To pay for holiday on a credit card if I can’t afford it ?

[Pinkpantslady]

Husband and I have not been on holiday since we we met four years ago .

We saved to get married , buy a house . We now have a little baby and my maternity leave finishes In June . I am a teacher . As a teacher I am only able to go on holiday during school holidays which costs a fortune.

If we go on holiday before I return to work ( In term time ) - I can’t belive that we can go on - a decent , all inclusive for about 650pp .

The issue is that we only have £500 in our holiday fund . But £650 x2 = 1,300 to go on a holiday. So do I pay the rest (£800) on the credit card ?

I don’t ever use my credit card and have always believed - if you can’t pay cash you can’t afford it .

But there is a part of me that feels life is too short . Life has been hard for all lately . We haven’t been away In 4 years - no honey moon . This is our chance to get away whilst prices are lower .
If we don’t go away before I return to work , the same holiday would cost us about £2,500 and we could never afford that.

We would pay off the £800 as £100 a month for 8 months .

What do you think?

AIBU to pay for the £800 on a cc?

Side note - I have looked into butlins , centreParks , Hoseasons and I can’t belive how expensive staycations are . Even a little break or a few days trips are so expensive. I’d
Rather just use that towards one amazing holiday!

I don’t see much difference in saving up beforehand versus spreading the cost over 8 months. Especially if you get the 0% card. It sounds like you have a stable income and the money to pay for the holiday over a reasonable timeframe.

Enjoy the holiday!

From a financial point of view, this makes no sense. Better to have savings earning (a tiny bit of) interest and borrow money at 0%.
Agree with you but if £500 are their total savings then I think it would be a bad idea to buy a holiday on credit.

I think the OP described the 500 as the holiday pot which implies that it’s probably not the only savings.

@MangosteenSoda then if I were the op I would use some of the other savings before getting into debt...UNLESS it is a 0% card.

@Pinkpantslady are you going to come back and give more information?

She said £500 was her specific holiday fund

@liveforsummer just because someone has a holiday find doesn't mean they have other funds...she may have other sinking funds and she may not...either is possible

I wouldn't do it. Good debt is for things like student loans, houses and sometimes cars, where you have an asset at the end of the loan. Bad debt is where you are sitting at home on a rainy December weekend realising you are a couple of hundred short for Christmas because of the holiday you went on.
I know it's cheesy but I always think about if future me will be grateful I did something.

I would. Then transfer it to a 0% interest card and pay it off as quickly as possible.

Hi,
£500 is the holiday pot . We have savings of about £4K but have vowed to not touch them as now we own a property we know we need a contingency fund.

I would use 0% I treated credit card .

Thank you so much for all the advice .

If I wasn’t a teacher , we would just save and then go but we realise this is our last chance to go on a reasonably’ priced holiday.

Insurance , airport parking and a little holiday cash would be covered by our monthly budget . So this wouldn’t go on credit.

I’m so tempted to go
. Will talk with DH tonight and make sure he is on board fully !

We ordered DS passport last week !

@Wigeon

I definitely wouldn’t. When we had less money than we do now, we just did a week in a self catering for £500 a week in the UK (for a family of 4).

You can still have a lovely holiday, which is one you can afford.

Now we have more money, but less than some of our friends, we still don’t do a fortnight in the Caribbean, because we can’t afford it.

DH is a teacher and has been since before we had school aged DC, so we’ve also had to pay school holiday prices even when we didn’t have school aged children…

I remember taking similar holidays. The thing is UK self-catering prices have shot through the roof and are now on a par with cheap foreign package deals like the one OP is considering.

Do it! But, I think you can get it for less than that.
I've been looking at holidays to Lanzarote and Tenerife in the Easter and May half term hols, and they are coming in at about 600-700 per person. I haven't looked at term time but I'm sure they are way less than that. That's AI to.
So yes put it on your CC, but also shop around for something that's really good value.

Do it! Have a lovely time.

If you have a clear plan on how you're going to pay it back then it's not such a problem.

Meh....I still wouldn't buy that's just me. I don't even have a credit card.

Definitely go, you can afford it you just need to spread the cost and as you say mat leave is a bit different as you don't have that sort of time again. Do it!

I'd use 20% of my savings (and replace it) rather than take out a 0% credit card especially. In the unlikely event that you need that £800 to cover an emergency before you've replaced it, you then use a credit card.

You already have a credit card to pay part of the cost of the holiday with to get that protection, so no need to take out another.

@Pinkpantslady we've stayed here a few times. It's lovely and right on a beautiful little beach. DS was 14 weeks old the first time we went!
I put a random date in early May and it came up with this date at the end of April for less than £500 each

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?productCode=002766&tab=overview&noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=0&childrenAge=&duration=7&flexibleDays=7&airports%5B%5D=LTN&flexibility=true&noOfSeniors=0&when=26-04-2022&pkg=1125024827/3/480/7&trao=Ea4f3ea636323bbb903a4385ef9b60d33&traa_i=Ebed731b0ba747fcea72e59ae4a08e963&units%5B%5D=000329:DESTINATION&packageId=002766ESLZ003416509312000001650931200000EZY202516515360000001651622400000EZY20261BA101125024827/3/480/7&index=4&multiSelect=true&brandType=T&bb=AI&room=&isVilla=false&searchType=search&durationCode=7115&rmpc=1%7C2%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C&rmtp=1BA10&rmbb=AI&fc=n&greatDealDiscount=0&bb=AI&price=pp#page

@LubaLuca

I'd use 20% of my savings (and replace it) rather than take out a 0% credit card especially. In the unlikely event that you need that £800 to cover an emergency before you've replaced it, you then use a credit card.

You already have a credit card to pay part of the cost of the holiday with to get that protection, so no need to take out another.

If you take money from your savings it has a nasty habit of not getting replaced because there’s no compulsion to do so. A 0% credit card is a wondrous thing, my MBNA card has saved me literally thousands in the 15 years I’ve had it.

Maybe. I'm just offering a different solution that would be more palatable for some people.

Yes get it all on a credit card and use your fund for spending money

Do some KIT days between now and then end use that money to pay some off

Have a lovely holiday

If you take money from your savings it has a nasty habit of not getting replaced because there’s no compulsion to do so. A 0% credit card is a wondrous thing, my MBNA card has saved me literally thousands in the 15 years I’ve had it.

I agree with this, I will always tend to find something more important when it comes to putting money back to savings but any credit is paid with priority and religiously even if it means cutting back in other areas, which I'd be prepared to do for a one off family holiday opportunity. It's much harder to make sacrifices when you don't need to

It's only £800. Do to BUT, as others have said,......only do it with a 0% interest card. Shop around for one if you don't have one.

@OfstedOffred

If you have budgeted for the repayments and can comfortably afford them it's not a big deal.

I agree completely, @OfstedOffred.

Get it booked, you'll regret it if you don't given your circumstances! Enjoy ☀️👙🍹