EDIT: A lot of people here saying this has always been the case on card transactions. I have looked this up and it does appear to be common place in most of Europe but more new in Portugal, and has been more aggressively marketed in the last year:

Reduniq Blog - so it is pretty new in Portugal, especially the second press to confirm rejection. The blog is crazy as presents it as an excellent opportunity for the customer and a revenue generation opportunity for the trader.

*\\*

Probably obvious to most people here but the difference still surprised me when I went to the trouble of doing the maths. I can’t share the screenshot and photo on this sub so:

I took €90 out in Portugal yesterday on a card with fee-free foreign withdrawals. The ATM offered to convert it to £87.67, with a 13.5% markup, which is absolutely standard for a foreign ATM.

I rejected it and my bank charged me £77.24. So £10.43 saved on €90 just by pressing reject!!

I’ve also noticed something new in Portugal this trip which is that contactless terminals in restaurants and shops are now offering the same EUR/GBP choice.

I’ve been coming here for years and haven’t seen that before. One waiter actually selected GBP for me once I had paid contactless (he was holding the terminal), which added about £5 to the meal.

Worth keeping an eye on the terminal and always selecting the local currency.

Mum came to the UK as an asylum seeker when we were 4 and 5 years old. X2 daughters - me and my sis. We are now 30, so this was around 26 years ago.

She worked for around 10 years then had to stop due to racial abuse, physical injury, resulting in PTSD, spcial anxiety and the list goes on.

Single parents btw. No qualifications really. Passed life in the UK and speaks broken english. Well enough to survive and have a chat here and there.

Got all the benefits and things you get in her position. She needed them.

We continued to live with her and still do...

We have done well. Both daughters went to uni but lived at home. Couldnt afford moving out.

Some of our uni grants funded groceries etc. Sent money back home.

I am a junior doctor working full time in rotational training.

My sister is a nurse.

We both work full time.

Problem:

She stopped her benefits last year because she feels her health mentally is better, and it is, she can leavr the house now. We all still live together.

Me and my sister have been paying the rent and all bills and pay for everything.

Her car, petrol, groceries, her clothes, her insurance, all of it. She has no source of income and 0 savings.

She refuses to work and i honestly dont know how she would ever get a job. She has no confidence, and is nervous when trying to speak fluent english. Not good with tech at all. Can just about use her phone.

Her mental health history has limited everything in her life. She is really antosocial.

We still live in a rented house with her.

My sister and I want to find partners, and get on with our lives.

As a doctor, I am limited with where I can work. I have turned down excellent job offers cos I cant afford moving and paying my rent as well as her rent.

I dont have many savings and drive a bad car.

The fear is that I am now trying to apllying for the next step in my training. I will have to move somewhere else. I also want to find a partner and live with him.

My sister wants to do the same.

How on earth will we manage?

We cant and dont want to work full time once we have kids.

But if we dont. How do we afford to fund her entire life?

Is there anything that can support someone like her?

She isnt on benefits.

She has 0 savings, really isnt confident to work, says she doesnt want to, and there is a massive cultural expectation and societal blackmail where we have to support her forever. She is really good to us. She is the reason we left a war zone, and she did it alone.

Our dad was killed when we were 3.

But she is a burden. We have no savings cos of her. And life is always going to be like this.

Dont say "telk her to get a job" because she wont. She will also end up homeless without us.

We are in an awful situation. This will affect our quality of life forever. I havent gone on holiday because i cant afford it. Ny colleagues think I am crazy. I am scared of what the future looks like.

She isnt entitled to benefits. She is deemed fit to work. She willingly stopped them last year as feels she is fine now.

My mental health is affected. I worry about the future. My training (surgery) is so intense. I am constsntly bullied and we dont get paid enough as juniors. I cant be ambitous with training as cant afford to go to excellent centres in better locations. When I move out, I will have to pay for her whole life too. My sister will have to do the same. How will we look after our own kids or support them? Sometimes qe wish we were not born. We have nothing to look forward to.

Hi everyone - I try to be disciplined with investing, but realistically all I'm doing is using popular ETF's and ready-made pies. For my main account in Trading212, this pie is made up of:

• Vanguard FTSE North America (Acc)
• Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe (Acc)
• Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond (Acc)
• Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets (Acc)
• Vanguard FTSE Japan (Acc)
• Vanguard FTSE Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan (Acc)

I'm keen to start to make changes to help eliminate risk in an AI bubble burst scenario, and have read that one of the main ways to do this is to invest in the UK market and no ETF that has a large presence in the USA. Is that correct and are there any specific ETF's to avoid or choose with this goal in mind?

Thanks

Hello, I am hoping to get advice on whether it is still worth it for me to have a separate emergency fund account.

I live at home with my family so don't expect large emergencies but I am the main earner in my household.

My accounts are around:

4k in Premium Bonds (This is what I call my emergency fund account.)

24k in a Cash ISA. (Saving mainly for a house deposit.)

13k in a S&S ISA.

20k in a Cash LISA.

I understand Steps 2 & 5 in the workflow are to build an emergency fund, but I feel like my Cash ISA (that is flexible/easy access) may usurp my emergency fund account. Do I still need the original emergency fund account?

I have also read the emergency fund page, and it mentions it's good to have the account separate to your current account, which my Cash ISA is. I feel like I have a decent amount of cash in my Cash ISA that if there was an emergency and I needed money I could always use that, so I don't know if there is much point anymore of having my Premium Bond (emergency fund) account.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

About 7 years ago I got a letter from Robinson way saying I owed them £1800 for a hsbc debt , now I haven’t had a bank account with hsbc for years and last time I used it as a bank account was well over 20years . Now Robinson way tried for about 2 years , I sent them a letter about it heard nothing , then had hoist for a few years sent them a letter they then went quiet and now Lowell have taken the baton and are now hounding me. I don’t know anything about this debt at all should I just send them a letter , how can I stop this forever?

So I’m a Canadian immigrant to the uk (dual citizenship now). I stand to inherit at least low six figures from my grandparents.
I have a wise account but I have only used it in the other direction (i.e., transferring GBP to CAD for my student loans), and never more than £5k.

I know there is some AML stuff with wise, so was wondering if anyone knew what to do?

I should note, I’m not named explicitly in the will but my mom is, and she died in December so i fall under the “biological children” clause of the will (per stirpes).

And then once i get the money over here, apart from a nice dinner with the husband, and whacking 20k into a stocks and shares ISA, what do I do?

Thanks in advance!

Love, your friendly neighborhood Canuck who has little understanding of money sums bigger than £500.

Hi,

I’m 29F, and last year I brought my first home solo. It’s been a nightmare from start to finish with flooding, poor repairs from previous owner on top of general things I knew I needed doing.

After a year of following everyone’s of advise of ‘it’s always hard at first but it gets better’ I’ve realised it’s not getting better and it’s not going too.

Currently, my expenses are just covered by my income with no wiggle room. I budget everything but it’s plain and simple, I don’t earn enough. I’ve been job searching for the past year, a few interviews but it’s tough out there.

I have £7k in my savings account. That’s everything in the world I have.

How best should I utilise this? Some months I can maybe save £50, others nothing at all. Should I keep it all easy access in case of emergencies (feels likely), should I spend some on repairs even though I can’t replenish the money, should I divide it up?

I’ve looked at the flow chart, and I could lock away £5-6k which would be an emergency fund for 3 months but obviously that leaves £1k to finally get a carpet or do some DIY work.

Feeling lost, and like a failure and maybe I shouldn’t have done this. I don’t go out anymore, I don’t drink or smoke, I turn down invites out with friends. I’m just not really enjoying myself anymore.

EDIT -

I earn between £1600-2000 each month after tax. I work 4 days per week in an office and then some self employed work on Fridays and alternate Saturdays if I can get the work.

Outgoings
Mortgage £490
Gas and elec £103 (I feel like I need to up this to make sure I’m in more credit over winter as I was in debt by £300 in spring and used savings to pay it off)
Water £43
Internet £35
Council tax £133
Food ~£250 - 300
Fuel £150
My horse £250
Total = £1454 -£1504

I try to budget for peoples birthdays, car maintenance (I do a lot of miles per week), small DIY but there’s always something.

The horse is a luxury I cannot escape. He’s elderly and I’ve had him since I was 14. He cannot be sold due to age and issues so my escape from that financial burden is putting him to sleep. I just can’t do this right now, he’s the only small joy or reason to get out of bed some days.

Home insurance didn’t cover the damage as it occurred prior to my ownership (burst pipe left the upstairs flooding for 4 weeks and was discovered when I got the keys). Previous owner (unbeknown to be at the time) is in prison and I’ve had no contact regarding insurance and it’s all been left. I don’t have the money to for a litigation solicitor.

My home needs all new windows and render repair to help combat the damp, condensation and heating efficiency. Yes I had a survey which didn’t highlight anything. Windows I’m going to leave apart from my bedroom which is the worse. Tbh, I’d just like to be able to repair some walls, re plaster and get a carpet in my bedroom.

Hey! Couldn't find the answer to my specific question while searching around, sorry if it’s come up before!

My partner and I are about to put an offer on a house, but we’re expecting to move/upsize before we pay off the mortgage. How does the mortgage interest work when we sell? From what I understand, when we sell, a chunk of the house sale goes to pay off the mortgage and whatever is left is what we keep. But mortgage lenders are anticipating to make a bunch of £ on interest, and a chunk of what we would pay monthly would go to interest, so when we sell does this just disappear? Or do we have to pay extra on top of what we borrowed when selling before the mortgage is paid off?

Thanks very much! Buying a house for the first time is scary when you’ve saved your whole life for it 😬

I got a barclays loan (£19k) which is getting pretty heavy on me, what will happen if I can't pay it anymore? can they lower my repayment at all?

My mum is 58 and has rented for most of her adult life, around 25 years previously. For the last several years she's been living with my grandad, who sadly passed away three months ago. His mortgage free house will eventually be sold, so she'll need to find somewhere else to live.

She currently has around £25k in savings and is likely to receive roughly £125k from the estate, so potentially around £150k altogether.

She's now saying she doesn't think she'll be able to afford to buy and is planning to rent again instead.

This is what I don't understand. We're in Portsmouth and there seem to be plenty of 1 bed flats advertised around £100k £125k, with some below £100k. Obviously she'd need to check lease length, service charges, condition, etc., and keep a decent amount of savings aside, but it seems perfectly possible that she could buy somewhere outright for around £105k–£120k and still retain £30k–£40k+.

Private rent for a 1 bed around here could easily be £800–£1,000+ a month. My concern is that if she rents indefinitely, she'll gradually spend a substantial amount of her inheritance on rent when she potentially has an opportunity to secure her housing outright.

She's also worried about her savings eventually running out and has made comments along the lines of hoping she won't still be alive when that happens, which makes her choosing long term renting even harder for me to understand.

She previously told me that she wanted to preserve as much of her inheritance as she reasonably could for her children, although obviously I understand that it's her money and her own financial security should come first. Ironically, that's partly why I think buying could make more sense, she'd have somewhere secure to live rather than potentially spending down her capital on rent.

Am I missing something here? If you were 58 with approximately £150k available and could buy a modest flat outright for £100k–£120k, what reasons would there be for choosing to privately rent indefinitely instead?

I'm in my mid-20s and used to be pretty decent with money until 2 yrs ago. Now thinking of Bankruptcy. I saw a post a couple of days ago on this sub from a guy in a similar situation too. Gambled away £6k. Got into £14k worth of debt not including my student loans. £2k car, £7k on 3x high interest credit cards, and £5k for a one-off private surgery. I have almost £5k in savings and a 4th credit card with £2k I haven't touched.

I am making improvements. Wrote a budget. Next month I am going to do a £2k payoff settlement for the car and sell it. The insurance and petrol is too much (£500 per month) and it will likely sell for £2-3k. Trains and buses for now. I have moved to a cheaper rental in my city. Cut spending on entertainment, nights out, and subscriptions like streaming, books, gym, clothes, games, classes. Almost 2 years gamble free now. Banned myself from the apps too. Selling some personal items. I receive no benefits or support from family which kinda sucks.

I used to have a good job paying £2.3k but was let go and have struggled to find a replacement in that area for a year. I'm still going to be trying to get back into the same job for 1 more year now. If I fail again I'm going to give up on getting back to my old career.

Currently I'm working for an education agency doing various support roles. I've been making an average of only £1.5k per month after taxes for the last year. I only get paid term time as it's supply. I have tried looking for another job and a 2nd job, but I have had zero luck. Applied for everything from barista to labourer.

Hopefully if I get back my old career and wage, I will be ok and could be able to pay my debt off in under 2 years. If not I have 6ish months before debt collectors start ringing or homelessness. I am researching the bankruptcy options too but I don't think that covers the medical. Any advice would be helpful.

EDIT: added more info.

Monthly expenses (£1.7k)

• Rent £500
• Transport £200
• Food £150
• Others £100 
• Credit min repayments £200 (20-25% interest)
• Surgery £500 (10-month fixed-term loan with no interest)
• Car £150 (1-year remaining)

Hello,

I have a slightly tricky mortgage question. Currently at early stages of planning to get a mortgage - but potentially looking to move quite quickly due to a change in circumstance with my current rental property.

Issue I have is I am on what's called long term temporary promotion in civil service speak. This means my post is time limited and at the end of it the default is to return to my substantive, lower, grade. I have been at the higher grade for 2 and a half years, but will come to the end of my scheduled term in my current role come next March. I could successfully apply to stay at the higher grade, but of course this is not guaranteed. The difference (63.5k versus max 53.7k on current pay scales) is potentially quite consequential to what lenders would be willing to offer.

What salary do I need to quote on an agreement in principle application? It isn't even exactly clear what my salary would be if returning to the previous grade, so hard to know what to quote. I don't want to get a misleading result which causes problems further down the line.

Hi All,

I’m an accounting apprentice who has recently qualified under AAT L4. I am proficient with dealing with basic compliance services in regards to accounts preparation and bookkeeping,

I am writing on here for any advice on providing private services while under contract with my employer. This doesn’t have to be from other accountants but can be from anyone who has a full time career whilst providing services on the side.

I have set up as a ST today but I am cautious of advertising my services on certain media platforms incase of repercussions.

Any advice would be appreciated

Could really do with some help...

Mum is 82, getting divorced. Likely to get £450k from house sale and other bits. Gets state pension and a small (~£300/mo) personal pension. Isn't in the best of health and will probably need some sort of assistance and then care in the coming years. I don't see her living beyond early 90s sadly.

She's not good with finances and has never managed household admin. I'm prepared to help set things up and contribute around £300/mo but I live a long way away and can't visit regularly.

I'm helping look into her options. She wants to live independently but realistically won't be able to after a few years, and wants to own her own home but realistically won't be able to afford what she wants or have much spare income following a house purchase.

I've looked into purchasing, renting, retirement homes/villages, living off savings, buying annuities etc but am totally confused. I think it's likely I'll suggest she speaks to an accountant but wondering if anyone here has any suggestions about what she should/shouldn't be doing with her money?

EDIT: Thank you all for the input. I've learnt a lot! Key points seem to be 1) don't buy a retirement home, 2) speak to an advisor, 3) look into assisted renting and care annuity. I shall recommend all three. Thank you so much 🙏

I've recently had a baby, I want to open a Junior S&S ISA for my baby, I'm thinking of using Hargreaves Lansdown, but I just wanted to pick peoples brains.

I really want to set my baby up for the best in the future where I can, I do all the finances for my household, we have minimal debt, numerous savings accounts with reasonable interest rates, etc and I'm hoping that when my baby is a teenager, I can gradually bring them into it bit-by-bit to give them a start on finances and how to be responsible and understand it all. (I had to work everything out myself with the help of this Subreddit and MSE)

I've never done anything with Stocks & Shares or ISA's so I'm venturing into very new and unknown territory here.

Ideally I'd like to be able to open a S&S ISA for my Baby and not have to worry about any fees or surcharges.

I'm thinking of using Hargreaves Lansdown, am I right in thinking:

• No fees for a Child S&S ISA
• No Account Inactivity Fees
• No trading fees (unless trading via telephone or doing overseas share dealing)

So for example: if I opened an account now, deposited £500 and invested it, then did absolutely nothing until my baby is 18, would there be any issues or charges/fees for this? I'm assuming no but wanted to check in with any parents here that have experience!

I plan to invest monthly, however I always plan for worst-case scenario and always like to think of "what if me and my partner both lose our jobs" and just want to check that I'm not missing anything crazy!

Apologies for the spam and wall of text!

Hey everyone, I’ve had an investment ISA for almost 2 years and it’s nice to see it start growing faster with time!

However, for some reason I have negative cash available to withdraw?

For example today I sold £1000 in stagnant shares and put £900 into a more consistent fund. I am left with £100 in cash with no pending fees. I am able to buy shares with this cash of course.

However if I try to withdraw that cash, it says my available cash to withdraw is -£990? I just don’t understand how I am in debt. I have never withdrawn anything from my ISA and I have less £20k in total so I shouldn’t pay tax as I am under my allowance AFAIK. I am holding a few red shares but I am only down -500 or so in those and I have not sold them.

So I deposited another 600 and I end up with this

Cash: 1600 of which 700 is available to invest, but -390 is available to withdraw.

I feel like I am getting ripped off and I have no idea how! How can I have negative cash to withdraw when I have spare cash to invest? I just cant find any guidance online. I worked so hard and I feel like I am -1000 in debt for no reason I could possibly understand.

Please could someone explain this to me. I don’t want to withdraw, but I want to know why I am in debt.

With the degree I'm doing, I will be paying off my student loan debt if I stay on the pathway but a lot of people say paying a year of university fees upfront is an awful idea. Why so?

Complicated story here so I’ll try to be as brief as possible.

Barclays Bank are my day to day bank.
I have had an account with them for over 15 years.

I have credit cards with multiple lenders/banks
Including a barclaycard platinum.
I’ve used my cards over the last year or so to fund a large renovation. Total remaining across all cards is £6.5k
With availability of approx £40k

I have never missed any payment on any card/finance/mortgage/loan of any kind.

Barclays decided to cancel my regular ongoing payments to HSBC credit card
Which I paid via a standing order set up to pay a set amount each month irrespective of any balance being owed or not. HSBC would simply return anything not owed.

Barclays didn’t notify me of this cancellation
And I found out via a message from hsbc informing me of a late payment. ( 6 days )

Barclays admitted fault and upheld my complaint

As a result though my credit score is plunging now this month
And I have an unjustified missed payment
HSBC Have halved my credit limit. No others have , at least yet.

I am now very concerned of knock on / domino effects of this
Despite it being provably Barclays fault.

What do I do from here/how.

I appreciate any help here

Hi everyone,

I live in the UK and I’m going to start working part-time remotely for a Turkish company. They will pay my salary in Turkish lira into my Turkish bank account. I should be eligible for the UK’s 30 hours of funded childcare, and my daughter is due to start nursery in October for 2 days a week.

My question is: how do I report my income/employment to the UK government in this situation? Since the company is based in Turkey and my salary will be paid into a Turkish bank account, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to declare it when applying for or reconfirming the childcare funding.

Has anyone here worked remotely for an overseas company while living in the UK and applied for the funded childcare hours? How did you report your salary and prove your income/employment?

Thank you!

So I am starting a 2 year part time top up degree this year, and the tuition is being funded by the company I work for. I am still working full time and earning a salary so I don't need to take out student loans by any means.

However, I'm thinking of still taking out the maintenance loan and just sticking it in an decent global index fund, and leaving it untouched for several years/decades. Over the course of many years, a good index fund should outperform the interest gained on a student loan.

So as long as I leave it untouched (which I will, I'm very disciplined with my finances), is there any reason not to do this? Am I missing something? Are there any drawbacks?

Sharesave at work has just matured, and the share price is below the option price. Normally it's buy/sell or withdraw, but as the price is lower then you can't buy/sell right now. However they've sent this caveat:

Take back your savings 

If you want to close your account and take back your savings, you can do so at any time. As your account has now matured, you will still retain the right to buy shares at the Option Price up until the 1 March 2027 deadline, should the company share price be above the Option Price at the time you wish to exercise. 

To close your account and withdraw your savings, visit the company Share Plan Portal and from the homepage navigation menu select My Sharesave followed by Contribution Management and then Withdraw Contributions.

Has anyone been in this position with JP, and done it? Seem very cake and eat it. If you have, and If the share price goes up, what is the process for buying back in, and the timescales? I have a ticket raised but wondered from first hand experience

Hi all, 31F single, no kids, making 32k a year. I bought my first flat last year and started investing soon after.

Used a LISA to buy, so only have £1 in that for now. Maxing out my DB pension, so take home is 2.1k, and I am saving £700-800 a month after all expenses. Currently have 17k in savings split the following way-

• 2.7K in S&S ISA - putting £100 in per week (35%VWRP, 35%VFEG, 30%V3EA)
• 3.2k in Monthly saver - £400/month, 6.25% gross maturing in Dec/Jan27
• 5.7k in cash ISA - should I start slowly moving this into my S&S ISA?
• 5.6k in 6% savings account - Stopped investing when I reached 5k, I think of this as my pet emergency medical fund

Does it seem like I have my money in too many different places? I'm still a little hesitant to dump all my funds into the S&S in one go, but should I be investing more and holding less cash? My mortgage is at 4.33% and I'm currently overpaying around £100/month.

I am enter uni this year and I am looking to put my money into savings. I have £20,000 to put away

my current plan is to put £10,000 in a 1 year fixed rate ISA. The other £10,000 is to be put towards funding two monthly saver accounts with NatWest and Bank of Scotland at £300 a month.

my question is, with the £10,000 going to the saver accounts, what should I do with it in the meantime as I can’t put it all in at once. Current plan is to just put it into a regular cash ISA.

Sorry If this is obvious but I’m new to all this lol. Any advice appreciated.

I currently own a residential property abroad.

Am I correct that:

- I would not be considered a first-time buyer, even if I sell the overseas property beforehand.

- Not being a first-time buyer would not make any difference financially if the UK property I'm considering is above the £500k FTB relief threshold.

- If I sell the overseas property before completing the UK purchase, I would pay the normal SDLT rates rather than the higher additional-property rates.

- If I keep the overseas property, the higher SDLT rates apply to the UK purchase, even though the UK property will become my main residence.

Just looking to verify that I've understood this correctly. Thanks!

Hello, I am just looking for some advice!

I have made my last IVA payment and want to start rebuilding my credit score. I havent had my completion certificate yet, and my IVA company told me this can take up to 6 months. I have been doing some soft searches and have been pre approved for a credit card with a £500 limit. I want to go for it to start rebuilding my credit score as quickly as possible (as apparently me not having a credit card is hurting my credit score). But I dont know if this will cause trouble as my completion certificate hasnt been issued yet. Thanks for reading