Lightbulb goes on...

Jacks_xxx

Because you can earn significant cashback for doing so my sweet.

A successful application with Egg would've earned me £35 and hubby changed one of our insurances - to Lloyds - I think and netted us £120.

Check it out honeybun:

http://www.quidco.com/finance/credit-cards/

Love Jacks xxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

You don't need provable income to apply for a credit card. They believe whatever you tell them on the form! (I'm not suggesting you exaggerate but you don't need paperwork, just a reasonable credit reputation)

How much disposable income do you actually have per month? Try and approximate if it is irregular.

Can you get money up front for any of your work or is it only billable after completion? Sometimes a quick way to get cash in is to take on a big job and get a proportion of the money upfront!

protector

Most jobs are private clients and so not what you'd call huge. I did have a huge contract a while ago but that's long since finished.
Everything I do is paid after completion.

Wouldn't want to exaggerate (counts as fraud right?) but my income is between £2000 and £4000 per month depending on how hard I'm working and how much work comes in.
Other than my debts I have no regular outgoings (will be paying rent once in the black) so for now almost everything that comes in can go back out again.


Credit reputation...
Paid off a finance deal about 18 months ago - had made a couple of late payments on that.
With HSBC I've had no problems whatsoever until the past 3 months.

No CCJs or defaults, but on the other hand...
No credit cards.
No mobile contract.
Live with parents.
Far from an ideal credit card customer I think.

Added to the three payments in arrears with HSBC right now things probably don't look rosy.

All that considered - is a 0% balance transfer credit card likely to
be an option? I know it is hard to say but for now at least but I'm not sure what you mean by a good credit reputation.

Gemmzie

On the self-employment front, you're liable for Class 2 NI (£2.20 a week this year was £2.10 last year, not sure before that). Then Class 4 NI above a certain amount plus income tax.

You have a legal responsibility to record keep as a self-employed person. The minimum you should keep is invoices for sales and purchases, receipts for business expenses and bank records.

Gemmzie

Also in terms of income tax, you are liable for a £100 fine plus a fine up to the equal amount of the outstanding tax that you owe (100% extra in fines) and then daily penalties of up to £60 if you have been self-employed for several years.


http://www.taxaid.org.uk/tax_debt.cfm?secnav=2
That explains the correct way to sort things out

protector

Ouch.
£60 per day?
So what, if you were self employed for 2 years you'd have to pay £100, double tax and £21900 per year (£60/day) where you weren't registered????
I seriously hope I've got the wrong end of the stick there.

Will read that site later on.
Thanks for the link.

Gemmzie

Up to, they will take into account certain percentages for being honest, such as I think it's 15% for admitting it yourself not being reported and investigated.

protector

That's absolutely insane.
If I do have to deal with something like that I'll be finished.

Will get in touch with an accountant/tax advisor as a matter of urgency.

chevalier

You mention that you don't have any provable income, but that is not totally the case. You can set up a spreadsheet as from now for the work you are doing currently. Ie have columns for name of project, hours worked, cost per hour, subtotal, total including vat, invoice number and date cheque received.

You should also be able to set this up for work you have done in the past, because you have your bank statements, and this will at least show what you have paid into the account. Can you marry those figures up with invoices?

Even if you can't do the past stuff you can still do the basic spreadsheet as from now. Keep all receipts for materials you have used. Plus copies of the invoices you have sent/will send out.

Best of luck with sorting it. This is all part of getting organised to take control of your finances.

chev

tyllwyd

Um - and (leaving aside the whole not registered issue) when you say that your income is £2000 - £4000 per month, have you taken into account that this is gross, not net. When you budget, you need to be taking a chunk off for tax & NI when it becomes due. A really really rough rule of thumb would be to put aside 25%.