make the repayments.
In other words if you know you can't save up for something then how are you going to afford the repayments given that they will total more than the item cost in the first place once interest is taken into account?

Obviously there are some exceptions such as wanting to grab a bargain that might not be available in a year's time or whatever (also things like houses that typically rise in value over time) but in general buying unsecured, depreciating items on finance doesn't make things more affordable over the long term.
 
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Only use it for essentials and houses. If you lost your job, you don't want to have luxury items on credit. I work on the basis that unless I desperately need it to live or work, I wait till I can afford it. I have zero sympathy for people who lose their jobs and complain about the amount of debt they are in because they pee'd their money away and borrowed on finance when they did have a job.
 
simpletom said:
Got fairly expensive dental treatment on 0% finance (Hitachi). Yes, I can afford to pay it off in one go, but why?
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No form of finance is free. Somebody, somewhere is paying to borrow that money. Typically when a firm offers 0% finance it is funding it using the profit margin it has on that product to entice buyers who otherwise wouldn't buy.

In other words, it's usually possible to 'haggle' the price below that which you'd pay on 0% finance if the purchase is of sufficient value to be the sort of amount you'd discuss payment options over.

Back to the OP, personally I see little value in using finance to buy relatively low value (compared to other things you might one day buy) consumer items which become quite worthless quite quickly. If I want something but cannot justify the lump sum it costs I'll just not bother buying it.

With something like a house or to a lesser extent a car it becomes more unavoidable - though IMHO its always best to balance out with the biggest deposit you can afford to both protect you from negative equity and ensure you've got a quick and easy way out if your circumstances change.
 
Loads of people end up buying things on finance or maxing out credit cards at a young age and then regret it later. Please don't fall into this trap. There is nothing wrong with scrimping and saving for the things that you want. It might mean that you don't have the latest PC or 13 plate car but that's not the end of the world.

Sow the seeds now and reap the benefits in years to come :)
 
depends on your financial circumstances, if you're earning £1000 a month and have to pay £300 a month for some kind of loan, it's not viable!
 
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I finance my own and my partners entire monthly outgoings through an American Express credit card that pays 1.25% on all purchases. I settle the credit card balance every month to avoid interest charges.

TommyV said:
depends on your financial circumstances, if you're earning £1000 a month and have to pay have £300 a month for some kind of loan, it's not viable!
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That sentence makes no sense.
 
Depends on your needs/circumstances, outlook on life and self discipline there is no right or wrong answer. Ideally in life you should avoid getting into debt tho.
 
If there is something I'm going to buy and I can get it on 0% I will go for that everytime.

Bought a few guitars and amps recently doing this and I have not missed the monthly payments so it feels like I got them for free :o almost..
 
wingman said:
I finance my own and my partners entire monthly outgoings through an American Express credit card that pays 1.25% on all purchases. I settle the credit card balance every month to avoid interest charges.



That sentence makes no sense.
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If not grammatically correct, could you not read that sentence and decipher, even vaguely what I was trying to say?
 
wingman said:
I finance my own and my partners entire monthly outgoings through an American Express credit card that pays 1.25% on all purchases. I settle the credit card balance every month to avoid interest charges.
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I think you know very well that this isn't what the thread is about. I doubt anyone considers that 'finance' however technically it might be.
 
TommyV said:
If not grammatically correct, could you not read that sentence and decipher, even vaguely what I was trying to say?
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Sounded to me as though you were saying somebody earning £1000/month can't pay out £300/month on a loan, but I'm not sure why since (as you said yourself) it depends on circumstances. Somebody living with parents, minimal contribution towards household bills and no other major outgoings can probably afford £300/month on a loan.

I think credit is arguably too easily attainable these days, basically you have loads of people who feel they deserve all the latest gadgets and mod cons no matter what their financial circumstances and the lenders are all too happy to sign them up. Same goes for the big ticket items like houses, people will say "how on earth are people supposed to get on the housing ladder these days?!?" - the simple answer is, if you are young, don't earn good money and have blown half your deposit over the years on cars, nights out, design clothes, consoles, tablets, smartphones etc, then you aren't. I don't dispute that previous generations found it easier as FTB but then again the impression I get was that there wasn't such a consumer culture then either when people from 'ordinary' backgrounds felt that had the best the latest of everything.
 
TommyV said:
depends on your financial circumstances, if you're earning £1000 a month and have to pay £300 a month for some kind of loan, it's not viable!
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Surely that depends on your other outgoings?

That being said, I wouldn't advise getting finance on something like a console or PC... By the time you've paid for it it'll be out of date!
 
HangTime said:
Sounded to me as though you were saying somebody earning £1000/month can't pay out £300/month on a loan, but I'm not sure why since (as you said yourself) it depends on circumstances. Somebody living with parents, minimal contribution towards household bills and no other major outgoings can probably afford £300/month on a loan.

I think credit is arguably too easily attainable these days, basically you have loads of people who feel they deserve all the latest gadgets and mod cons no matter what their financial circumstances and the lenders are all too happy to sign them up. Same goes for the big ticket items like houses, people will say "how on earth are people supposed to get on the housing ladder these days?!?" - the simple answer is, if you are young, don't earn good money and have blown half your deposit over the years on cars, nights out, design clothes, consoles, tablets, smartphones etc, then you aren't. I don't dispute that previous generations found it easier as FTB but then again the impression I get was that there wasn't such a consumer culture then either when people from 'ordinary' backgrounds felt that had the best the latest of everything.
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My bad, my unwritten assumption was paying for utilities/rent/living etc etc on top! :p
 
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