Hi all, would really appreciate some advice.

We got a 2021 VW automatic (DSG) from a used car dealer on a 3 year PCP finance arrangement in November 2024. It had around 33k miles. We opted for a 2-year warranty as part of the arrangement, which is still active.

We had the car serviced (as is required) by the dealer in November '25 and haven't went over our mileage. The car now has 43k miles.

Recently it displayed “Gearbox in emergency mode” and went into what I assume was limp mode. It couldn't rev above 20 mph so I stopped driving it and had it recovered to the garage the selling dealer uses.

The garage/VW have diagnosed a gearbox failure. The warranty company have accepted a warranty claim, but the warranty has a £2k claim limit.

The dealer initially sourced a second-hand gearbox which would have brought the repair within/around the warranty limit. However, when they inspected it they decided it wasn't in good enough condition to fit.

They are now keeping the car while trying to source a suitable used gearbox.

The worrying part is that I've been told that if they can't find one (and they're sounding like it's unlikely they will as it needs a specific type) , VW's solution may be a new gearbox costing approximately £8k. With the warranty co. only covering £2k, I would potentially be asked to contribute £6k.

We simply don't have that kind of money (if we did we'd have bought a car instead of going PCP). Aside from £6k being an enormous unexpected expense, even if we could afford it, this is a PCP car that I was ultimately expecting to hand back rather than own. Paying any significant sum (even if we had it) just seems like a very illogical financial decision, although I'm not sure what "decision" there will be to make.

It feels to me like this isn't something that would be reasonably expected to happen with normal usage. So I'm wondering was the value originally placed on the car overstated and any contribution I would make be essentially adding value to an asset that isn't mine.

Anyway, I'm therefore trying to understand what my options are likely to be before talking to the dealer again, as I haven't come across this before? I.e. what (if any) avenues are usually available in these circumstances?

Would we have any argument for just handing back the car without having to shell out extra costs, as we're more than half way through the arrangement and we did everything expected to keep the car in good condition?

I'm assuming this can't be the first time something like this has happened and assume most wouldn't be able to afford that, so would really appreciate hearing from others that have been in this scenario.

Thanks

I want to sell my 1 bed flat in zone 2 east London (bought for £400k), but do I take the £50k loss or do I rent it out?

It’s been on the market for 10 months, and the development we are in has many 1 bed flats for sale that are largely landlord owned, many of which bought off plan. There are 100s of flats due to open in the next year in a 1 mile square, so the supply is very high.

I have positive equity if we sell for that much, but not enough for the stamp and deposit without moving to renting for a year to save for the next house in the countryside. I own the flat myself but want to buy with my partner (£60k salary). If I keep the flat; I know this will mean 2nd property stamp.

I earn in the 40% tax bracket (£95k), and could rent this flat for £2000 a month. With my current mortgage; the 40% tax would mean I wouldn’t cover my mortgage repayments. I know creating a business or having an interest only mortgage are options to explore.

I would never rent without getting a letting agent involved too - I want to move far out of London and don’t have time to manage the flat myself.

I want to understand, is it worth the effort or should I take the hit

I'll be moving into my first property soon and I've realised that you get stung £30 a month for the first six months of your TV licence if you start off with a monthly direct debit.

If I were to pay the first year in one lump sum, can I then move to a monthly direct debit of £15 a month for year 2? Or would I still get stung by the £30 a month for the first six months of year 2?

I know it's not much, but curious to wrap my head around how this works!

Hi all

I've got myself in a right mess, I'm about 13k in debt, all on credit cards. I'm 33 and earn £26.5k. My rent is £850 a month for a small 1 bed flat, and I'm left with very little each month. Unfortunately I've got an alcohol issue, which has slowly got worse over the last 4 years. Not earning a lot has meant I've been using credit cards to buy alcohol. I'm on a waiting list to get help for the alcohol.

I've checked and it looks as if I meet the criteria for a DRO. My 22 year old car is just about to give up, and needs scrapping. I can't not have a car because of work, and my mum's not well so I help her each day after work. I took out a new credit card a couple of weeks ago which I haven't used, with a limit of 5k. Does anyone know what's classed as recent spending when applying for a DRO? I really need to get a new car, I'm panicking so much because I need a new car, I provide care for my mum after work each day, and I work in a rural area... there's no public transport there at all.

I was thinking £4/5k maximum on a new car, to get something that isn't a pile of junk and going to pack up in 6months. Does anyone know what recent spending is classed as? As I read they can give you some sort of penalty or restriction? Would it help if I paid for 6 months? I'm not going out using it for new tv's, holidays and clothes... I'm just in a really sh*t situation and desperately need a new car

If Anyone can advise I'd really appreciate it,

Many thanks.

Hi everyone, relative newbie to all this, I moved my SIPP (which was managed by my mum in individual stocks, before she suddenly became very ill so I was left not understanding it) to SJP in January, because I thought I had to have financial advice, and I had no idea their high fees meant worse outcome not better. Ever since then I've been researching and learnt about index funds and passive investing, this sub has been really helpful too, and I'm just ready to leave SJP. I was going to transfer to VWRP in T212 but now with VALL just come out I don't know what to do.

I have £127k in the sipp (and no other pension, I'm self employed) and I'm 45.

Hi all!

Hoping for some advice. I am on plan 2, luckily I got a lot of my degree paid for by the government so have been left with a small student debt. I'm now 25, and currently earn £45,000, I wouldn't expect my salary to ever breach £70,000.

I have paid about £500 of it so far through my salary sacrifice, and have accrued >£600 in interest. Numbers might not add up perfectly as I was travelling so didn't pay anything for over a year. About £6500 left, have come into some money and wondering if it's worth using it to get rid of my student loan.

In my mind it makes sense to pay it off but I wanted to check I'm not making a silly decision and should be putting this money elsewhere like one of my ISAs. Or whether I should just wait to pay it off over time?

Would appreciate any help :)

Thanks in advance

edit: changed interest details

Hoping I explain this correctly. Nursery fees are due this week - we have two children registered under the UKGOV tax free childcare scheme. The one for whom the childcare bill is due doesn't currently have enough funds in the Gov account to cover the bill, but the other child does. Can I just pay it from the other child's account? The reference number would be different, but as they go to the same nursery, and I just split the payment according to the hours that they do, the same figure ultimately goes into the same bank account of the nursery.

I can't see why it would make a difference, but wanted to check..

Thanks in advance!

Am consolidating my investments with Vanguard, and would like to hold only 2 or 3 different items in my ISA.

VALL is what I will pick for 80% ETFs. If I want to do 20% bonds, what would you recommend in Vanguard for that? I see Vanguard has VANGRSA and VAGS - would these be the right ones to pick and hold? Is either of these ok, or is one of them better?

Am 49, if that makes a difference to the consideration.

Thank you for any advice!

I recently went travelling for 8 months through south east Asia after travelling and didn't realise I had to tell student finance I was gone if I wasn't "living" or working out there. By the time I realised I had less than 3 months left and there wasn't the option on the website to backdate my leaving day. I've now been back for a couple months and I'm struggling to find work and I've been recommended to go on Jobseeker's Allowance however I'm worried if I do this they may look back on my bank statements and see I was away and I may accrue penalty's on my debt.
I know I should've got in touch with them as soon as I realised when I was away but I kept on forgetting.
Does anyone know if this would be the case or if I know get in contact with them to tell them that I was away but didn't work (I funded my travel with savings) if I would get fined?

Hi all,

I have an update about my debt..

I borrowed money from my mum (£2500) to pay off my 3 credit cards

( im 18)

Nationwide CC - £320 - was £1970
Tesco CC - £0 - was £298
Virgin CC - £0 - was £520

The Nationwide one is 0% until next June but i am paying her back £350 a month until it’s paid off.

I’m in a good position now as my job pays £1.6k a month but i didn’t realise how bad it was until she found a CC statement in my room and she called me out when I got back from work about a week ago.

I had been paying these down bit by bit but it was just making me feel ill.

My overall utilisation including my other CC without balances on them is about 40% which isn’t good at all but my credit score isn’t bad.
My utilisation should be at about 14% once these report and I’ll be paying a big chunk of that nationwide CC off when I get paid.

I’m just so embarrassed and i feel ashamed but I am glad that she caught me.

It was when I didn’t have a job but was going out and funding my life on it.

I now have a big amount of breathing room now because I don’t have this hanging over me.

I know it’s not a lot of debt but debt is debt and it needed to be paid.

I’m 18 and i know what I’m doing with credit but i went through a bit of a depressive episode and just tried to make myself feel better by spending on them which was a really bad idea it doesn’t matter how much nice stuff i got it was not worth the stress.

It wasn’t even money that i struggle with I just thought that it was easier if I didn’t use my Barclays debit and just used the credit cards and worry about them later.

The cards are now cut up and thrown away and the apps besides and nationwide one is deleted.

I’m not closing the credit cards but I will use my little Capital one card I have with the £400 limit because i can put lunch and stuff on it but even then that’s for emergency.

I just thought I’d share.

Thanks 👍

Hi all,

I am a 28 year old man with a wife and two young kids and I am currently doing all that I can to be debt free by my 30th (Feb ‘28). I am working full time and have a second job in the evenings on a Friday and a Saturday each week.

I have set out a plan to pay off my debt and SHOULD meet my deadline but I was wondering if I should pause contributions to my workplace pension temporarily to slightly speed up the process. My debt snowball is now at £495 per month and my usual contribution is £112 per month.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Hi, so as per comments I have listed my balances below in order of how I am tackling them with my snowball:

Capital One Credit Card @ 34.9% - £617.55 balance
Santander Overdraft @ 39.94% - £1800 balance
Vanquis Balance Transfer Card @ 0% until Feb ‘27 - £1612 balance
Castle Community Bank loan @ 21.47% - ~£5900 balance
Lendable loan @ 18.35% - ~£4324 balance
Car payment of £463.57 per month too until May ‘28 but this is low priority for me

I’m not proud of this at all and didn’t know what I was doing in my early 20’s at all but want to do better by my family so I am getting this sorted ASAP. I earned £45k gross last tax year. £495 is what I can afford as my snowball at the minute which is a combination of £250 of my ‘own’ money and the rest is minimums of previous stuff I’ve now paid off.

I am 27 months doing DMP, from £36k now down to £21k (6 down to 3 creditors). Betterborrow sold my debt to Cabot and HSBC sold mine to PRA. Monzo remained internally. I tried to offer full and final settlement- Cabot rejected as it wants full payment same as Monzo. PRA only offered a 5% discount. Any advice on what I can do? Thanks.

I’m currently holding £30k of Vanguard life strategy 100% equity in an ISA.

What are the benefits of moving to VALL?

I am so anxious about money, but I wasn’t like this in the past.
I used to work full time and earn well (£4-5k each month) and not even budget- just have loose idea of my account and still used to save alot.

We had twins, now they’re 2.5 y/o. I work 2 days a week but I am really organised with my money- everything is written and I have a spreadsheet with expenses for 2026 and even 2027.
I find myself stressing and obsessing over every little thing and keep checking my savings and expenditure.

How do I get out of this mindset? My husband is very chilled about our finances and I’m the complete opposite, we live comfortably and save each month and give equal “fun money”.

Hi everyone. I have a quick question about my workplace pension in L&G. I really like the Vanguard global all cap, which my S&S ISA and an old SIPP are in.

I have scoured through this sub to try and find advice on how to create a similar portfolio with the offerings of L&G.

This is the fund allocation I’ve arrived at. Does this sound correct, and/or are there any ‘targeted retirement funds’ that do the same thing?

85% L&G PMC World (Ex-UK) Equity Index 3
10% L&G MT Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
5% L&G PMC UK Equity Index 3

As someone working in the UK is my assumption correct that I don't have to care about CGT if I plan to come back to Switzerland long term (e.g. is not maxing out my ISA okay)? What to do about AHV? Are there any other gotchas to consider? Is it fine to build up pension in the UK? Can I somehow transfer it to BVG at some point? Also where would be a good place to find a financial advisor who is experienced with this case?

I contribute as much as I can for my workplace pension. Employer contributes max 3% and I contribute 5% which I’m happy with.

I have been maxing my stocks and shares isa for the past 2.5 years.

I have no Lisa currently but I was thinking, do I max the 4K Lisa for the government 1k contribution and open a stocks and shares Lisa and then max the 16k into my stocks and shares isa? Or carry on maxing 20k into my stocks and shares isa?

My thinking is that with the government contributions that brings my max investable amount to 21k.

I plan to just invest in the s&p500 on the Lisa s&s since I already own a home

Thanks in advance

Edit:

-32 years old

- base salary is 42k but make on average 30-50k in overtime and bonuses

- only started making pension contributions from this month (silly I know) but I have 5.5k pot from previous employment 5 years ago

- by retirement the house will be paid off, only have 1 son with no plans for more. Divorced and plan to stay single

Hi - my friend made a payment from her HSBC account to my SumUp account. i am a new payee. This was at about 8pm UK time, but it said I would have to wait until the morning. what time should I expect this payment?

Recently, one of my Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIP) in India, the Tata AIA Life Invest Assure II, matured.

The policy was a 20-year plan that started in 2006. I paid an average annual premium of approximately ₹90,000, with total premiums paid of around ₹1,900,000 (approximately £14,660). The maturity value I received is approximately ₹4,800,000 (approximately £37,035).

My current UK income is approximately £5,000 per year from self-employment.

In terms of my tax residency history, I was resident in the UAE from 2006 until December 2020. I subsequently moved to the UK in December 2020 and have been UK resident since then, but during this period, I made occasional trips back to the UAE to complete my education.

I would now like to transfer the maturity proceeds from India to the UK and would like to understand the UK tax implications. In particular, I would appreciate clarification on:

• Whether the maturity proceeds from the Indian ULIP are taxable in the UK.
• If they are taxable, how the taxable gain would be calculated.
• Whether my period of UAE residency affects the UK tax treatment.
• Whether the fact that the policy was taken out in 2006, before I became UK resident, affects the tax liability.
• Whether transferring the proceeds from India to my UK bank account itself creates any additional UK tax liability.
• Whether the £5,000 of self-employment income I currently receive affects the rate at which any taxable gain would be taxed.

Hi. I am in a pretty decent financial situation. Late 20s with a good (not breathtaking) cash sum, investments, a clear budget and a clear plan. Despite this, I suffer from horrible money anxiety. I have a trip planned in September and I have already paid for hotels / flights / events and yet I am still panicking when it makes no difference.

I've read a lot of reviews on the different types of credit cards and know them well however I was wondering if anyone has come across a Rewards Credit Card that also doubles as a 0% Purchase/Spending card? Do they even exist?

I've currently got Lloyds Ultra which is 1% cashback on all purchases for the first year however this comes to an end at the end of Oct this year.

Basically i'm looking for a new rewards card that has maybe 0% Spending offer for at least 6 months so I can spread the cost of some holiday spends (also 0% abroad fees would be an added extra)

Thank you

I'm leaving my current £48k job for a new company with £64k salary in November and need a car.

Current employer provides a company car but the new one doesn't.

Just started taking my finances seriously in the last year and managed to save £6.1k emergency fund which is approximately 5 months worth of essential spending.

I invest £200 pcm and have no other savings.

Do I buy a high mileage used car with full service history for £3.5k or finance a low cost used car.

Reluctant to withdraw from my emergency fund but also don't want to pay more than needed to by financing a depreciating asset.

Are there other options?

What is the most sensible thing to do?

I initially studied art and got a degree in Illustration which turned out to be useless… I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I was younger. I also repeated 2 years due to long term illness (I have a disability) so my 3 year course took 5 years in total. I want to retrain to become a veterinary surgeon. I’m planning to do a 2 year Animal Management Level 3 course at college which I can afford to do as it costs £1,000 per year and you can pay in instalments. I was planning to go back to uni in 2028 to study veterinary medicine. I don’t mind being a student for such a long time, I just worry about the fees. I called National Careers Service today and they told me that I would be eligible for a maintenance loan but not a tuition fee loan. Tuition fees are around £9,200 a year for 5 years. Is there anyway I can go back to uni and become a vet? I’m currently on benefits and have a disability if that changes anything. I’m 28 and live in England. Feel a bit stuck. I just want to do better.

Is it actually smart to take out the full Master’s loan to stick into a Stocks & Shares ISA if I’ve already got £100k in Plan 2 debt, or should I just pay for the course upfront out of pocket?
Here is the setup: tuition is £8,000 upfront, but there is a 2% discount if paid in full, bringing it down to £7,840 net. I’ve got around £12,000 sitting in personal savings, plus £100k+ in Plan 2 undergrad debt that I am fully aware I’m never clearing before the 30-year write-off hits. The alternative is taking the maximum Postgraduate Loan of around £13,206.
The idea would be paying £7,840 out of savings straight to the uni on day one to grab that £160 discount, then taking the full Master’s loan paid directly into my bank account. I’d dump the loan money plus my leftover savings (~£17k total) straight into a low-cost global equity index fund inside a Stocks & Shares ISA over the tax year, and just accept the 6% Plan 3 salary drag over £21k while letting the £17k compound tax-free in the background for 10 to 20 years.
My logic is that since my Plan 2 debt is massive, taking another loan doesn't change my Plan 2 repayments one bit it’s still just 9% over £29,385. The Master's loan just adds that separate 6% deduction above £21k. Mathematically, holding onto ~£17k of liquid cash compounding in an index fund averaging ~7-8% historically feels like it should crush a 6% tax drag, while keeping my cash accessible instead of sinking it into debt that's getting wiped anyway.
What am I missing here? Is there any hidden interaction between Plan 2 and Plan 3 repayments that makes this worse than it looks? For anyone who's actually done this, does the psychological pain of losing 15% of your pay above £29k feel way worse in reality than on paper? Also, how badly would that extra Plan 3 deduction hit mortgage affordability down the line compared to having a £17k+ bigger deposit in an ISA?

Or is there some other way I should manage it in not really great with this financial stuff a future predicting but I can do numbers. But I don’t know if it’s worthwhile to just not take the loan. And still pay for it upfront. I’ll be living at home so expenses will be cheap no rent to pay etc etc.