We are in the midst of organising a car through a salary sacrifice scheme (Tusker) however it is my partner who is doing it and she is pregnant.

The gross monthly payment for the car is £680 however when tax savings etc are included it goes to £380.

My question is regarding payments and cost during maternity pay. Her work pays full 3 months and 6 months statutory maternity pay.

During this time, will the cost of the car be £680 per month due to no NI or tax savings, or will the monthly payment continue to be £380?

Struggling to understand it and after researching, I can only really find ones talking about going under the threshold for payment which I don’t think is the case for us.

Thanks in advance!

I recently got a job offer, and they gave me two options: a £ 500-a-month car allowance (taxable) or a company electric car where you can charge at the office, with everything handled (servicing and insurance). Still, they will deduct about £20 from my salary. I passed my driving test back in February, so I’m not quite sure.

Hello everyone,

As the title says I’m 21 years old in £7.3k worth of debt spiralling from a mix job loss earlier on in the year and chasing losses on the markets.

Now before anyone berates me I’ve learnt my lesson. A little background on the market side, I averaged £2100 a month over 2 years through investments I’d made and towards the beginning the year greed got the best of me. As a result I lost over £8000 in the span of 3 months chasing losses.

My salary has also taken a hit due to a reduced tax code taking me from a previous £1900 post tax to £1650 post tax.

I have gone through step change and they have offered me a TPP (Token Repayment Plan). Has anyone had any experience with this if so did it help?

My debts include 3 payday loans, one personal loan, mobile phone, Argos card, credit card.

Any help is appreciated

I’m looking for a sanity check on a proposal from a mortgage adviser.

We’ve found a house for £475,000, but our current home isn’t yet on the market. The sellers are keen to move quickly after their previous sale fell through.

Our position:

• Around £375,000 inheritance available
• Current home worth approximately £400,000
• About £195,500 outstanding on the current mortgage
• Existing mortgage fixed at 3.99% until June 2028
• We intend to sell the current home, not rent it out

The adviser has suggested:

1. Buy the new house using a £130,000 cash deposit.
2. Port the existing £195,500 mortgage to the new house.
3. Borrow a further approximately £149,500 from Nationwide on a tracker with no early-repayment charge.
4. At completion, use another £195,500 of the inheritance to repay the mortgage secured against our current home, leaving it mortgage-free.
5. Sell the current home and use the proceeds to clear the £149,500 tracker.
6. Either retain the ported £195,500 mortgage at 3.99% until the fix ends or repay it and accept the ERC.
7. Reclaim the additional-property stamp duty surcharge once the old home sells.

My understanding is that “porting” actually means redeeming the mortgage on the old house and taking equivalent borrowing on the new property under the existing product terms. The old house would therefore be mortgage-free, while the new house would initially have a total mortgage of around £345,000.

The numbers appear to work, but after using £130,000 as the deposit, £195,500 to clear the old mortgage and £37,500 for the temporarily higher stamp duty, there wouldn’t be a huge cash buffer left before legal, survey and moving costs.

Does this arrangement sound normal and sensible? Is there anything important I should check regarding the port, ERCs, tracker borrowing, stamp-duty refund or the risk of owning both properties temporarily?

The adviser also mentioned possible Capital Gains Tax when selling the old home. It has always been our main residence, has never been rented out and we intend to sell it promptly after moving. Am I right in thinking Private Residence Relief, including the final nine months, should normally mean no CGT is due?

Hi All,

Ive been spending a couple of years planning to be debt free, including knowing a year ahead that I would be in more debt (unavoidable 7k Expense that I didnt have, I did it then immediately moved it to a 0% credit card) I also had 11K left on a car.

I have a bit if debt, but I have been lucky in the sense that ai can afford to overpay a lot. Here's a full breakdown:

Earnings after tax: 2.5k

Mandatory spend: 1.4k (rent, bills, food, minimun payments to credit card and card)

Optional Spend: £574 (planned overpayment £200, £300 fun money + subscription)

Leaves me with £464 that I am leaving around £150 as buffer for unplanned expenses and around £300 to put into savings UP until 2K, then it goes into overpayments)

Plan is 2K to have emergency cash for deposit and rent if needed.

____________________________________

Emergency cash: currently 1.1K

Debt at the highest point October 2025 - £23K

Current Debt - £14.3K

Debt breakdown:

Credit card: £420 12.5% APR due to be paid off end of month.

Credit card: £5.5K 0% apr next 2 years

Personal Loan(Car): £8350 [Early Settlement figure £7.5k] 7.8% APR

I've just received around £11k

Here is how I plan to spend it:

£2K - Being sent to my mom (non negotiable, she doesnt know this yet)

£1.5K - Emergency cash to have £3k Total

£7.5K - Car Early Settlement - now, I have a question, overpayments incur no fee but early settlement might, is it worth paying around 7.3K and then just letting the monthly payment finish it off? (I think it's 2 months interest ?)

This will allow me to overpay my credit card with 0% in about 6-7 Months and be debt free.

Does his make the most sense interest-wise?

Like the title says I have subscribed to two LISAs in one tax year (current tax year). I transferred my S&S LISA to another S&S LISA and have contributed to both. It was a complete honest mistake as I thought it was the same rules as a regular ISA. Today the provider I am now with AJ Bell Dodl have emailed me saying I have 10 days to contact them or they will be "required to repair the account and transfer the funds across to a dealing account." which I believe will mean I will then lose my tax free status on all of those funds.

I have since emailed AJ Bell back to extend the deadline as I am under the impression I need to contact HMRC for a LISA repair.

Do you think that is the best way to go about it or I should take other/extra action?

Thanks all

I have been using iWeb (now Scottish Widows) for a while now for my Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap S&S ISA. I know iWeb used to be one of the most preferable in the market for fees but wondering how it compares now and whether I would be best placed elsewhere?

In terms of fees / activity - I purchase holdings in this fund 12 times a year (maxing my isa allowance each year).

I feel like such an idiot, I recently got married and applied for marriage allowance as my wife doesn't pay income tax. However, I've got a letter updating tax codes and I have somehow gone the wrong way, transferring my personal allowance to her.

I've managed to cancel online but the tax code is in place until April. Is it possible for her to claim as well to cancel this out?

I'm so, so cross I've done this and don't know how the mistake happened.

I have a cash ISA with Moneybox and am on an introductory rate of 4.75% until May 2027. I’ve realised through the advice on this sub that a cash ISA isn’t the best option for this money as I’m planning not to touch it for 13 years (when my son leaves school). I was going to switch to a T212 stocks & shares ISA & after seeing advice on this sub I was going to put it all in the VWRP Vanguard FTSE All-World fund. Should I wait until my intro rate expires? And is this the right move overall? I have ~21k in it right now.

Fairly sure I know the answer to this, but it might be different. You can fund T212 via Google Pay up to £2000 with no fees. Obviously withdrawing cash on a credit card, and certain other transactions, count as cash on a CC and you get the relevant fees. Thinking back 6 years ago, I seem to remember doing it on a CC and it didn't class as cash.

Does anyone know the answer/do this? Obviously you should never borrow to invest, but purely from a transaction stand point, does T212 qualify as cash, or other?

Thanks in advance

Hi! I am quite distraught, I've just received a mail from the HMRC saying I owe them £1,200 for late penalty for filing my 2024-2025 tax return.. I registered as self employed in March 2025, I probably earned £100 then, I had NO idea I needed to fill anything yet! And I didn't receive any mail until now. This is really distressing, is it salvageable? What do I need to do?

Hi,

I earn £33,000 a year salary before tax/deductions. I am paid monthly. I am being made redundant but they have offered me an “enhanced package” to remain with the business a little longer than my redundancy date to help transition.

I am not entitled to a statutory redundancy payout as my service is below 2 years.

They have offered me a £10,000 lump sum payment as the package.

I have had a quick Google etc but really want solid information on this - what tax will be due?

I’m not sure what my tax code is but can find out if it’s necessary.

Will I be taxed at my normal rate and will it affect my overall earnings for the rest of the year? My main priority is to not get a huge tax bill after April!

Appreciate the help!

I'm looking to move my money elsewhere, as the promotional period with my current provider will come to an end soon. I was just looking at some of the options available as of now.

- LemFi easy access, 5% AER, with 6 months promotional period

- Cahoot and First Active both hovering around 4.52%-4.55% AER, 1 year promotional period

- And the rest of providers also offer competitive rates, but slightly below Cahoot and First Active

So my question is, does anyone have any experience with any of these? Especially LemFi, as they seem to be more of a service for UK expats sending money to developing countries, mostly in Africa and South Asia, rather than a standard Banking service?

After a slight misunderstanding I registered as a sole trader despite earning less than £1000 last tax year from my self-employment.

What is objectively the cheapest way to obtain a car in the U.K. Would buying a second hand car that is 4/5 years old be cheaper in the long run than leasing a car?

If so, can someone explain how the costs work out?

I'm considering buying some land for approximately £40k

I have this amount in my ISA already, but I'm considering a personal loan for half the amount at 6% APR.

Would this make the most sense in the long run, or should I spend my entire ISA instead?

My ISA is currently split £20k cash, and £20k stocks and shares.

The land would be for recreational usage, so upkeep should be low.

tl:dr will ISA earnings outpace the cost of a loan?

Hello
I’ve got about £3k worth of credit card debt and just been offered a 0% balance transfer but only on £900. Is it worth moving it or is it better to keep all the credit debt on one card?
I’m not sure I like the idea of having loads of cards with little bits on - the sim I’d just to clear it.

So I have a lot of debt through unfortunate life events. Currently £800+ a month in payments to various places. Was looking into a debt management plan via Stepchange. However, my only hangup is that we have a mortgage. We need to remortgage in about 3 years. I'm swinging between taking a huge stab at these debts on my own and therefore it not impacting my credit score, vs getting it managed in a controlled manner but then having a terrible credit score, which will impact our mortgage options when its time to remortgage.

Is there a better option here? 2 of the debts are currently on track to be paid off just before remortgaging time. My car finance finishes next summer which I can then use to slam into some of the other debt too.

Hi!

I tried to post the other day and got sign posted instead, which was actually extremely helpful and I've been reading through the material. But when going through the info, I've become a bit lost.

I'm on an extremely low income, no debts etc and looking to start saving an emergency fund. It'll be small and irregular amounts, up to £200 but probably closer to £50 to £100. I can't find advice specific to starting savings like this. The default assumption is that someone is able to regularly save and has a normal income, or has some kind of assets already. None of that applies to me.

I can see that premium bonds don't seem to be worth it unless you have a decent amount in them, and I can see that regular savers have higher interest, but there may be months when I can't afford to put anything at all aside.

I have a flexible saver linked to my current account, but I mostly use this to put money aside when it comes in, then transfer it back when I need it. I think I would benefit from something more separate. It's also only got a 1% interest rate.

Is my best bet to find another flexible saver/instant access savings account with a better interest rate?

Am I missing something/ is this legal and are my maths correct….
I’ve just successfully opening this morning 2, 0% credit cards with 23 and 24 months 0% interest on purchases with a combined credit of £26k
I have the ability to max these out on business expenses immediately and often use credit cards for rewards this way.
Can I just dump this money in a savings account (perhaps premium bonds to save on tax) and at 4.5% make a free £1170 a year….? Do the same for my wife and assume she gets the same credit limits just collect free money for 2 years?
What’s the catch and is this legal?

I'm being hired by a US company as a UK based freelancer paid a monthly fee of $6200, but it's an ongoing contract so I'm basically an employee without any of the rights or benefits.

I was wondering if it's worth setting up a limited company for this level of income? I work it out ot be roughly £55,000 annually but is paying the 19% corp tax + accountancy fees worth it?

My understanding is I should take dividends quarterly to avoid HMRC attention, is this correct?

Am I right in thinking student loan would come out of my post tax profits? How does that work in terms of reporting?

Hello all, hopefully a fairly straightforward question about workplace pensions.

I've been enrolled in my companies workplace pension since I started with them 8 years ago, they provide a 4% match which I have been signed up for since I started. I was checking the pot recently and noticed that alongside the monthly contributions, it is charging me around £7.50 a month for both an "Administration charge" and a "Sale of investment fund" for the same price, so around £15 a month total taken out.

The investment fund is listed as "TPT Target Date Fund 2059 - 2061"

My question is are these fees normal for workplace pension schemes? And is this scheme decent enough to leave running automatically? Or should I be taking more charge of where the money is going?

I expect to be working into my late 60's at least so I won't be touching the pension for another 30 years if that changes the answers at all.

Thanks.

This morning I received a payment from RBS collect Rep, and I've got no idea why. I tried calling the bank but they can't give me anymore information and I don't want this money in my account if it's not mine.

I'm overseas and update SLC annually on my income.

First few years I've not had to pay as I've mostly been backpacking and only working part time here and there. Now I've got full time work for the first time in a while and updated them in June as that's my usual annual review (they emailed me to prompt me to update them).

From my calculations I'm probably going to need to pay like £35 a month but I've been waiting on them to confirm the amount but I haven't had a wink out of them .

Should I sit and wait, have I got lost in the system, should I chase them?

Any advice from people with overseas SLC experience who have had similar issues where they have gone quiet after declaring earnings would be appreciated. I'm just worried I'll be stung with a huge bill and they'll make it out like it's my fault when I'm the one waiting for them (and obviously I equally don't want to chase them actively, we can all dream of being lost in the system)

Hi all,

I recently fell into some debt with StepChange recommending the best course of action to be requesting a payment suspension of 6-12 months with all my creditors.

I just spoke to HSBC on the phone with whom I have a credit card with nearly maxed out at £8,000

I requested a payment suspension and mentioned StepChange recommended it.

After spending about 30 mins answering questions about my situation, income, expenses, etc they said they’d be able to put on on a “long term affordability plan”

This plan would see payment froze for 6 months with no interest or late fees accrued. Great, I thought — but then they said this:

I’ll regularly receive “arrears notices” by post, eventually receiving a “final notice” letter within 6 months time, in which (from my understanding) if I can’t pay the entire balance, my card will be defaulted, wiping my debt but keeping it on my credit profile for the next 6 years.

Has anyone ever heard of this? The call connection was poor in some points so unsure if I’ve misunderstood something, but StepChange recommended a payment suspension specifically to me to avoid having something permanent on my credit profile, but now it seems I’m in some sort of arrangement that will do exactly that

Whilst writing this post I even got a notification that the HSBC card could no longer be used on apple pay

They mentioned if my financial situation changed in the next 6 months, to call them and a new arrangement could potentially be made.

Is this a known arrangement / can anyone explain exactly what has happened here?