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Breakdown Cover: Is it Really Worth it?

There are certain factors that you will need to keep in mind when it comes to deciding whether or not to pay for breakdown cover. Many people decide not to spend the extra money on this cover, but it is often a huge mistake. You should at least spend some time looking into your options and considering your needs before making up your mind. Whether you are just an individual or a business, breakdown cover can be very helpful for lots of reasons.

What is Included?

The very first thing you need to know about breakdown cover before deciding if it’s worth the price is knowing what you get. Those who have this cover can get jumpstart, tyre changing and tow services. If your car breaks down while you are driving, help will always be a phone call away. Not all breakdown cover policies are the same, so you need to explore your options.

There are more advanced forms of car breakdown cover you can get, such as onward journey, which provides you with alternative transport to wherever you are going if your car needs to be fixed. You may also be able to get a stay at a nearby hotel overnight and/or car hire for 24 hours.

Make sure that you know exactly what you are getting with a certain provider before you sign anything. Some of these providers off more options than others, so you will have to keep that in mind.

Consider Your Budget

The first thing that you want to do is take a hard look at your budget to see what exactly you can afford. Breakdown cover usually only costs about £40 per year, which really isn’t that bad. The price depends on the level of cover you decide to get, so you will need to keep that in mind. You should never make a final decision until you have taken the time to run the numbers. Paying the extra money can be very beneficial, but not if you can’t really afford it.

Your Driving Habits

A big part of determining whether or not breakdown cover is worth the extra expense depends on your driving habits. If you do a lot of driving, especially far from home, you should definitely considering opting for this cover. The last thing you want is to find yourself stranded on the side of the road far from home without any help. With this cover you will be able to get to your destination as quickly and efficiently as possible. Those who drive a long way each day to work definitely need to look into this cover option.

If you take a lot of trips out of the country, you should look into getting European breakdown cover. This will provide you with access to roadside mechanics wherever you go on the continent. Whether you are on holiday or a business trip, you’ll know that you can take advantage of these services anywhere.

Your Family

Those who have a family should strongly consider taking advantage of breakdown cover. If you want to know that all of your family members will be taken care of if they break down on the road, you need to start exploring these options immediately. You can get breakdown cover for each family member. Most providers are willing to give you a discount on this cover if you get cover for multiple people at once, so keep that in mind. You can choose to get cover for specific vehicles or every person in your family. If multiple people share your care, you should just get the vehicle itself covered.

Getting the Best Deal

If you have decided to get breakdown cover, you need to know how to find the very best deal. The internet can be a very helpful resource when you are doing this research. Take the time to speak with different providers and compare rates before deciding where you want to get this cover from. Choose a reputable company that will be able to give you adequate cover at a reasonable price. There are a lot of these providers, but not all of them have your best interests in mind.

Final Thoughts

Breakdown cover is a great thing to have in many situations. The more often and farther you drive in your vehicle, the better your chances will be of needing this sort of cover. The fact is that if you end up on the side of the road, you want to know that you can simply call for help and get it within just minutes. These services can make breaking down far less stressful of an event. You won’t need to worry about finding a garage in the area to take your car to, or who is going to come help you.

Do Payday Loans Ruin your Credit Record?

We hear many things about payday loans these days and one of these is that they can be bad for our credit record. It is worth understanding a bit more about the loans and credit records before you worry about this.

Credit Records

A credit record is a record of all of the credit that you have. This might make you feel that it is just a record of your borrowing, but it is a bit more than that. It also has information about utility bill payments, rental agreements, mobile phone contracts and anything else where we are expected to make regular payments. It is something which is used by a selection of people to judge you before allowing you to sign up to them. This most likely to be lenders, but actually is also done by potential landlords and others who you enter into a long-term contract with.

One of the most frustrating things about credit records is that there is no standard score which will allow people to see whether they should trust you or not. It is not calculated in this way. It is merely a list of information about you which can be observed and used to judge you. Different people will have different ways of judging you. For example, if you have never borrowed money then they will have no way to know whether you are likely to make the repayments. It could therefore be tempting to think that borrowing could improve your credit score. Some lenders do not like to see you having borrowed money as it could show that you are more of a risk. Others like to see you behind in repayments as it means they could potentially make more money from you as you may miss repayments with them so they will be able to charge you more money as a result. Therefore whether taking any loan or a specific type of loan out will have an effect on your credit record is hard to say. However, having lots of outstanding debt or leaving too many things unpaid will not be attractive to anyone.

Payday Loans

A payday loan is not really any different from other types of loan with regards to credit score apart from one thing. A payday loan is given to anyone, whether or not they have a poor credit score. They do not carry out a credit check and therefore do not reject people based on their credit record This means that many people will take out a payday loan because they cannot get a loan elsewhere.

If we take out any loan and have trouble repaying it, this will show up on our credit record. This might be something some lenders like as they may feel they can profit more from you if you are late repaying, however it will increase their risk. Some may just not be interested at all and others may lend to you but at a higher than advertised rate. If you have a loan outstanding for a very long time then this is unlikely to be appealing to anyone. Although in the short term, a lender can profit form you not making repayments in time, they do not want to risk you never being able to repay and so may be much more likely to avoid you if you have outstanding debt for a long period.

So if you do take out a payday loan it could send out the message that you have not been able to get credit elsewhere or that you do not want a lender looking at your credit record and so could reflect badly on you. However, as we have no idea what people checking a credit record are looking for it could be the opposite. They may see that you have a payday loan and as longa s it has been paid back in full on time they could see that as positive thing showing that you can be trusted to make your repayments. If you do not repay on time some could see this as an opportunity to lend to someone that they could make money off. However, this will depend on the purpose someone is checking your credit record.

So in conclusion, it is very hard to know exactly what impact having a payday loan might make on your credit record This is because we are never sure what anyone is looking for when they are checking your credit record. It is best to therefore not worry too much about that but think about why you are taking out the loan, whether it is the best option for you, whether you can pay it back and whether it is the cheapest option, rather than getting concerned with your credit score and the impact that might have.

Is Borrowing Just a Small Amount Okay?

Borrowing money is something that many people will do in their lifetime for all sorts of reasons. Due to this stating whether it is a good idea or not will very much depend on the purpose, your situation and how you go about the borrowing. It might seem like just borrowing a small amount of money is okay, but this can very much depend on the circumstances.

When is Borrowing okay?

Borrowing money for any purpose is not something that should be taken lightly. There are all sorts of reasons why we might decide to borrow money and we need to think hard about this to start with. Then we need to consider which type of loan will be the right one for us, if we can afford the repayments and compare lenders to find the one that offers the best value for money.

Why we are borrowing – it is really important to think about whether we really need to borrow the money. There are many reasons why we could potentially need the money and it is well worth thinking about whether we are borrowing for a good reason. Consider the costs of borrowing, not just the financial cost in the interest and charges but also any stress that might come along with it. Then think about whether you can justify this expense when it comes to buying the item that you are spending the money on. Of course, you may feel that what you need to buy is an emergency purchase or extremely important and therefore there is no question as to whether you need it. However, it is not always this straight forward and so it is worth weighing up the pros and cons in order to help you to decide whether you really need the item or not.

Type of loan – it is really important to make sure that you get the right sort of loan. You need to consider how much money you are borrowing and then what types of loans will be able to offer you that sum. Try not to borrow more than you need if you can help it as you will end up paying more interest on it. Remember the more that you borrow; the more interest you will have to pay. Also look at how the loans work and think about which might suit you. Some might have a series of repayments, one repayment or no formal repayment schedule, for example. Think about which might work the best for you as well as comparing the cost of the different options.

Repayments – it is really important to make sure that you are aware of how much the repayments will be so that you can be sure that taking the loan out is a good idea. If you cannot afford the repayments then you should not take out the loan.

Compare lenders – it is really important that once you have decided on the type of loan that you want that you compare different lenders so that you can see what they are offering. You should be able to compare their prices to see which will be the cheapest but also what sort of service they provide so that you can see whether you feel that they would be good value for money.

The Amount you Borrow

It might feel like it is okay if you borrow a small amount of money compared to a larger amount. It is likely that you will be able to pay it back more quickly and therefore you might feel that this will be better. However, by looking above you can see that this is not all there is to it when you are deciding. It is really important to understand that the amount you borrow is not necessarily the most important factor when you are deciding whether a loan is a good idea. Juts because it is a little amount does not necessarily mean that you will easily be able to pay it back, that it will be cheap or more worthwhile. Many people borrow huge sums of money to buy houses but would never dream of borrowing a small amount on a payday loan. This is because they feel that the purpose they are borrowing for is more useful, that the interest rates are more favourable and the gain outweighs the cost. So whatever you are considering borrowing some money make sure that you give it some serious thought. It is good to think through the reasoning behind why you are getting the loan rather than how much it is for, make sure that you can afford the repayments and consider which type of loan will be the best for you. Then you will be able to make a well informed decision as to whether the loan is the right thing for you or whether you would be better off not having one at all.

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  • Breakdown Cover: Is it Really Worth it?
  • Do Payday Loans Ruin your Credit Record?
  • Is Borrowing Just a Small Amount Okay?

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