Jobtube Money

The electoral roll
If you have registered to vote and your credit file does not show this, please contact the credit reference agencies listed at the bottom of this article and they will investigate the matter. If you have not registered to vote, you may want to contact your local authority about filling in an electoral registration form.

If you move home you can tell your local authority who will tell credit reference agencies about your change of registration in the course of the year.

Court judgments
If you believe a county court judgment has been recorded incorrectly, you should contact the county court, quoting the case number included on your file. If the judgment was recorded incorrectly the county court will alter their records. Credit reference agencies are told about any such changes within four weeks, but if you give them original court documents, in the form of a Certificate of Satisfaction or Cancellation, they may be able to change their sooner if necessary.

If you have paid a Scottish Decree, you should send Registry Trust (address below) a receipt or a letter from your creditor (known as the pursuer) to confirm your payment.

If you write to Registry Trust Ltd questioning the accuracy of a judgment recorded on your file, asking for an entry to be changed, you should send a cheque for £4.50 to cover their search fee. They will then tell the credit reference agencies about any change to your file.

For judgments made in Northern Ireland, if you provide documents from a plaintiff to confirm a payment, the agencies will change their records. If you have any questions about the accuracy of a judgment recorded on your file, contact the court concerned.

Registry Trust Ltd.
173-175 Cleveland Street
London W1P 5PE

Bankruptcies
If a bankruptcy order against you is annulled (cancelled) or discharged (that is, you have met all terms), you should send a copy of the Annulment Certificate or Order of Discharge to the credit reference agencies. They will then update their records. If your bankruptcy has been annulled they should completely remove any record of it from your file. If your bankruptcy has been discharged a record of it will be kept on your file but it will show that it has been discharged.

Voluntary arrangements
If you have any questions about a record of a voluntary arrangement you should contact the supervisor who dealt with your case. If you send documents from the supervisor to confirm that the information on your file needs to be changed, the agencies will change their records.

Credit accounts
After carefully studying the credit account details (credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc.) on your file, if you believe any information needs to be changed you should write to the lender concerned and ask them to give the correct information to the credit reference agencies.

Searches
Credit reference agencies will delete searches only when they are instructed to do so by the company who searched your file. If you are concerned about the accuracy of a record of a search, you should contact the company which carried out that search.

Linked addresses
Links between your previous addresses, or any addresses you may use for correspondence, may be listed on your credit file. The link will only be broken when the reference agencies are asked to do so by the organisation that created the link.

CIFAS
If you have any questions about a CIFAS record, write to the organisation concerned. If you disagree with that organisation over the information on your file, ask the organisation for details of the scheme for settling disputes.

Financial associations (shared financial responsibility)
If a financial association is shown, and you do not share a financial responsibility with the other person, or if that financial association no longer exists, you should write to the credit reference agencies. They will investigate the matter and make any necessary change to your file.

Aliases
If any names are shown on your credit report that you have never used, you should contact the company listed as providing the other name, or write to the credit reference agency and they will investigate the matter and make any necessary changes to your file.

Information about other people
If you share no financial responsibility with any other person mentioned on your file you can ask the agencies to ‘create a disassociation’. This breaks any connection between your information and theirs and so makes sure their information is removed from your file, and that your information is removed from theirs. To do this you must give the agencies your, and the other person’s, full name and date of birth, details of your relationship and any shared addresses.

To view your personal credit information that lenders are currently basing their credit decisions on, apply online for a credit report from Experian, the UK’s largest credit reference agency, now.

You will also receive a 30-day free trial to the CreditExpert Monitoring Service from Experian.

Click here for a free 30-day trial and a free copy of your credit report

Posted by Mark at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2005

Survival Skills

Nearly two million workers would be penniless within a week if they lost their jobs, according to new research.

A report from Prudential says six million people would be on the bread-line within a month.

Around 7 per cent would run out of money in just a week if they lost their jobs, did not receive a redundancy payment and still had to pay regular expenses such as the mortgage, rent and bills and buy food.

Around four million (15 per cent) could manage for between a week and a month, while 30 per cent (eight million) could cope for up to six months.

A further 3.2 million (12 per cent) would be penniless within a year and 1.6 million would last between one and two years.

Only 10 per cent, or 2.7 million, have the resources to survive longer than five years.

Living hand-to-mouth

The research showed that it was not only young workers living hand-to-mouth. Only 30 per cent of those nearest to retirement (aged 55-64) said they could survive more than five years without dipping into their pension fund.

Anthony Frost, from Prudential UK, said: "The fact that over half (52 per cent) of UK workers couldn't survive for six months after losing their jobs clearly demonstrates that the message about saving more isn't getting through.

"As a nation we are far too apathetic about money. The problem is that it's only when something unexpected crops up, such as losing your job or unplanned medical expenses, that the real and often dire nature of our financial situation is revealed."

The research also shows that 9 per cent of people hope to finance their long-term future by either marrying into wealth or receiving an inheritance.

A total of 1.14 million people aged between 18 and 50 have their fingers crossed for a wealthy spouse, while a further 1.3 million plan to survive by receiving their money the old-fashioned way - from their parents.

Mr Frost added: "Lack of awareness, inertia and procrastination are all at work here.

"Worryingly, it seems that some are also living in hope by relying on little more than luck or a fairy godmother to finance their long-term future."

Research was conducted by TNS on a representative sample of 561 adults nationwide.

Posted by Mark at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2004

How to cope with Redundancy

Ten steps to deal with Redudancy:

1. Check your legal position. It’s not the first thing you’ll want to do after that talk with the boss (or the consultant hired to do his dirty work), but it’s important (see box). Redundancy is not the same as being sacked and it comes with a number of statutory rights, plus whatever is specified in your contract. If you disagree with what you’re offered, you have only six months to do something about it.

2. Check your financial situation. Know your costs. Find out what your payout will be and whether you will have to pay tax on any of it (generally you will if it’s more than £30,000).

3.What else can you get? Check your contract. Your redundancy might be negotiable. Perhaps your former employer will let you keep your laptop, or throw in a career-coaching session.

...

To read the full article: How to cope with Redundancy

Posted by Mark at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)