Financing for a large purchase (MacBook Pro Retina)

Pezmc_2

Hi all,

I'm new to the world of MoneySavingExpert but am starting to get my head around everything and hope to become a long standing member and share anything I find/discover as well as learning from the forums.

I am looking to buy the new MacBook Pro "intelligently" reducing the cost as much as possible. I have just started a reasonably well paid job and can (almost certainly - assuming I am not made redundant or become ill) payback the £2000 over 4/5 months say at £500 a month.

So far I have figured out the education program to bring the initial cost down and now I am looking at ways to "buy now and spread the payments" at a reduced cost and possibly 0% APR. I have been studying 0% APR for the first year style offers but there is always one clause that confuses me "0% APR on new purchases for up to 55 days if the balance is paid off each month".

What do you feel the cheapest (long term) ways are to reduce the cost? Either getting a loan upfront, exploiting credit, or signing up for student bank accounts with a 0% overdraft.

Currently I have only about £500 working capital to play with,

Pez,

CLAPTON

1. you have 500 already, you can afford 500 per month so in 3 months you will 2,000


2. some credit cards offer 0% finance on purchase for a period (often 12 month); the reference to 55days is for the normal rules that apply after the prmotional period of 12 months runs out.

3. if you don't already have a CC then you may find it difficult to get your first card with 0% on purchases with a large enough credit limit.

4. why do you want a long term way of reducing the cost if you can clear it in 3 months?

Pezmc_2

1. This is true, but say something changes I would like some margin!

2. I see so say the credit limit was £2000, that could sit there for 12 months (the "free" period) and it would still be £2000 at the end?

3. How do you get a larger credit limit, I currently have a £500 limited one that HSBC gave me but I don't really use it as all it does is cost money for the advantage of delaying payment one month.

4. In case anything changes, perhaps paying over 12 months would be better so I could spend more on other things, maybe the boiler breaks and I need to buy a new one?

Thanks for your info,

credtit

Wait, three or four months and buy it then. Trust me, its better off in the long run.

Plxply

credtit wrote: »

Wait, three or four months and buy it then. Trust me, its better off in the long run.

I have to say I agree, this does sound slightly like an impulsive purchase especially as they were recently introduced. Unless you need it for work it's a luxury (an overpriced one at that) and I would highly recommend at least thinking about it and saving money in the mean time. Afterwards if you still want it then you've got the cash available and you're free to use your money for what you like, if not you have a nice small amount of savings to spend on other things.

chattychappy

I don''t see why we have to mount into an investigation into the wisdom of the OP's purchase. On the figures given (s)he can well afford the repayments, it really is a short term borrowing.

OP: you always have to pay back at least the minimum. (If you miss a payment you get late payment fees and the 0% deal is off.) Minimums vary, but are typically the interest (if any) plus a percentage - 1% to 5% is the usual range. So you couldn't let the £2000 sit there without paying some of it down each month.

You could put additional spending onto the card. This is the trap... easy to keep the balance "topped up" to near the limit only to find that when the deal runs out, you're on max interest because you can't clear it down.

Given you've had an HSBC card for a while, you might be able to get something like a Tesco Clubcard Credit card which would give you clubcard points for your spend. But it is difficult to get a higher limit if your existing credit facility is only £500 and you barely use that.

Putting your now higher income down on the application should help, though "time with employer" might undermine this a little.

InsideInsurance

Outside of the finance issue, I would seriously wait before buying the rentina display yet anyway. There are too many websites that are traditionally pro mac saying that the hardware isnt coping well with the display even for moderate tasks (eg scrolling on facebook). This allegidly will get better when Mountain Lion becomes available and so I wouldn't consider buying it without a serious amount of time spent with one and probably not until next osx update.

On the plus side, this gives you more time to save for it

reclusive46

Indeed, I agree with the above post. I'm a developer using Mountain Lion and its a night and day difference, there are new Nvidia drivers that were released in a background graphics update today in ML making it even more butter smooth. I'd wait till its released at the end of this month atleast and check up on the reviews then.