Any advice as to what would be the best for us to do?

Gems84

Hi all,

Myself and my partner are due to get married at the end of the year and will need to take out a loan for the remainder of the balance to pay for the wedding venue (approximately £4500) all other elements of the wedding will hopefully be saved for. But during this time whilst we have been trying to save, we have stupidly spent out on a credit card which has spiralled slightly to £2050 and £900 on an overdraft.
We were thinking maybe a loan for around £7500-8000 would cover the costs of the wedding venue, paying off the credit and overdraft. We have looked at the soft search and found Sainsbury's and HSBC to have an 80% of accepting the loan with an offered 3.3% representative APR (I know only 51% of customers will get this rate, but we can hope!). The monthly repayments over 5 years would be approximately £135-£140 which should be manageable on both our incomes combined.
Does this plan make sense or would you suggest a different path?
Huge thanks in advance.

nic01_2

Have you considered a balance transfer to 0% on the credit card? Means that bill isn't paying any interest

sourcrates

Gems84 wrote: »

Hi all,

Myself and my partner are due to get married at the end of the year and will need to take out a loan for the remainder of the balance.
Does this plan make sense or would you suggest a different path?
Huge thanks in advance.

Starting married life over 8k in debt, the majority of which is to pay for the wedding, hmmm.

My niece had a flash wedding, cost 15k, marriage lasted 2 years.

Mine cost 600 quid, I was married for 12 years, I think I got the better deal.

Not a fan of getting into debt, simply to say "I do", experiance has taught me that spending large amounts of money on weddings is no guarantee of happiness !!

But then I'm just a cynical old get !!!

On a more serious note, consolodation loans can be the start of a long slippery slope, I would urge caution if I were you !!

Gems84

We have considered the 0% balance transfer but I can't help but think that's two debts not just the one loan to pay back. Does that make sense? If we weren't needing the loan then that is definitely what we would have done.

Gems84

Thanks for the relationship advice. We've been happily together now for 12 years, have two beautiful kids and a mortgage. We are being cautious hence the post to find out other potential options etc. Cancelling the wedding or changing it is not an option we are willing to consider.

Kitten868

Pop your SOA on here to get a grip where all this money is going. Hopefully we can find ways to help you cut back as well.
Just because it's more bother to pay more than one creditor doesn't mean it's better. It'll be cheaper to do it the way suggested.
Overall in your position I would work hard to pay down the credit cards and try to save money - you still have 8 months. Then when it comes to paying for the venue I'd put what I couldn't afford on to a credit card so you're paying 0% rather than 3%. You can pay on more than one if need be.
As has been said financial strain is hard on newly weds so do consider carefully the rest of your plans. Centrepieces can be very simple and bought from eBay or Facebook. No one really cares about favours. Cutting corners could save you from a 5 year financial commitment! X

andyfromotley

Hi gems,

borrowing to pay for a wedding is madness with a capital M! Either postpone until you have saved for it or downgrade. This is a debt free forum so I'm not going to criticise your plans, you should have the wedding you want, if you want to spend £100k on it thats fine by me, but equally i'm not going to pretend that borrowing to do so is OK. Its madness and i am convinced that after the glow of the day has gone you will regret it.