Soldato
The sweet spot is work expenses
Not got any of those sadly lol!
If you churn a lot of cash this strategy is definitely one worth considering though for sure.
Mortgage Rate Rises
- Thread starter glenimp617
- Start date
Not got any of those sadly lol!
If you churn a lot of cash this strategy is definitely one worth considering though for sure.
our 1.9% rate is up in July. I've just been chatting with the mortgage broker, the best deal we are looking at is 4.4% for 5yrs, 45% ltv. The cancellation fees are decent after year 2 and running some numbers we might be better of doing the 5yr at the lower rate vs 4.9% for a 2yr and looking at replacing the mortgage in yr3 if rates do drop enough to make it worthwhile doing so.
Going to mull it over for a few months and see where all the dust is settling, if at all.
Going to mull it over for a few months and see where all the dust is settling, if at all.
Soldato
I am definitely looking to bolster my CC debt. It is only about ~£6k at the moment. I've also pushed my mortgage to 35 years (both the 4.9% half and the 2.3% half) so topping up Zopa with the cashflow benefit. Come September half 2 will hit 4.9% though.
This would give me the fear
I'm hoping to be in a position to start overpaying my mortgage from the start of 2025 by monthly payment + 30%
Last edited:
I'm sure you've already thought of this, but just in case - some providers have an overpayment cap of 10% annually before charges apply.This would give me the fear
I'm hoping to be in a position to start overpaying my mortgage from the start of 2025 by monthly payment + 30%
Soldato
It's not really a big deal if you just invest the money in safe things like interest paying savings though. Worst case you got the cash and you can pay off the debt.
Interest free stuff is essentially getting interest on someone else's money.
Interest on £35K at 5% is £1750 per year. Balance transfer fee onto another interest free card is usually maybe 1%? £350. No brainer in terms of gaining free cash.
Issue is being able to borrow so much that the admin work stays low, whilst the actual gain is good/worth the hassle.
This is probably quite an extreme example vs what many on here would be comfortable doing though, and I think it's more than I'd do, though I would quite happily interest free say £5K - £10K.
Interest free stuff is essentially getting interest on someone else's money.
Interest on £35K at 5% is £1750 per year. Balance transfer fee onto another interest free card is usually maybe 1%? £350. No brainer in terms of gaining free cash.
Issue is being able to borrow so much that the admin work stays low, whilst the actual gain is good/worth the hassle.
This is probably quite an extreme example vs what many on here would be comfortable doing though, and I think it's more than I'd do, though I would quite happily interest free say £5K - £10K.
Those have gone up with rising interest rates like everything else, standard seems around 3%+ nowadays, though there's still some offers about.
They're pretty liberal at the moment it seems. Probably making enough elsewhere to increase their risk appetite.
RBS 0% - £8k, 19 months
AMEX - £18k
BC - £6k
Monzo Flex - £3k
M&S - £6k (ending in November, so will look to BT this)
It is the rogue ones that are annoying. Like I opened a Very account for an offer on the Sonos sub (20% off) and now that gives me £5k (wtf? this little experiment has seen me just reduce that to £1k), PayPal for a television is £3.85k (wtf?) and a Frasers account I was arm-twisted into opening for 20% off some shorts is giving me £1250 (for what was a £50 pair of shorts, lol).
RBS 0% - £8k, 19 months
AMEX - £18k
BC - £6k
Monzo Flex - £3k
M&S - £6k (ending in November, so will look to BT this)
It is the rogue ones that are annoying. Like I opened a Very account for an offer on the Sonos sub (20% off) and now that gives me £5k (wtf? this little experiment has seen me just reduce that to £1k), PayPal for a television is £3.85k (wtf?) and a Frasers account I was arm-twisted into opening for 20% off some shorts is giving me £1250 (for what was a £50 pair of shorts, lol).
Thats how those sharks operate, they suck financially illiterate people into debt traps, before they know it they have sizeable debt at 50% interest or BNPLs rolling over. Sure we could argue the people taking the debt on should know better but usually they dont, shouldn't be allowed.
The thing most surprising about the Frasers thing, is typically I would never be sucked into those kind of store card one-off offers - but it was like 40% off list price (a genuine £90 pair of shorts for £50). It would have been "silly" to ignore, but now I have a very easy line of credit to spend at their group and it seems impossible to clear early and close the account easily. I can see how people would easily get sucked in for future purchases now. .
Soldato
You are sucked into believing a £50 pair of shorts is £90 when its made by some 12 year old for $1 anyway.
I've never considered using my CC in such a heavy handed way. Currently I use it for everyday stuff then pay it off each month incluring no extra cost and collecting points.
Say my AMEX limit is 20k, how would I access this interest free? My cash position is more than enough to cover it so it could be beneficial for larger purchases.
My understanding is that normal spending up to that limit would incur interest charges.
Say my AMEX limit is 20k, how would I access this interest free? My cash position is more than enough to cover it so it could be beneficial for larger purchases.
My understanding is that normal spending up to that limit would incur interest charges.
Last edited:
Price is the point at which your desire to have them is greater than the desire to retain the money. For me, £50 is the line. If you think anything in the world is "cost plus" then you are misunderstanding the world.
Soldato
Typically an interest free card is a different card altogether.
So you'd need a new interest free card, not sure if Amex do them, but I've had a couple in the past.
Some are only interest free on purchases within a short time, some are interest free across the duration. Usually you need to pay it off by a certain time or balance transfer to a new one.
You can't - the trick is you sign up to a 0% card -> fill it -> divide balance by interest fee period -> store cash so you are always cleaning your nose. When the 0% period is due, perform a BT to somewhere else. Keep cash saved in ISA/whatever.
Rinse and repeat.
We will need pics of you wearing these shorts now, just to give our opinions on value of course.
I'm not falling for that BS. If you want pics, my OF is linked from Home & Garden.
Soldato
I hate stuff like Very, it's all just designed to get you onto a line of credit, and the buy now pay later mentality.
I tried to use them something once but there wasn't even an option to just pay outright for stuff. Cancelled that off pretty quickly once I cottoned on to their game.
Thanks^ Makes me wonder why anyone would get a basic loan, other than to borrow even more on top.
Might have to use one of these next time I buy a car - might as well keep the cash earning interest given the decent rates currently.
Might have to use one of these next time I buy a car - might as well keep the cash earning interest given the decent rates currently.
Last edited:
Soldato
Not everywhere takes credit cards etc.
So you'd need to convert it from 0% cc into your bank via the method I said, spending on CC and then pocketing the cash you would have spent into savings.
Eventually you have your 0% loan basically!
