The Money Thread...

[Bunni]

Yeah I'm trying to get onto one of those sites as I'm feeling more grown up about looking after my gooseberry fool but apparently my old address doesn't exist despite living there for two years having mail delivered. So according to every internet postcode thing it doesn't exist so I can't register till Royal Mail deal with it. I've tried twice already to get them to acknowledge the address but I have no idea where to go from here. Entering it manually doesn't help either as it just looks like I've made it up.

[Green Gecko]

Clear Score is much better than Noddle and is also free.

It was mentioned in here ages ago.

It's actually Equifax which is more well known and used by more lenders.

https://www.clearscore.com

Thanks. I understand the score is largely subjective as creditors all use different criteria, but it will be interesting to still see how those criteria vary by comparing reports.

[Glowy69]

Clear Score is great but trying to change something is pathetic.

Currently, apparently I have no accounts, my credit file shows nothing. Even though experian and call credit have the correct details. I disputed this about 3 weeks ago, and have listed another dispute since, and no answer, there isn't even a phone number to ring.

Pretty website though.

[Glowy69]

Yeah I'm trying to get onto one of those sites as I'm feeling more grown up about looking after my gooseberry fool but apparently my old address doesn't exist despite living there for two years having mail delivered. So according to every internet postcode thing it doesn't exist so I can't register till Royal Mail deal with it. I've tried twice already to get them to acknowledge the address but I have no idea where to go from here. Entering it manually doesn't help either as it just looks like I've made it up.

Contact your local council?

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Clear Score is great but trying to change something is pathetic.

Currently, apparently I have no accounts, my credit file shows nothing. Even though experian and call credit have the correct details. I disputed this about 3 weeks ago, and have listed another dispute since, and no answer, there isn't even a phone number to ring.

Pretty website though.

Yeah, this. I've had a look on it a few times and most of the information it holds for me is simply incorrect. I am certainly not trusting what it tells me if it doesn't even know I have a mortgage (and have done for over two and a half years)!

[Gario]

Firstly, Noddle is also free.

Secondly, can we please stop insisting that credit scores are meaningless? This is simply not true. When I recently went for a meeting with a mortgage advisor I was asked to bring along several things, including proof of income and proof of employment - and my log-in details for Noddle. Why? Because as part of the meeting the advisor logged on to my Noddle and gave my credit report and score a good looking over.

He said that the score itself is used by his mortgage broker associates to quickly determine a person's suitability for a mortgage.

It doesn't matter that the scores generated by Credit Call (or the other way round), Equifax and the other one beginning with E are all different from each other. Each of the scores indicate suitability on their own respective scales.

[Glowy69]

You really shouldn't be asked to " bring in your credit file log in details" That sounds beyond dodgy. Credit Score is a worthless number. I have had people who have 999 on their experian score and get declined for a bank account.

Mine? Mine is below "average" apparently, yet I can obtain any credit I want, and have been pre accepted for a mortgage.

The number is pointless Gario. Its whats on the file the company looks at, they can't see no number, as Andrew Mills has pointed out before its a way of other companies trying to sell their products to you.

EDIT: I deal with credit worthiness at work every day, we cannot see a score nor do we make decisions by it.

[Gario]

You really shouldn't be asked to " bring in your credit file log in details" That sounds beyond dodgy. Credit Score is a worthless number. I have had people who have 999 on their experian score and get declined for a bank account.

Mine? Mine is below "average" apparently, yet I can obtain any credit I want, and have been pre accepted for a mortgage.

The number is pointless Gario. Its whats on the file the company looks at, they can't see no number, as Andrew Mills has pointed out before its a way of other companies trying to sell their products to you.

EDIT: I deal with credit worthiness at work every day, we cannot see a score nor do we make decisions by it.

Ok, thank you. That's interesting. Can I ask something: if I settled a defaulted debt on my report would I be much more likely to get a mortgage? There's nothing else negative on my report because all my other debts are too old to show up.

[Glowy69]

You really shouldn't be asked to " bring in your credit file log in details" That sounds beyond dodgy. Credit Score is a worthless number. I have had people who have 999 on their experian score and get declined for a bank account.

Mine? Mine is below "average" apparently, yet I can obtain any credit I want, and have been pre accepted for a mortgage.

The number is pointless Gario. Its whats on the file the company looks at, they can't see no number, as Andrew Mills has pointed out before its a way of other companies trying to sell their products to you.

EDIT: I deal with credit worthiness at work every day, we cannot see a score nor do we make decisions by it.

Ok, thank you. That's interesting. Can I ask something: if I settled a defaulted debt on my report would I be much more likely to get a mortgage? There's nothing else negative on my report because all my other debts are too old to show up.

Its harder to say now mate, its a lot different than it used to be, a mortgage you're more likely to get than say, a personal loan, mainly because its secured, if you settled it, yes you would, however it still shows as a negative. But not game breaking. If you can prove you can afford the mortgage, like you'll be asked, and have a decent credit history then you should be okay.

Halifax, do a "soft search" mortgage approval, meaning they won't do a hard file search but will look at your details and give you an answer as to whether they'll accept you. This is how I did it, because Im still paranoid about my credit history.

Hope this helps.

[Gario]

I don't think I'll get a month off then, if I'm paying on Feb 29/March 1 and then April.

Yeah, the "free" months are Feb and Mar, dude. Oh, well - maybe next year .

Jawy, I got it wrong, my final payment was already taken on February 1st, and nothing has come out today, meaning I've got a bonus £90 this month after all. Will I get April 1 free too?

[jawafour]

Jawy, I got it wrong, my final payment was already taken on February 1st, and nothing has come out today, meaning I've got a bonus £90 this month after all. Will I get April 1 free too?

I'd expect that a payment will be due in early April, Gario - that'll be your first payment for the new 2016 / 2017 Council Tax year.

But it sounds like you can enjoy this month as being payment-free .

[Green Gecko]

I always ask to get put on a 12 month payment plan for council tax so no joy for me, still £133 a month..

[Gario]

I always ask to get put on a 12 month payment plan for council tax so no joy for me, still £133 a month..

Mine is £65 a month but has been £90 for the last four months because apparently I paid too little while I was unemployed and on benefits for three months last year. Clearly their own miscalculation and I've had four difficult months now.

[GrinWithoutaKat]

How does the tax on a car allowance usually work? I was told I'll be getting £500 a month from next month, but I'm not sure if they just add £500 to your wage and all deductions go up, or just take the 20% from the allowance money.

[Green Gecko]

How does the tax on a car allowance usually work? I was told I'll be getting £500 a month from next month, but I'm not sure if they just add £500 to your wage and all deductions go up, or just take the 20% from the allowance money.

Most benefits and reimbursements are added to your wages and you a taxed on it as a "benefit in kind" but there are many ways it can be handled. HMRC doesn't care in what manner you are paid or what you are paid for, it is still taxed. There is really no such thing as a "tax free allowance" when you are paid by an employer (other than your personal allowance set by the government), there are just ways of compensating you pre-emptively for the tax incurred. I think normally this is done as car and mileage are claimed by the employer as an expense and so they are able to keep more money within the company to pay back to you. That's why you get into serious trouble when you fraudulently claim money on things like this because it leads the company to itself be liable for tax fraud.

I always ask to get put on a 12 month payment plan for council tax so no joy for me, still £133 a month..

Mine is £65 a month but has been £90 for the last four months because apparently I paid too little while I was unemployed and on benefits for three months last year. Clearly their own miscalculation and I've had four difficult months now.

Surely you are on single occupancy discount with that? I thought you lived around the midlands.

[Gario]

How does the tax on a car allowance usually work? I was told I'll be getting £500 a month from next month, but I'm not sure if they just add £500 to your wage and all deductions go up, or just take the 20% from the allowance money.

Most benefits and reimbursements are added to your wages and you a taxed on it as a "benefit in kind" but there are many ways it can be handled. HMRC doesn't care in what manner you are paid or what you are paid for, it is still taxed. There is really no such thing as a "tax free allowance" when you are paid by an employer (other than your personal allowance set by the government), there are just ways of compensating you pre-emptively for the tax incurred. I think normally this is done as car and mileage are claimed by the employer as an expense and so they are able to keep more money within the company to pay back to you. That's why you get into serious trouble when you fraudulently claim money on things like this because it leads the company to itself be liable for tax fraud.

I always ask to get put on a 12 month payment plan for council tax so no joy for me, still £133 a month..

Mine is £65 a month but has been £90 for the last four months because apparently I paid too little while I was unemployed and on benefits for three months last year. Clearly their own miscalculation and I've had four difficult months now.

Surely you are on single occupancy discount with that? I thought you lived around the midlands.

Single occupancy, band A in Leeds. I'm sure it'll go up a fiver a month from April.

[Green Gecko]

We have an attachments of earnings as well due to a similar period of no money. It really sucks. Council tax is the closest thing to having to "pay to live". Well actually it's pretty much exactly that. I guess that's the way it is after 4 years of paying no council tax at uni. It's always a laugh what a shock to the system it is when everyone's outgoings go up by a few grand a year without even doing anything and no-one knows how to pay it.

I paid off my first council tax bill using benefits overpayment after I got a 3 week temp job and spent it all on council tax and rent the same month.. Then by 7 months later I had overpaid them £570 because my girlfriend never submitted her student status and I got it back. Over two years later and I'm still paying back the benefit overpayment each month on top of the current council tax.. You couldn't make it up.

[Bunni]

Yeah we had a riot with council tax going from both being students, then found I wasn't eligible for student discount, then I was employed part time, then single occupant in a new house then we moved and had one student then me working and Rory off sick which saved nothing so I cancelled that. Each time was new forms and a 6 week+ wait for them to organise and get it all wrong. Hopefully from April it'll be settled and we can just pay like regular folk.

[Curls]

So talking about credit scores.

So here is how my accounts have changed over the past few months.

I have closed a dormant NatWest account.
I have cancelled a HSBC credit card (which I just paid off) and then immdeiately opened one with first direct ( as I bank with them now instead of HSBC, and I got £25 for doing what felt like strawberry float all).
I have opened opened an AMex Platinum Everyday card for cashback purposes.
I have paid off a 0% loan I took out for Laser Eye surgery.


I'd like to think these would mostly be positive things? But all this has happened in the space of a month. Recon it'll reflect well on my credit to have done all this with my finances...i feel like I have been consolidating them in a way.

I now only have 1 bank account, 1 Help to buy ISA, 2 credit cards, an Amex and first direct, which I just pay off in full each month. I'm not in overdraft either.
I just hope all the activity on my history doesn't make me look dodgy.

[Glowy69]

So talking about credit scores.

So here is how my accounts have changed over the past few months.

I have closed a dormant NatWest account.
I have cancelled a HSBC credit card (which I just paid off) and then immdeiately opened one with first direct ( as I bank with them now instead of HSBC, and I got £25 for doing what felt like strawberry float all).
I have opened opened an AMex Platinum Everyday card for cashback purposes.
I have paid off a 0% loan I took out for Laser Eye surgery.


I'd like to think these would mostly be positive things? But all this has happened in the space of a month. Recon it'll reflect well on my credit to have done all this with my finances...i feel like I have been consolidating them in a way.

I now only have 1 bank account, 1 Help to buy ISA, 2 credit cards, an Amex and first direct, which I just pay off in full each month. I'm not in overdraft either.
I just hope all the activity on my history doesn't make me look dodgy.

Short term ( 4-6 weeks) you might struggle if you applied for anything else credit wise, in the long run? Absolutely not mate.