r/UKPersonalFinance

Hi there. I'm in England, 36 yrs old. Lost my job and I'm really struggling to find a new one that's within my skillset in tech. I have 200k+ savings invested in low risk shares, 80k left on mortgage (I pay 1.3k per month at 1.44%, term runs out in 1 year). Have an unemployed partner that's also struggling to find work, and infant.

I was wondering if anyone could advise on what's the best course of action in this situation. I feel like I haven't got the courage to start my own business. Is there any other use I can make from my capital make it last longer or eliminate my need to have a job? Also, should I completely pay off my mortgage? That would be one less stress. Much love and best wishes.

It's been confirmed again for this year. £100 paid out from 10th June onwards.

The past year has been a good one for Nationwide, against the backdrop of acquiring Virgin Money and current account switching.

If you want to check your eligibility, they have a checker on their website or you can check in the app.

How are you Nationwide homies spending it?

I’m 27, I have no savings (as in £0), and I cannot stop myself spending.

I put money aside for specific things, but halfway through the month I take the money out of the savings to spend it.

I am determined to tackle this so have opened a savings account where I don’t have the app on my phone, so I can’t easily access them.

My issue isn’t budgetary (I can cover all of my essential expenditure every month with about £800 left after that), my issue is literally that I just cannot rein in my spending. It’s all extras, crap I don’t need and money I don’t really need to be spending.

How do I break this habit? Aside from the savings, I’m also directing £150 a month to discretionary spending. Thats all I have so I need to choose if I want to make it last or blow it all in one day.

Please please, how can I stop my spending?

Hello, we’re looking for ~£5k to install AC in our house. We have healthy combined salaries (£100k + £40k + 15% bonus each) but as we live in London we also have a hefty mortgage and a wedding to pay for this year so we’d rather spread the cost. We also don’t want to liquidate any stocks.

What are some of the best strategies to spread this cost over ~2 years with the lowest (preferably 0% APR)?

A few options I thought of are personal loans (a cursory glance tells me I can get a 6% APR), getting a 0% credit card (not sure if this is feasible to pay a builder?) or using the emergency fund (not ideal).

long story short, my BF and I are both in our early 20s and work in the same industry. He makes 1.5x my salary income and has a normal saving from his salary. The twist is, his family has been experiencing some financial problems, and he is starting from absolutely zero, unlike most of the people I know.

Meanwhile, I have around a little over half a mil from parents. Should I talk about this with him or just pretend I don't? Or if so, how should I tell? I don't want it to influence our relationship anyhow / want him to feel bad, but once we live together, its not that I could hide it forever?

For the trajectory he is on right now, having this much made by himself is definitely achievable in a few years and I do believe in him. Should I wait a year or two to say this (if he doesn't find out beforehand)?

We are not planning to get married anytime soon but this is the first real relationship and I really feel like I'm in love. On top of everything, he has been transparent about his financial situation with me and I never told him a thing except how much I make from my day job (which obviously doesn't say much).

Hi all, can you help?

My piece of sh*t auntie and uncle live in Spain. I've just been helping my mum with something and seen that they have applied for a loan with Santander UK bank, using my mum's address.

Now, I'm pretty sure they are probably pretending they live there, rather than using it as a correspondence address.

What can I do? Is my mum at any risk (the loan is in their name, not my mums). Should I contact santander?

For the sake of this thread, please assume that I have zero contact with my auntie and uncle.

I need some help wrapping my head around what makes sense financially for my next car.

Usually I purchase a 5-10 year old vehicle for £10k> outright. However with a new role my mileage is now totalling 20k+ a year. By the time I’ve had the car for 3/4 years and put another 80k onto what will probably a 60-80k car, the depreciation on a car nearing 200k miles will be minimal.

I’ve always been adverse to PCP for obvious reasons but I’m starting to think an EV on pcp speculatively saves more money on fuel and maintenance.

Does anyone have any advice or has anyone been in a similar position?

I’ve almost finished my 2nd year of uni and I’m really starting to panic about the 3rd year. I have no job. I’ve been applying for the last 4-5 years and have been rejected from every single one. I’ve probably applied for a few hundred jobs within that time. I’ve looked recently and most places that are hiring are either too far away or I don’t qualify. My mum works a minimum wage job so I already feel bad asking her for help as she’s kinda struggling financially herself.

I’ve reapplied for student finance but since I’m going into my 3rd year, the max amount I can get seems to be around £5k, the past 2 years I’ve gotten £10k. I need around £750 ish in August for my accommodation, the full amount for that is around £9k, it’s already fully booked and I can’t cancel. Conveniently, my laptop completely broke like 2 weeks ago so I would also like to save up to get a new one, especially because my dissertation is next year. I did look into getting it fixed but it’s gonna cost around £800 so seems kinda pointless.

I managed to get help from the financial support team at my uni this year, the max amount they can give is around £2k. I’m really stressing because I won’t be able to afford my accommodation, I definitely don’t have enough to live on for next year and also I’m not too hopeful about getting a job since I’ve been rejected from every single one.

If anyone has any advice that would really be appreciated!

I understand that usually investments outperform and therefore growth takes priority over mortgage debt, however these are my circumstances.

Mortgage is £960 per month. £190k outstanding and 24 years to run at 2.7%.

It expires in December and will go up to c5%, pushing repayment up to about £1,200.

My issue is I have £130k from a business very recent sale that’s currently cash. If i put it into invesments its 24% capital gain and a HYSA is 40% on growth.

So ultimately in my head it’s whether the growth MINUS those rates equal more than 5%? If not then overpaying the mortgage feels more sensible?

TIA

New house, currently renovating, needs a new boiler. The house is quite large at around 172sqm, probably more than double my last house, so not looking forward to the energy bills.

Given that the boiler needs replacing anyway, I’m weighing up alternatives. Considering solar panels, a battery and a heat pump. Had a couple of quotes and think I could get the system installed for under £20k. I’d have to borrow to finance this so am considering a secured loan with my mortgage lender (they don’t offer any green initiatives like some do).

Having ran the numbers in copilot it would seem that the cost to repay the loan would be almost entirely offset by the combination of solar, cheap overnight tariff and a well designed heat pump.

Once the loan is repaid then I’d likely be £2k or more better off per year.

On paper this works, but still feels risky. The main concern is that the secured loan would make remortgaging more difficult, though we got the house for a steal due to its poor state so should get into a lower LTV bracket when the time comes, making it easier to consolidate the loan into the mortgage. Any downsides to this?

Good evening,

I am currently in the process of separation. According to my wife there is no chance on reconciliation. I am trying to set up financial separation so that things are cleaner down the line.

My main concern is how to split joint expenses due to our salary disparity. She currently works 4 days a week, entirely by her own choice, she could have been working 5 days but wanted a day with our children. Due to this I am earning just under 60% of our household income.

I am happy to split all expenses 60/40 as if I didn't then she would have no money left over and that is not fair.

Main concerns for me to make this fair:

1. Should I be compensating her for that day she has off at nursery rates? I don't know quite how that should work.
2. I am a teacher so obviously I do and will continue to do childcare during school holidays. It feels weird for me to ask that compensation for that even enters the equation as they are my kids and I am not sacrificing potential salary during those weeks.
3. I still absolutely love her and am still in the deluded position that this separation may be recoverable. I feel this is cloudng my. normally, solid reasoning in this.

Any advice is welcome. She hates even taking about finances and has just always let me take care of it but I don't want to, even inadvertently, take advantage of her.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: despite seeing multiple replies here I can only see two of them. I also can't see my replies to those. Not really sure what's going on but thank you to anyone advising. I will hopefully be able to respond to you all eventually.

Hello all,

I'm hoping for some advice in regards to my debt.

I have about £30k in consolidated debt, which I am paying off at about £650 a month

I am about to get about £5k in cash do I:

Put the 5k paying off that debt

Put it into savings an accrue interest

Invest it into something safe

Something else

The debt was from bad habits which I have now stopped and I just really want to get rid of it.

My bills including the debt is about £2600

And I am making about £3400 a month.

Any helpful advice is much appreciated

Edit: There is 0 interest on the debt as I have consolidated it all into a personal load and am just paying £650 a month towards it

Edit 2: I'm about to break the news to my wife, wish me luck...

I've worked part time for my employer since 2019. I've been paying into my pension since November 2019.

My contribution fluctuates with my hours but its approximate £25 to £40 p/m.

In 2020/2021/2022 I would regularly get letters from NEST saying they've reported my employer for not contributing.

I moved house and forgot all about it.

Today I thought I would check it out, so I rang NEST because I couldn't make an account. I find out my employer last contributed in December 2025. Not only that but my 'pot' is at a dismal £190.

I asked my employer for my payslips for the last few months because he never sends them to find out im still contributing and have never stopped.

My question is: 7 years of contributions and my pot has nothing in it. How is that? I may have misheard the advisor but surely that's not right?

So today I logged onto the Child Trustfund account I had. This is 2 months after my birthday as I wasn't aware I had one until recently.

At first it showed I had a lot of money in the account and I verified my identity with a passport, but I had issues verifying my bank account details as it didn't accept them.

For like 30+ minutes I tried to figure the issue with my card out and decided to just send in a photo of a bank statement on the website. But as I was logging back on to send in the bank statement the account suddenly said £0.

I looked at the transaction history and it said repurchased, and I got an email saying they had withdrawn the money from a request, which is really confusing since I hadn't put in a request AND the website hadn't let me enter my bank details since it kept rejecting it.

No one else except for me have had access to the account or even saw how much was in there today and no request to withdraw have been entered.

I’m looking for realistic advice from people who may have been through something similar, rather than judgement.

During lockdown my finances spiralled badly due to a combination of depression, gambling and relying on high APR borrowing to stay afloat. At one point I had a remortgage lined up which would likely have consolidated everything and stabilised the situation, but it was declined, and things deteriorated from there. The worsening debt situation is what ultimately destroyed my credit file.

Ironically, I’m now earning the best money I’ve ever earned. Household income is around £90k. My mortgage balance is only around £40k and the property value is likely around £130k–£150k, although repairs and maintenance have been neglected due to the financial pressure.

Affordability itself is not the issue. If this debt was structured sensibly against the house, I could manage repayments comfortably. The problem is that I’m trapped in expensive short-term debt and constant pressure, which keeps dragging me back into bad habits whenever things become overwhelming.

I also urgently owe money to people who genuinely need it back, and that’s my biggest concern right now.

What I’m trying to achieve is breathing space:
- clear or consolidate high-pressure debts,
- repair the house,
- buy a modest second-hand car,
- and stabilise life enough to properly address the underlying problems instead of constantly firefighting.

I understand people will say “don’t borrow more to solve debt,” but I genuinely believe a structured long-term solution would completely change my situation compared to the chaos I’m currently stuck in.

Has anyone here recovered from a situation where:
- income and equity were good,
- but credit history became badly damaged during a short difficult period?

Were you eventually able to remortgage, use specialist lenders, secured lending, or another route to rebuild?

Made redundant last August. Age 64. Plenty of savings and full state pension coming when I'm 67. Healthy amounts in pension pots, which I'm not currently drawing on

Liquid savings are enough to be going on with for a couple of years.

Sometimes I see an interesting looking 0% credit card deal. When I was working, eligibility checkers showed 100% chance of getting most cards. But now..... I show 0%

I'm currently allowing myself £3k per month (includes £1,200 mortgage payment) to live on.

Thing is, what do I put on the income side of the eligibility checker? Am I now locked out of credit for the rest of my life?

So I took a loan of £11k when I was 19 and I have to pay it back by next year around June. It doesn't have interest on it. Right now, I am working full time, and after everything I am left with around £300 - £500] per month. But, even if I put the extra money aside, I won't be able to save and pay back the debt by next year June. So is there any way I would be able to clear it if I start trading or investing into cash ISAs, EFTs. Moreover, I want to at least put some cash as savings too even if they are little as I will be going to Uni next year. So do I put them in cash ISA?

Some context :

1. I am not with my parents so I have to do it on my own.
2. The £11k was for something personal and went into a right place so no questions regarding that.
3. I am not looking for anything quick get rich in 1 month but I need to pay it back.

Would I be able to? Everyday, this £11k amount keeps eating me alive... Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Hey guys,

Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm just panicking a bit and Google isn't offering much help.

I'm 27, I moved in with my partner in October 2025, obviously opened accounts in my name (broadband, TV, Utilities, etc), prior to that I also opened my first credit card in September. My credit limit is 4,000. (EDIT: just to add it's a 0% credit card for 24 months, and i aim to have it paid off way before that deadline, though I recognise this may have been a bad choice to cover costs at the time and I wouldn't want to rely on it if I did it over again!)

I have never missed or delayed a payment, and I've never used more than about 35% of my limit. I always overpay, but not always by the same amount. I normally pay just above the minimum on payday, then pay off a bit more towards the end of the month when I know what I've got spare after bills/savings/etc.

I also have a car on finance, which is £60/month and, again, always paid and never missed or late.

I'm an avid checker of my credit score, as my family had a lot of financial issues growing up, yada yada, financially I'm just worried to end up in a similar situation myself.

It's probably worth noting, I did delay registering on the electoral roll at my new address, and I didn't do so until April (I was hospitalised, it was a whole thing that sort of delayed a lot of admin I should have been on top of).

My partner and I also opened a joint account (a current account w no overdraft) to make paying the bills easier, so we are financially linked.

I got an email yesterday that my Clearscore had dropped 387 points and is now sitting at about 400. I just checked my TransUnion score and it is poor. My scores have always been above the average.

How fucked am I? Is it just because I moved? Will it go back up?

I'm not looking to take out any credit or anything soon, I just want to make sure I'm not fucked for the future.

My wife and I share a credit card to maximise points. Every month I have to figure out who owes what, reconcile it against the actual statement balance, and track who's paid. Currently doing it in a spreadsheet. Curious how others manage this, are there any tools that do this well or are most people just winging it with spreadsheets too?

I am a basic-rate taxpayer filing a Self-Assessment return for 2025/26. Because a portion of my income didn't qualify for a tax deduction, my accountant sent me an SA302 showing £1,299.40 in Income Tax due on £20,502 of gross income.

To offset this, I deposited £5,200 net (£6,500 gross) into my SIPP before April 5th.

When I asked my accountant to add this to my return to lower my bill, he replied:

"As your taxable income falls within the basic rate band, there is no further tax relief available to claim through your tax return. The provider already claims the basic 20% tax relief automatically."

I know I don’t get a cash *refund* directly from HMRC because the basic relief went into the pot. But shouldn't he still declare the SIPP contributions on my return to extend my basic-rate band / personal allowance, bringing my actual tax liability down to £0?

If he files without entering my SIPP data, won't HMRC assume I didn't make a pension contribution and stick me with the full £1,299.40 bill?

Am I misunderstanding how Self-Assessment handles basic-rate SIPP contributions, or is my accountant completely missing the point?

Thanks