Advice appreciated

Boxlord

Hello, all.

I've had several debts over the years, and made several bad choices. My current situation isn't that bad compared to other peoples' (so, please, no negativity), but I'm riddled with ignorance about a lot of things and would appreciate your advice / the benefit of your wisdom!

My current situation is:

Savings
None (yet)

Usual monthly income
£1,300 salary (after tax, pension, etc)

Set monthly outgoings
£500 rent (living "at home" temporarily - covers food, council tax, etc)
£50 Virgin Media
£45 EE mobile

Cards/Accounts
Capital One MasterCard - £1,500 limit, £1475 owing
Barclaycard Initial Visa - £260 limit, £143 owing
Vanquis Visa - £1,000 limit, paid off in March
Littlewoods - £2,375 limit, paid off this month


I was thinking of closing the accounts as I paid them off, but I know that having active accounts that you pay off each month helps strengthen your credit rating. (I've been using one card to pay the Virgin Media account, and another to pay the EE account.) But I also know that having too much credit available too you can hurt it!

So should I close any of the card accounts, or keep them active but paid off?

I have a monthly outgoing on my Barclaycard called "Plan B Payment Protection" - is this a PPI thing that I should be reclaiming?

I had a Capital One account before I reapplied a few years ago, and a Barclays bank account that I closed a while back - should I be claiming on PPI for the Capital One account and over-limit fees for the Barclays account (there were a lot of them)?

I was also stuck in a Wonga loan loop for quite a while, and I've read that some people are claiming back the late payment fees on this too - should I be doing this also?

Lastly (I think!) I'm currently banking with Think Money as it was pretty much the only account I could get at the time. I'm looking to switch.

Any other advice / comments / suggestions would be most welcome!

Thanks

Helvetica_Van_Buren

Boxlord wrote: »

Hello, all.

Cards/Accounts
Capital One MasterCard - £1,500 limit, £1475 owing
Barclaycard Initial Visa - £260 limit, £143 owing
Vanquis Visa - £1,000 limit, paid off in March
Littlewoods - £2,375 limit, paid off this month

You should move these credit card balances to credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers. If you aren't able to acquire a 0% credit card, pay the minimum payment on the one with the lowest APR and throw every single spare penny at the highest one. Repeat until they're all paid off.

Boxlord wrote: »

I was thinking of closing the accounts as I paid them off, but I know that having active accounts that you pay off each month helps strengthen your credit rating. (I've been using one card to pay the Virgin Media account, and another to pay the EE account.) But I also know that having too much credit available too you can hurt it!

Your credit rating is a fictional number manufactured by credit reference agencies in order to sell you their 'improve' services - don't take any notice of it.

Your credit history on the other hand is the information held by credit reference agencies as to how you've managed your credit accounts. It's this information that lenders and potential lenders see. If you take the correct action in sorting your finances out, this will be visible to future lenders.

As a side note, not all lenders report to all credit reference agencies.

Boxlord wrote: »

So should I close any of the card accounts, or keep them active but paid off?

I personally think you should. Others may not agree but the cards you have are used by those who may find it difficult to acquire 'prime' credit cards.

Boxlord wrote: »

I have a monthly outgoing on my Barclaycard called "Plan B Payment Protection" - is this a PPI thing that I should be reclaiming?

If this isn't a service you need or use, definitely cancel it. Only look to claim if you feel you have been mis-sold this product. Claiming just because everybody else is isn't cool.

Boxlord wrote: »

I had a Capital One account before I reapplied a few years ago, and a Barclays bank account that I closed a while back - should I be claiming on PPI for the Capital One account and over-limit fees for the Barclays account (there were a lot of them)?

As above. Claim if you feel you were mis-sold the product, or it was not fit for purpose.

dancingfairy

I would close them down, gets rid of temptation.
I would keep 1 credit card and use it responsibly ( ie use it for food and pay it off in full every month).
Other things will contribute to your credit worthiness such as a mobile contract, being on the electoral role etc.
Df

ViolaLass

That £500 covering food, council tax etc - can you break it down? There could be some savings to be made there.