Engagement ring money advice, please!

gingerassassin

I'm 27 and after 3 years have decided that summer 2011 is going to be the time when I attempt to make an honest woman of my fabulous ladyfriend by asking her to marry me.

In preparation for buying her the sparkler she's been dropping hints about for months I've been making some serious efforts over the last year to pay off all of my immediate debts that have been hanging around since uni - credit card, overdraft on an unused account etc - and by January 2011 will have no immediate debt to my name, except for my Student Loan (left uni in 2004).

Although paying off my debts for the last year has left me in a position where I have no debt, it has also meant that I've been unable to save towards the aforementioned sparkler. I'm therefore looking to borrow again to afford it.

So, after all that backstory my question is basically this: what is the best way for me to borrow between £3-5k at some point next year to buy a wedding ring? I don't have very much experience in this sort of thing, but preferably I'd like to pay it off over 3-5years and would like the monthly outgoings to be between £100-150, but am flexible on both to a degree. Should I go for a loan, a credit card, shop credit, or something else totally?

I'm not a homeowner myself (the house is in the lady's name), and I haven't ever done a full credit check, but my Experian credit report didn't show up anything major (I don't think.) I currently have a salary of just over £26k, and have no credit cards in my name. Therefore my second question is this: is it worth me working on my credit score over the coming 6 months to help my chances of being given enough credit, and how would I go about doing that?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Melaniep101

3-5k will buy a huge rock! Does it have to cost that much? Speaking from experience (I got engaged in September) my ring is stunning and was around 1700.

Just seems a shame to get into debt again when you worked so hard to pay it off....

Enfieldian

If you are asking her in Summer 2011 then save up until then, surely?

Or am I missing something?

geoffky

you sir IS a nutter..
going back into 3kto 5k of debt for a ring..you want locking up...i am sure your girlfriend would want to marry someone who is good with money and not puts them in debt just for a ring...spend a couple of hundred quid AT THE MOST...

Bambi234

First off CONGRATS for paying of all of your debt, as a load odf us know its a hard slog but ultimately worth it, and it would be wonderful to go into the new marriage debt free.

Secondly, I believe that spending that much on an engagement ring may be over the top (but that is only my opinion).

Finally you have been able to pay off the debts so why not put the money you were putting towards debt repayment towards saving and then get the ring.

gingerassassin

Enfieldian wrote: »

If you are asking her in Summer 2011 then save up until then, surely?

Or am I missing something?

Good point, the reason I've quoted £3-5k is that I am going to be saving between now and then, but am unsure exactly how much I'll get...

Tixy

This isn't going to be the answer you want to hear but really on a £26k salary it does not seem at all sensible to borrow £5k for an engagement ring.
Now you haven't got any debts to repay can you not use save the same money each month for the next few months and then use that to buy a really nice ring (£1k would be loads comparative to your salary).

Well done on clearing your debts but please don't get into debt again for something like this.

To answer your question though - if you do insist on doing it - you are unlikely to get a card with that sort of limit on your salary, and it will likely cost you more in the long run (even if you start with a low apr deal), shop credit would be very costly so a loan would probably be the cheapest option (aside from saving for it).

gingerassassin

Fair enough. Point taken on board from all about £3-5k possibly being a little high for a ring (FYI - I was intending on borrowing a little extra than the cost of the actual ring to take her away also), but any ideas re my actual question on how best to borrow the money?

Tixy

Well for £5k a loan would likely work out cheaper, but if say you were to borrow £1-1.5k and were able to pay it all back in less than a year then a credit card could be cheaper.

It really depends on what your credit history is like and how likely you are to be able to get a 0% card or promotional rate card. Do you have any defaults on your credit file? any late payments still showing on it at all? Have you still got your existing credit card account open? who with? what credit limit?

jennikitten

Know it's not what you want to hear but I'm sure on a salary of 26k you could put at least £400 away each month, particularly if you're not in debt. Why do you need to borrow the money? It seems like you want to borrow just for the sake of it, unless there's something you've not mentioned.

hur575

5k for a ring!!!:eek: It might not seem much if you have it spare but to borrow it!!!!why start big step in your life with the debt? If you need 5k for a ring now, how much you would need to borrow for the wedding?
Save save save, you will get there in no time.