Loan of £5,000 Required

loonygooner

My wife needs an Op that will cost approx £5,000 as it is being done using a Private Hospital.
I have no credit cards, only Debit cards.
My wife has a M&S Cedit card but pays it off every month.
I am thinking of taking out a Credit Card and pay off the money over as long a period as I can. We could pay it off using savings but we would like to use my wife's overtime etc as much as possible and then pay off the remainder before any introductory offer ends.
Does anyone have any advice whether I should go for Cashback/0% etc and who I should go with bearing in mind that we need £5,000.
All advice appreciated.
loonygooner

YorkshireBoy

There are some 12 month 0% purchases cards available, if you can pay for the operation by credit card?

If you're prepared to pay the bill in full now (from savings), then the Amex Platinum card gives 5% cashback in the first 3 months (may be a monthly limit though?).

The Virgin Money card will give you cash at 0% (via their 'money transfer') for 16 months. A 2.98% fee applies. Depends where your savings are, and what rate you're getting, as to whether you think this may be an option.

All the above assumes, of course, that your (or your partner's) credit rating is good, because £5K is a reasonable limit these days...especially for someone like yourself who doesn't currently have a credit card (therefore possibly limited credit history?).

PaulW922

Provided your credit history is ok then your own bank that issued your debit card might be a good place to try, because even though though you will not have lots of positive history recorded they will know your affairs better. The difficulty you have, as Yorkshireboy says, is that £5k is a lot for one card especially when it is your first. You could apply for more than one but every credit search knocks down your score for the next application. Many private hospitals offer finance options - some even 0% - have you tried that?

Kavanne

Pay off as long as you can? By paying the min you can pay it off over 11 YEARS if you like... that's if your interest rate is 18.9% APR and you pay 5% of the balance each month.

However some cards have a min repayment of 1%, so at at APR of 18.9% it would be over 100 YEARS!!

And if your APR is 24.9% then it will take you 12.5 years, however if the CC company decide that that's too low and up your APR to 34.9% you are going to be saddled with this debt for over 15 years.

Is that really what you want?

Will your savings earn you over 18.9% interest? I think that speaks for itself. Pay for the surgery and put what you would spend on credit card repayments back into a savings account to start building up your savings again.

If you put £115 PM into a savings account (That would be approx 2.25% of £5000) then you will have £5000 again in under 4 years.

loonygooner

Kavanne wrote: »

Pay off as long as you can?

Sorry, I meant that it was over as long as possible 0% period;)

I neve know abot possible hospital 0%, but would be surprised if they did. Am I becoming cynical in old age, again!

I can't see any 12 month 0% deals, only 10 mths so any help with that is appeciated. I may pay off half and put half on 0%

Thanks guys and gals, all good advice as always

YorkshireBoy

loonygooner wrote: »

I can't see any 12 month 0% deals, only 10 mths so any help with that is appeciated.

Tesco 'in-store' special offer.

Halifax 'Extras', if you have a current account there (available until March).

First Direct Gold, again if you have a current account there.

For the rest, see...

http://www.stoozing.com/purchases.php

loonygooner

Thanks YorkshireBoy,
Heard only good things about First Direct so will probably gve them a go.

YorkshireBoy

loonygooner wrote: »

Thanks YorkshireBoy,
Heard only good things about First Direct so will probably gve them a go.

Be sure to read the small print, particularly the requirement to BT at least £100 to the card (fee applies) in order to kick start the 0% on purchases offer.

loonygooner

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Be sure to read the small print, particularly the requirement to BT at least £100 to the card (fee applies) in order to kick start the 0% on purchases offer.

Thanks for that snippet that I hadn't noticed, bit devious of them really ut shouldn't make a great deal of difference

loonygooner

although.....

Am I being cynical or will only the £100 incur the 2.5% or can they then make a charge against the £500.

I 'assume' that the £100 incurs the 2.5% charge and then 16.9% interest, with the £5,000 still being subject to the 0%.

Is that how you would understand it?

Kavanne

BT £100 to the card. Pay it off in full. Make your purchase. Et voila.