One of the problems I’ve experienced in the last year is I’ve accumulated a large amount of debt. I had my own debt anyway, but after taking out some car finance my credit rating with my existing debt went from Good to Poor. I’m now left with the long struggle of clearing down my debts and restoring my credit rating
Surprisingly the bank I’m with has now never been more than happier to contact me continuously because I have more funds going out than coming in.
Typically, all companies now use your credit score. The banks even use it when applying for loans. I’ve only been with them 20+ years so it’s not like they know how much I can afford or anything. It’s just “bam” and you’re done. No face to face with my bank now, just that’s it and get lost
I’m very religious when it comes to my finances, I know exactly what I owe, it’s all written down and where it goes how much comes out. So I know the exact figures I need
Part of the problem I experienced is I made the mistake on my birthday of taking some extra money out to celebrate (as I wasn’t paying a loan) but I forgot about the car finance. So the past few months I’ve been overdrawn with my bank by around £400 each month. Resulting in charges.
When my annual review comes for my overdraft, I think I’ll be increasing it.
I tried getting a Wonga payday loan to fix my short term issues. Paying the extra £100 each month is better than paying £300 + fees. Which would give me time to correct my finances. Alas, no! Wonga now uses credit scoring as they’re a “responsible lender” (with fucking high APR’s still) and because my credit rating is … shit they wouldn’t lend me it.
So high and dry with no source of help. I refuse to go bankrupt or anything of the sort. I just need to put my head down, get my thinking cap on and sort bills.
Currently I’m also overpaying 3/4 of my credit cards by £25 extra per month. It’s not much, but when your bank goes in negative the interest you pay off on the cards works out cheaper than with the bank. Plus I know I’m guaranteed to pay off at least £300 more each year from my cards.
I do actually win money gambling, I just don’t do it often. Even just £1 per day is £30 per month extra off my balances, which helps in the long term. Just slowly building it up and hoping for some luck. I’ve had a really bad string lately so looking for a change. I’m always for the positive attitude.
Along with my debt problems, I’ve recently changed energy suppliers as they were extortionate, I just checked my Gas and found I was over £250 in credit when they closed the account. I asked for a refund which should help with my bank charges and interest. I’m also going to close down all the accounts I don’t use to help recover lost expenditure alongside my credit cards. As currently it’s showing I have 5 open credit cards. I use 4 of them but it’s more source of borrowing. So I’m going to close it down and hopefully rebuild my credit a bit more. As I actually forgot I owned one card which would damage my rating.
I’m going to update the post more as I go, hopefully things will be more positive in the summer time. Need some stress free days for a change
