major purchase

northernstar007

hi all, i was a little shocked at no discount for cash
i'm in the middle of doing the house up and now moving onto new windows required
after i got the price i asked the salesman if any discount if i paid by bank transfer and the answer was no, if i wanted to save money i could have 0%12 months, i have the funds to pay in full
i asked if i can pay on amex (nectar) and yes i can, i though that i would get discount to save the company with there bank charges 

sausage_time

Interest free for 12 months will likely give a slightly better return than Amex/Nectar if you are prepared to chase the best interest rate over the period.  May depend on your tax position of course.  Depending on timing you may get almost two months interest on the full amount before you have to pay your Amex statement, so that may be the simplest approach?

northernstar007

thanks for the reply sausage time
yeah its working out i be better off on 0% by about £165 after the deposit has to be paid 
i dont want any debt around my neck so its going to be amex (nectar £40 of points)  then pay it  off in full

MattMattMattUK

northernstar007 said:

hi all, i was a little shocked at no discount for cash
i'm in the middle of doing the house up and now moving onto new windows required
after i got the price i asked the salesman if any discount if i paid by bank transfer and the answer was no, if i wanted to save money i could have 0%12 months, i have the funds to pay in full
i asked if i can pay on amex (nectar) and yes i can, i though that i would get discount to save the company with there bank charges 

Why would there be any discount for cash? Traditionally the "discount" from tradespeople was always tax evasion, most people are not prepared to do that any more.

northernstar007

MattMattMattUK said:

northernstar007 said:

hi all, i was a little shocked at no discount for cash
i'm in the middle of doing the house up and now moving onto new windows required
after i got the price i asked the salesman if any discount if i paid by bank transfer and the answer was no, if i wanted to save money i could have 0%12 months, i have the funds to pay in full
i asked if i can pay on amex (nectar) and yes i can, i though that i would get discount to save the company with there bank charges 

Why would there be any discount for cash? Traditionally the "discount" from tradespeople was always tax evasion, most people are not prepared to do that any more.

bank charges, cheaper doing a bank transfer rather using a credit card

MattMattMattUK

northernstar007 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

northernstar007 said:

hi all, i was a little shocked at no discount for cash
i'm in the middle of doing the house up and now moving onto new windows required
after i got the price i asked the salesman if any discount if i paid by bank transfer and the answer was no, if i wanted to save money i could have 0%12 months, i have the funds to pay in full
i asked if i can pay on amex (nectar) and yes i can, i though that i would get discount to save the company with there bank charges 

Why would there be any discount for cash? Traditionally the "discount" from tradespeople was always tax evasion, most people are not prepared to do that any more.

bank charges, cheaper doing a bank transfer rather using a credit card

Bank transfer is cheaper than a card transaction yes, but only very slightly. Most large companies will be paying less than 1%, even small tradespeople will be able to get 1.75% or less in transaction fees. Cash is actually more expensive, fees for handling as an SME are quite high, as a business it is almost unspendable, it is inconvenient and time consuming to pay in, if they have premises it increases insurance costs considerably. The low level of card fees will be built into the business as part of the costs. 

Again, most traditional discounts "for cash" were due to people committing tax fraud, not any magical savings from the cash itself. 

QrizB

northernstar007 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

northernstar007 said:

hi all, i was a little shocked at no discount for cash
i'm in the middle of doing the house up and now moving onto new windows required
after i got the price i asked the salesman if any discount if i paid by bank transfer and the answer was no, if i wanted to save money i could have 0%12 months, i have the funds to pay in full
i asked if i can pay on amex (nectar) and yes i can, i though that i would get discount to save the company with there bank charges 

Why would there be any discount for cash? Traditionally the "discount" from tradespeople was always tax evasion, most people are not prepared to do that any more.

bank charges, cheaper doing a bank transfer rather using a credit card

Any windows company big enough to have a finance deal on offer is going to know that since 2018 you can't charge extra for card payments:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

A "cash discount" is just a hidden surcharge.

The window company (including the salesman himself, personally) will probably receive a commission for selling you the 0% finance deal, on the assumption that a certain proportion of those taking the deal will end up paying interest.