Loans to mod?

[andrewparker]

Ive never had a loan in my life with the exception to Student Loan and mortgage... if one cant afford it... dont buy it 

I subscribe to Oscar Wilde's theory:

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination"

Seriously though. We put £40k into home improvements last year, largely financed by a loan. We've done exactly the same in the past. The way I see it, I can benefit from it now, or I can scrimp and save for years then finally get it. Essentially you've got to be able to afford the loan, so what's the difference. If you're prepared to pay and the finance is cheap then why not?

[Betty02]

I thought about it, then slapped myself around the face with a wet fish!

If you can happily have £150 go out of your account each month then instead of a load set up a high interest savings account and set it up, I did this, refused a card for the account so I could only take my money out my closing it, saved up enough for my BM and then closed account, much better then getting a loan!

[andrewparker]

£150 a month is £1800 a year. It's going take a good few years before you get what you want. Life's too short.

[samdem]

£150 a month is £1800 a year. It's going take a good few years before you get what you want. Life's too short.

This is true, if i save up by the time ive got it i may not get as much use out of the parts as its just taken me X amount of time to save for it. where as if i got a loan i would be using it whilst im still paying for it.. hmm interesting.

[Deako]

£150 a month is £1800 a year. It's going take a good few years before you get what you want. Life's too short.

 

I love the holier than thou finance brigade though. "if you cant afford it, dont buy it"

If you can borrow the money at next to nothing and pay it back within your means, then there is no problem with that. Its actually what makes the world tick, and if people dont borrow and banks dont lend, the country grinds to a halt. As we have found out.

[andrewparker]

Believe me Luke, I'm putting in a heroic effort to keep it going!

[Top Cat]

Ive never had a loan in my life with the exception to Student Loan and mortgage... if one cant afford it... dont buy it 

I subscribe to Oscar Wilde's theory:

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination"

Seriously though. We put £40k into home improvements last year, largely financed by a loan. We've done exactly the same in the past. The way I see it, I can benefit from it now, or I can scrimp and save for years then finally get it. Essentially you've got to be able to afford the loan, so what's the difference. If you're prepared to pay and the finance is cheap then why not?

Its all relative to income though Andrew, your borrowing that 40K to sort of invest in a long term commitment and you are actually living in the benefit of the investment. This guy is just burning this money away, borrowed or not. The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
I am happy to borrow for cars and houses, but i am like Rich for anything else. I only buy it once i have it in the bank.
+ to add to this, cheap borrowing has disappeared.
I have just got back from a visit to my mortgage advisor and it was a real eye opener this time. I ended up with a good rate. ( just ) 3.14 APR fixed for 5 years, but the criteria to get this was scary. There are hardly any lenders now, willing to do interest only for anything above 50% LTV i was lucky the mortgage i wanted was available to me. Even then though my earnings now fall below there borrowing threshold even though i have a great income and job security. My missus and her earnings has now had to be added to the deal. It is similar to what you mentioned in another thread about getting loans. The advertised rates look good but the criteria for getting them is to hard. My advisor said a good percentage of his customers recently have all got good credit ratings and can afford new deals but they are getting knocked back and just having to revert back to the banks standard variable rate normally 5 or 6 %.                                                                     

[Deako]

Believe me Luke, I'm putting in a heroic effort to keep it going!

Me too. I think i keep Tesco, Halifax & Barclays in business.  

Which reminds me, i have some stoozed cards coming to an end of their 0% in a few months time, so need to start looking for some more 0% transfer cards. We are only talking £6k in total across 4x cards, but its still fun paying no interest.

[tony_danza]

3 examples.

A MacBook:

12 months on 0% finance through Apple, get it now.
Save for 12 months, get it then.
12 months on 25% finance via a credit card, get it now.

2/3 options get it you now. 2/3 options cost you the same amount. 2/3 options make sound financial sense.

Guess which one of the options is the reason finance gets a bad name?

I don't disagree that spending money on mods is basically pissing it against a wall, but we've all done it. If I could get back every pound I've wasted on cars, I'd waste it on a car.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I've never borrowed to mod. I don't think I would either, but I'm not going to lambast people, they just need to do it right.

[Deako]

Its all relative to income though Andrew, your borrowing that 40K to sort of invest in a long term commitment and you are actually living in the benefit of the investment. This guy is just burning this money away, borrowed or not. The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
I am happy to borrow for cars and houses, but i am like Rich for anything else. I only buy it once i have it in the bank.
+ to add to this, cheap borrowing has disappeared.
I have just got back from a visit to my mortgage advisor and it was a real eye opener this time. I ended up with a good rate. ( just ) 3.14 APR fixed for 5 years, but the criteria to get this was scary. There are hardly any lenders now, willing to do interest only for anything above 50% LTV i was lucky the mortgage i wanted was available to me. Even then though my earnings now fall below there borrowing threshold even though i have a great income and job security. My missus and her earnings has now had to be added to the deal. It is similar to what you mentioned in another thread about getting loans. The advertised rates look good but the criteria for getting them is to hard. My advisor said a good percentage of his customers recently have all got good credit ratings and can afford new deals but they are getting knocked back and just having to revert back to the banks standard variable rate normally 5 or 6 %.                                                                     

Thats madness. At the end of my current 3 year fixed rate period, Barclays have already said i can move to their most competitive rate (currently 2.89%) with no charges, and its not a remortgage so LTV is irrelevant.

[samdem]

The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
                              
[/quote]

See this is the voice of reason in my head too!! ive got a payout and a rate increase in the summer, so ill be in a bit of money then maybe i should just wait!

[Top Cat]

Its all relative to income though Andrew, your borrowing that 40K to sort of invest in a long term commitment and you are actually living in the benefit of the investment. This guy is just burning this money away, borrowed or not. The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
I am happy to borrow for cars and houses, but i am like Rich for anything else. I only buy it once i have it in the bank.
+ to add to this, cheap borrowing has disappeared.
I have just got back from a visit to my mortgage advisor and it was a real eye opener this time. I ended up with a good rate. ( just ) 3.14 APR fixed for 5 years, but the criteria to get this was scary. There are hardly any lenders now, willing to do interest only for anything above 50% LTV i was lucky the mortgage i wanted was available to me. Even then though my earnings now fall below there borrowing threshold even though i have a great income and job security. My missus and her earnings has now had to be added to the deal. It is similar to what you mentioned in another thread about getting loans. The advertised rates look good but the criteria for getting them is to hard. My advisor said a good percentage of his customers recently have all got good credit ratings and can afford new deals but they are getting knocked back and just having to revert back to the banks standard variable rate normally 5 or 6 %.                                                                     

Thats madness. At the end of my current 3 year fixed rate period, Barclays have already said i can move to their most competitive rate (currently 2.89%) with no charges, and its not a remortgage so LTV is irrelevant.

I could have gotten that rate as well but only on 2 year fixed, by the time i have added all the fees again in 2 years it worked out marginally more for the 5 year deal. The problem is future availability of interest only deals the FSA have tightened what the banks can do and instead of looking at cases individually they are just stopping provision.

[Eddie-NL]

i always save the money up to pay for my mods

must be all your tips

[andrewparker]

Its all relative to income though Andrew, your borrowing that 40K to sort of invest in a long term commitment and you are actually living in the benefit of the investment. This guy is just burning this money away, borrowed or not. The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
I am happy to borrow for cars and houses, but i am like Rich for anything else. I only buy it once i have it in the bank.
+ to add to this, cheap borrowing has disappeared.
I have just got back from a visit to my mortgage advisor and it was a real eye opener this time. I ended up with a good rate. ( just ) 3.14 APR fixed for 5 years, but the criteria to get this was scary. There are hardly any lenders now, willing to do interest only for anything above 50% LTV i was lucky the mortgage i wanted was available to me. Even then though my earnings now fall below there borrowing threshold even though i have a great income and job security. My missus and her earnings has now had to be added to the deal. It is similar to what you mentioned in another thread about getting loans. The advertised rates look good but the criteria for getting them is to hard. My advisor said a good percentage of his customers recently have all got good credit ratings and can afford new deals but they are getting knocked back and just having to revert back to the banks standard variable rate normally 5 or 6 %.                                                                     

Thats madness. At the end of my current 3 year fixed rate period, Barclays have already said i can move to their most competitive rate (currently 2.89%) with no charges, and its not a remortgage so LTV is irrelevant.

Likewise, we're in the process of remortgaging and have defaulted to Hailfax's tracker rate, which is well below 4%. The barrier for most people nowadays is that they are seeing their equity disappear, so when they're looking to remortgage they're not able to achieve the best deals.

[andrewparker]

Its all relative to income though Andrew, your borrowing that 40K to sort of invest in a long term commitment and you are actually living in the benefit of the investment. This guy is just burning this money away, borrowed or not. The pleasure gained from the mods will have faded long before his final payment. 
I am happy to borrow for cars and houses, but i am like Rich for anything else. I only buy it once i have it in the bank.
+ to add to this, cheap borrowing has disappeared.
I have just got back from a visit to my mortgage advisor and it was a real eye opener this time. I ended up with a good rate. ( just ) 3.14 APR fixed for 5 years, but the criteria to get this was scary. There are hardly any lenders now, willing to do interest only for anything above 50% LTV i was lucky the mortgage i wanted was available to me. Even then though my earnings now fall below there borrowing threshold even though i have a great income and job security. My missus and her earnings has now had to be added to the deal. It is similar to what you mentioned in another thread about getting loans. The advertised rates look good but the criteria for getting them is to hard. My advisor said a good percentage of his customers recently have all got good credit ratings and can afford new deals but they are getting knocked back and just having to revert back to the banks standard variable rate normally 5 or 6 %.                                                                     

Thats madness. At the end of my current 3 year fixed rate period, Barclays have already said i can move to their most competitive rate (currently 2.89%) with no charges, and its not a remortgage so LTV is irrelevant.

I could have gotten that rate as well but only on 2 year fixed, by the time i have added all the fees again in 2 years it worked out marginally more for the 5 year deal. The problem is future availability of interest only deals the FSA have tightened what the banks can do and instead of looking at cases individually they are just stopping provision.

Out of interest, why are you going for an interest only mortgage?