She's On The Money - Have You Checked Your Credit Score Lately?

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Have you checked your credit score lately? If not, it’s time to take a closer look! On today's ep we chat about why your credit score should be a priority on your financial to-do list to keep financial health in check. And of course, we've got some practical tips on how to boost it. But it’s not all serious business—we’ve got the usual Friday Drinks fun, from celebrating your wins to sharing clever broke tips. And don’t miss our spicy money dilemma: How much is too much to spend on work gifts?  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My friends, guess what? It is Friday. We are back and it is time to get my team together to celebrate you, our incredible She's On The Money community. Today, Ms. Jessica Ricci, she's going to share our favorite money wins or her favorite money wins from the community. Ms. Bex Syed has a few broke tips that she definitely didn't steal from her girlfriend. We're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about how to improve your credit score. And we're going to be unpacking something you slid into our DMs about. How much is too much when it comes to chipping in for work? Oh, I have feelings on

this. I'm so excited to get to that one. But before we get there, guys, how were your weeks? What's it been like in the office, back at home? Jess, what are we up to? Not a whole lot, to be honest. The weather has taken a turn for the worse again in Melbourne. I feel like we had a few nice days. I was like, I feel alive. I've been resurrected from my winter slumber. And then it started raining again I was like oh no back in slumber back in the coffin oh my gosh yeah so I enjoyed the summer we had it but this week it's been like cozy indoor vibes lots of crafts lots of just pottering around the house I noticed that you and I have whipped out our cardigans we have we have very toasty earlier this week or even over the weekend I was literally wearing

t-shirt I was not no jumper I know cardigan I thought it is on the up summer is coming and then the weather was like, hey, guess what, gas lit. We're cutting weather it is. Exactly, Bec. How's your week been? You been in the office? It's been a good week in the office. It's been good.

It's been really fun. I've been so busy. You've been so tired too because you've been doing breakfast shows. Yes, breakfast shows, which, like, I mean, I'm really – it's fun. I'm happy to be doing it. I am just filling in. But getting up at 4 a.m., like, that is – Oh, day bed.

It feels, like, not okay for the body. It kind of feels a little illegal. I was saying this before. I was like, oh, my gosh, like breakfast radio would be a lot. I mean shift workers probably go through this too, but like you would have to reset your entire body clock. Like it's not just shift work where sometimes you're doing it, sometimes you're not.

Like if you work for a breakfast radio show, that's Monday to Friday, every single week at 4 a.m. Yeah. Like what time do you go to bed, like 4 p.m.? Absolutely, absolutely. Exactly. And some of these people have children as well, So they can't ever sleep in and they probably haven't in years and years and years.

So, but I mean, this is a little glimpse of that, but I'm very tired. Not for me. Not for me. But like other than that, honestly, it's been, it's been really good. My social calendar's filling up and my work calendar's filling up. It's still birthday month. It's still birthday month. I might just like book myself an Airbnb just alone for a couple days.

Birthday celebration. As another birthday celebration. I like it. But no, I've been, I've been chilling. What about you? Oh, how good. This week, I mean, Josh today, he is, let's call him like head of reception, community engagement manager. He buys our love on a weekly basis, right?

Like he's keeper of the jar of chocolates. He's keeper of everything good that comes into this office space. And today he met us at the door with what, Jess? Donuts. Really good donuts. A selection. He was like, I have boxes and boxes of donuts. And I was like, yes, King, thank you.

So that was really nice. I don't know. I've been getting back into the flow of things. I've been playing around on our website, updating a few things. I feel like Jess and I were talking about Squarespace before and how obsessed I am with it. Obviously not a sponsored conversation, but just like how much I now think I'm an official web designer because I can do anything guys. Do you want a webpage built back? It's me. I'm going to do it. I can do it. It's so satisfying when you can. I love it. You'd probably be all over it. Well, I kind of know a thing or two.

Yeah, like you know everything, but like me, a person like me, doing our website, I'm so proud of you. Because I'm trying to set mine up for my side hustle, so I'll be coming to you for all of it. Can we please have a wine? You can teach me how to make one of your cute charm necklaces and I'll hack your website. I love that.

I've also been just in the office a lot this week. We hired a new mortgage broker and I'm currently looking for one, which is so exciting because the team's growing again. But with team growth comes team training and like just getting everyone up to speed and getting everyone on the same page and like it's exciting but like it's time consuming yeah so that's been my week this week donuts definitely the highlight oh yeah and also uh equal payday was monday as well i know that monday seems so far away now that it's friday but i love a spicy conversation yeah every year i look forward to the just horrible horrible comments

and messages we get on the back of our posts. Have you been watching the comments? Like it's so funny because the girls actually don't let me post to the She's On The Money account anymore. Apparently I'm a little bit assertive, you could say, Bec. And they like their feed to be aesthetic and what I am not good at is an aesthetic feed. I'll just go rogue and post like a picture of my dog or something, which to be honest, I reckon is still pretty engaging. Like that's good content according to me anyway the girls don't let me but what I do do is get in the comments you can delete my comments but you can't block me because I'm the boss so it was fun getting in the comments this week of people being like well actually it's this and

I'd be like sit down it's not it's not it's so funny that people get worked I get like I get It's always men. It's always men. But it just feels like if there's a single man listening, just try and imagine that something feels unjust for you and everyone's saying that it's not actually unjust and no one believes you. And then also they don't believe you but also they're being really mean

about it as well. Like you'd feel really sad. And even when women get in the comments, I'm always like, babe, I'm just trying to make sure that you and your friends have more money. Like do you not want to be on my team? Totally. Like what about this is triggering for you? like can we talk about it it's i think the comments obviously i can deal with men who've

been dealing with men for a very long time like sit down but it's when women get in the comments and they say well i'm paid equally and i'm like that is literally survivor bias like that is you having experienced one thing and thinking that that's the experience of everybody because you've had this one experience so it must be true it's when they get in my comments and i'm just like guys, I actually just want the best for everybody. I want to make sure that if Beck is doing a job and a male is doing an identical job, they are both going to get paid exactly the same for the same skills and experience and what they bring to the job. It's not about, oh, but men's jobs take on more risk and women take maternity leave. Oh, I get that. But we're talking about when women

aren't on any type of leave, they are still being paid less per hour than a man for exactly the same job. And that's what gets me, as you can see, going. Totally. Power is not a pie, you guys. It's not going to be taken away from anyone else. So just be on board. Anyway, sorry, Jess. Power is not a pie. Can we make that a pie? That's very catchy. I'm going to put that on a t-shirt. Power is not a pie. But if you didn't know, Equal Pay Day is just about recognizing the 50 additional days that women on average have to work to earn the same as a man in a comparable job. We did a really good summary post if you don't know about it and want to learn more. And the WGEA, which is the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, do a lot of data. It's a government

body. There's a lot of really great information on their website. We would really encourage you to check it out just because, as Bec said, fight the good fight. And even if it's not impacting you, you'll hopefully be able to improve life for somebody else. And this is why Jess sits on that side of the table, you know, coming with the stats, coming with the facts, coming with the very beautiful posts that you can check out. Yes. And I'm over here fighting the good fight. Absolutely. In the comments. In the comments. Deep in the comments. Kind of like a troll, but it's my own business. And we need both. We honestly need both. It takes all to make the world go round. Yeah, it really does. Yeah, all right. No worries. Speaking of the world going

around, there have been some very good money wins going around in our Facebook group this week. Miss Jessica Ricci, what have you got to bring to the table? All righty. Firstly, this week, I have a money win from Isabella, who said she had enough Telstra points that she got two free tickets to the movies this week. What are Telstra points? There's another type of points we can be collecting. We're just racking up ideas of the different points and movie tickets aren't cheap. So I feel like that's a big win. Next, I've got a money win from Kim who said she used the tourist refund scheme at the airport. She bought $400 Sony headphones on sale for $321. She's now flying out and $29 came back to her through the tourist refund scheme. Sexy. I didn't know what it was.

So I did a quick Google and apparently if you show your passport, your boarding pass and all those sorts of things, they just refund you the money back at the airport. Refund you tax. Yeah, isn't that crazy? So if you're going to make a big purchase before going overseas, and I feel like that's a really good example of it, right? Like noise cancelling headphones. You've like wanted some for a really long time, but haven't justified the purchase.

And then finally you're like, you know what? I'm going to be in economy for like 24 hours. I feel like now's the time to splurge on some noise cancelling headphones. get the tax back. Buy them right before you leave. Completely. So that's a great win from Kim. One for all of us, I think, to keep in mind if you're planning on traveling. Next, I've got a money win from Rachel, also airport themed, actually. She said she was bumped off a flight because it was overbooked. So they put her on another flight the next day out, which delayed her by eight hours. To compensate her, they gave her twice the value of her ticket back and two meal vouchers. So she

didn't even have to pay for lunch or dinner. Money win. So that means that would have been if we can if we're like assuming that both flights were kind of like the same like return then that was all free free yeah completely oh have you seen those videos on tiktok as well i don't think this is a thing here i think it's purely an american thing but again with the overbooking of flights and they need but everyone turns up and they need to get people off so they start offering people cash and there was there was this video of this girl who was like oh i'm flying from italy back home or something like that the flight's oversold she's like i'm just going to wait and see how high it goes because like I can wait a day and that's fine and they

started like $600 anyone to get off the flight $600 no one took it it went up to $800 it went up to $1,000 just $1,600 and they just put her on another flight so like she's not out of pocket $1,600 overnight hotel I think maybe a meal voucher as well and she's like I don't care I'm just going to tell my employer that my flight got cancelled which it kind of did I got bumped Yeah, that's so cool. How crazy is that? Oh, my gosh. So you go and someone replied and asked,

did you have to request this compensation or did they just offer it? And Rachel, who shared the money win, said she's gotten the compensation from airlines before. It usually requires you getting out the T's and C's and, like, having a chat with someone. So just remember, if you get put out, read your T's and C's because that's a money win. And it's usually right there.

But they're not going to step up and be like, oh, Bec, by the way, because you're impacted, we owe you money. That's true. They're going to chase you down the tarmac. Yeah, they're going to be like, we gave you dinner vouchers, yeah? And you're like, oh, my gosh, yeah, so grateful. Thanks, bye. Yeah.

Here's some cash on the table. Pick it up. Yeah, true. Next, I've got a money win from Laura who said she's been wanting to buy the Glassons trench coat for a while. They're normally $99 and she had a $50 voucher, but she thought she could do better so she waited for a sale. They've just gone on sale for $59 so she only paid $9.

What? And I have that trench coat or I bought a version of that trench coat two years ago. Victoria knows this trench coat comes with me everywhere. Oh my gosh, Bec. All right, sit down, sit down. I don't know if it's a running joke. I think it's just funny, right? If you go to the airport with Jess, which often we do as a team. So like we'll be at the airport and there'll be a group of girls and let's say Jess comes last. I will literally go, all right, who's putting bets in? What's Jess wearing? I know what Jess is going to wear. And I won last time because none of them knew that this was going to be true. I said, she's going to turn

up activewear and a trench coat. And everyone was like, why would she be wearing activewear with a trench coat? I was like, I don't know. It makes sense to Jess. So that's what she's going to be wearing. And Brooke was literally like, why though? No, it's true. Jess's travel outfit is activewear with a trench coat because Jess gets cold on the flight and she can use the trench coat as a blanket. That's true. I think it looks kind of cute. I mean, no one's debating that you didn't look cute. Like we're not sitting there being like, ew, what's Jess going to turn up with usually we're going what's jess wearing because she looks cute she's literally a fashion influencer i can picture it in my head i am picturing a fedora for some reason but

i feel like this is a different trench coat vibe You know, you're imagining, like, flash a trench coat vibe. I'm going for, like, Scandi blogger. Yeah. Jess looks like a fashion blogger. Sit down. Oh, my God. Well, I do want to know about the active wear,

but I don't know if we're running out of time or not. Yeah, moving on. We're moving on. Okay, let's move on. We'll talk about it after. $9 low, money win. Lastly, I've got another points win from Jackie, who said she's racked up so many points on the McDonald app

that she's been getting free coffees every day. What? Didn't know you could get points on the McDonald's app either. You can get points from literally everything. This is so exciting. Do you want to start a new podcast? It's She's on the Points. Yeah.

And all we do is talk about points hacking. Sounds incredible. I mean, it would. Flybys, if you're listening, slide into my DMs right now. Absolutely. Or chat. Let's move on, though. What broke tips are you bringing to the table this week that aren't stolen?

I always get so nervous. I don't know why. Why are you nervous? I don't know. You've been on the show for more than a year, mate. I just, you know, I'm not an attention seeker. I'll take it. I'm sorry, what?

I'm not an attention seeker. Hold on. Bec, what's your, like, dream career, isn't it? To be in the limelight. Sorry. Yes, but as a stand-up comedian. I would know. I don't think I could do that.

But you've said that's what you want to do. If the pressure wasn't there, you know. If you get on stage, you go, hey, everyone in the audience, I'm going to need you to turn around and close your eyes. Yeah, close your eyes. And don't expect me to be funny. And then maybe I'll be a little bit funny. Just be pleasantly surprised. Let it wash over you.

Totally, totally. That's fair. As somebody who doesn't like the limelight, let's shine some on you. Okay. So thank you so much. So the first one comes from one of our community members. She says that she has a broke tip for me. She's got two young kids.

Buying nappies and formula and supplies like dummies, et cetera, is crazy expensive. So a few weeks ago when money was tight, they had to get nappies and a few other things but couldn't make it work into their weekly grocery budget. So I went to Big W where you can get nappies, bought two of them, a few baby things, and got 10% off with everyday rewards and paid for them via Afterpay. Smart. She's like hacked it for something she actually needs. Totally.

So first of all, I didn't actually know you get 10% off with everyday rewards in Big W. Yeah, because it's owned by the same group. Yeah, like that's incredible. And also after pay, like smaller expenses, things that you can, I mean, I actually have no idea how much that would have come to, but if you use it wisely, it can be exactly cashflow it. Thank you. So I think it's a really, really great idea.

So there you go. I love that. Use your everyday rewards everywhere, all the time. 10%. That's a good money win. Yeah. That's really good. This next one comes from Bethany.

So this one is one we have, do you guys remember when, oh, actually V, you weren't here, but we had the broke, not the broke dads. Two broke chicks. Not the broke chicks, the dads. Two dating dads. Two dating dads, the two broke dads. Who are not broke. Who are not broke, absolutely.

Who are not broke. Not even close. No, no, no. One of them posted online this week that they bought a $2 million beach house, so definitely not broke. Well, you know, maybe they couldn't afford the $3 million, and that's a real shame. Yeah, they're still two broke dads.

That's downgrade. So they were talking about how you just, like, you don't actually have to use that much laundry detergent. That's true. Yeah, and that's like just coming from a regular person, but Bethany said that she literally got this advice from the person installing her washing machine from the good guys. They said that you can basically just use one third or one half of a scoop washing powder, but also white vinegar is a great fabric softener. Softener? Why did I say it like that?

You know what? I love a softener. But that's true. In fact, I don't even use softener anymore because it sticks to your clothes and makes them less like able to. It's bad for them. Yeah, it's not good for them. I mean, it's like conditioner for your hair. I guess like try, I can't imagine it not smelling like a lovely vinaigrette

after you've cleaned your clothes, but just give it a go. No, vinegar doesn't smell after you've rinsed it out, thankfully. It's good for cleaning the washing machine too. Like when our washing machine smells, we run like a bicarb and then a vinegar load and it smells like it gets rid of it. It smells like a grade three science project. Like a volcano. I love that.

Well, anyway, that's all I've got for this week. How good. All right, let's go to a really quick break. On the flip side, we're going to be talking about how you can improve your credit score. And I can't wait to get to this, but we are going to be talking about how much it's too much when it comes to chipping in for work presence.

And I think that Jess is going to get a bit spicy. We don't do that at She's On The Money. But I feel like she might be triggered by a past workplace. I can't wait to hear about that bit. Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. Hi there. Have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve? The She's On The Money team is here to help. Every week we tackle your dilemmas, both big and small, to answer your most burning money,

career and life questions. To get involved, simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show. Now let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma. Hi, She's On The Money team. First off, I love your podcast so much. It has taught me so, so much about finance that I never thought I needed to know. So thank you for that. And yeah, always very entertaining. But anyway, I'm hoping you might be able to help me gain some insight on how to boost my credit score. I damaged it a little bit when I was being careless and I just generally didn't really understand what it all meant. And now I'm in the process of trying to build it back up. I've cleared my debts. I don't use my credit card and I'm not really sure where

to go from here. So any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much. Okay. I feel like Jess, we've been doing the show long enough that I'm probably not needed for this. How Jess, do you improve your credit score? It's really good because I think a lot of people get confused thinking Australia is like America and you have to do all these things and have all these credit cards, which you don't. In Australia, it's pretty much the reverse of how you get a bad credit score. You get a bad credit score by being not necessarily the most responsible with your money or by opening a lot of lines of credit. So if you have lots of credit cards open, or if you have lots of personal loans, or if you default on payments on bills or default on payments on fines, like all those kinds of things. So the

reverse of that is basically true to making it better. Pay your bills on time. If you can, close credit cards, pay down personal loans, reduce all of those things. You know, your water bills, if you've got fines, pay those. It can take a little while. But even now, I don't know if it must be my credit card but every now and again my credit score ticks a point and I'm like don't know how but it did and I'm just pretty sexy yeah and I'm just paying everything on time basically that's just she's just good at money bet that's her just bragging to us oh my credit score just goes up all the sudden just ticked up points just ticks up a point all the time just must be nice mine did too actually and this is oh this is exciting because I remember saying for those of you playing along

at home who maybe haven't gone 12 months back Beck why was your credit score through the floor Well, I was bankrupt when I was like 25. Maybe that was like six, seven years ago now. Oh, it's coming up to seven years. That's almost off your finance record. Isn't that exciting? Yeah, and I honestly, I think it was like, so I think the max is like $700 or $800, right? Yeah.

And then I- Depending on who you go through. So there's a few different companies in Australia. I would say that Equifax is the biggest one and they go up to $1,200. Oh, okay, okay. I think it's Experian. Is it Experian? Yeah.

So there's a couple. Okay. Yeah. So you're not wrong. It's just there's a lot of different measures. I think I'm worried that there's like I've read it wrong or something because this doesn't seem right. But I was on 200 for so long, 200 points, which is very, very low.

I couldn't get any credit, which is obviously totally fine, but I also couldn't get like a phone plan or anything like that. Yeah. I couldn't get utilities, all these things. Anyway, and then I jumped up to 500 like just this year. I don't know how. Oh, look at her. I really don't know how.

It's consistency. It's consistency. It's not being in debt. it's you know when they do their checks it's you not having further debt like these things play into it and I think we as Jess was saying we're in this American mindset of you get a credit card and if you are good at your credit card your credit score will increase but that's not really the case here in Australia I think that the credit score actually plays into this bigger picture of what I would call credit worthiness and that would be to me very based on like your

financial health and your history. And because your bankruptcy is getting further and further into the past, your credit score is increasing because you haven't stayed there. And I think that that's really powerful. Oh, that makes sense. Well, I literally just got approved for a phone plan the other day and I have not been able to do that in literal years. So, I feel really good. That must be so frustrating. It was fun. I was just like, oh, buying phones outright is like kind of annoying. But if you've gone bankrupt, you don't have the cash to be buying phones outright. I feel like, don't get me wrong, there's often a reason why lines of credit aren't extended to people experiencing bankruptcy. And that's usually because they're not very responsible

with them. But knowing a lot about your story, going bankrupt, you were like, I'm so glad my slate has been wiped clean. I just want to move on from here. But then not being able to move on and going, cool, now I'm expected to buy a phone outright instead of paying like 30 bucks a month or something for a cheap one, like that's such a financial burden. Like that just must be a challenge coming back from it and even being able to connect utilities. Like be for real. You need utilities.

I'm assuming you then had to rely on other people to help you out. I literally was turned away a few times and I had to get my housemates to do it. But what if I was living by myself? I would just not have electricity. How do you live? How do you live? But for our listener, just know that I'm not too sure how far away it was that a listener kind of checked their credit score

and realized it was quite low. But I remember you saying this to me as well, Viv, like a year ago. You were like, basically just kind of wait it out as well. Yeah. And look, it's happening now. It's actually happening. It does actually happen. And Jess just does nothing and her credit score goes up.

Nothing bad. That's why it goes up. Yeah. I mean, not what's bad. I don't know. I mean, if you're wondering about your credit score, you can go through a number of different platforms to get a credit score check for free.

Experion Equifax and Ilion are three of the biggest ones here in Australia and I would recommend doing that once every 12 months to do just like your financial health check and make sure that it is what it's meant to be because I hate to say this I feel like we're talking more and more about like scams and people having their data stolen and people having their credit card information stolen what oh it just reminded me of a story I have to tell you my depot got hacked this week your depop got hacked sorry we don't have to go through this on here i'll tell you no no no this is now on air sorry your depop got hacked and what someone was starting to upload clothes and sell them as you so it's so bizarre so i woke up one morning and i had a heap of like

notifications on my phone from depop and i was like oh slay me maybe i'm selling heaps of stuff this is great anyway i had like 50 messages and i i opened them out and the top one was from depop saying we've frozen your account because of like activities that look sus yeah so then I'm trying to log in trying to figure it out thanks guys had to do a hard reset on like the password like all this stuff anyway I get in someone has hacked my thing and has messaged like 75 people inquiring about their item saying hey I can't see the photos of this item can you text them to this whatsapp number so then these people were texting the whatsapp number and the person was attempting to scam them via WhatsApp.

And this person must have lived overseas because this all happened while I was asleep overnight. So then I was such a pain because I obviously like changed my account, checked my PayPal. Thankfully everything was fine. Jessica Ricci, the scammer. Literally, I was like, my good name. I have like a five-star rating.

I've sold like 200 items, not today's station. Jessica's self-worth is based on her credit score bet. Completely. And so I literally then had to copy-paste a message to 75 people. Oh, that's so kind of you. Because I was worried, like some people had replied and said, yeah, no worries, like I've sent you the photos. I was like, shit, like what if this person like gets them?

So then I messaged every single person saying, I'm so sorry, this was not me, my account was hacked. Please don't reply to the messages. But that's a good learning because lots of our community use Depop. If anyone asks you to send photos to a WhatsApp, don't do it. Don't do it. And it just like it was one of those things like I have two-factor authentication on like my bank and my PayPal, but like apps like Depop.

I've been putting it on everything. I'd never even thought about it. And so, yeah, just a reminder, put two factor. Locked down. But that's exactly why we need to be checking our credit score every year. Totally. Because even Miss Jessica Rucci can get hacked. Yeah. And unfortunately, the first time some people find out that their details have been leaked is because they see something suspicious on their credit score and go, hold on, I don't have a line of credit with Bank ABC. I didn't, you know, get enough to pay. I didn't do these things. And then you can inquire and nip it in the bud instead of getting years down the track

and it being messy and hard and whoever stole the money has gone AWOL. It's really important to be on top of it. And I feel like that should be a part of your annual financial health check. And then as Jess was saying, just pay your bills and your rent on time. Make sure that if you've got loans and credit cards, they're being paid off. And then even limit how many applications you're making. So every single time an application is added to your file, it temporarily lowers your credit score. And I think that lots of people go, oh, but I was just thinking about getting a loan. I didn't get the loan. Why has my credit score gone down? It's like, well, I know you thought you were doing your research, but you submitted inquiries with five different banks and that's

now negatively impacted you. And this is another reason why I think it's so important that if you're in that home buying process, you're working with one mortgage broker to make sure you're not shopping around with different banks because they'll all run a credit check on your behalf and then it ultimately impacts your credit score. And then when you finally find the bank that you want to go with, you've got a lower credit score and therefore you're not as an attractive person. Did it actually? Yeah, there's two inquiries on my credit score from two of the previous brokers I spoke to before coming to Zella. And then Zella hasn't had to do any inquiries for because they just run all the numbers. Because we're doing it all in the background. Yes,

correct. Do you know how much that frustrates me? Because I'm not saying it's lazy because your broker at the end of the day to get the loan done needs to, you know, do it all officially and go through those channels and do a credit check. But everything, unless you're ready to buy, everything can be done in the background and be done properly to make sure that we're not impacting you negatively. Yeah. Like, anyway, that's a conversation for another day. And then another way to build up your credit score is to just have cash coming in consistently. So cash coming into your bank account, it's obviously going to give you a savings buffer to make sure that you can pay your bills on time and you're not going into debt. But it's also a really good

way over time to show that you're a good credit risk when applying for a credit card or a bank loan or in the future for a home loan. And obviously everyone's different, but in Australia, It is not about lines of credit and maintaining them. It's about just doing the basics well. And lower your credit card minimum if you can. Oh, good one, yeah. That happened to me. When I applied for my card, they're like, he's $10,000.

And I was like, too much, too much, too scary. And I dropped it to the minimum, which was like maybe $2,000 or $3,000. And even that, like reducing the amount of credit that I could have. Access, yeah. Yeah, improve my score. What's your credit score? I just have one question. Oh, you can have as many as you want.

As someone who couldn't actually – this sounds weird, but I couldn't have bills in my name. Yeah. So I didn't have bills. I did have bills, obviously, but they weren't in my name. So does that just require – like I didn't have a phone plan. I didn't have electricity, any utilities. Nothing was in my name.

I couldn't actually get them. Don't go into further debt. Don't go into further debt. Yeah, and it's about – remember how like 12 months ago I was like, Bec, sit and wait. Give it time. Your credit score is, I promise, going to improve as long as there aren't lots of inquiries, as long as you aren't going into further debt, you aren't taking

out lines of credit. Bec, what happened? They did shoot up. Yeah, there you go. But it takes time. So it's about consistently saving and putting yourself in a place where you aren't going to not be able to pay your bill. You're just making sure that your financial house is super secure. And when you're in that sitch, you're better off and your credit score is going to increase. But that's not the same as America. So if you're one of our American listeners I'm really sorry but if you're one of our Australian listeners stop looking at American content. All right should we get into the juice? Oh I'm ready I'm ready I'm so excited because I feel like Jess has some trauma from shared gifts. Are you ready? Ready. Ready. Okay

so this week we got a DM sounded exactly like this because I'm just going to read it out for you. Hi V and team I need some advice. A little while back an email went around at work asking for 50 for a present for the CEO. He's always doing thoughtful things for the employees and it was a gift I knew he'd love, so I chipped in without thinking twice. Now another email has come around asking for $50 for a different staff member. Honestly, that seems like a crazy amount to ask for co-workers for staff birthdays. I mean, this is about a quarter of my family's grocery budget for the week. Is this amount unreasonable or is it just what's expected these days and how do I bring it up without looking cheap. I hate it so much. At $50, be for real. So much money.

That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. Like for me, sorry, straight out the gate, usually let you guys have your opinions first. No, no 50 bucks. Like that's in our friendship group when we're doing group presents, that's the amount that we all chip in for like, oh, it's your 30th. A 30th, a big one. Yeah. A good friend. A good friend.

Not a co-worker. That's like the budget I allocate for like my mum at Christmas. And not a CEO maybe because they're probably making a lot of money. But also they might be you out of the relationship. But I can see why this person first cab off the rank was like, oh, it's for the CEO. That's somebody high up that I feel gives me a lot of value and probably doesn't get this back in exchange very often.

That's fair. really like this idea like I'm assuming that was maybe like a once-off like hey Jess I'd love to organize something for Beck because she does so much for us not a hey Jess Beck's birthday is coming up are you gonna chip in 50 bucks yeah totally yeah what yeah that's a lot it just makes me wonder how many people are in this company because this was my past experience I worked at a big corporate before coming here we are also a big corporate yeah it was a very large team and so it was very common practice for everyone to put in money for everyone and respectfully at this company I didn't really like anybody like they were my co-workers I was polite to them they were

polite to me I wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with them outside of work and that is like that normalize that but like you don't have to be besties with everybody that you work with and that's so fine weird but okay no very different in small business very different but even in small business. You don't have to be besties. Totally. And so I think it was the expectation at what it was, you know, this month, XYZ's birthday, everyone like basically like money tin going around, everyone chucked money in. And I was like, why am I spending money on these people that I don't like? Like it just is very uncomfortable. I also at the time was earning like from my perspective, a very low amount. And I was one of the roles that would have been the lowest paid

within that company. But was that also when you were in debt? I was in debt. Yeah, absolutely. Like, oh, I'm sorry, you don't have that cash to splash. No, and it just felt, I was like, why am I paying for your gift? When I don't like you, I don't know you, I don't really talk to you. I didn't even get an invite to your birthday party. Literally. It's a bit different if they'd invited you to their birthday on a Saturday night and you turned up and you were like, oh, I got them a gift.

Even then, $50. I'm not spending $50 on a co-worker's birthday present at their party. and it's like very different in like this environment like give giving is one of my love languages I love it's also mine yes and I do love to give gifts and I think you can give thoughtful gifts that don't cost a lot of money and I like I like doing that but I think in that situation it was just the fact that it was expected of everybody and the fact that it was organized like this person like through it sounds like someone higher up they're probably also going to get a last minute card that costs like $14.95 at the, you know, news agency and then make all

of you just sign it. Yeah. Ew. I was kind of just like, why isn't this company that I'm making millions of dollars for buying this person the gift and saying happy birthday from all of us? But even if that happens, like you're saying it's a big company, right? Yeah. We don't have a big company and she's on the money, but let's pretend it's one a month. That's only 12 people in the business that's $600 a year that you're expected to put into your budget for birthday presents for your co-workers no and some people don't even have that amount like we know if we look at the maths in an emergency we know that most Australians don't have access to $500 yet you're asking me to spend more than that on co-workers presents not not friends not family members not your dog

somebody that you wouldn't even invite over to meet your dog yeah yeah no and it's just like if I think about it in the context of our team even as like we all do like to give each other gifts or whatever not one person would be offended if someone didn't give you a gift I don't think anyone in our team would ask to do group gifts either I do often do quote a group gift where I purchased something from the team for that person for their birthday or whatnot but that comes from the team from my work budget and everybody's name goes on it and maybe there was a conversation about it i.e beck it's birthday month for you um so we bought you flowers from everyone but that was paid for by she's on the money because i don't want the rest of the team paying for that but like

i'd been like hey what do you think beck would want and we have this nice conversation about it and as a team we organize it but as a team we don't pay for it because I just like whatever it's a co-worker that's new or that you don't talk to or like so you don't know I've spoken about this before but when I was up to my eyeballs in debt I lied about it because I was embarrassed of the situation I was in and I didn't want my co-workers who I thought were fancy pantses knowing that I was in debt because I felt like that was a reflection and it is absolutely not but I thought that was a reflection of my self-worth. I did not want to put that on the table and be like, hey, so actually I have $883 a month that I pay to my personal debt. And like,

to be honest, 50 bucks is a bit much. I think I would have just scraped to find the money and been like, yeah, happy birthday. And then stressed about it next time I saw that person coming down the hallway because, oh my God, God forbid she asks me for another present. And I'm not saying that lying is correct, but we're just being honest. I didn't want to share that about me at that point in time. Now it's very much a part of who I am, but it is a very good example of why you never know what someone's going through. And I feel like that's, especially in this economy, an unrealistic expectation. I wonder if any other staff members said anything about it, that was going to go along with it. Oh my God, I would really like to know. Sometimes I want to

reply to these dams and go, girl, what company do you work for? What's going on? So we asked, obviously, for your two cents. First question we asked was, what is a reasonable amount to be asked to chip in for co-worker presence. 96% of you said up to 20 bucks. 3% of you said $30 to $40 and 0% of you said $50 or more. Completely agree. That is so validating. Yeah, like we ain't wrong here. I like this. Usually there's in the group, like often I'll hang back because I go, oh Jess might have a different opinion to Beck and then I'm interested to know what my opinion is. In contrast no we were all like hell no yeah no way all right next question we asked was would you speak up if you thought the amount was unreasonable 59% of you said yeah that's really important

9% of you said no I'd just go along with it and then 32% said only if others agreed and I think that this goes back to what I was talking about before like you guys said yeah I would speak up about it but that's only 60% of you 32% are only going to do it if someone else agrees with you yeah and then basically 10% of you will like nah like I just smile and nod and agree to it yes and if there's somebody every month going back to our example of if you're spending 50 bucks a month that's $600 a year but once a year or one person in that group is asked every single month for 50 bucks and they don't want to but they're just going along with it that gives me the ick. And there are probably so many other people thinking the exact same thing, but no one's

saying it first. That's what I was going to say. Someone's got to be brave and be like, this is too much. And then everyone will rally. And I think it's interesting as well, because if you have a good team culture, and I'm not saying that companies with good team culture all become besties, but I see it in my team. Like we organize our team gift, but I know Jess goes and sends the rest of the team members like flowers and stuff because I see posted on Instagram Brooke will be like happy birthday to me Jess sent me these gorgeous flowers that's got nothing to do with work like that is not Jess asking other people to pitch in I know she's probably spending 50 bucks because my girl like flowers are expensive but that was a choice that she got to make not one that she felt

forced to make and I think that's an important like we're not saying don't buy a co-worker's flowers don't buy your co-workers presents if that's what aligns with your values we're saying don't bully other people into joining you yeah completely so we did say all right give us your two cents what do you think about this one person said i like this we actually have a clause in our union social club that if someone's a member they actually get a fixed price present so if you want from like the team i'm assuming in social club they get a present some of the budget of social club goes towards that oh i like that i don't like that i don't i don't want to sign up to get a present oh so it's only for i understand in the social club okay got you if

you remember i don't know how i feel about that i'll buy my own i thought it was like oh we have like social club gets a thousand dollars a year to spend on social things and some of that budget yeah i want my budget to go to the social club things not to my present oh you're very selfless Gets you a shit gift. You know what I mean? Like if I didn't know a co-worker well, like in big corporate, if I think about going back to that where I was putting money in for people, obviously someone's making the decision

of what to buy them. If you ask me what any single one of those people would have liked, couldn't tell you. Do you know what is a really good present? Like if there are any social clubs listening and they're like, wow, we need a budget-friendly gift, go buy She's on the Money from Kmart, $15. What a present.

Good present. All right, so back to this. The gift that keeps on giving. Yeah, like you can read it, give it to your friend. You could put it on your bed stand. Very aesthetic. Teach Amanda Fish. There you go.

All right. So someone else said, I really agree. Often they're asking for more than what we budget for family and friends gifts. That's crazy. Someone else said, whatever happened to the corporate cake and candles? Totally. I love a cake and candle. No, but like isn't work meant to organise that?

We, like, go into the work staff room and we waste some time having some cake, singing a song. We go back to our desks. Absolutely, that's all you need. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. That is what a birthday at work should look like. True. I'm, like, I'm listening to this and I'm, like,

is anyone in control in any of these places? Like, if I was a boss of a place, no one would ever have to think about gifts. This is my favorite part about being the boss. Yeah. I get to make the rules. You just do it. Yeah, I mean, within reason, of course. Within reason and, like, regulation and, you know, legislation.

But, I mean, you do get to sometimes make the rules. You do have to pay payroll, though. So, like, I'd prefer to buy you a $50 gift sometimes. Someone else said, just speak up and state your donation to the gift. You don't need to justify reasons as to the amount at all. It's true. Yes, very true. But I also feel like social pressure plays into this.

Easier said than done. Yeah, so, like, that's a really good idea. that's a very smart thing. Jess, would have you felt comfortable in your corporate sitch to do that? Maybe, Jess, definitely not. Jess now. You'd be a social pride.

I'd be telling them where to take that gift. But, like, back then, no way. Do you think if that's the case, right, so just zooming a bit out, wasting some more pod time, if we know that there are 12 members in the team and everyone chips in $50 a month, it's just the thing that that company does, $600. Can I ask for an Airwrap? It's true.

Can I ask for something that I really want as my gift so that I get what I want, given I've been spending $50 a month on other people? I did not even think about that. So that means that, yeah, if every month 12 of you are putting in $50 for a gift, that means that you as an employee, imagine anyone of us. It's going to become your month. $600 gift is absolutely excessive. I don't think that's necessary.

I don't think that's necessary, but also this is how pyramid schemes work, right? Yeah, true. So give to Jan and Jan will give to Jess and Jess will give to Beck. Yes. It just goes around. Yes. We're starting a pyramid scheme, but it's birthdays. Yeah.

This is the thought that I had before. If everyone's putting in the same amount for everyone every month, every year, why not just have no one do it? And financially you're in the – no, but you're in the exact same spot. Like I've spent $600 and eventually on my birthday I will receive a $600 gift back. or none of us could spend any money and if I want something that costs $600, I could just buy it myself. Yeah, so true. And the financial outcome is the same.

No, I think it's worse off, Jess, because you're saying no one said that I got to pick what my gift is. Don't get it. No one said I'm getting something I want here. An ugly-ass $600 leather laptop cover. Ew. Do you know what I mean? To go on my work desk.

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I like this one. someone wrote in and said in the UK, the birthday person has to bring the treats and I think that's more fair. Yeah, I like that. I do that on my birthday. I think that's probably a nice thing to do. That's a good deal. I think if it's your birthday and you want to celebrate it, that's on you. You celebrate. It's like lolly bags in primary school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone else said, and I feel like this is relatable, it's really hard when everyone else is and you're left feeling

like the tight one yeah someone else said my workplace has a gift fund as an opt-in for the team $20 contribution for the entire financial year it's pressure though because if you're like i don't want to opt in then people people just not get you a present you know it's pressure i don't like the pressure of the whole thing on the flip side i feel like this is us coded someone said i'd be mortified if i knew people paying 50 bucks for something i may not even want yeah completely. Someone said, I believe that gifts for staff are things that the company itself should be covering. Amen. And someone said, salaries vary so much in our team. Only ever asked to chip in what we feel. I still don't think you should be asked to chip in, but that's.

I think if you're slaving away for a company earning the money, the least they can do is if they want to buy a birthday gift, they pay for it. But also, baby Jess, you just said I was earning what I would say is a low amount. And I mean, as an entry level role, probably. Yeah. You were expected to chip in the same amount as your boss yep and we did like no it was like a lot of money to me we dig into this the more frustrated i'm getting yeah i don't like it i think we should end the conversation i think we're done we're done here yeah let's go meditate let's go steal some more donuts from reception because our workplace gives us free snacks look at that and we didn't even have to put in for it i know it won't be thanks though anyway all right have

a good week guys i'll see you bright and early tomorrow i've got another saturday special coming for you and then another bright and early one on monday for a money diary so guys have the best weekend and don't put in for group gifts bye bye bye guys the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorised representatives of Money

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