Sofa Finance question

Jon_B_2

Hi peeps,

Just a quick one, basically a house we had our eye on for ages came up on the rental market and we snapped it up as quick as poss. Only problem is that it is largely unfurnished and we currently live in a furnished property.

One of the main items of furniture we are going to need is a sofa. Now I don't really want to look at finance, but sofas are quite a large expense and whilst there is still the possibility we might go second hand, we have been saving up for our wedding which is in about 2 months (yes timings were rather unfortunate). We have saved up £10,000+ for this wedding over the whole year, so normally wouldn't need to look at finance as an option, but I see some companies do 4 years (interest free - I know it's not interest free, it is just bolted on the price to make them 25-50% more expensive) finance packages, I have a couple of questions for them.

A) Are they tough to get accepted on like credit cards and loans at the moment for people with little credit history, I have a credit card in my name which I have held for nearly 18 months that I use constantly and pay off in full largely every month, am on the electoral roll, just have £900 odd quid outstanding in an interest free overdraft in a Graduate account. On 20k a year, but my partner is on 22k, but doesn't have any credit history but is on the electoral roll as well?

Are there any penalties for repaying early?

Cheers in advance.

chesky369

How much do you think you will need in total? I mean, a bed might be more important than a sofa for instance. If you are going to have to buy several biggish things then it might be worthwhile discussing a loan with either your bank or your boyfriend's bank.

Jon_B_2

By the way i'm the bloke in this straight relationship. lol.

Thing is we already have a double bed, and it has an inbuilt wardrobe and venetian blinds already throughout the house, so luckily a lot of the basics are there and obviously there is a whole plethora of white goods.

Literally all we need is a sofa and a dining table, the latter can be had rather cheaply £150ish, so a loan isn't really required.

I imagine quite a common suggestion would be to try and get a 0% credit card, but I tried and failed a few months back, it is now off my credit file, so was just wondering if people had generally found it was easier to obtain credit directly from these sofa companies, cause I suppose in loose terms there is an asset attached to the credit?

chesky369

Oops sorry.........................

chesky369

What about your WOMAN partner trying for a 0% card. Still think a small loan from your bank might be a better bet than finance companies - compare the repayments and interest rates.

McKneff

This is just me but I cant understand that you are going to spend £10k for a wedding and you dont have a sofa to sit on and
youre going to get one on credit.

Cant you cut down a bit on the wedding expenses.

Jon_B_2

Everything is planned now, can't cut any more corners it's all booked and pretty much paid for.

We live in a furnished property. Hence why we don't currently have a sofa. Of course ideally i'd love to go and buy a sofa without finance, but bearing in mind all disposable income for the next 2 pay cheques is going on the wedding, we can't free up any funds until January, now obviously we could just live on a carpet for a couple of months, but as much as we are dedicated to the core in doing all that we can to free up cash, living with a raw bum after both working hard during the day is just about unbearable.

Also, I never said we were going to get one on credit, like all expensive purchases we are weighing up the pros and cons before we go out and purchase. Another option is getting a cheaper one from argos for half the price, but putting it on my credit card which is 12.9% APR and paying it off as quickly as possible.

katie1234

Just for your interest. A sofa costing approx £1000 over 4 years finance would work out at around £18 a month. No penalty when you repay early (on our sofa company anyway). Think all are the same. Its a minimal amount every month. Wouldnt entertain putting it on a credit card or taking out a loan to cover it as both of these charge interest. I think finance for sofas isn't as strict as some but you could try it in your name first then your partners if that didnt work out. Even a family member if possible?

[Deleted User]

Get one second hand for cheap off of Gumtree (some real bargains on there, I know, I listed a brand new 3 piece for about £200)

Then when the time comes you can buy a proper one in the new year.

Jon_B_2

katie1234 wrote: »

Just for your interest. A sofa costing approx £1000 over 4 years finance would work out at around £18 a month. No penalty when you repay early (on our sofa company anyway). Think all are the same. Its a minimal amount every month. Wouldnt entertain putting it on a credit card or taking out a loan to cover it as both of these charge interest. I think finance for sofas isn't as strict as some but you could try it in your name first then your partners if that didnt work out. Even a family member if possible?

The gripe I do have with sofa companies is that for example your average 2/3 seater suite could cost about £1000, where the sort of equivalent elsewhere is about £500/600, so after putting it on a credit card, I doubt the interest would match £1000 in total. Some of the quality we have been reading on reviews has shown a lot to be desired, but on the other hand people only ever really leave negative reviews, so I take that with a pinch of salt anyway.

Went to Next Clearance earlier and they have a nice 2/3 seater suite for about £650 in total. Just wondering, because I am awful at maths, if I purchased this on my credit card @ 12.9%, how much interest would I pay over 3 or 4 months? I also have the first 56 days interest free. Just thinking that maybe we could get something like that on credit card instead.

Problem as ever though with buying second hand is finding a van cheaply to transport such a large item of furniture!!! I haven't seen many nice sofas on gumtree in the Bristol area either at the moment.

gizmo111

You won't get it delivered for quite a few weeks, mine from DFS was 10 weeks waiting so maybe get a 2nd hand one and when you have saved up order one next year.