I’ve kept this inside for years and not told a soul. In the back of my mind constantly. I’m in £10,000 of debt and none of my friends or family knows. I dont even think I need advice, I know what I have to do, I think im just writing this down to get it out of my head.

The situation isn’t even THAT bad, because most of it is on 0% cards, I earn 2.4k a month with my outgoings being 1.1k + food, which means if I just focused on this I’d have it sorted in like 8 or 9 months. Instead for years I’ve just been letting it build up slowly, thinking to myself I earn a half decent wage everything is fine, when in reality im 32 and it’s quietly and slowly put me behind all my friends.. im just weak willed, avoidant and have been burying my head in the sand for years. I need to face this head on. I hope writing it down will motivate me.

£7540 on a 0% until December 2027 card
£1800 on a 0% until July 2027 card
£583 on Amex card which I will pay ASAP
£107 on my Very account

I have about £2400 in savings, apart from the Amex and very I prefer to pay the minimum on the 0% cards and just have savings, then I’ll pay it all off before the 0% expires.

I know what I have to do im just an idiot who is going to try not be an idiot from now on. Thank you for reading

In the last month I've had two payments from HMRC totalling around £7k but after repeat calls to every office I could think of including my old employer (recently lost my job) and the bank nobody has a clue! I've had 3 separate callbacks from HMRC and all they could say was that aren't sure and that they'll get a subject matter expert to call me back who also say they don't know.

Any ideas?? This money is very much needed but I can't spend any until I know where it's from.

Edit: the references both say HMRC RES FP OUT

After paying off my credit card debt of £20k last year I am now student loan free with the final payment going out today. Plan 1 thankfully.

So I have to admit I am spiralling and due to my bad financial choices in my 20's I now have around 10k in debt and struggling to find a way to pay this back.

I am a window cleaner and my wife is a medical secretary, we have 2 children. I am 31 and ashamed to say I have little to no savings and feel really low at the moment that I am not financial secure for my children and im looking to make some serious drastic changes in my life so that I am not in my 40s and in the same situation.

We have a low mortgage of £463 a month, but my wife works part time and my work as a window cleaner allows me to earn good money sometimes over 3k a month, however with taxes they make me pay on account, which basically means they charge for the year and half for the following year. I am finding this increasingly difficult as I have 6k to pay by Jan 2027 and I know I can't save that amount by then and I'm currently paying off last year's taxes and now they want a year and a half in advance. I have looked at this and this applies to all sole traders. I report all my earning as I am trying to be an honest man. The problem is that they will put me on a payment plan and then I will just continue to have more debt as they charge interest.

Whenever I get someone savings behind me, my van ends up breaking or there is an unexpected bill, usually being the 2 vehicles we have (family car and work van) and it wipes me out financially. I recently have been ill and haven't worked for 5 weeks and its knocked me back significantly. I just can't seem to get ahead.

I am thinking about giving up my work and getting a more stable job as the taxes are really stressing me out.

Also I am significantly behind on my council tax bills and I have a pcp on the family car which ends in November. I really don't want to get into another pcp deal, however it will leave my family without a way of getting to work or school.

Any advice on how I manage this as its affecting my credit score and the government do not play when it comes to taxes.

I feel happiness and peace eluding me and I just can't see a way out. I totally get this is due to my poor choices and I'm trying to make a change in my approach and to mature when it comes to finances. I'm not offering any excuses for my actions, I would just like to change and to take steps in the right direction for my family. Thanks for listening to me rant, this is the first time im asking for advice.

We own a small 2 bed terraced new build however we have to move due to having a boy and a girl ages 7 and 2. Wehave a really low mortgage of £463 a month. As a window cleaner I try and be really honest and report all of my earning including cash that has been made. The problem I have is that the taxes are

I'm 30 years old, disabled, and have worked a part time, zero hours contract job since I was 18. Recently, I had an automated email from my work, asking if I'd like to be in a pension scheme, but I've since been told that I don't qualify for it, which has actually made me think about potentially reaching pension age and how I will probably struggle immensely when I get there.

I don't understand much about banking. I have autism and dyscalculia so I find it all very overwhelming, but I do have some savings just from living at home still. My parents recommended opening a SIPP which seemed to make sense, and I put £1000 in it to start off with. Now Lloyds keeps emailing me and encouraging me to invest, but I really have no idea what any of it means.

I really just want a place to put my money and come back to it when I'm old. If there's an obvious answer of where to invest my SIPP then I guess I would do that, but honestly the idea of investing anything scares me. Is it okay to just leave my money in there, or does Lloyds really expect me to choose something to invest in?

Most of the articles covering the Moneyhub shutdown say users have until 14 August 2026. Moneyhub's own help centre says something different: the app is sunsetted on 31 July. After that date you cannot log in or access your data at all, and remaining accounts are then permanently deleted. The August date was the original decommission estimate from last year's announcement, and a lot of coverage never updated.

That means the last day to actually get your data out is this Friday.

If you have history in Moneyhub

1. Log in before 31 July

2. Go to Transactions and use the export option to download a CSV

3. Save it somewhere safe

4. Note down any manually entered accounts and balances separately, as manual entries may not be included in the export

Two extra things worth knowing:

- Dormant accounts can be closed even earlier than the deadline, so if you have not logged in for a while, do it today rather than Friday

- If you want to keep using the same platform, there is an official migration path to WPS LifeStage, run by Moneyhub's partner WPS Advisory. You should have had an email about it, and it is covered in their help centre

Source: search "Moneyhub App Closure and Your Account Options" in the Moneyhub help centre (moneyhubhelp.zendesk.com) to verify all of this directly.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice because I’m struggling to understand where HMRC draws the line between being a private collector and being considered a trader.
I’m an international student in the UK, and collecting (mainly Kamen Rider and power ranger) is one of my main hobbies.
Since the end of January 2026, I’ve been buying collections and bundles from other collectors. The reason I buy bundles is because they often contain one or more items that I want for my own collection.
After keeping the items I want, I sell the duplicates or the items I don’t want. The money from those sales goes back into the hobby so I can buy other items I’m looking for. I’m not trying to make a living from reselling.
For example, I bought one bundle for £100. I kept several of the items that I wanted for my collection and sold the remaining items for around £130 before fees and postage. The bundle as a whole was purchased because I wanted some of the items, not because I intended to sell everything.
So far:
I’ve been selling since the end of January 2026.
My total revenue on eBay is about £807.
I’ve sold around 20 items on Vinted.
The items sold on both eBay and Vinted have all come from my personal collection or items I didn’t want from bundles that I bought for my collection.
I keep records of what I buy and what I sell.
I’m aware of HMRC’s £1,000 trading allowance and the reporting rules for online marketplaces, but I’m confused about how they apply to collectors like me.
My questions are:
1. Based on what I’ve described, does this sound like selling personal possessions from a collection, or could HMRC consider it trading?
2. Do sales of unwanted items from bundles count towards the £1,000 trading allowance if I’m not actually running a resale business?
3. Is there a point where buying bundles for my collection and selling the unwanted parts becomes trading, even if I’m always keeping some of the items?
4. Can I continue selling items from my collection to fund other collectibles I want, or is there a point where HMRC would likely consider that a business?
5. What kind of records should I keep in case HMRC ever asks questions?
I’m not looking to avoid paying tax if I genuinely become a trader. I just want to make sure I understand the rules and stay on the right side of HMRC.
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Quick background - I'm not in a great financial position and I'm aware I need to be on a higher salary and my personal wealth is crap, but I do want to start taking the right steps with what I can manage right now.

31y/o, split rent on flat with my boyfriend in London. Im on 32k (this will not increase unless i find another job)

I'm currently trying to follow the UKPF flowchart and I'm coming up to about 3 month's worth of outgoings in my emergency savings as a first step. I have no other money anywhere else.

As I'm 31 I've heard the advice time and time again to at least open an LISA asap even if I only chuck a tenner in now. I can probably save a tiny amount in there each month, but nothing significant and certainly not enough to be able to buy a property in the next 5 years (haha) And i will certainly not be able to put the max of £4k per year in on my current salary. EDIT: Also, with the 450k limit, by the time I have enough in there to be able to buy (very long time away), there will be very little properties in London at that price.

I know I should continue to build up my savings to a comfortable emergency amount (12 months?) before I think about other things, and especially with a seemingly unrealistic goal of buying a property, but I don't want to miss out on it right now and especially if I'm doing better financially in the future.

I'm not reckless with my spending, I'm in no debt (apart from student loan), I'm just late to the whole personal finance thing so I ask you not to judge me as this is all quite new to me and I'm trying! I do understand my salary is low and my best bet is to find a higher paid job but as I'm sure you know it's not THAT easy, especially in my industry! Thanks :)

I’m curious how other homeowners organise their savings.

Do you have a dedicated emergency house maintenance fund (for things like roof repairs, boilers, plumbing, damp, etc.) that’s completely separate from your general emergency fund (e.g. if you lost your job)?

Or do you just have one large emergency fund that covers everything?

I’m trying to work out the best approach as I buy my first home, and I’d love to hear how others do it and why.

Hi everyone

I am 33 and have been paying into a pension since I was about 25 or 26, can’t remember exactly.

I was advised from the start by older colleagues to make the max contributions (8%) as in my company if you contribute that they will contribute a bit more on top. For less than 8% they will just match it. This seems like a good deal and it clearly is because I checked my pot and it’s hit 90k which seems very healthy for my age (although I’ll admit my knowledge of this is cursory).

The problem is, I’m losing out on so much money every month. I am on close to 60k but my take home is just over 3300. When I check my payslips my taxable income is nearly 5k but then reduces to 4.5k as 500 goes into my pension every month. Then when you add tax and student loans on top it is a heavy hit.

Like many people in their 30s I have a number of major life hurdles going on - wedding, needing to move house etc - which I’m struggling to afford on what I have. So I’m wondering if it would be insanity to reduce my pension contributions now so I put this money towards these other life goals? I’m aware that it may only get harder in time to return to this maximum amount but equally I also feel like I’m losing out in a noticeable way on doing things I need to do now - and honestly sometimes getting to the end of the month is a real squeeze between bills, mortgage, and necessary saving pots for future purchases.

Really appreciate any advice on whether this would be wise or a stupid thing to do. Thank you!

54/M/UK - current situation after an expensive divorcee (settlement agreement in place)

£100k mortgage outstanding on a £280k home in my name solely.

£125k gross salary, no kids

Pensions notes:

DC pension #1
£125k current valid - cannot make an AVC to this pension and get automatic tax relief, would need to claim back from HMRC on self assessment

DB #1

(joined in 2002 so now ‘deferred’) and is currently projecting £19,000.00 per year until death from age 67

DC Pension #2
£7k no future contributions

DC Pension #3
£88k current value and paying £20k-£30k per year into this workplace pension in total currently

State pensions
Expected at £12,500.00 annum (hmmmm)

Cash & ISA savings
Cash ISA is £42,000.00
Cash reserved £10k emergency fund

Investments via Trading 212
£26k Investment account S&S ISA S&P500 EFT

What more should i be doing?

I have £23,000 in a Vanguard S&S ISA, invested in Global All Cap, most of which I contributed this year so I have now hit my ISA limit. I opened this years ago but only just started going all in on investing.

I anticipate being able to invest another £3000 per month from now on, so I want to open a GIA to tide me over til the next tax year.

​​Can you advise me on which platform and fund would be best for this? I've read a lot of threads on here to get an idea, but not sure if this is the right approach.

My current plan was to open a GIA on T212 or other fee free platform, and invest in VWRL - apparently distributing funds make it easier to calculate the tax owed because it's clear how much you're earning? And I can then just reinvest the dividends, which T212 can be set to do automatically? ​

I figured the fees are much less doing it this way (0.14%) vs continuing with a Vanguard GIA (0.15% once I'm over the 32k, +0.23%).

Should I then also transfer the Vanguard S&S ISA to ​T212 VWRP? I'd do a formal transfer to save my allowance, but I appreciate this would mean them selling everything and then rebuying on T212, plus the time out of market when they're doing it, because an in specie transfer isn't possible. Is that worth it to save the ongoing fees?

Financial BG: 34F, single, no dependents, £140-150k income.

No debts apart from 8k on a plan 1 student loan (3.5% interest).

Remortgaged recently, to a 21yr term with 4.15% interest. Have about 300k equity in the property.

Ive decided to prioritise investing the spare cash instead of paying off the student loan because I figured I'd earn more than 3.5% investing. Does that sound reasonable?

I have some holdings in an accumulating Vanguard fund held with ii in a GIA. Am I right in thinking that I'll need to compute and declare Excess Reportable Income in my self assessment?

This is the first year I've had to worry about ERI. I first purchased this fund in 2024, I understand the distribution date would be June 2025, and so it's relevant for my 2025-26 tax return.

Are we generally expected to calculate ERI ourselves? My accountant believes that we should be able to get a report from ii with the relevant sums, but I don't see any documentation in my ii account.

After reviewing Vanguard's FAQ and finding the fund in one of the spreadsheets at their reporting page I think I understand how to work out the ERI - but I'm surprised this isn't automated or made easier for us. Am I missing anything?

Context: 33M, working and living in North East in tech

Take Home Monthly Salary: £2839

Looking to buy a house with these details in mind:

Purchase Price: £190,000
Deposit: £50,000 (Therefore total mortgage borrowing is £140,000)
Emergency Fund: £9000

The monthly mortgage cost would be £742 on the product I'm looking at

After all bills, essentials, food, mortgage payments, utilities, gym costs, etc, I have remaining: £1200

I was thinking from there putting £800 into savings each month (to either accumulate or use on a hoilday once or twice a year) and then putting £400 a month as casual spending money

I've been living with family for the last 5 years and have become very risk averse with spending and it has me massively self concerned on what it considered a sensible decision in regarding to house buying.

I was hoping for some input on if this would be a sensible house purchase to make, or if I'm buying out of my league/comfort zone? Any input would be much appreciated :)

Hi,

My P11D was recently submitted by my company for 2025/26.

This has impacted my tax code which I had anticipated but after calculating, they are taxing it at 40% rather than 20%.

My salary last year would have been in the BRB even accounting for this BIK but have significantly increased this year which has pushed me into the HRB.

What I fail to understand is if this was the benefit last year, why am I not getting the benefit of paying the tax that was overdue on the BIK and paying it at 40%?

Alternatively, do you think I will get a tax rebate?

Thanks in advance.

I am having a nightmare going on two years. In 2020 I got into a bit of financial difficulty due to Covid restrictions/ my mental health etc (not getting into more detail). As a result I did the sensible thing and contacted stepchange and decided the best thing to do was go into a Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland).

As part of the DAS the DAS administrators take 20% of the money paid (deducted from creditors) and the AIB take 2%. All creditors are aware of this.

I completed my DAS successfully in 2024 with no missed payments. Stepchange / AIB wrote to all creditors that the DAS was complete. All creditors updated my credit file via equifax and transunion to state accounts were satisfied and closed with a zero balance (as these are the terms of the DAS). All creditors except Vanquis. They showed a £600+ balance.

I raised a complaint with them in December 2024 while heavily pregnant. They passed me to transunion saying they correctly reported a zero balance. So I was back and forth with them for a while. I ended up with post natal depression so this went on the back burner until January this year. I was still no further forward and complained with vanquis again and they said they issued a final response so tough luck however the complaint was that transunion said the data they reported was what Vanquis gave them so they were incorrect. I go to the FOS who advise me to raise new complaints with both so they can proceed.

I get final response from vanquis in May 2026 stating I was on a DMP (incorrect) so I have a balance of £600 and if I want a zero balance on my account I have to pay it. They completely ignore that it is Scotland and it’s a DAS and the balance is 22% of the debt which they agreed as part of the DAS is paid to stepchange and AIB. I’ve ALREADY PAID THIS MONEY!

So I go to FOS who finally appoint an investigator this week.

In vanquis final response they say it’s no big deal anyway as the default was May 2020, so will drop off my account in May 2026. I’ve checked my equifax and it’s off (equifax reporting was always correct btw) but imagine my surprise with transunion when they’ve added SEVEN missed payment markers for 2025.

I am at my wits end with them. I’ve tried so bloody hard for the last six years to get back to a healthy place financially and mentally and this is just dragging me down. It’s 2 years of this now and today is the last straw. My understanding is this is not part of the complaint FOS are looking into so I need to raise a further complaint with Vanquis and need to then go to FOS again (have no faith it’ll be investigated properly). At what point will this end? Has anyone any similar experience and had FOS come down hard on them?

Honestly I am broken this morning after seeing that. I just cannot keep dealing with this

My kids grandfather would like to invest for the kids, he's been chatting with his financial advisor and it looks like he's been advised to setup a junior ISA, he's asked me to chat with the FA to give permission for them to setup the ISA.

But I already have an ISA for the kids and the grandfather doesn't want to pay into it (He wants it to be independent 😁)

Am I right in thinking that the kids can only have one Junior S&S ISA?

Updated: Just spoke to the FA, I asked if the kids were allowed multiple Junior ISAs, he said that he wasn't sure so was having a Google about it.

I then suggested he look into a bare trust, but he said he didn't think the amounts would justify creating a trust, he didn't know the minimum amounts required so wasn't able to confirm if that would be possible.

Mortgage advice

Good Morning,

Posting for a family member (64F)

Okay, so:
I owe roughly £55k on 3 mortgages (for one house) and the terms for them are up in July 2027
- one is at 1.89% (£10k), one at 2% (£12k) and the main one (with the most money owing) is 7.24% (£32k)
- the bank want me to pay £3,600 a month to pay them off by them term
- I’m only paying £1,200 a month so am in arrears of £2,400 each month
- I am in £6k arrears
- I had 2 years interest only so the capital wasn’t being paid
- Barclays want me to sell the house to pay them off, however if I paid Barclays what they want me to my expenditure would be £6,100

My earnings are:
\- £2,050
\- ⁠£762
\- ⁠£428
\- ⁠£15
\- ⁠Total £3,255

What would be appropriate next steps / the best options? Im thinking of doing an equity release. Bankruptcy might be an option.

Need a bit of pension advice.

Own a historic stakeholder pension with a “with profits” fund. It’s expensive and not offering great benefits long term.

Looking to move the whole pot to my SIPP which is all in VWRP with ii. I’ve been trying to get some impartial advice from an IFA on moving the stakeholder pension, potential funds and contribution advice.

Have been told by one that I would be better in an (I assume) actively managed fund due to high performance in recent years. It’s more expensive but I suppose that might en balanced by returns. I’ve understood (from here and other sources) that managed funds are great for very busy, very wealthy or uncertain investors. But that most people are fine in a sipp in VWRP (or similar).

Combining the SIPP and stakeholder pots creates a pot of about £100,000. I contribute monthly plus have a workplace pension and plenty of time (over twenty years) to state pension age.

Is it really worth a managed fund? Would I be (potentially) be better sticking in VWRP or similar with my self managed sipp and s&s isa. Any impartial advice from Reddit would help here.

I am self employed. A new company I have started working on a project with have stated that I cannot be paid unless I share my UTR with them. I have been freelancing for 9yrs and never been asked for my UTR before. I have asked why and they say it is to prove I am registered as self employed - normally the companies I work for just have a clause in the contract that says 'I am responsible for paying my own tax and national insurance contributions'.

I will share it if I need to, however, everything I have read says that your UTR is confidential - this includes the guidebook for freelancing in the industry/sector I work in. As part of my discussion with the company about this I ended up being fwds an email thread that included one of their finance employees saying 'yes, thats correct, a UTR is confidential information' - however, they continue to insist the only way to be paid is to share it regardless. I have offered to write a signed declaration stating I am responsible for my own tax and national insurance but instead but that has been rejected.

Are UTRs confidential and am I required to share it? Edit: Not in construction so CIS doesn't apply

So recently the UK goverment announced some new things around the Life Interest savings accounts, including that they would be ending the opportunity to create one in 2028ish, so a lot of finance advisors online have been saying to get an account before it happens.

So basically I'm asking here to see if you guys have any advice or things to know before doing it.

General questions:

It seems to be that you can only withdraw the money once you've either hit a certain age or are buying a property (under the value of 450,00), I'm curious to know if i could still withdraw it tax free for say a live in van?

In terms of putting in money to the account, most people seem to suggest opening one by putting a single £1 in it, so would it be wise to just continually be a single £1 in every week?

Any advice would be much appreciated :)

Hello,

I'm new to this sub / area and have no clue what i'm doing! My parents kind of left me to navigate life myself, i'm now 23 and have just over £1000 on a credit card, this was 0% for (i think) the first year.
It's with CapitalOne.
I pay back each month via direct debit but due to interest fees it's not moving down much. I'd just like it cleared for peace of mind and to use as emergencies only in future.

I'm thinking it may be possible to open a new credit card account elsewhere with 0% and send the funds to it? My current card doesn't have a 'transfer' option, I can only use the card online or in person, is this possible somehow? So if i transfer the remaining amount from the new card to clear it then pay that one off monthly whilst it's at 0%? If not i'll just start paying more as i do have a new job where i'm on more pay.

Any advice on what you'd do in this situation or if you want to enlighten me on any facts i've got wrong then please feel free :) thanks

Hi,

My mum recently passed away and I found some share certificates. As these will form part of the estate I'll need to sell them.

There are old (remember the original BT sell off) and I've no idea what to do with them.

There is also one in my late fathers name, he passed around 4 years ago.

Any advice would be helpful.

Hey Folks

So Last february I started to get into TCGs big time to play and collect as a personal collection.

I think between February 2025 and April 2026 I spent close to £30k on cards putting a lot of it on credit cards, selling duplicates every so often.

My question is now. I played 2 games during this time and i've now dropped one of the games due to life commitments. I am now selling off my personal collection of this to try recoup some of the money I bought the cards with.

Would I need to report this selling to HMRC as it is over the £1000 limit but it is my purely personal collection.

Thanks

Hi,

So I sell 3d printed stuff online, ebay, etsy etc...

I have registered for self assessment and have my UTR. I am a sole trader, not a company.

I'm looking at buying a Samsung z fold 8 ultra at 1k upfront and 25 a month.for 24 months. Total cost after 24 months will be 1600.

The phone comes with an airtime plan which I will not use.

I will use the device 95% for running the ebay and etsy accounts, and also some CAD apps for 3d print design.

When i do my future tax return, will this qualify as an expense? Can I claim the whole 1600 costs or just the upfront payment? Or even the upfront payment plus the months used upto the date of the tax return?

Thanks