If you are not able to keep your new business’s finances under control, then things can spiral pretty quickly. Businesses only succeed when they are financially secure, so here’s how to keep your money issues in order.

Budget

Budgeting is something that every business should do. If you are not budgeting for the year ahead, then you will face problems later on down the line. A strong budget will outline how much money you aim to bring into the company through revenue streams. And it will also outline how much you plan to spend. Then you obviously need to make sure that you make more money than you spend. Otherwise, you’ll make a loss, and that’s clearly not what you want. You can take advantage of loans and maximize loan budget in order to stretch your cash a little further if you really need to. This should all be prepared and planned out in advance though.

Organize Tax Documents from the Start

Nobody particularly enjoys paying taxes, but it has to be done. And failing to pay your business’s taxes is a criminal offence, so it’s not something that you can afford to ignore. Making sure that you pay the right amount of tax and meet all the relevant deadlines can be a challenge though. If you are not properly organized, then the whole task becomes so much harder than it really needs to be. So, you need to make sure that all your payroll documents, tax deductible expenses and other paperwork are kept in order. Then, when it comes to filling in your tax return, your life will be so much easier.

Consider Seasonal Cash Flow

Many businesses will see variable sales rates over the course of the year. This is pretty obvious for some companies. For example, a company that sells sunglasses will sell more in the summer than the winter. This is just common sense. But there can also be season cash flow variations for businesses operating in less obvious sectors too. You need to get to grips with your company’s sales cycles as quickly as possible. Once you know when your sales are at their highest and when they dip, you can organize your finances accordingly. If you don’t, you could be caught short when those sales dip.

Always Ask for Discounts

The amount of money you spend is one of the key financial considerations for your business. If you are spending more money than you need to be, that extra money will eat into your finances. Whereas, if you were to cut the amount of money that your business spent, there would be less pressure on your sales efforts. You can afford those sales dips if you are keeping your monthly expenditure as low as it possibly can be. One of the things that you should always do is ask for discounts. If you have suppliers that you are buying from in bulk, then you should be able to get some for of discount from them. This will certainly be possible if you can show them loyalty.

Debts are an unfortunate part of life. Unless you come from a particularly rich family and have all the luck in the world, you’re going to have to deal with debts at some point. It might be loans for education, your home or your business. It might be because of credit cards that we’ve lost track of. Or perhaps overdrafts that we dug into a little too far. How much you dug into debt doesn’t matter all that much. What does is taking control and getting back out of it. Below, we take a look at how exactly that might happen. Whether it’s managing or getting your debt forgiven altogether. Or whether it’s rolling up your sleeves and organising your finances like you’ve never organised before.

Student loan

The biggest loan that most of us will carry on our backs is a student loan. Even if you’re not in trouble with your payments, it can weigh heavily over you. How do you take care of it? Do you save to get rid of it now in place of your retirement fund? Do you stick to having it cut out of your wages for years to come? Paying off your student loan can negatively affect your credit rating but that will repair in time. Freeing yourself from it early can let you save for the rest of your life a lot more consistently. Public service loan forgiveness is also available, helping some in getting their student loan shaken off.

Better organisation

The key to paying off their debts quicker for most people means putting a lot more money aside for it. This takes the skill set of managing more money on the side without seeing how much you’re actually putting together. The right usage of online resources can help you manage your finances with all the more precision and mindfulness. For example, online banking allows you to track your spending in real time. That way, you know whether or not you’ve gone over your budget every time you take money from the bank. Similarly, using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel can help you turn all your earnings and outgoings into an easily tracked sheet. With the right forward planning, you might find yourself shaving off a lot to put towards repaying your debts.

Debt consolidation

Consolidation is a bit of a wary subject for a lot of people. Many don’t really understand how it works and whether or not it will actually benefit them. It’s an important question to ask before jumping at it. Consolidation can, indeed, be the exact wrong move in situations. If you’re worried about multiple credit card debts for example, you won’t want to consolidate. Debt consolidation companies and banks don’t have the upper limit on their interest that credit cards do. However, with other debts, it can be an easy way of making it more manageable if it’s reduced to just owing one company money. Check the interest rates carefully before you agree to anything, however.

Are you thinking of taking out a payday loan? They have a certain reputation, but is it fair? Here are the main pros and cons of this type of loan that you should know about before you take one out.

Pros

Quick Cash

Once your loan application has been approved by the lender, it usually doesn’t take long at all to get the money. They will usually send it within 24 hours, and that’s something you won’t get from many other lenders. The speed of the process is something that lenders like Personal Money Store emphasize most. Many people need money very quickly when they apply for a payday loan. So, the quicker this takes place, the better. No other form of lender can compete with payday lenders in this regard.

Easy Applications

There is nothing complicated about the application process when you borrow from a payday lender. All you have to do is let the company know how much you would like to borrow. They will then tell you what the repayment term will be and what the interest rate is. Contrast this with other forms of borrowing money. When you want to take out a bank loan, for example, you have to take the time out to organize a meeting with them. And the whole process can take a long time.

You Are in Control

You are in complete control of how much you borrow when you take out a payday loan. You can borrow a very small amount of money, which is not usually possible when you borrow from other lenders. And you can also borrow larger amounts when you need to. Many payday lenders will allow you to borrow more in the future once you have proven that you can pay back what you borrow. This level of choice and control is something that persuades many people to use this option.

Cons

High Interest Rates

As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into, this might not be much of a problem for you. But the fact is that payday loans have to charge higher interest rates. That’s how they can afford to do all the positive things outlined above. For many people, this is a worthwhile compromise. But others, it might be too much for them to handle when it comes to repaying the money eventually. It’s important to understand exactly how much you’ll pay back in the future before borrowing.

Some Additional Fees

There are also often additional fees that you will need to pay. You should enquire about this before you borrow the money. It’s always best to know exactly what you are signing up for. It might only be outlined in the small print, and a lot of people don’t even bother to read that. There are also late fees that will start to stack up if you begin to miss your repayment deadlines. It’s important that you don’t miss those deadlines because each missed deadline will make it more expensive for you.

It’s a sad fact of life that many people are broke. What might surprise you to learn is how many folks have well-paid jobs. They just can’t afford their monthly outgoings and often live above their means.

The turbulent economy is one reason for that problem. The cost of living rises each year. It’s even worse for people that have families to support. If you’re fed up of being broke, this blog post could be your light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are some tips to help you turn that problem around and lead a happier lifestyle:

Make a list

Lists are great! They help us to keep track of things and work out the best ways to action problems. In this case, you should make a list of your income and expenditure.

Once you’ve made your list, it’s time to work out which expenses you can live without. There will be some outgoings that you need to leave on there, such as the mortgage and shopping. But, things like Sky TV and Spotify can get cancelled. They are what we class as “luxuries.”

Next, work out if your income covers the expenses you have left. If it does, that’s brilliant! But, if you’re still short of money, read on for some more money management tips.

Merge your debts into one

It’s likely that you have a few credit cards and loans in your name. The trouble with several sources of debt is the interest you have to pay. Credit cards, in particular, will eat up a lot of your income.

One practical solution is to consider loans for debt consolidation. This is where you borrow money to pay off all your debts. The result is you end up with a lower monthly payment. Plus, there will be less interest to pay.

Find a better mortgage deal

Do you have a mortgage on your home? If so, you might not know it but you could be paying less for it! Mortgage offers only last for a certain period. After that, they revert to default interest rates. They can often be high, believe it or not!

Spend some time online and check out the best mortgage deals on the market. You may also wish to speak with a mortgage adviser on the subject. That way, you can make an informed decision.

Get rid of your car

Do you only use your car for work and to do the shopping? Does it get unused at other times? If there’s a good public transport network where you live, sell your car.

You can use it to commute to work and back. Sometimes you might be able to car-share with another employee that lives near you. When it comes to shopping, order it online and have it delivered to you in the evening or the weekend.

Now you won’t have to pay for fuel, insurance, tax, and servicing costs. Trust me; it’ll make a big difference!

Thanks for reading today’s guide. I hope you find it useful.

If you’ve recently tried to borrow some money or take out a credit card but have had the dreaded rejection email or letter, it’s pretty much certain that there is something amiss with your credit score. This can seem like an enormous setback, an intractable problem that is going to wreck your plans and prevent you from getting on in life.

But, bad credit scores are not only highly common; they are highly fixable too. Many hundreds of thousands of people in the United Kingdom suffer impaired credit ratings and yet still manage to borrow money through the so-called sub prime lending sector.

Furthermore, given good financial management and discipline, these people are able to fix their credit scores so that, after a certain period, they regain access to more mainstream forms of credit.

Credit scores explained

There are three main credit reference agencies in the UK – they are Experian, Equifax and CallCredit. These organisations hold data on every person who has borrowed money, holds a utility or insurance account or a mobile phone contract. This data includes information that includes existing and past addresses, the payment history on each account (whether payments are and have been kept up to date), a record of any defaults, bankruptcies or county court judgements (CCJs).

The information is straightforward. You can apply to one or all of the reference agencies for a copy or your record (for the payment of a small fee) and you should be able to see immediately where your problems lie if you’re having trouble getting access to credit.

But, it is how the agencies and financial organisations interpret the data that results in a credit score. This number – usually between 300 and 900 (although this varies according to which agencies figures are being used) – is an expression of risk that a borrower represents to a lender. The lower the score, the higher the risk. Some agencies will express that risk as very poor, poor, fair, good or excellent. Very poor might be a rating between 300 and 400 while good and excellent might extend all the way from 700 up to 900.

Those judged to be very poor are likely to have difficulty getting access to most forms of credit. They will struggle to be accepted for loans, credit cards, bank accounts and even mobile contracts. This rating may even affect their ability to get a new electricity or water account set up.

People with poor credit ratings are likely to be rejected by many lenders, but some will consider their applications. However, they are likely to face higher interest charges, lower loan amounts and, sometimes, requests by the lender that they put up some form of security before a loan is issued.

Fair credit ratings are in the middle of the pack. If you fall into this category, you will find that you will have a wider choice of loans and credit cards than people in the categories below you. However, it is almost certain that you will have to pay higher interest charges than people in the higher categories.

People with good credit ratings will be accepted for most loans and credit cards that they apply for. There is a small chance that they will have to pay slightly higher interest charges. Excellent credit ratings are the ones which we all aspire to have. People in this category are almost guaranteed to be accepted for any form of credit and will pay the lowest interest rates and charges.

How to fix a bad credit score

While the immediate situation can seem bleak, it is perfectly possible to repair your credit score with time and discipline. There is no ‘quick fix’ but experience shows that people with poor or very poor scores can get back to good and then excellent within a couple of years. Here’s how they do it:

1. They make their repayments on time

Your financial mistakes will fade over time as long as you start behaving responsibly now. That means making payments on time, every time from now on. Over time, this good behaviour will start to outweigh the late or missed payments on your credit record.

2. Settle accounts

If you have got a bit of money in the bank, consider whether you should pay off a credit card balance or loan rather than splashing out on something new. This is particularly good and viewed very favourably if you’ve maxed out your cards because it will reduce your overall debt to income ratio and will have a pretty rapid effect on your credit score.

3. Get a ‘credit builder’ credit card

Some of the big banks and major financial organisations offer versions of their mainstream credit cards for people with poor credit records. You’ll hear these referred to as ‘credit builder’ or ‘credit repair’ cards and although they will come with lower credit limits and higher APRs than those offered to people with good credit records, they will allow you to quickly demonstrate financial rectitude by repaying a small amount of borrowing on time. This will be reflected on your credit record every time you make the payment.

4. Look at your credit records

It will cost you just a few pounds to get hold of your records from the major reference agencies. It’s worth doing because it will allow you to see where the problem areas are and take corrective action or to turn up any mistakes on your record. If there are mistakes, you should write to the agencies and explain them. The record will generally show your credit score so you will know how much work you have to do.

5. Take out a guarantor loan

This is an excellent way to rebuild a credit score. A guarantor loan will allow somebody who has a bad credit score to use the record of somebody else to borrow money. A friend or family member will stand as guarantor for the borrowing, becoming liable to make the repayments if the borrower slips up. As a result, the lender looks at the score of the guarantor, not the applicant, but every repayment made on time is recorded on the borrower’s record. Over time, this will improve a credit score.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer in the finance industry working together with technology-led finance broker Solution Loans, who were consulted over this post.