I need £2,000 now! How to find the money for an unexpected disaster

theguardian.com:

I won’t ask what the disaster was or if it could have been avoided! It is there and you need £2,000 to deal with it and you need it now!

First, do you have enough savings to cover it? And yes, I know that is your house deposit or your holiday fund but what rate of interest does it earn – 2%, 3%? And what rate will you pay on a loan if you take one out? A lot more than that, I can tell you. So spend that £2,000 out of your savings and then make a standing order to yourself for £200 a month and it will all be paid back and earning interest by next Christmas. Job done.

If you are among the one in five people who has no savings then you really should put that right. We all need some emergency funds for a rainy day – or rather for when the rain comes through the roof. Or the boiler breaks. Or you lose your job, fall ill, or find yourself pregnant. So everyone should have at least three months’ net pay tucked away, and ideally six, for those big – or little – emergencies. So once this emergency is over, start saving.

The cheapest way to borrow is to take out a 0% purchases card and use that to pay for the emergency. These cards do what they say on the plastic – no interest charged on anything you spend up to your credit limit. The catch? After a fixed period, that 0% is whacked up to the standard rate – an average of around 26% a year. The length of that period depends on your credit record. It can be as long as 25 months, though it will be less if you have a poor credit record.

Before you even think of applying for one, swear an oath.

I will not use this card for anything other than the emergency.

I will pay for the emergency now, cut the card into little pieces and recycle it.

I will divide the amount borrowed by the length of