Getting a loan for...

for an unsecured loan it isn't going to matter

though you'll probably be better off with credit card(s) either to obtain a low interest loan and split across your ISA and car purchase or to make a car purchase...

run the figures yourself - cost of getting a loan via a credit card... and/or fee with using a 0% credit card to make a car purchase vs the loan vs your other options
 
[TW]Fox;29656893 said:
Good in theory but in practice no car dealer is going to let you pay by credit card without passing the fee on to you. So that's 2-3% on top.

Any that offers to waive it is simply using margin you could have haggled off anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't realise this. I once and had planned to pay for a car by credit card after my wallet had been stolen and I didn't have my new debit card. I ended up having to go to the bank and get cash.

The op could get a 0% credit card that is designed for money transfers. I'm not sure if there are any that will do this without a transfer fee at the moment, but I bet you could get around 1% transfer fee over 24months. Way better than a loan.
 
Scam said:
It's so cheeky adding a credit card fee to purchases, I tend to avoid any shop/agent that does that.
Click to expand...

Its added by the CC company and merely being passed by the shop/agent to the customer. When you are talking small purchases (couple of hundred) then there is not such a large charge for the shop to absorb but when you are talking several thousand pounds thenthe charge can be quite large against, what could possibly be, a very low margin across the product.

Its the CC company you should be annoyed at.
 
Richie said:
Its added by the CC company and merely being passed by the shop/agent to the customer. When you are talking small purchases (couple of hundred) then there is not such a large charge for the shop to absorb but when you are talking several thousand pounds thenthe charge can be quite large against, what could possibly be, a very low margin across the product.

Its the CC company you should be annoyed at.
Click to expand...
How exactly do you think Visa, Mastercard etc. should make money on their technology? It's their technology that the banks and merchants leverage so they should quite rightly charge for it.

And it's never anywhere near as much as those shops would make out. In fact the interchange fee (up to 70% of the 'card fee') was capped last year at 0.3% for card transactions. Well done the EU!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...vote-cap-debit-credit-card-fees-0-2-cent.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/co...ines-still-charging-us-to-pay-by-credit-card/

It's fair to say that if any merchant is charging more than 1% fee for using a card then they are just doing it to put in their pocket. I believe it's also now not allowed to charge a fixed fee for card purchases. I also agree with the Telegraph article; merchants have a lot of outgoings that they don't charge the customer for, why do they charge separately for using a card? :confused:
 
Last edited:
Scam said:
How exactly do you think Visa, Mastercard etc. should make money on their technology? It's their technology that the banks and merchants leverage so they should quite rightly charge for it.

And it's never anywhere near as much as those shops would make out. In fact the interchange fee (up to 70% of the 'card fee') was capped last year at 0.3% for card transactions. Well done the EU!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...vote-cap-debit-credit-card-fees-0-2-cent.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/co...ines-still-charging-us-to-pay-by-credit-card/

It's fair to say that if any merchant is charging more than 1% fee for using a card then they are just doing it to put in their pocket. I believe it's also now not allowed to charge a fixed fee for card purchases. I also agree with the Telegraph article; merchants have a lot of outgoings that they don't charge the customer for, why do they charge separately for using a card? :confused:
Click to expand...

It's a fairly transparent cost that is proportional to the price, not a fixed cost like rent or rates, so it's easier to cost it out per transaction.

But yes, back in the day, interchange was supposed to be a charge that refunded the Issuer for the cost of transacting and only that, their margin was on the interest they charged.

That's changed over the years though, credit cards were always a % fee as there were costs proportional to the money lent, the funding gap and risk of defaulting on card debts. I never understood why debit moved to a % too as essentially a £10 or £10,000 transaction still involves the same amount of data being moved around by the same systems.
 
Arsonist said:
I'm looking at loan rates of about 4% and ISA rates of about 2.5% - however the £300 government money gained immediately on the £1200 add up to, in theory, 27.5%. So as long as I'm not going to get chased by HMRC etc then this looks like a winner!
Click to expand...

Except by your own calculations you can afford to pay £5,200 in 2 years, so you could just put the £1,500 into the ISA yourself over the 2 years and get the 25% from the government anyway. Saves you paying the 1.5% interest differential. Also, I believe you get the 25% when you're close to buying the home, not as you deposit funds into the ISA.
 
The purchase price must be below £250,000 (£450,000 in London). Doesn't matter how much the mortgage is. If the house costs £275,000 outside London you are not eligible.
 
mpj88 said:
Yup I'm sure. As I'm buying a house for £275k....with a 10% deposit...!
Click to expand...

The government don't seem to agree with you, "To qualify for a government bonus, the property you are buying cannot cost more than £250,000, or more than £450,000 if you are buying in London."

Lets hope you can make a case for purchasing £25k worth of fixtures.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom