Taking a loan for our dream holiday?

Dvekavo

How many people here have taken a loan for your dream holiday? I'm thinking about taking out a loan to both consolidate debt and go to Japan for two weeks.

We have 2.5k on our (interest free for another year) credit card and are paying it off at between £200-500 per month, but always end up eating into overdraft by the next payday. My wife has been out of a job for a while which is what made us go onto the credit card for a while but now she's working again. Paying off a 1k couch at £30p/m and a PlayStation that was bought for Xmas at £30p/m for a year. My wife's visa extention is next year too which is going to be about 1.5K.

Income is 1.7k and wife's is 500 per month. Bills (including those above apart from the credit card) is about 950 per month... No idea where the rest of it goes... I've always been good at paying things back, never been good at saving... We have 0 savings...

Without getting into it too much, 2018 has just been such a bad year for us both and our dream holiday would just make us feel so much better... So, do you think getting a loan is a good or bad idea? Would probably be a 7k loan over 5 years to pay everything off and book our dream trip... Good idea or bad? What would you do?

BakingC

Absolutely terrible idea. First point you are paying more than the minimum off your interest free credit card but then living in your overdraft? Unless it's free this is really not advisable.

You need to start tracking the rest of your spend to see where you could cut.

Rather than paying it over 5 years and having to cut back on everything else you need to see where all your money goes, try and save for a year. If you can't manage to save where would repayments for the loan come from?

Pixie5740

Dvekavo wrote: »

How many people here have taken a loan for your dream holiday? I'm thinking about taking out a loan to both consolidate debt and go to Japan for two weeks.

We have 2.5k on our (interest free for another year) credit card and are paying it off at between £200-500 per month, but always end up eating into overdraft by the next payday. My wife has been out of a job for a while which is what made us go onto the credit card for a while but now she's working again. Paying off a 1k couch at £30p/m and a PlayStation that was bought for Xmas at £30p/m for a year. My wife's visa extention is next year too which is going to be about 1.5K.

Income is 1.7k and wife's is 500 per month. Bills (including those above apart from the credit card) is about 950 per month... No idea where the rest of it goes... I've always been good at paying things back, never been good at saving... We have 0 savings...

Without getting into it too much, 2018 has just been such a bad year for us both and our dream holiday would just make us feel so much better... So, do you think getting a loan is a good or bad idea? Would probably be a 7k loan over 5 years to pay everything off and book our dream trip... Good idea or bad? What would you do?

It's a bad idea as is a consolidation loan. You need to start living within your means and learn how to save. That will make for longer term happiness than continuing down the debt spiral you are currently in.

MABLE

Dvekavo wrote: »

How many people here have taken a loan for your dream holiday? I'm thinking about taking out a loan to both consolidate debt and go to Japan for two weeks.

We have 2.5k on our (interest free for another year) credit card and are paying it off at between £200-500 per month, but always end up eating into overdraft by the next payday. My wife has been out of a job for a while which is what made us go onto the credit card for a while but now she's working again. Paying off a 1k couch at £30p/m and a PlayStation that was bought for Xmas at £30p/m for a year. My wife's visa extention is next year too which is going to be about 1.5K.

Income is 1.7k and wife's is 500 per month. Bills (including those above apart from the credit card) is about 950 per month... No idea where the rest of it goes... I've always been good at paying things back, never been good at saving... We have 0 savings...

Without getting into it too much, 2018 has just been such a bad year for us both and our dream holiday would just make us feel so much better... So, do you think getting a loan is a good or bad idea? Would probably be a 7k loan over 5 years to pay everything off and book our dream trip... Good idea or bad? What would you do?

Recipe for disaster. The holiday may be a short term pleasure fix but in the long term you may pay dearly for it.

Sort out a budget and within that budget put aside some for a holiday.

bobbymotors

probably the worst idea since ideas were invented.

Dvekavo

Thank you all for talking some sense into me! :rotfl:

parking_question_chap

bobbymotors wrote: »

probably the worst idea since ideas were invented.

And probably before they were invented as well.

Herzlos

I borrowed for a dream holiday. I loved it but I'm still paying it off 5 years later and can barely remember it.
It's money I can't spend on my kids (who weren't here at the time of holiday).
It's generally advised to not borrow for a longer term than you enjoy the money for (So a car is reasonable, a holiday is not).

If it's to cheer you up after a bad year, then by all means go on holiday but scale it back to something you can afford to pay off by the time you go, or you're going to have a bad 2019, too.

DD265

Never paid for a holiday with a loan, but have taken a consolidation loan before and I would never do it again. Quickest way to double your debt!

System

Mountain of debt, some hefty bills on the way and you think its a good idea to add another £2500 for a holiday? Holiday might make you feel better for a couple of weeks until you get home, the bill arrives and reality hits and you spend the next several months in even more hardship trying to pay for it.

Here's an idea. Open up a savings account, put £200 a month away and in a year's time take a holiday with the peace of mind of knowing its paid for.

[Deleted User]

Tarambor wrote: »

Mountain of debt, some hefty bills on the way and you think its a good idea to add another £2500 for a holiday? Holiday might make you feel better for a couple of weeks until you get home, the bill arrives and reality hits and you spend the next several months in even more hardship trying to pay for it.

Here's an idea. Open up a savings account, put £200 a month away and in a year's time take a holiday with the peace of mind of knowing its paid for.

Agree, agree, agree, agree, agree ……
With every word in this post.


Instant gratification is a big thing and one which a lot of people succumb to in a spenders world, it's the downfall of them too.


A few weeks later when the credit card statement comes in, the debt smacks you in the face, depresses you again and the cycle continues...…


The last paragraph of Tarambors post is one I wholeheartedly agree with.
It requires discipline though to not dip into it all the time but if you can apply that it'll reward you, greatly.


You might be one of those people who actually become frugal through it - because you've created a brand new habit that has positive effects on your brain - you now make the 'happy hormones' (endorphins etc that are produced from 'highs' that spending gives you) from saving your money and seeing the amounts build up in your savings account - instead of feeling those happy hormones from spending/buying something.