Banks still giving away free money?

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

If £400 is free, I'll have some of your money for free...

borrowing £10k over 29 months and paying £400 for it is as free as money gets these days when you take inflation into account.

[yasockie]

Another option is to buy a car rather than pay the interest for finance....

Ideally a highly deprecating sports convertible that you crash while drunk and high and end up unable to do contracting or your minimum monthly payments
That's way more like 'general' to me

[d000hg]

Should a contractor be taking out a loan to buy a car?

Remortgaging to get a different bracket seems a good scenario for this. But other than that, it's not really free money just a cheap loan. You still have to pay it back and so the benefit is only that it's cheaper than other loans, IF you needed another loan in the first place. I try as much as possible to live without needing debt (other than a mortgage).

Seems like for us, in our 2-year fixed mortgage deal, it's not a big help. I wonder if it would make sense to pay off the wife's student loan this way though.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Should a contractor be taking out a loan to buy a car?

Remortgaging to get a different bracket seems a good scenario for this. But other than that, it's not really free money just a cheap loan. You still have to pay it back and so the benefit is only that it's cheaper than other loans, IF you needed another loan in the first place. I try as much as possible to live without needing debt (other than a mortgage).

Seems like for us, in our 2-year fixed mortgage deal, it's not a big help. I wonder if it would make sense to pay off the wife's student loan this way though.

Look at your LTV ratio - if you are on say 65% it might make a big difference to go down to 60%. etc.

Well every contractor has a different financial situation. For example I am the only breadwinner in the family and have been so for 4 years now.... Maybe in future when Mrs is back in work things will be a lot easier... Mini NWP2C 2 is due in a couple of weeks.

[d000hg]

Look at your LTV ratio - if you are on say 65% it might make a big difference to go down to 60%. etc.

Yeah, but not in a fixed deal with early-exit fees Something to bear in mind as we approach the end of that deal in a year - basically a tool to get the LTV into the next bracket earlier than we would normally.

I'll research student loan financials (the wife has an old-school one where you pay a fixed amount if you earn over a threshold, not a % of earnings IIRC).

[northernladuk]

Look at your LTV ratio - if you are on say 65% it might make a big difference to go down to 60%. etc.

Well every contractor has a different financial situation. For example I am the only breadwinner in the family and have been so for 4 years now.... Maybe in future when Mrs is back in work things will be a lot easier... Mini NWP2C 2 is due in a couple of weeks.

I don't think I would be using a credit card like this on something that has a tie in. You could get seriously screwed if you can't get the money out quick. Only takes one payment missed and your 0% becomes 20% and there is f all you can do about it.

Having an offset mortgage makes it very useful.

You selling the BMW then?

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I don't think I would be using a credit card like this on something that has a tie in. You could get seriously screwed if you can't get the money out quick. Only takes one payment missed and your 0% becomes 20% and there is f all you can do about it.

Having an offset mortgage makes it very useful.

You selling the BMW then?

Buying a new one.....

this is the one I have my eye on:

BMW 3 SERIES 330d M Sport 4dr Auto 3.0

[d000hg]

I don't think I would be using a credit card like this on something that has a tie in. You could get seriously screwed if you can't get the money out quick. Only takes one payment missed and your 0% becomes 20% and there is f all you can do about it.

Having an offset mortgage makes it very useful.

You selling the BMW then?

I was thinking that if you are routinely over-paying your mortgage, doing this effectively just gets you maybe 1-year ahead on your overpayments... then later that year you keep the £10k dividend you would have overpaid in savings to pay off the CC. You're simply moving everything forward 6-12 months which could, based on the timing of your mortgage fixed period, be of use.

I agree it all seems a bit fiddly though.

[bobspud]

Managed to get my nice shiny merc on interest free credit!

Yes sure it's a false economy to save 10k on interest on something that will lose 50k in the term of the loan but hey I figured that I'd have spent 50k on a 3 year old one then dumped that after 3 to buy the one I have now this way I just keep the same car for 6 years and spec'd it to the hilt rather than the crap you get normally.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Managed to get my nice shiny merc on interest free credit!

Yes sure it's a false economy to save 10k on interest on something that will lose 50k in the term of the loan but hey I figured that I'd have spent 50k on a 3 year old one then dumped that after 3 to buy the one I have now this way I just keep the same car for 6 years and spec'd it to the hilt rather than the crap you get normally.

Wtf would you spend 50k on a 3 year old merc!?!? It depreciates half the value in 3 years and I really doubt you will spend 25k maintaining it for 3 years unless you want to change all its parts every service!