Caporegime
2.8% via Cahoot/Santander for part of our new kitchen last week. Cheapest I could find.
^^ is that secretly Martin Lewis?
Just listen to Dave Ramsey, it's all common sense.
Don't get a loan. Save up, you can do it.
UK law should mandate that banks have to give the often fraudulent headline rates. I have wasted time applying for a loan in the past only to be offered rates higher than a credit card, while other banks offered me 0% for 3 years on a card, madness.
It's that sort of attitude that will bring on the next big recession..
Any Personal credit is bad, but often necessary. Only once u don't financially need credit, do you realise the difference between having money, which makes more money, compared to credit, which has to be repaid. The moment you have money and are debt free, is the moment you really start to make money. difficult to explain to people who have never been there. Any credit is a commitment regardless of the rate.... and stops you flying financially. If you don't have to pay a mortgage, or car loan etc it is financially liberating and you make more because you aren't paying, instead you are hopefully investing and compounding the savings positively, rather than generally spending on the debt and compounding negatively.. Even 0% interest loan isn't free, it costs you interest on the money you could otherwise be saving, about 14% if you had a FTSE tracker fund last year, or 6.5% per annum compounded over 25 years... on 20k that is £2800 lost last year before loan interest payments, or £81,000 over the last 25 years! This is why commercial companies take on commercial debt, they can invest the money and cover the cost of the debt while making money. Different with a car etc... and would you want to cover that risk?
Even 0% interest loan isn't free, it costs you interest on the money you could otherwise be saving,
As mentioned earlier in the thread there is legislation but it only means that 51% of applications must be given the advertised rate.
It should be 100% unless specifically disclaimed that it is only offered to people who have no debt/past defaults etc.
With no average interest rate enforced either it allows companies to offer "1%" loans to 51% of people and 1,000% loans to the other 49% averaging a 500% interest rate in reality.
There are always going to be exceptions to every general rule, but they are that, exceptions, and often rare, as per your timing / examples, which is fab if you can do it. The underlying point with interest free credit cards (and loans) is that the companies wouldn't be offering the deals if in the majority of cases they didn't make some money (therefore cost) off the customer. be they setup fees, end of agreement termination fees, or transfer onto a high cost loan etc. you have to be very organised and focussed often to make these work for you.I got a credit card as soon as i was 18. i was stoozing on my dads accounts before that which i made in his name (he knew about all of this), and earned around £20,000 in interest from 2004-2008 ish
Then of course, the banks went in the toilet and my 6% AER account was gone. RIP
So when i started this, it was simply to make money, after it was to have available cash, which costs me nothing.
Its not frequently but there are always opportunities which you must act on in that same day.
You are confusing credit with irresponsible spending, one might need the other, but its not the entire purpose of it.
Oh look at that, feel better after you're little comment big man?
Or perhaps I had parents that gave a **** and taught me good money management because we had to look after the pennies due to be quite poor growing up. It's why a strongly advocate financial education in schools.