J S W

Bit of advice required please, I am finding it very hard to organise my finances.

Same as most people I have, mortgage, insurance, council tax, gas, electricity, sky, telephone, contact lenses etc etc.

I have no idea of my day to day balance and I really need to start sorting this out.

How does everyone keep their finances organised without it taking up huge amounts of time. I bank with natwest and haven't used their online banking as a few years ago it was more hassle than it was worth.

Now is the time to maybe change bank or sort things a bit better.

Cheers

James

WRX Wannabe

First thing i would do it get ALL your outgoings paid DD from the bank just after payday

This way all/most of the bill will be paid and then you will know what money you have left

beamer

Yes I pay all bills by DD out of a separate bank account to which I pay a lump sum into each month, also have Elect/gas on budget account so pay a fixed amount each month, and I also use Quicken to keep track of everything as well as online banking.

Hope this may help you

ADP

I have a spreadsheet, it basically has my fixed out goings and my incomings I then do some rough calculations on what else I will spend - variables ie shopping, petrol etc etc........it works out pretty well, I dont need to know EXACTLY what I have(I cant judge that b4 it happens anyway), I just like to know the bits I mentioned...

J S W

I have been looking at First Direct, have heard some good reports. Anyone bank with them.

Beemer I like your idea I may well do that.

James

Hanslow

I do the same as beamer.

Work out your standard monthly outgoings (food, TV, phone, etc.), and budget for things that get paid quarterly. Then add a bit of a float and pay that much into a separate account and get everything to be paid from that account. That way you should have enough money for your bills and groceries ALL the time.

What you have left in your current account is how much you have to play with that month. If you don't spend it all, put the remainder for that month in a high interest account and keep building that up until you need it.

Each month you basically start at zero (ish) again, but you know all your bills are paid and you have some savings happening at the same time

P1Fanatic

J S W - get online with Natwest. It used to be use them to dial into but now its a simple goto website and login with username and pwd.

Means you can easily keep tabs on payments, balances etc. I check mine pretty much every day now. Very easy to use.

Simon.

StickyMicky

online banking sorted mine out, so easy to check whats ahppening and when

well worth setting up

yoza

Get your bird to do it.

Get her to pay everything, and you wash the cars on a Sunday.

But you may be asked to foot the bar bill everytime you go out, small price to pay if you ask me.

fast bloke

I keep my finances under control by applying for an increase on the limit on all 9 credit cards every three months That way you never run out


Nah - really - get all the DD's to come out after payday. Remove what you want to save to a safe place and divvy up the rest by 4 (and a bit) take 1 weeks cash out of the bank on monday morning and don't go back near the bank until next monday. It is much much harder to hand over 10 crispy 20 pound notes for a whim purchase than it is to plastic it

Jerome

Absolutely the first thing you should do is stop banking with Natw4nk. I've been with most of the UK banks and Natw4nk are by far the worst. And by some margin.

Once you've changed to First Direct (who I heartily recommend - and am still with), do the DD thing. Changing DD's from one bank to another is always problematical - and it's not always the fault of the bank when it goes wrong.

First Direct do almost everything over the phone (or you can visit your nearest HSBC for paying in cheques etc) and normally the first person you speak to can do everything for you (including a £22k loan in my case).

Make all DD payments the next day within the 1st -28th of the month range after your pay day.

For any bills that will not vary, try to get them paid by Standing Order - they cannot take what they want, only the specified amount.

Avoid writing any cheques unless you absolutely have to.

Bear in mind even Switch payments can take several days to come out of your account (and therefore make you go overdrawn). Avoid paying by Switch if you think funds may a bit low.

If you use an overdraft and are constantly up to your OD limit, set up your account to be credit only - just make sure you don't go overdrawn!

If you have more than one credit card, consider picking one and cutting up the rest - transfer the balances onto just the one card. I assume your responsible enough not to be silly with credit cards, so keeping just one shouldn't be an issue.

Consider paying big annual bills (such as car insurance) by monthly payments. You will pay a credit charge for this, but at least you are a bit more organised - so less likely to incur bank charges or harm your credit rating.

Alternatively, open a savings account. Work out any annual or non-regular outgoings (car insurance again), when these outgoings need paying, and work out how much you need to put in the saving accounts each month to cover these payments when they arrive. Although a bit more hassle, it's a lot cheaper because you don't pay credit charges - you will even earn a bit of interest. You could even put in more than you need to and have a bit saved up for a rainy day!

Now I just wish I could follow my own advice...

BMWhere?

QUICKEN!

Use online banking with HSBC and import statements directly to Quicken! Easy

I'd also bin Nat West, everyone I know who banks with them just gets hassle. I've been with HSBC/Midland for about 15 years and never had a problem. A lot of people I know also talk very highly of First Direct too!

ProperCharlie

i use barclays online banking - i find it very handy - couldn't do without it now. i have 3 accounts that i can manage online: my own current account, the joint account (her indoors and me) that all the household expenses and mortgage come out of, and a joint savings acount. we both have direct debits that go into the joint a/c, and all the bill payments etc are set up to come out of this account each month. there is no switch card for this a/c, and the chequebook is very rarely used. i put any surpluses that accumulate into the savings account, and the money gets used at some point for holidays or work to the house. as my other half is terrible at managing finances (was permenantly on her o/d limit when i met her - managed to get that sorted out but she still hasn't got her head round the idea that you have to pay back what you spend on your credit card ) i take care of all the bills, mobiles and household stuff. has worked a treat so far.

Brit_in_Japan

Regards banks, it all depends on the specific branch. I have to say I've only ever had good service from my Natwest branch. I use the online banking regularly so I always know more or less what balance I have. I also have an Egg online account. I split money between different accounts for different purposes, mortgage, savings, spending money etc. It helps to keep track of things.

Right now I'm working in Japan and getting paid here too. As it costs money to transfer money overseas it would cost me extra to use a UK credit card here, so I only use cash. It's amazing how much harder it is to hand over say 200 quid in cash rather than just a piece of plastic.

BMWhere?

Really?

I know what you mean. I work in Germany and most places don't even take credit card. I pay with cash a lot more than I would in the UK and as a result seem to spend far less too! I just wouldn't feel safe walking around with so much cash in my pocket in the UK though

ali66

Daft question I known - but how safe is on-line banking?

Mark Miwurdz

As safe as you want it to be. By that I mean the banks have gone to a great deal of effort to implement systems to protect you and them but if you log-in to their system and then wander off to make a cup of tea and leave your browser open for someone else to exploit, you're going to come undone. Likewise, if you're in the habit of writing down user ids and passwords and leaving them lying around, that's going to end in tears.

Having said that, there are some very clever and devious people around who will try and tuck you up at every turn so you do need to stay on your toes.

Cheers
Kav

BMWhere?

My German On-line banking is pretty good. The send me a sheet of one-time keys, so even if someone has my username and password, they can't do anything without the keys, although they are printed so could be a security risk.

I know other banks in Germany issue a card and card-reader. You can only log on if you have the card, username and password. Although you're restricted to computers that have the correct card reader.

My UK Business account uses browser certificates. I can install the certificate on any PC I want and its restricted to the user account that you install it to. So I need to log on to the PC using my username and password, I then need to log on to the internet banking site using a separate username and password, then I need another username and password (and the certificate) to access the actual company account. Pretty secure really!

ali66

Thanks for the info,will give it a go as it should make life easier!

thanks ali

Brit_in_Japan

Hey you guessed I should have said I'm still working in Japan.

What car do you drive then ?

ChrisB

I use HSBC on-line banking for my current a/c, savings a/c and one credit card. Quite often have a check each day from work - nothing gets past me

I use MS Money and I haven't missed a CC bill payment in years. A quick check a couple of times per week takes 10 minutes once you've set it up. Money or Quicken is money well spent for approx £30 IMO. Avoids surprises for six monthly DDs come due (ie magazine subscriptions).

J S W

Chris, what is MS Money?

Thanks for everyones thoughts so far, I have applied for a First Direct account and credit card and will give them a try, does anyone have 2 accounts with or do you have to pay extra?

If I can have 2 accounts I will transfer everything to them, if not I will leave my direct debits with natwest and pay some in monthly to cover them and use first direct as my everyday account.

Cheers

James

BMWhere?

I had a look a MS Money when I was looking which package to get. Not much in it between MS Money and Quicken, but MS have already got enough money, so I went for Quicken!

@Brit_in_Japan: (Sorry for off-topic)
I drive an STi8 and enjoy frequent BMW hunting trips on the Autobahn

ChrisB

Hi James,

Money and Quicken are software packages for your PC. Designed for a home user to track and manage their finances. For some banks like Nationwide, Money will download your transactions for you. I manually enter my transactions from the HSBC 'Net banking but I like that - it means I see each transaction and know if it's valid or not.

You can set-up your bills so each month it will show any DDs or standing orders. Then as they clear your account you can mark them as paid. Things like credit card bills it will warn you to pay in time.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/money/default.mspx for Money
http://www.intuit.co.uk/quicken/prod_xg.shtml for Quicken XG

J S W

Cheers mate I will download that when I am at home later

Diesel

>>Make all DD payments the next day within the 1st -28th of the month range after your pay day.<<

BEWARE!!!! There was a cockup recently with the salary BACS transfer at work which made my Amex DD fail. Amex charged £25 and Nationwide £27.50 in fees...

Made me VERY wary of DD's, as if you have a few coming out immediately after your proposed salary credit, and it goes wrong, you could be looking at a fortune in charges - just when you need it least too!

P1Fanatic

Good Advice from Diesel. I would make them all come out of your account 3-5 days after pay day. Although a decent company may pay any interest charges etc accrued due to non-payment of salary.

Dunno what the gripe is with Natwest. Been with them 9 years and never even had a problem with anything. And their online banking seems a lot more straightforward compared to others like HSBC.

Simon.

ChrisB

HSBC used to a installed Windows application but the online 'Net banking is well easy

Steaming Wizard

Can anyone enlighten me on Quicken that was mentioned a few times?

ChrisB

Quicken is a direct competitor to MS Money - linked in my post a few above this.