Everyone needs a holiday every now and then. Whether you’re planning a romantic getaway with a beloved partner or a family adventure holiday with the kids, the costs can quickly add up.

If your dream holiday is still out of reach a holiday loan could be the solution for you.

These helpful lines of credit allow you to pay for your holiday upfront, then pay the money back in manageable monthly instalments over a set period of time. That means you can take a much-needed break, visit your family overseas, or attend a destination wedding without needing to dip into your emergency savings.

Just how expensive are holidays?

There’s no way to pin an exact number on the cost of a holiday. There are far too many factors to consider particularly where in the world you choose to go, how many people are coming with you, and the type of accommodation you’re looking for.

Of course, a fortnight in Alaska is going to cost more than a weekend in Paris. Even in the same location, you could pay a great deal more depending on where you choose to stay. A small bed-and-breakfast on the outskirts of town compared with a five-star hotel in the city centre will have wildly different price tags. All of this needs to be considered when planning your holiday.

While this variation will certainly impact on the cost of your holiday, the Oyster Loan team investigated just how much it costs to take a family of four on holiday abroad.

For our test, we looked at the cost of a holiday to Barcelona. Considering the price of a four-star hotel for nine nights in mid-September as well as return flights and daily expenses, here’s what we found:

Cost of A Nine Night Holiday for A Family of Four
Holiday expenses	Cost per day	Cost per person for total holiday	Total for the whole family holiday
Return flights	—	£187	£748
The family room at 4* hotel	£321	—	£2,889
Food, drink and entertainment	£48 each	£428	£1,710
Total			£5,347

We also used Thomas Cook’s holiday budget calculator to work out exactly how much spending money an average family needs for two weeks in Spain and found out the following list that you can use while managing your Holiday Budget :

• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day
• Four alcoholic drinks a day
• Two coffees each day
• Eight soft drinks a day
• Four bottles of water a day
• Holiday essentials
• Souvenirs

While on your trip, a family of four would need as much as £1027 in spending money. That’s without the cost of day trips, activities for the kids, and travel included.

As you can see, family holidays don’t come cheap.

In a study led by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), it was also found that travellers spend an average of £532 before they’ve even set foot on a plane.

Across the whole of the UK last year, more than £1.8 billion went towards new holiday wardrobes prior to a trip and a further £1.8 billion was spent on duty-free products at airports here in the UK. This shows your holiday starts emptying your wallet before you’ve even left the country.

What is a Holiday Loan?

Holiday cash loans are a type of unsecured credit facility that is used to fund your vacation. They can be used to help you bridge the gap between the cost of your perfect holiday and your bank balance; meaning you can pay for your travel, accommodation, and entertainment now and spread the cost over the next year.

Holiday loans are a type of personal loan issued by lenders in the UK. They tend to carry much lower interest rates than payday and cash advance loans too. Because they are unsecured you also won’t need to put up any assets like your home or car as collateral to receive the money, meaning they carry much less risk to you.

It is still recommended that you pay for your holiday using your savings wherever possible. Cheap holiday loans just offer a great way to fund a trip – or even just part of your trip – that you can’t quite cover in one lump sum.

Perhaps you have enough in the bank to cover your flights and hotel but have nothing left over. Your holiday loan could help you pay for all your pre-holiday expenses like a new summer wardrobe and sunscreen. It could be used to fund your travel to and from the airport at either side or just cover the cost of your food and entertainment while you’re away.

How much can I borrow?

As with all types of loan, your credit score will need to be assessed when you apply. This allows loan providers to set the amount they’re comfortable with lending you.

Because holiday cash loans are unsecured, you may find lenders charge higher interest rates. That’s because there is more risk to them that they won’t get their money back if you should default on your payments. Make sure you make your payments as agreed each month to avoid charges.

The interest rates for holiday loans are still usually far lower than credit cards and are generally much easier to manage thanks to their fixed terms and fixed interest rates.

There are even special holiday loans for people with bad credit. That means even if you have poor credit, holiday loans could still allow you to pay for your trip over a number of months to make your vacation more affordable.

Advantages of Holiday Cash Loans

One of the best parts of a holiday loan is that your monthly repayment amounts are fixed. That means you know exactly how much you need to pay back each month – making it much easier to budget around your life.

Most of the time, you’ll also be able to repay the borrowed amount over one to three years with some lenders even going so high as five-year terms.

The longer your loan term, the smaller your monthly instalments will be. It is important to note that this also tends to mean you pay more interest on your loan over time so make sure you understand your monthly repayments beforehand.

Many holiday loans UK lenders also offer ‘payment holidays’ which give you an extra two or three months at the start of your agreement before you start making repayments.

Your Holiday Loan with Oyster Loan

At Oyster Loan, we help holiday-goers find the cheapest loans possible. We do more than compare holiday cash loans for bad credit – we get holiday loan companies to fight for your business.

How do we do this?

We use our clever computer system to match you up with the most suitable and best priced holiday loans providers in the country. We work closely with our lending partners and this allows us to select the lenders most likely to accept you for credit.

Within just seconds of submitting your application, we’ll know exactly which lenders are happy to lend to you. They are then able to bid to win your business; each offering their best possible prices for you to choose from. One lender might offer one great deal only to be beaten by another with an even better one. The bidding continues until the best offer is made.

Because our service is completely free it won’t cost you a penny to find the lowest price for your holiday loan.

If you’re looking for cheap holiday loans to spread the cost of your vacation, apply with Oyster Loan today. To start your application, Please Click Here.