A Diary of Reinventing Ourselves

Upsidedown_Bear

As posted by the lovely savingwanabe I wondered if this free course from the Open University might be something you could do:
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/managing-my-money/content-section-overview

lynnejk

Hiya


You really are doing well - and just ignore those trying to undermine you as you have loads more willing you on and hoping you manage to sort it all out.


If you want to know a bit more about CCs, soft searches, searches that leave a mark etc, it is all here on the MSE boards.


Suggest you click on the far left of the top bar where it says CARDS & LOANS. Just click, not scroll, and it will all open up. Have a read and open all the headings - there's loads of free info and I'm sure you'll understand it all. Martin explains about the search tools as well


Soo pleased your OH has tried L*dl and seen the savings for himself. If he didn't like the shop - do you have an A*di fairly close as he might prefer that and the prices are similar


Hope you enjoy your ironing
Lx

getmore4less

Any research he did on CC a few years back is out of date.

I ha danother thought, are you also a shareholder of hubbys company getting dividends?

If you are it will impact the tax situation on your own earnings you may already be 40% taxpayer.

Given the guesses for all the other stuff is the income you have to work with exaggerated, £120k gives a take home less than £7k ltd.

I don't think you have to understand the business but hubby does if he wants to take his responsibility seriously and give you a figure for the true income available to secure the families future.

Prison talk in front of the kids is well out of order.

Forward_thinking

Ironing all done although I will have to do another last lot tomorrow night ready for the school week. Didn't mind it at all although I am still hopeless at shirts and there were 1,001 other more productive things I would have preferred to be investigating.

Will read up more on the soft checks although I know OH won't be moved on that front at the moment. He doesn't trust that they won't mark our records despite what they say and is desperate to keep the bad marks away. Yes getmore4less, I am a shareholder although OH is wanting to change this as he is worried about me being involved with it all being so messy.

I do agree, though, that it is only fair that he tells me exactly what income we have to use each month - even if he doesn't want to know. I can't live like that anymore. He says this is why he didn't want me to know about the various accounts and get involved as he knew it would consume me and I would get upset about it all. I don't feel upset, far from it, I feel angry that we are out of control and that due to our past mistakes we are getting fleeced. I am determined with a single-minded passion to take this head on and help us get out of this mess - by reducing our costs and by me getting out there and earning in the next few weeks.

Goodnight. See you tomorrow. And thanks!

Willowpop

Ok, so could you be a bit sneaky.... would he consider a loan to consolidate some of the CC debt do you think? Waaaaiiiit before you all jump on me.... I am not for one minute suggesting they get a loan necessarily... If you suggested the idea of lookig into a consolidation loan which would have a lower APR than the CC's have, would he volunteer his info then? You could use the info to 'look for the best loan', and it could just happen to throw up some results on balance transfers perhaps? Maybe the site you checked on looks for loan deals AND balance transfer deals? Just thinking it might be a way of getting the info he won't give up and you can check for a BT?
If you don't want to be sneaky, then maybe ask him to ask his accountant re the soft search on the card eligibility website. See if the accountant can reassure him at all.

getmore4less

Get your credit reports.
If you are linked(any joint accounts) you will get a lot of info an see the different searches.



As a shareholder you should see the public accounts, they should be filed at companies house you can look them up.

You have house full of kids assume they hear everything.

enthusiasticsaver

I am not surprised you are angry. To be honest I would be furious with your OH. He is talking remarkably casually about going to prison and has been so obstructive with everything you are trying to do to get your finances back on track. You have your children to take care of too so I would be getting your own search done as it will show linked accounts even some in his name. Noddle will be your friend here and MSE recommends others.

If you are a director in his business you must get involved more with accounts. Make sure you attend meetings with accountant. Is the car you are buying for him or you? I would say the hire car is going back at the end of the month so he needs to sort something out. Have your PIL set a budget? I recently bought a used car for my daughter and SIL after they had their first baby and my daughters car was just a three door corsa which hardly held anything. I told them how much I would give them, they got a valuation on the corsa and their new car was sorted within 2 weeks.

[Deleted User]

Hi Forward Thinking,

I read your threads and have now subscribed to this one, I wish you all the best in your debt-busting journey! :money:

I have been using a free app called "Expense IQ - Expense Manager" to sort out my accounts and get bill reminders. The free version was great. I have now gone premium and use it everyday, it is really helping me manage my budget.

thegreenone

I have some cc debt that DH doesn't know about and I wanted to move it to 0%. Trouble was I wasn't working, so how? Doh, I'm a shareholder of DH's co. and pay tax so I applied to my bank for a cc and was accepted immediately and BT'd a chunk. Two days later I applied for another card and was accepted. They asked why I'd put Housewife for my occupation but salary as a tidy sum so I explained and was accepted. I've BT'd another chunk and all will be gone in seven months. Yes, I know he should know. Nothing stopping you doing a soft search solely in your name and your dividends and see what happens. I should add though, it is years since we applied for credit.

Forward_thinking

Thanks greenone. That's really interesting and something for me to discuss with OH. I asked if he had thought about transferring our cc debt and he said he had given it some thought in the bath - that it's not something that can be done sitting down. What a fabulous idea for a two hour soak - but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Slight progress on the car. We found one this morning and decided to call the owner. OH was all up for it and willing to drive there today. However, they had had dogs in the car on a regular basis and two of my children have bad eczema with animals a contributing factor so we decided to leave it. But the good news is if I find another suitable car nearby OH will be willing to go and have a look.

Felt guilty about what I wrote re OH yesterday and won't write that again. He is a great husband and works incredibly hard. Just completely hiding his head in the sand re our finances. But you know, I really believe we can do this together in a relatively short space of time. OH is up for a £200 a day increase in his salary with luck and with me on board we can be pulling in well over £160k each year. We are in an incredibly fortunate position although we have both been studying for decades so it's not just good luck. I really believe we can do this but we need a plan. No-one reaches their goals by luck! It is achieved through sheer hard work and vision. We are ready for the hard work but the vision is lacking. Severely lacking! Off to do the housework - missing my old life of holidays and happiness.