Apprentice looking for short-term aid!

fracturedsun

Are you doing your apprenticeship through a college, sometimes they can help with bursaries though I don't know whether you would be eligible as you do have an income and live at home.

I think you may struggle to get normal loans but speak to your bank maybe they would be willing to give you a student style deal.

My other question is are there any restrictions on getting extra part time work? I know this is not ideal as you already have a full day but even a few hours at the weekend in a supermarket or something would provide some extra regular income. Depending on how your apprenticeship is paid you may not have to pay any tax on this either unless you earn over the threshold doing it. But check with whoever pays your apprenticeship first as they may have restrictions on how many hours you are allowed to work on other things.

spadoosh

I don't know why you want a credit card?! I see you say its good financial planning but from everything you say you appear to be in order. Your bills are covered by your monthly salary and you end up with £40 a week left. Also 40% of your income is disposable, very few people are in this situation.

I would say you don't need a credit card although like has been said they are/can be very helpful tools and would suggest getting a high rate card (which you more or less should be v good to get) and spending little paying in full every month.

I don't want to sound accusatory but something is missing or certainly isnt adding up my end.

Ryaen

Tixy wrote: »

I don't know of anything specifically for apprentices in the way of credit or grants etc.

You say you hope you won't need a card but a credit card is a very useful thing to have (not for the credit aspect), but for the added purchase protection if buying goods over £100, for buying things abroad, or for things like hiring a car etc which always expect a credit card.

Could you do a different part time job outside of work hours? working in a bar or something - maybe even just temporaily from now until the new year, to help build up a small financial cushion.

Is there no chance you can ask your employers to increase your wage whilst still on the apprenticeship? Have you asked? If they are going to be paying you so much more in 6months time, then can you not argue to them your value to them now is far more than when you started 6months ago (or whenever you started).

Thanks again Tixy,
You're absolutely right, and it will be something I consider. I am loathe to ask for a pay increase, as the whole reason my boss took on an apprentice was for good business sense. He's trying to build his business up to a stable point while not having to pay a large wage that he couldn't afford at the moment.
Me asking for a wage-rise would almost negate that point, but I will mention it to him. Something I thought of was to perhaps take a rise now, and a drop in the contracted wage in the future. But it all depends on his financial stability at this moment.

@fracturedsun;

I will approach my bank in person -- mainly I've just been doing research online, and of course it's not widely available for banks to help out in that way.
So I will approach them but I'm fairly sure I know the answer already.

Rather than doing part-time work, I'm currently working on offering a (very) cheap service building websites, in order to build up a clientbase in case everything does fall through. The idea would be to then earn money off of my own back.
So all my time is currently taken up doing that, making a regular part-time job near impossible.

Thanks guys.

spadoosh

O and im almost certain there isnt a banking product for apprenticeships as you would just be classed as in full time employment. You would eligible for most high street products however your lack of credit rating may harm you a little but the 2x phones and car finance will help. Even if you did apply for a credit card and were accepted (no matter who by) your credit limit is very unlikely to exceed £500. If you are finding you are struggling financially i woudl suggest speaking to your parents, im sure they will be more helpful to you than any bank.

Ryaen

spadoosh wrote: »

I don't know why you want a credit card?! I see you say its good financial planning but from everything you say you appear to be in order. Your bills are covered by your monthly salary and you end up with £40 a week left. Also 40% of your income is disposable, very few people are in this situation.

I would say you don't need a credit card although like has been said they are/can be very helpful tools and would suggest getting a high rate card (which you more or less should be v good to get) and spending little paying in full every month.

I don't want to sound accusatory but something is missing or certainly isnt adding up my end.

I understand your concerns, but proportionately, 40% of my income (and that's not counting petrol or other necessities) is £40/weekly.
That's going to be a struggle in anyones books. My travel time is about an hour a day, so the petrol itself takes up a vast majority of my weekly income.
What happens when I need a new wheel on my car? Or something unexpected?

I've lived off of my current wages for 6 months, so I agree it's do-able. But it's certainly not good financial planning to leave myself open to have to dig into my overdraft when something unexpected happens.

Tixy

Ryaen wrote: »

I am loathe to ask for a pay increase, as the whole reason my boss took on an apprentice was for good business sense. He's trying to build his business up to a stable point while not having to pay a large wage that he couldn't afford at the moment.
Me asking for a wage-rise would almost negate that point, but I will mention it to him.

Is he paying you £2.60 at the moment? Maybe you could approach him to consider say £3 an hour, it would still be a very cheap wage for him, and cheaper than he could get anyone else in, but would give you an extra £60ish a month extra income, which if you are living on £40/w disposable income would make a real difference to you.
Maybe put some tenative questions out to see how he seems to react.

spadoosh

Ryaen wrote: »

I understand your concerns, but proportionately, 40% of my income (and that's not counting petrol or other necessities) is £40/weekly.
That's going to be a struggle in anyones books. My travel time is about an hour a day, so the petrol itself takes up a vast majority of my weekly income.
What happens when I need a new wheel on my car? Or something unexpected?

I've lived off of my current wages for 6 months, so I agree it's do-able. But it's certainly not good financial planning to leave myself open to have to dig into my overdraft when something unexpected happens.

This is exactly what an overdraft is for!!

Youve got a new car, why would you need a new wheel for it?!

I think you need to be realistic. Ive looked over your numbers again and have i got this right

Income
Annual salary: £5200 £433.33

Expenses
Phone 1 : £50
Phone 2 : £25
Car finance: £250
Total : £325

Bal: 108.33 (25% disposable income)

(guessing these are monthly)

I know im sticking my oar in but youre here asking for advice and im offering mine (i tihnk the CC is a quick fix for a bigger problem) . I think you should do a statement of affairs if you havent already done so showing exactly how much you pay every month (food, petrol, insurances, going out absolutley everything you can think of etc etc) put it all in there and then work out your remaining balance. From there it would be easier to work out what are the best options for you.

FYI i was in a similar situ to yourself and thought a c/c was a sensible option, it wasnt and i was scorned

Ryaen

Tixy wrote: »

Is he paying you £2.60 at the moment? Maybe you could approach him to consider say £3 an hour, it would still be a very cheap wage for him, and cheaper than he could get anyone else in, but would give you an extra £60ish a month extra income, which if you are living on £40/w disposable income would make a real difference to you.
Maybe put some tenative questions out to see how he seems to react.

Thanks Tixy. When you put it like that it seems simple. I will approach him and ask him, I'm thinking that might be my final option!

@spadoosh;
You're exactly right with your estimates, but the balance is slightly wrong, as rent/petrol/food/etc as you said have a bearing, and will always be necessities on top of the monthly outgoings.

I also hear what you're saying about the overdraft, but again due to my low earnings, I only have a £100 agreed overdraft. Anything over that (emergency funds), become charged silly amounts, as I presume is the norm with banks.
Imagine;

- I'm forced to make an emergency payment of £150.
- My overdraft is then active, I pay (for arguments sake) £15 weekly.
- I pay it off after next weeks pay, I'm £15 down on my balance for the month.
- Unless I decide to stop the essentials (petrol, food), I am then forced to dig in my overdraft AGAIN.
- The interest(?) I am being fined after these bank charges again and again is more than my 'hedge' left over after each weekly payment, hence me spiralling down until I'm literally living out of my overdraft and having to find the money to fund £60 a month overdraft fees.

With a CC, the situation is entirely different;

- I'm forced to make an emergency payment of £150.
- I pay on my CC
- I'm forced to pay 5% or £5 (for example) each month as minimum repayments on the card
- I either pay minimum repayments until my wages increase (then pay in full), or I pay as much as possible until I clear it with my hedge fund on my current wage.

I hope I've made it clear enough for you to understand my concerns, and I do appreciate your comments, especially from someone who was once in the same position.

Thanks.

spadoosh

I'm glad your financially savvy!! Can't imagine many 20 year olds are! Again a s.o.a would sort this out. Your planning for contingencies which is good but these cost should already be accounted for.

You have a car, motoring costs should be factored in, you know it'll need maintenance, mot, tax and insurance.

You know you need petrol and haven't factored this in your costs, you'll use it y not include it!?
It's gonna be extremely difficult for you to have a positive cash flow and is kinda to be expected! There are things that do crop up that no one could plan just make sure u plan what u know!

Most homeowners don't have the kinda contingencies your on about and realistically what might pop up that'll cost more than £100?! Uve got a new car it's fair to say it should be reliable as such maintenance should be lower

lisyloo

It's written into my contact that I'm either owed a years redundancy pay or a years paid contractual work.

If the company did go into liquidation then I'm afriad you would not get this.
Please understand we aren't trying to be negative or scaremongers, just make you aware that nothing in life is guaranteed and that it's unwise to rely on it (we aren't saying you are).
I admire you planning an gusto, so go for it.