Could / should I get a credit card?

[Comeagainow]

Hi, I just bought my first house (on Monday!) I would like to take out a 0% credit card so I can get all my furniture now and pay over the coming year. I’ve waited until everything has completed on purpose so as not to interfere with mortgage checks etc.
Now it’s all gone through with the house, am I good to go re credit card? Am I likely to get turned down as have just taken out mortgage mere days ago? Should I wait a while or can I go for it do you think?

(I did post on the money forum but it’s a bit quiet over there)

Im amazed you got a mortgage without a good credit record. I thought a credit card was necessary - maybe it isn't any more?

I'd definitely not load up a credit card when I'd just bought a new house and would buy cheap essentials I could afford until the the financial situation (yours and the countrys is more settled. (Not to mention galloping energy costs).

Where did the OO say she didn’t have a hood credit recurs? I haven’t got a credit card and got a mortgage no problem.

of you know you can afford to repay 2 interest kicks in I’d get it.

Sorry- I do have one credit card already, and my credit score is excellent, but I want a new one so I can have the introductory interest free period.
With prices shooting up I would like to buy everything I need asap, I wouldn’t overstretch beyond what I could pay back within the interest free period though (Virgin money have an offer for 19 months 0%).

You could.

You shouldn't.

What are these things you 'need'?

I suspect what you mean is you want an insta style house asap.

Take your time, get the few bits free/second hand that you really need & don't build up debt right before the biggest prices rises you've seen in your lifetime happen in the next few months.

You'll probably want to bin it all & redecorate in a few years time when you've settled in to the house & know what you really want & how you actually use the space.

If you still want to be a homeowner in a year or twos time, don't begin by racking up unnecessary debt.
It doesn't matter if it is interest free, if you have to buy it on a credit card it's out of your price range right now.

You haven't even lived there long enough to have a genuine idea what the bills are going to be for you, or which repairs/changes you'll think are a priority.

Maybe the boiler will pack up in 2 months time (they love to do that in the winter, it's your bill now), or your car will break down etc..

Will you get even more credit to cover those unexpected things that happen all the time?

There is a credit card eligibility checker on the moneysaving expert website, it gives you the % chance that each credit card company has of accepting you.

Thanks for the advice. The things I ‘need’ include:

living room sofa, armchair, garden shed, bedroom furniture, rug, curtains.

I can afford second hand / super cheap ones now with savings, but I generally think it is wasteful and more expensive overall to buy twice. I don’t want an ‘insta’ home (I’m not even on social media) honestly, I’m trying to be prudent. With price rises perhaps the £1,000 shes I want will be £1500 by next summer, so I thought the interest free borrowing option would be sensible, so long as I don’t borrow more than I can repay within the period?

I do hear you though. Maybe I’ll wait a couple of months to see what my energy bills are.

Seems like there’s no credit-related reason why I shouldn’t though?

They are want not need
married 35 years
we had deckchairs in living room until we could afford a sofa
1 Month bought a mattress but didn’t get the bed frame for another 6 months etc slept on mattress on the floor. Had a clothes rail for ages -didn’t buy cheap-bought well and still have some of the bedroom furniture now. Avoid flat pack (avoid ikea)
Nobody needs a rug

maybe work out how much you have spare each month and work out what you can afford to buy each month or every other month.

if you spend £5700 on a card you need to be repaying £300 each month from month 1 to have no debt by end of 19 months (more likely to be 18 by the time you get card and purchase)

a decent shed with a base laid will cost more than £500. Not something to skimp on.

No reason why you “can’t” get one, I.e. the bank will let you have one.
Personally, “I” wouldn’t, never had one, but that’s because I’m shit with money and would end up in debt. Just be very careful, especially as it seems that you are a first time home owner, and it’s very easy to underestimate how much currently escalating service bills/ ongoing repair expenses will cost.
Again, anecdotal, my own first home was completely furnished through hand me downs and charity shops. Those stood me in good stead for several years, until I could afford to buy the furniture I really wanted, at which point I gifted the old furniture forward.
But, if you want new furniture, and are confident that you can afford to make the repayments (it seems that you have experience of the way credit cards work) then there’s no reason why you can’t do it.

In this climate, hell to tha no! The way inflation and energy prices are rising, those now easy to pay repayments might not be so easy when winter comes.

i understand the pull of nesting but you really need to be prudent and an interest free credit card for non essentials in this climate, is not prudent. Your future self will thank you.

Definitely spend a few months living with your house to find out what your outgoings are. Things also have a habit of going wrong in the first year so try to have a savings buffer.

Nothing wrong with using a 0% credit card, just be 1000% sure you can pay it off.

I tend to buy a mixture of new and second hand stuff for my house. Facebook marketplace and charity furniture shops can be brilliant. But don't feel bad about wanting new sofas for example.

(And yes, no one needs a rug but it's not an extravagance!)

Nah, OP, you're meant to sit on packing crates with sheets for curtains for 6 months. Didn't you know? It's character-building. 😄

If I were you I'd do it for things like the bedroom furniture and curtains but a new sofa and armchair would be an enormous chunk of your budget, so FB marketplace those. The caveat being that if it would take you a year to pay off because you only have a spare £100 disposable each month then you'll need it for winter bills.

I'd buy second hand. The British Heart Foundation usually have really good furniture at reasonable prices and then gradually replace with items you love.

It's a sensible idea if you're sensible about it. Nothing wrong with spreading the cost at 0% if you're good at budgeting and manage your money properly.

Caveats would be rising energy bills, unforeseen emergency expenses like repairs and whether the monthly repayments on the CC would leave you very tight in the worst case scenario.

Personally I would do a lot of maths, work out how much second hand is roughly now vs buying new and not buying again and see how it all fits, maybe splitting some second hand and some on CC.

I thought half the fun when you first buy is sitting on camping chairs & sleeping on an airbed while you save for sofas and beds etc?!

See if you can get anything for free/cheaply second hand on local sites to bridge the gap.

Given the current economic environment I wouldnt take on more debt unless it's for absolute essentials, maybe just buy the bare minimum and manage for a while until you've saved the rest.

I would definitely recommend buying new furniture on a credit card. Yes we're in uncertain times but that also means that stores are in danger of going bust. If you order a new sofa you will be asked to pay a deposit. If the company then goes bust you can get your deposit refunded through Section 75 of the Credit Card Act. Or if there's an issue further down the line with the quality of the sofa and the store is unwilling to refund or replace, you can ask the credit card company to step in.

We pay for most high-value items using a credit card because of this additional protection.

Yanbu. I'd get the credit card OP. Just be a bit cautious and put money aside.

When I read your thread title i clicked to say "absolutely never is that a good idea"... however, reading your post i can say that I have done exactly this. I don't have a credit card, refuse to use them, and the only cards I've ever had were the two occasions i wanted the effect of a temporary interest free loan. It was perfect for those reasons. I renege the application was tricky though, but times they tried to give me the interest earning card multiple times and i just kept repeating what i wanted.

Are you wanting to transfer your balance on your old card?

I don't think your idea is terrible. However, I second what someone else said about changing your mind once you've actually lived in the house. I'd have a look on eBay, schpock and Facebook market place. People get rid of decent stuff all the time. Then when you know what you want, get stuff with the credit card.

Never ask Mumsnet about credit cards, there's too many people who are really weird about them.

As long as you have a secure income with plenty spare and are going to be sensible, as in not using it as an excuse to spend more than you otherwise would have done, it's not a bad idea at all and you have nothing to lose by applying for one.

Just make sure the electoral roll has updated before you apply, if you don't have a relationship with the bank you go for.

We still have the second hand dining furniture and coffee tables we bought 20 years ago, good solid stuff. Would never have been able to afford to buy that quality new.

They are a really good idea as offer protection for large purchases

Put everything into a spreadsheet and see what's what in black and white. I would get a few bits now on it, like curtains and rugs etc and save the sofa until we know what our bills will be in October, unless you've already fixed. If you have, crack on and get it paid back before your fix comes to an end!! I could probably pay back £500 per month, so that amount wouldn't faze me too much atm. No financial reason re mortgage why you wouldn't get one though.

I'vedo e this when I already had the money saved up and let it earn a bit of interest whilecI paid off the card. As a PP said there are advantages in paying with a credit card. But in your position I would go 2nd hand as much as possible. You can get 2nd hand furniture really cheap providing you can transport it. We got a barely used £3k 3 piece suite for £125 once, being sold because 2 people were moving in together and didn't need it anymore. We just gave away a year old washing machine from late FILs house because it was toomuch hassle to sell it (live too far away) and his neighbours machine needed replacing.

It depends on if you are good with money, and if you can afford to pay it off. If you are and can, go ahead. If the answer is no to either of those, then no.

By afford to pay it off, I think of that as can I pay off more than the minimum amount required substantially. Like my minimum amount is something like £50, I'm paying it off by £500 at a time. If I could only afford £50, I'd be more concerned.