Advice on whether to get a card

MishOnABudget

Hi everyone,

I'm getting married pretty soon and (thanks to my car and laptop giving up the ghost within a couple of months of each other!) I have eaten into my wedding savings. I need to borrow about £5k and was wondering if a credit card might be a better solution than a loan? I haven't had to take out either before so am a complete newbie - any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

RuthMarianna

I would suggest you look closely at the interest rates for each option and consider how quickly you can repay the loan. My first reaction is to say that a loan is likely to charge a lower rate of interest but would offer you less flexibility in repayment time. If you can get a credit card to give you that level of credit and you can get a year or more interest free on purchases, which is unlikely as interest free periods of that length is usually on balance transfer and shorter on purchases, and you feel that you can repay it all within the interest free period the a credit card would be a good option. A way round the interest free period only being on balance transfer would be to get more than one credit card, make your purchases on one card and then transfer the balance to the other thereby benefitting from the interest period. At the end of the interest free period if you still owe a substantial amount then it might be worth looking into getting a loan which attracts a lower rate of interest than the credit cards and paying the cards off. My main concern with the credit card option is that you may not get a new card with that level of credit. I hope this is not too confusing and good luck.

CannyJock

MishOnABudget wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm getting married pretty soon and (thanks to my car and laptop giving up the ghost within a couple of months of each other!) I have eaten into my wedding savings. I need to borrow about £5k and was wondering if a credit card might be a better solution than a loan? I haven't had to take out either before so am a complete newbie - any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.

Basically it depends on your ability to repay the 5K and how quickly you can do it. Generally the quicker you can do it the less you repay. If you want flexibilty and able to pay back quickly, look at the credit card route.

Look on the price comparison sites like www.moneysupermarket.com, it'll show you the total amount to repay for sums like 5k over a period of time. How quickly can you repay?

If you've never had a credit card or loan then you have no credit history to be rated by new lenders, so you could easily struggle to get on the ladder. Always better to have at least one credit card and buy a newspaper or something else daft each month and repay the balance in full by direct debit to build up a credit picture that looks good

As I'm in the middle of planning a wedding end of July, myself and "Mrs JannyJock to be" have saw just how easy it is for the whole thing to get away from you completely. Any way to save money on the whole thing? Any way to put your sort code and account number on the invites instead of gettting a dozen toasters? Who says romance is dead

MishOnABudget

I could repay it in under 12 months - that's why i thought a card might be a good option. We have saved absolutely masses on the wedding - my dress 20% off, bridesmaid dresses half price, good reductions on the booze for the dinner - but with so many relatives coming it was always going to work out a bit expensive!

CannyJock

MishOnABudget wrote: »

I could repay it in under 12 months - that's why i thought a card might be a good option. We have saved absolutely masses on the wedding - my dress 20% off, bridesmaid dresses half price, good reductions on the booze for the dinner - but with so many relatives coming it was always going to work out a bit expensive!

If it's for a short term like less than 12 months then definitely a 0% card.

Two options:
1. Virgin Money card with 0% for 15 months, 2.98% fee, first minimum payment 3%, next 14 minimums only £25. You can transfer up to 95% of your credit limit directly into your bank account.
2. Halifax Purchase card, 0% on purchases for 15 months but latest on their website is that it's only available in branch - there's also the HSBC 0% purchase card, is only 12 months but can apply online.