On the subject of finances, cars, etc, etc

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

That is a very costly mistake!!!

As long as you are not an idiot and have the means to pay the card off IN FULL every month, that money you are spending on it can be sat in a ~4% savings account every month. If you have 1500/month go through your credit card (and most of it going out early on), that is the potential for ~60/month interest (~700/year) you are loosing out on ... now that really is just as fecking stoopid as abusing a card and paying ~?700/year on interest isn't it!!!!!

Credit cards are great unless you are a retard and then they are very dangerous!!!

Hmm..I never thought of it that way before. Interesting. But still, Im not a fan of credit cards (even though they are great for emergencies and online shopping etc..)

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

If I wanted something like a new bike, for example, then I would save, rather than get a loan or go on finance. When I get a house with maria, I'll get a credit card but that'd only be for emergencies, like if e.g. the fridge-frezer broke and we needed a new one right away, but dont have the money until the end of the month or something.

An obvious caveat to the not getting a loan/finance on vehicles etc, is 0% finance deals. That's how I bought my SV. Naturally there is the consideration to make about "what happens if it's written off" but there's GAP insurance for that. Also, I wouldn't have a bike on finance and only insure it TFPT.

As for things breaking & emergencies, I'm quite pleased recently that when our freezer defrosted, the washing machine broke, and the TV gave up it's day job... we managed. Granted we had to stick a 14" CRT "portable" on the sofa for a while as the washing machine & food are more important, but it's sorted without the use of credit now.

Originally Posted by Baph

An obvious caveat to the not getting a loan/finance on vehicles etc, is 0% finance deals. That's how I bought my SV. Naturally there is the consideration to make about "what happens if it's written off" but there's GAP insurance for that. Also, I wouldn't have a bike on finance and only insure it TFPT.

As for things breaking & emergencies, I'm quite pleased recently that when our freezer defrosted, the washing machine broke, and the TV gave up it's day job... we managed. Granted we had to stick a 14" CRT "portable" on the sofa for a while as the washing machine & food are more important, but it's sorted without the use of credit now.

what about if i cant afford to make the payments? I may have paid off half the bike, then cant afford the rest...thats no good

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

what about if i cant afford to make the payments? I may have paid off half the bike, then cant afford the rest...thats no good

That's where a good budget comes in.

As an example, me buying the SV.

I was paying £20/day in fuel for the car to commute to work & back. So I sat down, and worked through the figures. Turned out with a little careful management, I could afford to buy the SV on 0% finance, pay for running costs (fuel & other consumables) and servicing/tax... and still spend less money.

I didn't have the money to buy the bike outright, so got the 0% finance deal, thus actually saving money.

Some pretty boring attitudes here, you don't live very long you know. Even in this 'credit crunch' you can get a brand new 4k bike on credit and total payback would be about 4.6k over 3 years. £600 penalty to 'have it now' is not so bad, how long would it take to save 4k? So damn long you'd forget what it was for! That £600 isn't really £600 anyway, as in 3 years inflation would reduce it's value, proportionally.

Credit is a service like any other, if you don't use your brain you better have some KY Jelly.

Originally Posted by Baph

That's where a good budget comes in.

but im still a student