Would you get a loan for an amazing holiday?

Yes, in the right circumstances. I booked a last minute trip over the Easter holidays before starting chemotherapy as I knew it would be the last chance to get away with the kids for a while. We had savings to dip in to (still felt indulgent) but had we not, I’d have put it on a credit card and worried about it later.

That would be the only reason to, IMO. And even then only if the debt wouldn’t make the impending medical issue harder to cope with.

I don’t understand this. If you can afford a loan payment, why wouldn’t you put that money into a savings account and call it “holiday fund”? This is what we do but I’d also never get a car on finance or have credit card debt. I hate the pressure that debt creates!

I did but in fairness my mam loaned me the money so no interest and small payments each month until it’s paid back.

It depends on your situation, the risk of course that something untoward happens in the future and you can't afford to pay back the loan. But how likely that is varies from person to person.

It's also obviously more expensive to pay interest on a loan than it is to earn interest by saving, although you could put a holiday on a 0% credit card and earn interest while you save the money to pay it back.

But if you can afford to repay a loan without impacting anything else, you should have savings, otherwise something would be impacted while you repaid the loan, there would be less money somewhere to pay for other things or save.

But you say your DH would never 'let' you do this. Do you have equal say over what happens to money in your marriage? Do you know what comes in, what gets spent and how much savings you both have? If you said that you wanted this big holiday in, say, 3 years time, would he be on board with arranging your budget to save up for it and is that an achievable aim within your finances? If so, then how about suggesting that to him?

This is a tough one because I would be worried that something would hinder my repayments - job loss etc, but on the other hand if you save up , with the daily costs of like in the uk - you’ll never take that holiday!

The most unsavvy financial decision ever.

you should count yourself lucky that your husband knows about finances. At least this way you ll have a safer old age. You should feel very sorry for yoyr friends she s doing that.

a friend of mine is doing this summer my top bucket list trip ever c. 50keuros for a family of 5 incl. flights and food. A safari but not in SA and she s paying cash using her bonus. Thats the one I m jealous of 🤣🤣

I wouldn’t, I’d feel too much pressure on the actual holiday if I knew we were sacrificing more than we could afford!

Yes I would if I was in a good position to pay it back.

Make the most of it by getting into unnecessary debt and making yourself less able to cope with events? Weird definition.

5 years ago I’d have said no way but then we lost my lovely dad very quickly to pancreatic cancer and just realised life really is so short. We took out a loan and have had 2 amazing bucket list holidays with our teenage DC’s. Absolutely no regrets.

Yes. Imagine waiting to save the money and then dying before you got to take the trip. Life is for living, creating memories. You've only got one. Make the most of it.

Yeah because that's how a healthy marriage works 🙄

Nope I wouldn't enjoy it if it's put me in debt I would rather wait a couple of years until I could actually afford it

It would depend - if the experience was time bound for some reason then perhaps.

We use a credit card to pay for our holiday every year. 0% interest. We aim to pay it off by the time the holiday actually comes around. I think a lot of people do this, don’t they?

No I would never do this. My friend was recently diagnosed with a serious illness and has now dropped to half pay. He had a good chunk of savings, but before his diagnosis he spent the majority of it on some long overdue home renovations, obviously not knowing what was around the corner.

But if I did… probably Argentina or the Galapagos.

If you can afford the repayments you can afford to save.

Getting into debt for a holiday is crazy. Imagine getting home, the holiday is long over, and youvare still going without in order to pay for it. No thanks!

I also think it creates too much pressure for the holiday to be "perfect" and it gets really stressful when stuff goes wrong or isn't what you hoped for.

Yes I would. I once put a trip to Iceland on a credit card and just went. We have lost a lot of people over the last few years and life really is too short. I would go to Canada and roadtrip through the rocky mountains. Or I would fly to Singapore and onto Borneo to see orangutans in their natural habitat. Kids need to be a lot older for those types of holidays though!

Firstly, South Africa is a bloody amazing country. I’m fortunate enough to have had two holidays there, and both were wonderful experiences. I could not recommend it more highly. BUT we didn’t get into debt to do it. We saved up for it.

Debt is sometimes unavoidable. If you need to buy a safe, reliable car to get to work, or if your heating boiler blows up on Boxing Day (yes, really!), or if your washing machine dies, or if you have to buy a ticket for the next flight to wherever in the world for a family emergency, and you haven’t got the ready cash, that’s what credit cards, loans, HP etc are for.

Getting into debt to buy an exotic holiday, however, is bonkers. Save up. You will value it even more and when you get back and the euphoria wears off you won’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay for it.

I don't even like booking holidays more then a few months on advance, never mind getting a loan. Life is too unpredictable these days.

Go with friends! Sod a boring DH.

Then how will save for the next one? I hate being in debt and apart from a mortgage almost never have been. I never buy on credit.

I do cheaper things whilst saving up for a big thing. Two years of saving to go to Greece, but have been on various little trips in between and we have been saving for 4 years to go to Vietnam (now in 2 years). I also have a pot for a year backpacking trip in 10 years time (£50 a month). I must have saved £1000s by not ever paying interest and gaining Interest on lots of it.