We’re all guilty of overindulging at Christmas, tucking into delicious food and treating our loved ones to presents. However, there comes a time when we all need to take a moment to review our finances and cut back on the excess spending.
There are many things you can do in order to get your finances in shape after Christmas. Our mortgage and protection adviser Kieran McKay gives his top tips:
Monitor your credit file
Sign up to one of the big three credit rating companies in order to monitor your credit file. Make sure to constantly review it, checking that there are no errors. It’s important that you do this because if you have a mark on your file, even if it is incorrect, it could negatively impact you when trying to get credit in the future.
Budget
Draw up a budget of all your essential outgoings, as well as any extra expenditure. Make sure to stick to your budgets rigidly. If there are any non-essential outgoings that do not fit in your budget, be disciplined and cut back your spending on these.
Be mindful of existing credit agreements
Make sure that you don’t exceed credit limits and ensure you make your payments on time. It’s also important to review your current credit facilities, as it may be that you’re paying more interest on your existing credit cards than you need to be. However, bear in mind that it’s important to minimise credit score applications as this can negatively impact your credit rating.
Monitor your bank accounts
Check your accounts on a daily basis to make sure you can track what’s going in and out of your accounts. Set up alert messages where possible so that you can quickly react to unexpected events.
Consider remortgaging
It may be that you’re paying more for your monthly payments than you need to. It’s worth checking the term of your mortgage to see if your fixed deal has ended, as you may be on the standard variable rate which is usually higher than a fixed rate. An adviser will be able to look into this for you and see if there are lower interest rates available to you.
Looking to get your finances mortgage ready? Speak to a specialist adviser today on 0800 652 6649 or [email protected]
You may have to pay an early repayment charge to your existing lender if you remortgage.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
There may be a fee for mortgage advice. The actual amount you pay will depend upon your circumstances. The fee is up to 1% but a typical fee is 0.3% of the amount borrowed.