4 in 10 Brits forget to cancel paid subscriptions

Check those subscriptions as you might be paying for a service you don’t use.

4 in 10 people forget to cancel subscriptions costing British people £338 million per month. 

We’ve all done it, we sign up with the best intentions and then forget about it. Gym memberships, courses on trial or streaming films. Like me, you may be tempted by a free trial but find out later that you are still paying because you forgot to cancel after the free trial ended!

42% of people continue to pay for service they don’t use

A lot of these payments come out by bank direct debit but, which are easier to check by printing off a list of your bank direct debits or going into your bank and asking for a list of your bank direct debits (and standing orders). Direct debit’s and standing orders are easy to cancel at the bank or on your online apps.

However, a lot of online and American companies take recurring payments by credit card which are trickier to cancel and more difficult track unless you religiously check your credit card statement every month. 

In my book, you can read about the ‘3 R’s of Money Management’, outlined in Part 3 on ‘How to Grow and Manage Your Money’. 

As I’ve said in previous podcasts, making money andkeeping money are two different skills.

To cancel these, you have to contact the company, which can be difficult if you’ve lost contact details, all the credit card company.

Calling your credit card company, which is a mission in itself, frequently results in them telling you to contact the company and asking them to cancel the subscription. Not very helpful.

They are also reluctant to refund money or reverse the payment when you inform them that it has been taken in error.

That’s why I like using my Monzo Bank card because it alerts me on my iphone app every time a payment is deducted from my account. Saved me money recently when click funnels were taking too much money from my account as they had upgraded me without my permission.

Check out Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, on Amazon - http://bit.ly/2MoneyBook

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3 Simple Steps To Improve Your Credit Rating

Welcome to Money Tips Daily.

3 Simple Steps to Build Up and Improve Your Credit Rating.

We've looked at how to check your credit rating, but what to you do if you want to improve or build up your rating or if you have discovered that you have adverse credit registered against you?

There are different strategies for people who have a bad credit history, for instance if you have a County Court Judgment (CCJ) of a Default registered against you, and those who have virtually no credit rating at all.

For those of you who want to build or rebuild your rating, here are three simple steps:

1.      Get a credit card if you can or apply for ‘rebuild your credit’ credit card if you already have a poor credit history. Search for card providers which offer credit to people with an adverse credit history. The interest rate could be as high as 40% so make sure you pay them off quickly.

2.      Pay off your card balance in full each month. This shows a record of handling your finances and you will usually find that card companies will offer to increase your limit. Also, drawing cash on your card is not only expensive, but also demonstrates poor money management skills.

3.      Register yourself on the voters list, assuming you are eligible to vote, or write to the credit referencing agencies with proof of address so they can note your residence. This will show lenders that you are registered at a UK address. Lenders also like to see stability, so the more addresses you’ve had in a short period of time, the stable you are going to look to lenders. This can also apply to how long you have held your current account with your bank, so don’t go switching your account every six months just to get a free offer!

If you have a CCJ or a Default you should take steps to mitigate the pain. For instance, you can apply to have CCJ’s ‘set aside’ if it was registered in your absence or at a previous address. 

You can also ask credit referencing agencies to add a note to your file where there are mitigating circumstances, e.g. “the goods we ordered never arrived so we refused to pay to £50 bill”. With hindsight, it would have been better to pay the bill and dispute it after to avoid wrecking your credit history for six years.

The golden rule is never ignore a court or bailiff letter, debt recovery notice, default or pre-action notice or any letters relating to debts, no matter how painful they are to read. Sitting there looking at a pile of unopened red letters is only going to make matters worse.

As mentioned yesterday, avoid being late with payments and use direct debits to pay bills and card payments.

See also: 

How To Check Your Credit Rating

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product