How to get OH on board?

Keeping_Positive

How about a new card for expenses so you know to only spend what you can reclaim on that and try to stick to cash after that? I have expenses each month and its a pain to keep track. Im struggle to work out the true situation at any one point intime.

PS also had an OH with head in the sand but after a few years he is now better than me. He has cut down on the smoking so even halving the £200 would make a big difference each month.

piccalilli_2

Mr P has tried the tablets, gum, lozenges, plastic stick, patches.... you name it he's been there! Except hypnotherapy, could get a 2-4-1 deal maybe.... stop smoking and spending?!?! Thing is he's managed it before for about 4 weeks, and felt great doing it. I'm sure he'll try again - might get him to join the stop smoking forum, see if tha helps.

That's a good idea Keeping Positive (hello!), its what we tried to do originally with the current one, but it just gets so muddled that until we see a bit of clear space somewhere, I don't think it would work. Plus he won't be able to get a new card (I've tried for a new one and got declined, and my credit history is a lot better than his).

It's nice to hear from others that OH's can turn around - we'll keep working at it

piccalilli_2

Ouch, it looks like we are not going to have an easy one on this....
While I can happily report that Mr P is now officailly "on board" (hooray! :j) things just keep cropping up.

We have both checked our credit reports on Cred!t Expert and they seem ok (to the uneducated eyes we have), apart from a few missed payments each, but neither of us can get a 0% card (I've been declined for 2 this week, so I'd better stop applying...) Any clues as to why? Everything on the lists was marked as "satisfactory".

On the good side though, Mr P is going cold turkey tomorrow (his last 3 cigs are going tonight), and I've gone ebay crazy again in the hopes of making something to throw at the cards/overdrafts. I've also signed up for dooyoo and YouGov - might as well give it a go. Valued ops isn't giving me much at the mo, so thats not doing very well - I don't think i'm techie enough for the stuff they want to know about!

We also have a new to-do list - got 5 things from it sorted today will get going on the rest on Monday when offices open etc

piccalilli_2

Quick ask - has anyone had success getting a lower rate from their CC provider? Read Martins article on loophole interest rates, and we have 2 cards that are applicable (1 that is inactive at the mo, but it might be revivable!) has the CC Shuffle worked for anyone and how long did it take?
Trying to cover every avenue here!
Also what is feeling on selling the house to pay the loans? Then try to get another mortgage with bad credit ratings?

REDMADCURLS

I think you may struggle with new CC's given that you have missed a few payments - they are getting really fussy and anything at all will stop them offering 0% or lower balances.

However, not that I have had any success with reducing interest rate, but you could call and try. What does it cost, no more than a telephone call!

Keeping_Positive

One of the reasons not to get credit at the mo is the amountof credit you have access to.So if your payment hitory is good they might have turned you down because you have too much credit and they include what your not actually borrowing ie the unused cards.

Worth a shot asking for any special offer at the moment on the "free" cards and threaten to close them if they dont offer anything good.

piccalilli_2

Is it worth closing any unused CC's then? and double checking that the ones we think are closed definately are?

REDMADCURLS

Yes it is because as Keeping Positive says the amount of credit available to you also affects your rating.

piccalilli_2

Right, that another thing for the to-do list 2moro, there's one at HSBC that can go straight away! Along with doing Tax credits, Council tax over 12 months and more stuff on ebay.... put 13 items on earlier, so wish me luck! Also sending Mr P out with his to-do list tomorrow - small steps but it really helps to have an action plan written down - he's taking a lot of satisfaction in crossing things off as they get done! Keeping the momentum going now he's with me on this.....

REDMADCURLS

Well done, you are going great guns!

Good luck with ebay, it is v boring to put things on, but withdrawing the money from paypal makes it all worth while