Stevo985 Posted April 16, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16, 2018 5 hours ago, markavfc40 said: I can imagine how pissed off you were mate as there is simply no need to have to do this. Dread to think how much interest she has paid if her balance is 5k+. Probably best not to think about it. Hopefully lesson learned and if her credit rating is still showing as fair then it is something she can quickly build up again. It was up to about £50 a month. So frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 I've seen on Judge Rinder that if you draw up a paper contract with the Mrs where she agrees to pay you back, it's legally binding as long as it makes sense. So she can't leave you with the debt, and if she does you can go on Judge Rinder and be on the tele. (Don't take my advice I have no idea what I am talking about, look into it) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) Tbf, being declined a credit card isn't really that big a deal. Lenders all have their own criteria, even people with fairly healthy credit histories can be declined simply for not matching the lender's profile for types of customer they're looking for. I'd want to take a look at a report from the big 3 credit report agencies. you can check Experian using Moneysavingexpert's Credit Club, Equifax on Clearscore.com, and CallCredit on Noddle.co.uk. All of these are free to get a monthly credit report from each of the agencies and see what they're reporting on her. I don't think it's too bad an idea to just contact the lender, explaining the address hadn't been updated due to forgetfulness and explaining she got a bit flustered on the phone. How long has it been since she had this conversation with them? If it's dealt with promptly, an explanation that she just **** up and wasn't deliberately fraudulent could go a long way, really. It's getting a bit in to the relationship thread instead of finance, but I wouldn't want to take on a partner's debt, even with the best of intentions on both sides. It changes the relationship dynamic, and it can quite easily put a wedge between people. Edited April 16, 2018 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) Ouch. I use clear score to keep an eye on my credit score since I randomly got declined a contract with Vodafone. It was because I’d taken out a 2 forms of credit in 6 months. one was a deal with Very.co.uk (£100 off if you put it on your buy now pay later) and another was applying for a zero interest credit card to add a balance too from stuff I bought doing up my last house. They constantly use my credit score to spam me with offers from people who want to give me a loan or credit card and I’m pre-approved for. Clearscore is free and might be worth using to see which credit card companies are available to her based on her credit rating. Edited April 16, 2018 by Genie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 16, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16, 2018 6 minutes ago, Davkaus said: Tbf, being declined a credit card isn't really that big a deal. Lenders all have their own criteria, even people with fairly healthy credit histories can be declined simply for not matching the lender's profile for types of customer they're looking for. I'd want to take a look at a report from the big 3 credit report agencies. you can check Experian using Moneysavingexpert's Credit Club, Equifax on Clearscore.com, and CallCredit on Noddle.co.uk. All of these are free to get a monthly credit report from each of the agencies and see what they're reporting on her. I don't think it's too bad an idea to just contact the lender, explaining the address hadn't been updated due to forgetfulness and explaining she got a bit flustered on the phone. How long has it been since she had this conversation with them? If it's dealt with promptly, an explanation that she just **** up and wasn't deliberately fraudulent could go a long way, really. She’s done that and no dice. That was my first suggestion too. They said the decision is made. Ill look into the other credit score things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) On 16/04/2018 at 17:28, Davkaus said: It's getting a bit in to the relationship thread instead of finance, but I wouldn't want to take on a partner's debt, even with the best of intentions on both sides. It changes the relationship dynamic, and it can quite easily put a wedge between people. I agree this probably is one for the relationship thread but I see any debt my missus has as my debt anyway. You'd have to be in a pretty unsteady relationship or un-trusting one to not be comfortable taking on your partners debt especially in this instance where you can help save her, and I guess therefore ultimately both of you, a fair amount of money. I do come at this though as someone who has been with my wife for almost 21 years and have never doubted we will be together until one of us pops our clogs so in terms of our finances we have always just seen whatever money we have is both of ours regardless of who earns what and the same goes for any debts. Edited April 17, 2018 by markavfc40 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 9 minutes ago, markavfc40 said: I agree this probably is one for the relationship thread but I see any debt my missus has as my debt anyway. You'd have to be in a pretty unsteady relationship or un-trusting one to not be comfortable taking on your partners debt especially in this instant where you can help save her, and I guess therefore ultimately both of you, a fair amount of money. I do come at this though as someone who has been with my wife for almost 21 years and have never doubted we will be together until one of us pops our clogs so in terms of our finances we have always just seen whatever money we have is both of ours regardless of who earns what and the same goes for any debts. Like you say its down to the relationship. In your case its 21 years of marriage with kids (I assume!) and a mortgage. That's different to being with someone for 6 months or a year and still being in the early throws of a relationship. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, Xela said: Like you say its down to the relationship. In your case its 21 years of marriage with kids (I assume!) and a mortgage. That's different to being with someone for 6 months or a year and still being in the early throws of a relationship. Yes totally agree with you there mate that you'd certainly have to have been together for a while to build up that kind of trust in each other. Having said that me and my missus bought our first house together 8 months after meeting which I guess was a bit mad and certainly not something I'd be encouraging either of my kids to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 16, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 16, 2018 It would be a risk, but I see it as the best way to solve the issue. And it would only be temporary. I'd be doing it to pay off her cards. She can then close them both and hopefully that will enable her to get another card with free balance transfer for a while and we can transfer it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 19 hours ago, Stevo985 said: It would be a risk, but I see it as the best way to solve the issue. And it would only be temporary. I'd be doing it to pay off her cards. She can then close them both and hopefully that will enable her to get another card with free balance transfer for a while and we can transfer it back. Not sure about over there in the UK, but here in the US closing your credit cards has a negative impact on your credit. If you pay them off for her she should keep them open even if she doesn't use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, TheAuthority said: Not sure about over there in the UK, but here in the US closing your credit cards has a negative impact on your credit. If you pay them off for her she should keep them open even if she doesn't use them. I read the opposite for here. They can see that you have credit, but not how much you use. So if you have a credit card with a 10 grand limit, but you only use 500 quid, all they can see is you have 10 grand of credit. So having too many cards, even if you don’t use them, doesn’t reflect on you well. The OH has two. So even if she pays them off, unless she closes them it won’t look good if she’s trying to apply for another one. It looks like she has 20 grand of credit cards already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 Just now, Stevo985 said: I read the opposite for here. They can see that you have credit, but not how much you use. So if you have a credit card with a 10 grand limit, but you only use 500 quid, all they can see is you have 10 grand of credit. So having too many cards, even if you don’t use them, doesn’t reflect on you well. The OH has two. So even if she pays them off, unless she closes them it won’t look good if she’s trying to apply for another one. It looks like she has 20 grand of credit cards already. Fair enough. Over here they can see how much you use so it's a good thing to have a "low credit utilization ratio." i.e. $10,000 available but you only spend $2000 every month is better than spending $2000 and when your limit is $2500. Quote ...your debt-to-credit ratio and how much debt you carry together account for 30% of your FICO® score. All of this means that you might want to steer clear of your credit limit. It’s best to have as low a credit utilization ratio as possible. In short, a high debt-to-credit ratio can mess up (aka drive down) your credit score. ....the formula for calculating your credit utilization ratio is pretty straightforward. To figure it out for an individual card, divide your credit card balance by your available credit line. If you’ve only got one credit card and you’ve spent $400 out of a possible $2,000 this month, your debt-to-credit ratio is 20%. But say you have three credit cards with credit lines of $1,000, $3,500 and $5,000. You can find your overall credit utilization by first adding those numbers. Then, divide your total balance across all three cards by the sum of your credit limits. If you’ve spent $200 on each, your debt-to-credit ratio would be about 6% ($600 divided by $9,500). What’s the ideal debt-to-credit ratio for credit cards? FICO® suggests that a good debt-to-credit ratio percentage is below 30%. And that goes for your ratio on any one of your cards separately as well as for your overall ratio. https://smartasset.com/credit-cards/debt-to-credit-ratio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 Yeah I’ve just googled it and read similar for here actually. It’s so confusing, different sources say different things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 51 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Yeah I’ve just googled it and read similar for here actually. It’s so confusing, different sources say different things All banks are different in terms of how they assess your credit worthiness. Some banks have differing risk profiles as well so it really is a minefield. HSBC for example are known as being a conservative lender, especially on mortgages compared to say Halifax or Nationwide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: Yeah I’ve just googled it and read similar for here actually. It’s so confusing, different sources say different things Man that's frustrating when you can't get the right advice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 (edited) @Xela is spot on when it comes to lenders each having their own lending criteria, and having different profiles for their ideal customers. It's important to completely disregard any American sources when it comes to personal finance; they genuinely have the concept of a credit score, whereas no such thing exists here. There are very very few things that are either 'definitely good', or 'definitely bad'. It's typically a minor positive to just leave cards open though, for a couple of reasons; firstly lenders like stability, so having some older accounts, and an average account age which isn't too young can be a positive. It can also help with account utilisation as @TheAuthority says (Ok, we have something in common with the Americans ). If you only have the active card and you're close to the limit, it looks like you're using up every penny of credit you can get, a lower utilisation is usually a good thing. But not too low, because they also don't like people hoarding credit they're not using... If you look at the credit reports on the sites I mentioned, you'll see exactly what they can see on you. They can see all of your credit accounts, what the credit limits are, how much you've used it, how much you've repaid and spent each month, even if it's on a promotional rate. Edited April 17, 2018 by Davkaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted April 17, 2018 Moderator Share Posted April 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: Yeah I’ve just googled it and read similar for here actually. It’s so confusing, different sources say different things Through Money Saving Expert, I get my Experian score and report for free every month. They look at available credit AND utilisation. What they're looking for is an indication that I can manage what I owe. Having a load of available credit (like £10k) might make lenders less likely to lend to you. They could give you a £10k limit, you go and max out both cards, and suddenly you've got £20k to pay back. Not having any debt outstanding makes it hard for them to predict what you might be like at paying things back. For my wife and I a few months ago, I owed a hefty chunk on cards but had always been paying them off over a period of time and was still 30% below my available credit. She had no loans or outstanding cards. My credit score was way higher than hers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 (edited) 6 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said: My credit score was way higher than hers. You might already know this, but just to highlight, we don't have credit scores in the UK! There are several credit agencies that operate over here, and they compile and share data, but there is no universal credit score. Some of these agencies, and services which use them, will present the data to you, and give you some kind of score. It's not worth paying much attention to, it's solely a marketing number to sell you services. Lenders do not see this number. While a higher number may well be good on the face of it, you're not going to know which lenders assess borrowers using similar criteria, so don't get too caught up on it. Edited April 17, 2018 by Davkaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted May 29, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted May 29, 2018 I keep hearing adverts for a cryptocurrency trading platform on the radio and I'm tempted to give it a try as I can afford to lose a few hundred. Has anyone tried this at all and had any success? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyC_UTV Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Rds1983 said: I keep hearing adverts for a cryptocurrency trading platform on the radio and I'm tempted to give it a try as I can afford to lose a few hundred. Has anyone tried this at all and had any success? In the tech room fella 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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