Motorcycle on credit cards

fragfeaster777

Hello all!

I am planning in the next month or so to buy a motorbike, which would cost around £7500 (including insurance, kit, tax etc)

I was looking into the cheapest way to finance the bike by paying with 0% credit cards (those offers with 9 months or more). Ideally, I could obtain enough interest free credit on say 2 cards to pay half the value of the bike (as a deposit) on one card, and the rest of the value on another card. If the credit limits are not enough, I could pay the remainder in equity from my savings.

My situation is as follows:
- Age: 23
- Income: 40k
- Stable job, been at firm for 7 months
- 1 credit card (Lloyds Airmiles), limit £2000. Never missed payment
- On electoral roll etc

Thus my questions to the veterans here are: Given my stats, could anyone point me in the direction of which credit card providers would give me the best limits and for the longest 0% on purchases? I fully intend to pay off the cards at the end of their introductory offers.

Please do note that I am just looking for the cheapest way to borrow: I could pay down the full price of bike in equity, but I'd rather keep my savings earning interest in the bank.

Many thanks for all the kind help!

oneandonlyboy

Hi,

If your take home is 40k a year why not save for a couple of months and say in May when the weather is good for biking buy with cash and ask for a discount.

With credit cards it easy justto pay off the minimum each month and before you know it the interest free has gone and your left paying loads of interest.

lisyloo

You may find that a lot of places won't want to take credit card as payment.
This is because of the high charges (or it will reduce your negotiating power by the amount of the charge so you'll be paying it anyway).

You could get an SBT card (where you balance transfer to your current account).

I recently got £3K off ulster bank with NO fee (only for 6 months though).
There are a few cards with no fee but they tend to have short terms.
You will find the site
https://www.stoozing.com
useful

BTW - I got mine for a motorbike too.
I'm test riding a ducati monster on Saturday.
Out of interest what are you looking at getting?

LongTermLurker

oneandonlyboy wrote: »

Hi,

If your take home is 40k a year why not save for a couple of months and say in May when the weather is good for biking buy with cash and ask for a discount.

With credit cards it easy justto pay off the minimum each month and before you know it the interest free has gone and your left paying loads of interest.

OP says he has the cash, so he'd have to be quite foolish not to pay off at the end of the term.

OP, what you're suggesting is possible (*), but you may also be able to get 0% on HP. I'm not a fan of HP, but if you intend paying it off in full then it might work for you - check the Ts & Cs. Another way could be to get thr Amex platinum (check if dealer takes Amex in advance) where you could get up to £200 cashback on £4000 (i.e. 5% for first 3 months, limited to a maximum £200 cashback).

* edit - as lizzy says, thinking about it, dealers will usually only take the deposit on CC and want the rest paying by debit card, presumably for the costs, but you may be able to put insurance on the card and get CB on that.

You could get an SBT card (where you balance transfer to your current account).

Expect that to incur a 3% fee for any decent length offer

YorkshireBoy

I'd look at going the Virgin card SBT route. See this article...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/stooze-cash-credit-cards#MBNA

The 2.98% fee should be recovered by the interest your savings earn over the 16 month duration (if you've bagged yourself some decent deals in recent months?).

Working for you (for the £7,500 required) is your £40K salary. However, working against you is the lowly £2K limit on your LTSB card, your age, and your 'time in job'.

fragfeaster777

Hey there,

Thank you all for your very useful comments!

I checked with the dealer (lisyloo, I'm looking at a Harley 1200 low, that Ducati monster is great!) and they indeed charge a 2.5% fee after £2000. They take a £500 deposit

Yep, the SBT sounds very good. Maybe the best way would be to put all the kit, insurance and £2000 (or £2500) on a card with a long 0% purchases, and then do the SBT and equity for the remainder.

I have £2000 limit on the Lloyds account because I declared my income as £20k when I was a student, and never "updated" my status on their records (can you even do that?)

Thanks again for the information. If anyone has any further info, it would be very welcome!

lisyloo

You could check the charges for AMEX (the charges may be higher than visa/masteracrd). Some place might not accept it at all.

The platinum cashback cash pays 5% for 3 months and you can get £34 cashback from quidco.
Make sure that:

1) You time your application for the card to get your purchase in the 3 month period.
2) You keep you card for 12 months (you'll have to wait for the cashback) as you forfeit if you cancel it.
3) Make sure you apply for the right card as there are several cards but only one that does the cashback (which mnight be called moneyback).

I've just checked a holiday company I'm going with and they charge 3% for AMEX, so I'm going to do that (not really for the profit but for a free credit facility).

Kavanne

What bike you want, OP? I know some manufacturers are offering 0% finance at the moment if you buy new. Or are you only looking at 2nd hand?

Otherwise, SBT could be what you are looking for