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As many of you know, I gots me a new job almost 2 months ago.
While it all happened very suddenly, from day one it felt right.
It’s pure sales, which I love.
Being 80% on the road, there’s a lot of freedom and autonomy.
On the flipside, I’m clocking up 100’s of kilometers per week.
We find ourselves inevitably back to a family decision we’ve being holding off for a couple of years now…
Behold Exhibit Lemon Car A.
Wouldn’t you agree?
As we just bought a new family car a little over a year ago, we just can’t afford to have it depreciate so quickly with the extensive client visits.
Also, it’s about safety.
The blue beast – while having being part a HUGE part of our family for so long – is on its last legs, er, I mean wheels. Not to mention door handles. Half of them are busted…
I’ve had anxiety levels go into overdrive when driving on busy Southern Cross Drive at 80 kms, the steering wheel suddenly started to shake vigorously.
Literally, I can’t trust that car as far as I can accelerate it (which obviously isn’t far).
The fact that the registration is soon to expire is helping to speed up the decision.
So now comes the fun part of rejigging our finances to make way for the new, unavoidably expensive purchase.
In the past, I’ve only had great experiences with credit unions. Thanks to a 10 year term deposit that I opened way back in my 20’s as a single gal, the funds from that particular account eventually became my nest egg for my future family and also helped buy our first home.
I love how credit unions are established for a community and know their customers on a more personal basis rather than as just another consumer.
Looking to buy a 4 cylinder 2.5 litre engine automatic sedan (second hand), I figure we would need to apply for a personal a loan of $20,000 for over 5 years.
Using the personal loan calculator on the People’s Choice Credit Union website, my best option would be a secured personal loan that offered a rate of 7.64% p.a. (Comparison rate of 7.99% p.a.)* and NO monthly account fees. Not bad.
Underneath the calculator was also a comparison to what I would be paying if I took out a loan with one of the “Big Four”.
I pleasantly discovered that People’s Choice Credit Union repayments were significantly lower compared to the others.
I love it when us consumers have choices in how we manage our finances, giving us options to break away from the usual big conglomerates.
In the likely chance of going full time when the twinions start going to school next year, the People’s Choice Credit Union website has another calculator that helps you sort out extra monthly or lump sum payment options.
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, shall we?
First things first.
Time to go car hunting.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, yeah.
The all-important fine print about the interest rates:
* The comparison rate is based on a loan of $30,000 with monthly repayments over a term of 5 years. PLEASE NOTE: This comparison rate is true only for the examples given and may not include all fees and charges. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts might result in a different comparison rate.
How’s your car running? Still got all your door handles?
After a long hiatus, I’m back joining Essentially Jess and the gang for #IBOT!
Oooh I can’t wait to see what you decide on! That’s a bit exciting!!!
Lucy @ Bake Play Smile recently posted..Perfect Hot Cross Buns
So funny, Lucy! The car we ended up buying popped up as one of the Carsales ads on your blog!
What are the chances??? 🙂 x
Oh man! We still have all our door handles but everything else is falling apart! One of our windows doesn’t go up or down, the scratches and dents are numerous and every fortnight something else needs fixing on it!
We might need to use that calculator ourselves…
Daisy recently posted..Offence is the best Defence. A theory on Thermomix ownership.
I managed Mr Bean Counter to buy quite a nice large car once I found out I was pregnant with No.3, we needed space for 3 car seats in the back. Thankfully we could whack on mortgage but I am a fan of credit unions. I hope you’re having a great week at work x
Emily @ Have A Laugh On Me recently posted..Warning: this post is about…
Car shopping – how exciting! Must have a drink holder, colour does matter and door handles too 😉
Malinda @mybrownpaperpackages recently posted..Books I’ve been Reading
Looking forward to your new wheels! And also the name once you name her {or him}. I bought my Penny in 2013 — my very first new car but I redrew from my mortgage to help pay for her.
Sanch @ Living my Imperfect Life recently posted..The ocean and me
With my eldest about to get he Ls we need to start looking at a second car and a loan. Will definitely be casing our nearest credit union.
So pleased that your work is going well.
Raych aka Mystery Case recently posted..Shaun the Sheep Movie Preview {Worth Casing Link Up}
I bought my first car new just over 5 years ago and I used a credit union as well. I had half the cash saved and knew I could pay off the rest within a few months (I had a really good job at the time, I can’t tell you how much I miss the income from that contract!) so I got a loan through a credit union to make up the difference.
When I went to buy the car, they told us to go wait in this office, so we did. It turned out to be their in house finance person, who tried to sell me their rates for a loan. I just gave him a weird look and said no. He kept bugging me and so I told him the interest rate I had been given and he didn’t believe me. So I got him to open his internet browser, go to the website and look at the rates. He went very quiet after that and didn’t ask me another questions haha.
I was happy with that credit union because there were no fees for paying it out early, which was my entire plan. I think I had the 5 year loan for about 4 months.
Vanessa recently posted..Life Is Grey
Oh you were definitely in need of a new car! I once had a car that would shake vigorously too. So scary!!! You need something safe when you’re driving a family around x
Renee at Mummy, Wife, Me recently posted..Kinetic sand giveaway
Interesting – we also drive crappy cars!!
Hey I wished I had read this blog post last week – we are looking at a personal loan for something that I want to do, yet cause David jobs is really new no banks would loan us the money! Didn’t think to try Credit Union for our loan 🙂
All the best with your new car purchase 🙂
Lisa Wood recently posted..Same Family Different Son Different Forces
Before we upgraded to our Kluger we had a Honda civic that we had nearly done 100000km on. It’s used to do a funny thing with the steering wheel when we went over 80km/hr. How exciting to get a new car even if second hand. Glad to hear the job is going well too. 🙂
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