PC & Laptops

NoworNever_3

Hi all.

My laptop has recently broken and having spoken to a few repair centres I have been informed it's more cost effective to replace the laptop rather than having it repaired. I had also been interested in getting myself a better laptop too.

I openly admit that my credit rating is quite poor. I occasionaly miss payment on a credit card (my only one) and have arrears with Virgin (one month) I would normally think my chances of obtaining credit with any other company quite slim however recently I have been accepted by a catalogue company for a Credit account with a limit of £500. The account is empty at the moment.

My question is I have seen a laptop at PC World I like and would need to take out their finance option as unable to pay the whole amount. Do you think I have any chance of being succesful? I have explored the possibility of saving the money but being truthal this is something I am not normally good at.

If it is of any help to you I believe they bank through the HFC Group.

Thanks for reading!

CHR15

If you can't pay your current debts, you are crazy to consider owing even MORE!!

How are you going to meet the repayments??

Even if you do manage to obtain credit, you are going to pay a massive amount over what the item is worth.

fwor

First question: are you sure that it really is beyond economic repair? Depending on who you went to, some "repair centres" will tell you it is just because there is more profit in a sale than a repair.

Next: can you live with it in a fixed state or with a temporary desktop for a few months? Scrounging old desktop PCs off friends and family will probably get you something slow but useable.

If you can, start saving regularly with your local Credit Union. Then on the far side of Christmas when there are cheap deals to be had, speak to them and see how much they will lend you. You will almost certainly not find a cheaper way to borrow money, though check their rules, as they will probably have a minimum number of months that you have to save before you can borrow.

motorguy

NoworNever wrote: »

Hi all.

My laptop has recently broken and having spoken to a few repair centres I have been informed it's more cost effective to replace the laptop rather than having it repaired. I had also been interested in getting myself a better laptop too.

I openly admit that my credit rating is quite poor. I occasionaly miss payment on a credit card (my only one) and have arrears with Virgin (one month) I would normally think my chances of obtaining credit with any other company quite slim however recently I have been accepted by a catalogue company for a Credit account with a limit of £500. The account is empty at the moment.

My question is I have seen a laptop at PC World I like and would need to take out their finance option as unable to pay the whole amount. Do you think I have any chance of being succesful? I have explored the possibility of saving the money but being truthal this is something I am not normally good at.

If it is of any help to you I believe they bank through the HFC Group.

Thanks for reading!

Why do you *need* a laptop?

Would a desktop machine not suffice? There are loads on ebay / gumtree from £50 that will more than perform the roles of wordprocessor, surfing, etc.

Also, stick your old machine on ebay as 'spares or repair' - you'll be surprised how much it makes.

Please dont put yourself in even more debt for what is for 95% of people a luxury, not a necessity.

This is after all, 'money saving expert', not 'get yourself in more debt'....

pendulum

If you know you cannot save up enough to buy the laptop outright, then your not going to be able to save enough to pay off the debt + interest + pay off your existing debts on top.

Contrary to a post above, computer repair places normally make a nice profit from repairs, the labour fee is sheer profit and they make a profit selling you the replacement part too, whereas the margins on selling new machines are normally pretty tight, I'm sure they would have repaired it if it was worth it but its probably something like the motherboard gone and by the time you've bought a replacement part and paid labour your better off getting a different machine.

But if I were you I'd get a second hand replacement machine and buy it outright, not on credit.