Kitchen Finance Deals Explained
If you can’t afford to pay for a new kitchen in full upfront, then you’re certainly not alone! Thankfully, most kitchen retailers offer a number of flexible finance deals to help you spread out the cost. While many people don’t hesitate to shop around when it comes to finding the best price for their kitchen, we recommend you also take good look at the finance plans available as these can make all the difference to your final decision.
The types of finance deals can generally be broken down into three: interest-free credit, “buy now, pay later,” or a standard interest-bearing loan with fixed rate interest. Read on to find out what each plan offers to help you decide which is best for you…
Interest-free
This loan is exactly what it says: you pay no interest and the cost is divided by the number of payments or time frame agreed e.g. 6, 12 or 24 months – similar to a mobile phone contract. This is a fairly popular option as you can budget for a set amount each month to make the payments more manageable.
Buy now, pay later
Also known as a deferred interest agreement, this tends to be the plan that causes the most confusion.
With this type of plan, you tend not to start making payments for a set period, for example 12 months. (Look for phrases such as “take a 12-month payment holiday” or “buy now, pay 2018.”) More often than not, there will be a minimum spend required to qualify – usually starting at £1,000 but it can rise to £3,000. Once the initial period is up, you can pay the loan off without any interest charges (a small settlement fee of around £30 is usually needed.)
The most common problem here is when consumers forget to make the final payment on time. Once you miss the deadline, interest will be charged back to the first day of the loan – unsurprisingly, this can end up very expensive. Frustratingly however, retailers aren’t legally obliged to let you know when your interest-free period is almost up so this is an easy mistake to make. If you’re going down the buy now, pay later route, make sure you are clear from the start what the plan includes and the date for final repayment.
Interest-bearing loan
Another option to look at is a fixed-rate interest loan. Here, a standard loan is offered over a set period such as 3 to 5 years with your interest fixed for the duration.
We check the finance deals on offer from the top UK retailers on a daily basis, including B&Q, Homebase and Wickes, so you don’t have to. You can find the most up-to-date details of each retailer’s finance plans on our website including interest rates, required deposits and repayment terms so you can secure the best deal to suit your needs.
29th Aug 2017The Compare Network
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