LEE BOYCE: A free sofa for all savers, thanks to interest free credit

Roll up, roll up!, roll up! Get your free couch here!

Don’t worry, I haven’t turned into Boycie from Only Fools And Horses yet. But that line was racing through my head when Mrs. B. and I went into DFS earlier this month and ordered a new L-shaped couch.

The Basildon store was busy. A little cost of living.

Indeed, the store was so busy that it was difficult to corner sellers. What an unexpected turn. Usually when you enter a furniture store you are bombarded by sales pitches.

A big reason for its popularity, I would expect, is that DFS offers FOUR YEARS interest-free credit. Other bank stores do the same, including ScS, which is in the same shopping area where we were.

Of course, ultra-cheap credit is nothing new from such stores. But given how quickly borrowing costs are rising elsewhere, it just shows how desperate retailers are.

In November 2021, the Bank of England base rate was 0.1 percent. It is now 3.5 percent and the cost of loans and mortgages has skyrocketed.

In the end we chose our new bank and paid with savings. I’m not a big fan of taking credit for anything, no matter how generous it is.

But as I stepped away, I realized there’s a way to make a big saving on that couch — or possibly pay for the whole thing.

Are you comfortable?

Say you buy a new sofa for £1,500 and you qualify for 0 per cent credit. Over four years, that would equate to payments of £31.25 a month.

With much higher savings rates now, you could get a 4.4 percent fix until 2027 — when you’d have paid off the bank in full.

If you were to put away a lump sum of £7,800, you would earn enough interest over the four years to pay the bank in full (excluding inflation).

Even if you put £1,500 aside for the same period, you’ll get almost £300 in interest – or 20 per cent off the bank.

Sometimes it can literally be worth financing items even if you can afford not to, especially when it’s as obscenely generous as this.

Skittish Gas

To say I am disappointed with British Gas’s response to winning our 2022 Wooden Spoon Award would be an understatement.

Last year, the Homecare division won the prize. Although British gas boss Chris O’Shea, of parent company Centrica, did not personally accept the award, he did at least do an interview via Zoom.

This year was a step backwards. Despite numerous requests, all we got was a lame explanation – and frankly, we can only take the energy giant’s word for it as written by Mr. O’Shea himself.

Of course it must have annoyed him to ‘win’ this prize. We get that.

But Mr. O’Shea owes it to the customers he let down to explain where his company went wrong and how he made it right.

By avoiding the opportunity, he sends the wrong signals.

I offered to visit Centrica HQ in Windsor for a personal interview. I offered a short phone call. Again and again my approaches were rejected.

It’s been a tough 2022 for energy companies, with prices rising, new state aid schemes launched and more people than ever struggling with bills. However, it’s hard to sympathize with the company when the executive wants to take the easy way out. Less British gas, more skittish gas.

Pit pain

Our roads are a ruddy state. More than any winter I can remember, there seem to be potholes of varying sizes on every road around my house.

That summer heat wave and now the recent freezing weather seem to have wreaked havoc.

Last week I noticed a pothole at the last minute and went over it with a thud – although luckily the car is fine and I didn’t try to swerve at the last minute.

Car taxes have risen steadily over the past ten years. Where does that money go, if not used to clean up the sad state of our roads?

Am I alone, or are the roads in your area also in the worst condition you’ve ever seen?

Let me know.

l.boyce@dailymail.co.uk