asides from a credit card with 0%…?

Nick

why not CC? 24 months 0% on purchases if you shop around, you won’t get anything like that anywhere else.

get card, buy bike, chop up card, make 24 payments, job done.

Paypal credit?
Clicky

Warton I looked at cc but couldn’t find any that offered more than 16months on purchases..
Kayak…will go look at that cheers

Post Office credit card. 27 months on purchases.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards#postoffice

Santander 23 months 123 customers

antares Ive just seen that one…seems to fit the bill perfectly..
cheers

halifax 24 months

I did thus last year, but my cc stipulated that any purchase needed to be in sterling to qualify for 0%, worth checking first

beaten by antares. Check out moneysavingexpert.com

My Barclaycard has an option where you can pick a recent purchase and set up a 0% payment plan for it. Setup fees apply though so not quite 0%

Have managed to resist it myself….so far

Just convinced myself I don’t need a new bike. But that PO CC looks good…

i bought a bike on one card, then transfered it free over to another for 0% finance.

Buy in Japan? as they now have negative interest rate they should pay you to borrow 😉

Dammit I didnt need this thread.

I’m as tempted by a new bike as the next person, but – with respect to the OP – I’ve got a mental block around using debt to fund my toys.

I’m always upgrading my bikes as I go along; generally with builds that have cost around £1,500 (much better VFM than factory bikes) – but spread over many years.

Have to agree…

…although I did once do some travelling on a student overdraft. I think that was justified as I had reasonable expectation of becoming money-richer and time-poorer when I came back and got a job, and indeed it did work out that way. So never say never, but in my case I couldn’t justify borrowing money from my future self to pay for a bike when I have a perfectly good one already. 🙂

Never done it, but could you use a credit card and transfer the balance as cash / withdraw as cash and pay for bike that way, if using a credit card for foreign currency is an issue?

Nothing wrong with using finance to buy anything as long as you can afford it. When borrowing is at 0% it makes it more straightforward, too.

Life is too short to spend all your life saving!

I presume it’s the norm, but my CC charges a fee for cash advances (it’s not a ‘withdrawl’ on a CC as there’s no account to withdraw from), and then applies interest to it regardless of any other discounted rates and puts it at the top of the repayment order.

I’ve got nothing against finance but I’ve never used it for a bike. I don’t like the idea of spending two years paying for something that will be a complete wreck in two years and worth a tiny fraction of the purchase price. Plus I don’t think many bikes are that good off the shelf so there would be extra purchases to make it right.

What if you spend 4 grand and by the time it’s paid for all the manufacturers are pushing 26 inch wheels as the next big thing and 135mm axles are back? Alright if you plan on keeping it forever I suppose.

Saying that… I’d love a new Capra and this thread has opened my eyes to some options. Hmmmm

I did it recently with a Virgin Money to buy a motorbike. Used my normal CC and then transferred the debt to a new Virgin card 24 months, I think. There was a fee of £50 on a £4500 debt. I’ve set up a DD to make sure I don’t forget a payment.

Other than 0% credit, credit cards also afford you better consumer protection than say a loan or cash purchase. This is straight from money saving expert:

Buy something costing £100+ on a credit (NOT debit) card, and under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your lender is jointly liable with the retailer.

If the company goes kaput and you can’t contact it about problems or any other issue, you have exactly the same consumer rights with the card company as you do with the retailer to get money back or compensation.

I recently got the Post Office deal- Just purchased my new Rallon X10 with it!! Best deal around, as long as you remember to set up DD payments.

Just selling a few bits too in order to pay it off slightly quicker.

As others say, you also have far greater protection when purchasing on a CC.

0% CC is definitely the best way to go, could even open up the option of 2nd hand. It’s also worth mentioning of the bikes you mentioned, there is very little if any reason to upgrade unlike pretty much every other off the shelf bike. I’ve had my Capra a year now and am starting to get annoyed that there is no where to really upgrade when I’m inter web browsing!

Check out moneysavingexpert for balance transfer cards, I just got an MBNA that does 0% for 36 months and will transfer cash into a current account as part of the balance transfer deal so you could do whatever you want then

one card, then transfered it free over to another for 0% finance.

So which card is doing balance transfers for free?

So which card is doing balance transfers for free?

I’ve just got an AA card, free balance transfer and 0% for 22 months

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards#nofees

been away so thanks for all the replies, like a fe wof you I’ve never considered finance for bikes (or anything other than cars/mortgage) we have the savings to buy a bike but at 0% I’d rather keep that money in the bank and pay off using dd every month….

crispy thanks for that info regarding foreign currencies will deffo check that and sort out cash withdrawal or fund transfer or similar that is free…..

now canyon or YT..? and what size !!

If you go for a YT I think the best way to pay is to use something like Transferwise. This will get you the best exchange rate. I was gonna do this with a credit card with 0% on purchases….but the max you can send that way is £2000 so you would have to send the payment to YT in 2 seperate transactions if your spending over 2k. Also some credit cards will see this as a cash advance rather than a purchase so the 0% won’t apply.

halifax clarity has the best exchange rate and depending on your credit rating you can buy up to your credit limit
just bought a strive on mine

thanks Mike will look into that

I just got an Orbea Rallon x10 on credit from Bike Active 10% off and free burgtec pedals over 36 months, worth a look if down credit route,

Post office credit card doesn’t make a charge for foreign currency purchases.

I’ve had one for a few years now & from experience I’ve found the exchange rate you get is consistently pretty good.

As mikekay mentions Halifax Clarity is also a good choice.

If you go for a YT it would be worth getting one of these cards.

Just opened this so late to the party but deffo find a 0% purchase card if you are sure you can make the repayments and confident you won’t miss one (if you do then they’ll have you back on their standard rate as fast as you can say ‘oh bollo….’).

Don’t use it to buy something you know you can’t really afford.

I’ve got nothing against finance but I’ve never used it for a bike. I don’t like the idea of spending two years paying for something that will be a complete wreck in two years and worth a tiny fraction of the purchase price.

Sorry, i just don’t get this? You’d prefer to hand over the cash immediately to own something that’ll be a complete wreck in 2 years and worth a fraction of the purchase price instead?

It’s not an investment, it’s a toy!! If anything, by keeping the money in hand and spreading the payments you’ve then got chance to ‘invest’ the 2K or whatever it is elsewhere. Whatever ‘invest’ means – for me it’s offsetting the mortgage slightly and knowing it’s in the bank in case I genuinely need that cash short term (like – to bail the wife out with her replacement crown)

You know you can always get another credit card in 24 months. And then transfer the balance again, you’ll only pay like 2% for the transfer.

Always preferable to save the money, and then pay it all up front. If you think you can afford credit card repayments, then why can’t you save it to buy outright?

I can and in essence I have. It’s in the bank. It’s just by being in the bank it’s netted off against my mortgage hence I’m essentially gaining interest on that money (it’s saving me mortgage interest)

When the CC is at 0% – and I’m confident I can pay the sum off in the time allotted – I’d be daft to use savings and end up paying the mortgage interest instead. How is that ‘preferable’ when it costs me money and removes solvency?

And if the worst happens and I can’t repay it – then I’ve got the savings to bail me out, which will be slightly higher anyway because I won’t have been paying interest on it 😉

Good point. I just prefer to not have liabilities. The interest rate is so poor these days that it’s not worth saving, unless you’re invested in stocks and shares, or p2p lending.

Anyway…. Off topic…. 0% card, and then if you need longer to pay off, get another card, and cancel the other one once it’s transferred.

Keep up with the minimum repaents, and it’ll help your credit score.

I agree about liabilities and i guess in straight financial terms it is – it’s money you owe to someone.

But I don’t count it as a liability when the money’s sat in the bank as a safety net beneath it. If the money wasn’t there, yet you still borrow so you can buy stuff in the hope you can afford to pay it back – that’s a liability and we all know how well that turned out!

The interest rate is so poor these days that it’s not worth saving, unless you’re invested in stocks and shares, or p2p lending.

or offsetting your mortgage, which will almost certainly be at a higher rate than the savings rate for a similarly sized sum. Unless you’ve locked into a low fixed rate and then interest and hence savings rates have risen substantially. There was a time when that was a gamble, but currently it isn’t, and I don’t think will be any time soon.

I’ve checked the post office card and they DO charge for overseas purchases not made in sterling….

so do canyon charge in euro or sterling? their prices are advertised in whatever currency you put them in so I’m at a loss to whether I’ll get the 0% or not….