Interest free credit on Ikea kitchen - take it or not?

[DueinSeptember]

Have decided to buy an Ikea kitchen, it's not expensive so can pay for it outright no problem without taking a massive hit on savings.

Was wondering whether to take out the 2 year interest free credit option though. It would make more sense financially as can earn around 3.2% interest on that part of our savings but then it's a lot more hassle to think about than just paying cash.

Not sure, what do you think?

May as well do it interest free.

As long as you set some kind of alarm to go off in 2 years time so that you pay any balance off before they start adding interest.... go for it. You might as well keep the money in your account.

Thanks both.

I did this for my sofa, just make sure they don't sign you up for PPI on the balance as you'll be paying a lump sum.
I used google calendar to send me an email a week before payment so I could transfer funds.

If you have got the money I would pay upfront. You aren't going to earn that much interest in 2 years and you never know what's around the corner, if you lose your job or need a new roof and have to access your savings you could end up having a bigger debt in 2 years.

We took it for our sofa, but back then you actually got intrest.

But if those things were going to happen, they'd happen regardless of the credit, and having paid off interest free credit deals is good for your credit rating.

I'd do it as there is no charge if you change your mind and want to pay it all off at some later stage.

Thanks everyone, I think we are going to go and order it on Saturday or Sunday. I've done some sums and it works out that we will get around £200 in interest over the two years.

Combined with the £100 back per £1000 you spend (I know not totally relevant), that is £500 off the price of the kitchen. I guess it all adds up.

I'll check the fine print before we set anything in stone.

It's mainly knowing when the 0% interest period expires, alerting yourself when the day comes, and having enough money on stand-by to transfer in promptly before they can slap interest charges on you. £500 is a nice new washing machine...

Thanks cogito, so am I right in thinking we could wait until the week before the interest free credit ends and pay it all off in one go at that point, or would we say have to set up a regular payment to pay it off gradually?

Check the details when/if you sign up but, when I've done it before at places like Comet with appliances, I've done exactly that and paid it all off in one go.

Thanks very much.

When we did the 24 months interest free credit with Ikea the payments were spread over 24 months so there was no potential to pay any interest anyway.