ME Bank reveals 51% of married couples have the same wedding regret

ME’s recent Love and Money Survey found that a whopping 51% of married couples regret how much they spent on their wedding, with the top three regretted expenses being, the reception (17%), photography/videography (13%) and wedding favours for guests (13%).

According to ME money expert Matthew Read, “decisions are commonly made with the heart rather than the head when it comes to weddings. Couples can easily get caught up in the moment, failing to consider the financial impact of their decisions.”

Considering that just 55% of couples set a wedding budget, and of those who did, 32% exceeded it, we can see that when it comes to weddings, it clearly pays more to follow your head, not your heart.

ME’s survey also revealed that the average cost of a wedding is $21,159! So, it’s really no surprise that 19% of couples surveyed admitted to borrowing money to fund their big day.

Kiss wedding debt goodbye

If you took out a personal loan to pay for your wedding like loads of other Aussies, and you’re now stuck in a jam trying to keep up with expensive loan or credit card repayments, a great way to cut down personal loan repayments and pay debt off faster is to refinance to a debt consolidation loan.

By combining all debt into the one debt consolidation loan, it’ll be much easier to manage repayments as all your debt will be in the one place. On top of this, you’ll end up saving a tonne in interest as you’ll have only one interest rate for the lot, rather than one for each debt.

Scenario:

Let’s say you have the following debt:

  • $20,000 personal loan with a 12% interest rate used to pay for your wedding
  • $5,000 credit card balance with a 20% interest rate

This would work out to be $850 in monthly repayments over 3 years, totalling $5,603 interest. However, if you combined the two debts into one debt consolidation loan with an 8% interest rate, your monthly loan repayments would drop to $783 and you’d only pay $3,203 in interest over 3 years, saving $2,400 in interest.

Compare debt consolidation loans

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Last updated 24 November 2024 Important disclosures and comparison rate warning*
  • Debt Consolidation Loan

    $5,000-$75,000

    interest rate
    comparison rate
    Monthly repayment
    6.57% p.a.to 18.99% p.a.
    7.19% p.a.to 19.39% p.a.based on $30,000
    over 5 years

    Competitive fixed rates on loans up to $75,000 depending on your credit score. Zero monthly account keeping fees, no exit fees and no early repayment fees. Make weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments, over 1 to 7 years managed entirely online, at any time. Fast and easy, 100% online application.

    Repayment terms from 1 year to 7 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 6.57% would cost $35,528.12 including fees.

    Compare
    Details
  • Unsecured Personal Loan

    Fixed

    interest rate
    comparison rate
    Monthly repayment
    6.75% p.a.to 26.95% p.a.
    6.75% p.a.to 26.95% p.a.based on $30,000
    over 5 years

    Borrow up to $50,000 unsecured. Perfect if you earn more than $22,100 p.a. and have good to excellent credit. Multi-year winner of Mozo’s Experts Choice Unsecured Personal Loan Award, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024^'

    Repayment terms from 2 years to 7 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 6.75% would cost $35,430.23 including fees.

    Compare
    Details
  • Low Rate Personal Loan

    Excellent Credit, $5,000 - $75,000

    interest rate
    comparison rate
    Monthly repayment
    6.57% p.a.to 8.39% p.a.
    7.19% p.a.to 8.75% p.a.based on $30,000
    over 5 years

    Competitive low rates for borrowers with excellent credit on 1-7 year loans from $5,000 up to $75,000, plus free extra repayments. Winner of Mozo's Experts Choice Excellent Credit Unsecured Personal Loan 2024 and Excellent Credit Secured Personal Loan 2024 awards ^. Min. income of 25k after tax, to apply.

    Repayment terms from 1 year to 7 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 6.57% would cost $35,528.12 including fees.

    Compare
    Details
  • Unsecured Personal Loan

    Fixed

    interest rate
    comparison rate
    Monthly repayment
    5.76% p.a.to 24.03% p.a.
    6.55% p.a.to 24.98% p.a.based on $30,000
    over 5 years

    Fast, easy and 100% online, this is a low cost loan with no ongoing fees or extra repayment penalties. It's perfect for savvy borrowers with great credit. If you’re over 18 and earn above $30,000, you could qualify (other eligibility criteria may apply).

    Repayment terms from 3 years to 7 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 5.76% would cost $35,173.52 including fees.

    Compare
    Details

Planning a wedding? Well, be sure to stop by the weddings hub for more juicy wedding tips, like the 5 money-saving secrets wedding planners don’t want you to know! And don’t forget to check out our debt consolidation comparison tool to find a competitive refinance loan deal.


* WARNING: The Comparison Rate combines the lender's interest rate, fees and charges into a single rate to show the true cost of a personal loan. The comparison rates displayed are calculated based on a loan of $30,000 for a term of 5 years or a loan of $10,000 for a term of 3 years as indicated, based on monthly principal and interest repayments, on a secured basis for secured loans and an unsecured basis for unsecured loans. This comparison rate applies only to the example or examples given. Different amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees or early repayment fees, and cost savings such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan.

^See information about the Mozo Experts Choice Personal Loan Awards

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