The Vault with Financielle - Credit Scores Are BULLSH*T! | The Vault Episode 10

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Send us a textThe Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money. Welcome to The Vault with Financielle. Hosts Lucy, Laura and Holly delve into the world of money dilemmas from leechy friends, getting the money ick, the benefits of budgeting and much much more! Nothing is off limits but everything is safe in the Vault.In this episode of The Vault, we discuss tipping for a takeaway coffee, gift giving, ditching the credit score obsession and getting a mortgage.-Visit https://www.financielle.co.uk to join our community!Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction00:04:00 - Tipping in the Food Industry00:07:54 - The Dilemma of Tipping at Starbucks00:15:51 - The Empty Feeling of Gift Giving00:27:17 - Ditching the Credit Score Obsession00:30:38 - Credit Scores and MortgagesThe Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

buying our pay later is literally a financial hangover because it just carries on now you've got someone else involved it's hard enough doing it yourself and paying for that thing that you bought in september the dope being hit gone you feel quite resentful over it now there's a relationship involved stay away welcome to the vault of a financial this is a safe space where we talk all things life and money and no topics are off limits. Welcome to episode 10. How are we feeling? Yeah good I just feel like we'll never run out of things to talk about so I can't wait for 110. Never-ending podcast. Okay I'm going to start with a controversial opinion and I might get some hate from all the... From us? No. Oh I oh this is a safe space i don't think any opinion is actually

controversial for you guys um but i might upset some service people oh okay is that the right word yeah so i'm not tipping when i'm ordering a takeaway coffee this just happened to me it's fresh right this is fresh I'm going in first I went up I took everyone's order at the table me I don't work there

did you have a pad and a pen I use my notes on my phone of which if you look through the notes on my phone all it is is grocery shopping takeaways

and orders of food it's just shameful just look through I'm the same so I went through the hard work of taking everyone's order,

all the little extras, walked down the stairs in the cafe to the counter, relayed the information again to the person. Yes, fine, no problem. That's £33, whatever. Just tap and go.

No, I was presented with the biggest screen you've ever seen that was like tip 15 20 30 i was like for what i've literally i've done all the hard work i've walked out i've taken the order walk down the stairs and done it i don't agree with i i will tip if you're if i'm in a restaurant you've given me good service you will not stop me tipping like and i've been out with friends where they don't want to tip and it's a bit awkward and i feel like me and my husband have like we're tippers so we'll be like oh this is a bit embarrassing like we'll give the tip but i'm not doing it when i'm getting a takeaway coffee because this wasn't a takeaway coffee so then the service was good

but you don't i guess your point they're asking it for the wrong time in the journey they need i don't know if the service is going to be good and at that moment in time he hadn't really done much he just typed it into the thing like yeah i'd done the work and to your point that's why i don't like paying before the service could be shocking and i could have tipped them and the service could have been really bad and they'd be like give him my tip back yeah i mean who would pay if it's bad just walk out of yeah we're so british i would tip them anyway even if you hadn't tipped they'd have just thrown it at you yeah yeah the insults start flying no i'm very like british and even if it's not amazing service i might just feel obliged but what is it like in america when we've been

when we're younger oh it's a default i mean it's a 20 i remember mum telling us because she used to work in the states quite a lot she got chased out of a restaurant after giving a 20% tip and man was everything okay with your meal like why because

it was only 20% 20's the base only yes yes so our mum being British was like I'm gonna give 20

and then keep the change she was literally like is that all kind of thing oh my god it was just something I remember that it was

positioned like is there something wrong with the service is there something else I could have done sorry Americans don't give a shit do they no Is that all kind of thing? Oh my God. I remember that it was positioned like, is there something wrong with the service? Is there something else I could have done? Sorry, Americans don't give a shit, do they? No. We would never do that. No, no, no.

They get proper underpaid though, don't they? Well, yeah. But is that our problem? That's not on the consumer. The restaurant should pay properly. Because then you say, I work in a bank and I don't get tipped that's not on the consumer yeah the restaurant should pay properly and it's a because lots of because then you say oh I work in a bank and I don't get tipped

or I work in the shop and I don't get tipped so it's very however I am you know you said before it's really awkward if people don't want to tip I

make the decision for everyone that we're tipping I am that person yeah just go bold straight in 10% 15%

whatever it is I'll pick it so the tip is okay so no no I won't even say that I'll go so everyone knows um 25 yeah it's just i've just i've tipped don't worry um although it's funny we're a big group and you're like have they put it on yet have they not put it on i've seen it before it can be a really big amount like a minimum have you seen it where it says service included then there's still a tip what have you done a dance

like it's a different kind of tip let us know if you want us to take this off who was saying that the brave ones amongst us have we done i feel like we've done that before i feel like i have if the service is really bad like if they get in order and it's not just the individual server it could be i'm sure I can't remember so I'm not gonna lie I've just I feel like

I've had that time where I've been going I'm not paying it I'm not paying it I'm gonna say something can you take that off I feel like someone the other day went

like the meal was awful and people forgetting stuff and they literally like took off a side and it was like they were like oh we'll sort the bill out

don't worry the person was thinking they're not gonna make me pay for the mains because it was awful and cold and didn't turn up or whatever it was and they literally were like we'll take a side of chips for like two pounds don't worry we've got this chips around us what about you with tipping there lucy i think i feel like everywhere we go is it's already like added onto the bill so always I don't know if this is my dad thing but tips are always cash I think it's so like impersonal to be like yeah I'll add that because I'm like that's not going to you yeah that's a fun but I never have cash so now I'm glad that it is electronic because I if I've had really good

yeah service I would be mortified if I've had really good service, I would be mortified if I couldn't leave one. So do it electronically. There's a really special moment though where you've had an amazing server and there's a big table and you know if you do an electronic tip, it's going to like, you picture like a restaurant boss or it's not going to that person, slipping them like 20 quid or 40 quid off.

Doing the handshake yeah the dad handshake like thank you like like it's done not be as like slick as that no way no way but one thing I would say I've never wanted to work in the food industry like service or hospitality I've always worked in retail because people get so emotional about food like if you've got to wait in a queue to pay for something in a shop it's just a bit annoying but you don't necessarily take out on the server if your food is late cold not as you want it people get super emotional aggressive yeah hungry yeah but you know what my first job was pizza hut and this is really topical given the booth service i feel like i

learned my craft i learned to be kind to people. I learned to juggle. But the second point is in Pizza Hut, you might as well do it now. It's a bit more digital. But at the time you had a bum bag and you managed your own cash in cards. Yeah. And you cashed out. It was like your own till.

So you got to keep your own tips. You didn't share tips. And I used to earn three pounds something an hour, but I would make in a three hour shift, 30 pounds in tips. So I would more than double my wage. And it all came as a result of me working harder. And the better I was. Yeah,

I was absolutely, I was incentivized knowing that people would, I will like would tip and I would get it. It was a card. They didn't do card tips actually at that time. It was a long time ago. But yeah, so kind of fly the flag for the servers a little bit, but to your it's and i remember that tiktok where the woman said she was so funny

she was like if i am going up and doing the ordering walking away with the coffee you owe me you should not have to send you work i work here now i work here now so well she was more she was it was she was american wasn't? And she was battling on the, stop passing the expense on to me that you don't pay people properly. She didn't mind tipping for good service in a service situation. Yeah, like in a restaurant.

But if you're stood at a Starbucks and you're literally moving down the queue, I'm not tipping you. I'm not. Especially at the beginning. No tip. And then I always think, does it literally flash up on their screen

no tip this person is so tight type word spit in their coffee oh the fear is real right I'm going to tip now I want actually

if any people that work in service industry or that have done in the past give us your tea on tipping or not tipping emailing at the vault

at financial.com thank you and then let's hear it because like we'll be two sides this coin yeah we're here for it okay are we ready yes my daughter-in-law is stalling payments what hi girls so my son's girlfriend who i love dearly asked to buy my son an Apple Watch on a 12-month buy-now-pay-later interest-free plan from my account, which I barely use. This was back in the beginning of September and cost £400. Still to this day, she's not made a payment, even though... Oh, it's so awkward already even though there has been numerous conversations and texts regarding it i would simply never show up at the house again we have now broken up i have left the country facebook is now single that's where the facebook funds hang out she is not hard up and she has even had a promotion at work so the mum knows about the

promotion so she's clearly been vocal about it. Or the son's mentioned. Just flashing cash around. Love you. How do I get the message across to her to start making the payments? As it's making me quite stressed and I don't know how to approach it. The weirdest thing about this is she's been mentioning it, she says. She's dropped texts in. It's not that nothing's been said. she's been mentioning it she says she's dropped texting

yeah it's not that nothing's been said she's literally addressed it 10 times more awkward it's not like oh she's not mentioned it so i can't they've literally spoken about it she's still not give her a penny oh and you know what i love how she opens the dilemma with i love her because i feel like we have to really make sure we remember that bit because I could stir this one and I could be like the cheeky butt but I won't because she obviously you know loves her son loves her son's girlfriend and helped to facilitate what is a bougie gift isn't it funny I feel like I'm gonna go on a segue here but when you're younger or early in relationships like the bougie gifts come out or like

the expressions of love and later it's like should we get oven gloves do we do we think we need oven gloves like oh shall we get like the big clean

I remember being in high school and it was like Valentine's Day and people have been whipping out I don't even know like what would have been

an expensive perfume back in the day like perfumes trees maybe no expensive like Gucci or hollister t-shirts yes it was very bougie very bougie back then to buy presents for someone now you're right it's all about tea towels and shower gels it's not there's nothing kids made you a card with the paper we already have in the house that's why a bougie gift so it

was a bougie gift and so um and like we've i'm sometimes buying it with we would never say obviously borrow money as well so i i firstly she should never have asked you because if she can't afford to pay for it she shouldn't have done it like you either pay for it yourself or you don't get it at all but i appreciate she wanted to gift it to her um her boyfriend and and this um our viewer our listener our community member our listener obviously wanted to facilitate that so that's really cool but this is awkward september that was a long time ago that i feel like this is a problem with buy now pay later you just forget about it

and you're like I'm not paying for that now that's so true he's already been using the Apple watch yeah it's gone yeah the moment has gone I'm assuming it's going to be

the next birthday guys what's she going to do then what's going to happen next September I'm thinking about a matching iPhone with the watch it is really hard she's just going to have to

I think tackle it face to face definitely she can still do it in a really lovely way which is it is really hard she's just going to have to I think tackle it face to face definitely she can still do it in a really lovely way which is something like I'm not going to make up her name but

I'm thinking she's Sophie fuck Sophia Sophia would probably buy Jamie a watch but she'd probably pay for herself she's fine

yeah I think it's, like I could really do with working out how we're going to sort out the Apple watch. Like, did you want to pay in full or did you want to split it up? Now you've got your promotion.

Yep. Yeah. Drop that in there. Cash or card. Here's my machine. I've got my sum up machine. Do you also need a tip? It's been gathering some interest.

It's, yeah, this is an awkward one and i feel for you like it's a you have to tackle it head on i wonder if the sun knows oh my gosh that the mum bought it yeah i honestly get them around for dinner and it's right no not in front of her not in front of him sorry gotta be on the girl team for a little bit. It's been ages and they've spoke about it. Shit's got to get real now. No, I mean, as a boy, I'm not like that. Sophie, how were we going to pay for that watch? No, no, because he might not know.

He might not know that Sophie didn't buy it. Homewrecker. No. I feel like gently taking it to one side and going, I could really do with sorting out the payment for the apple watch what would be helpful couple of payments three payments like 100 a month 100 a month next few months and then if you close it off you've got a wider much wider issue which is i'm gonna make that's like kind of stealing even yeah and even maybe saying i don't know what

buying our pay later service is but you could say like I'm getting hounded yeah I'm getting hounded like I really need these payments like it's gonna go it's gonna reflect badly on my credit score

because she didn't ask for her to buy it she asked to use her account yes why not just make your account if you want to do that it says interest free but if you don't make the payments

then you get interest free presumably our listeners paid for it though I would suspect if she's but she could go in with that angle she's like I need to close my account like yeah you're still still left on it yeah so financial said i can't use this um buy now pay later account now so show me the money i definitely feel like for everyone listening like try and keep yourself out of these positions so like it's been it's a kind thing

to do especially because you're like it's win-win you help your son you help help your son's girlfriend but this is the issue the sticky issue that it causes and so um i mean it would have been a more difficult issue if she'd have said can i borrow it can i use your account and you'd have said no i'm sorry i appreciate that would have been hard as well. But you would have done the hard work up front. This is why buying a pay later is literally a financial hangover because it just carries on.

There's no purchase and done. There's a tail end to it all, whether it's involving someone else. Yeah, now you've got someone else involved. It's hard enough doing it yourself and paying for that thing that you bought in September. The dopamine hits gone. You feel quite resentful over it like now there's a relationship involved it's stay away buying up here later rears its ugly head later yeah i think

as well like you said about doing the hard work up front up front she should have maybe said and like maybe i don't know what's gonna happen this september or like any other birthdays saying like if you can't afford something like maybe try and teach like don't want to be condescending or anything but educate on yeah saving up for things and like sinking funds be like oh do you know for the next september like start a sinking fund then you don't have to use these things like by now yeah later so if she only had like 50 pounds to buy the present, get him a 50 pounds Apple gift voucher and be like, that's to go to what, I know you really want to watch.

That's the start of the thing. Why do I, for Christmas? Literally, why do I have to constantly feel it have to go out? It's the love bombing, isn't it? It really is. It's a,

have you ever bought like, and then, and then she doesn't have to pay the 400 pounds. Stay together. Keep them together. Have you ever bought like a outrageous gift? and then and then she doesn't have to pay the 400 pounds stay together keep them together have you ever bought like a outrageous gift i was trying when you were when you were asking the question i was trying to think have i and you know maybe in my teens yeah but not for my husband bless him and vice versa but I feel like you know it's so empty to to give a gift that that either you can't afford number one number two a gift that is

everything for us is um there's a consequence to every spending decision so it's instead of something so there's only so much money where do you want to send it whether it's instead of something. So there's only so much money. Where do you want to send it? Whether it's on holidays, whether it's on stuff. Having said that, you know, I do think I would like to get some form of more elaborate gifting back in our lives, like the element of surprise and the element of planning something, whether it's for the children or whether it's just,

but we're much more likely now to probably push it down to them and spend on the children. And we don't do expensive ones. I can't think of any. No. What about you? I'm the same. I don't think so. i can't think of any no what about you i'm the same i don't think so nothing to like a crazy extent no i for our honeymoon i surprised him with business

class upgrades that's cool outbound that's cool and it was quite it was cost effective because it was the ones where you don't do it ahead of time and you watch on the website and there was some that was like a i think maybe i spent 600 pounds on two upgrades one way like one way so it wasn't on the way back we were back in the back we were not reality we were hung over and we're coming back to our children actually we were coming home in covid so it was like okay let's go back but that was like And I paid my mum from, interesting confession, my mum paid and I paid her- Installments. Back immediately, but because we've got shared accounts,

so he would have seen. So we have this problem that- Oh yeah, I do that all the time. I get my mum to buy, when it's Christmas and birthdays, I get my mum to buy stuff. But- Transfer her the money. He doesn't know what it's for.

All he just sees sees money going to my mum what was that i'm not yet what what was it before his birthday and he was like what have you got me because i've seen eight pound goods um you know you're getting recommended the same things you've looked at on amazon or amazon account word of warning if you've got a joint amazon account never browse for anyone's birthday because it will just get presented back to that person every day he gets an email like, oh, ice baths keep coming up on an ice bath.

There's no secrets in our house. Not when it comes to money anyway, which is I think how it should be. But it would be nice to do with the element of surprise sometimes. We found these little hacks getting round. Not by accident. But coming back to the listeners issue,

my mum was the line of credit for it. Yeah. That's how I did it. So you do it. I paid her immediately. No, I know. But even that, it's by now paying four days

when he knows. True. Hey ho. So I've got a nice community win. Fab. It's been a journey from spending on my card until it got declined in the shop

and having no clue about where my money was going to knowing my numbers, paying off debt, building savings and having a-term plan and now almost my own home as a solo buyer thank you financial ladies yay I've been there like a long time ago now where you are in that queue and you're going is there enough it's like is this gonna go through like am I gonna be able to buy this you know buying buying food and you're there with your toddler and you're thinking, and again, people,

I was by no means struggling financially. I just was poor at managing it. And so people were in way worse positions all the time. And so I can't imagine what that feels like for it to feel like that regularly. When you can control it, you feel ashamed because you shouldn't be in that position. Like there's literally no excuse. If you have the right you shouldn't be in that position like there's literally no excuse

if you have the right amount of income coming in you've just kind of become overwhelmed and you know you've got lots of debt payments and so that's kind of it's one of your rock bottoms I feel like that would be if she's mentioned that because it's definitely a thing for me it triggers me going oh my god I remember when I was like that feeling how much the stomach the feeling in the pit of your stomach trying to work out what things cost on the way around and reflecting if I'm going to put something back, what would I put that mentally? I don't know.

I didn't open your head a hundred percent. So the fact that she's gone there to be the solo homeowner, that's no mean feat, by the way, in this, in this like climate, as a single female is, you just don't hear of it at all.

Although in our community, people keep popping up. You know, I committed to saving for a house. I wanted to live on my own. So many people are buying houses in our community. Solo females. It's just unheard of. It's brilliant.

So I've got an idea for the office. I know you know one of them, but I've just thought of another one. So I'm going to say it on the podcast because we won't forget it if I say it here. So I want a debt-free wall where I'm not like Hamid's tale, there's the dodgy wall,

like a good wall. I'm thinking bricks. I'm thinking we might do something but like when people have paid off their debt, I want like a Polaroid of the financial users that pay off the debt.

I'm thinking something monopoly for property because all these men and women and women alone are buying property but they're coming from the bloody wall do you know what i mean like they're coming from along then when we go to move along you graduate around the office this is so exciting i mean they can have a little house that's what i'm thinking

and they can they can have the office is the monopoly board yeah we're in the middle we should do that we should we should do that i want to celebrate these people that are hitting these like amazing milestones like you said the numbing feet so congrats we're going to go

sell it at sunset and we're going to get a bell basically a bell a fork horn I call them a big confetti

golden buzzer confetti we're so classy okay time for dilemma number two oh good someone else needs help from us great credit cards are my nemesis hi girls i have a dilemma i've been on a long journey to debt freedom over many years which i'm now five months away from. After this, I will be starting a very intensive period to save for a deposit. Oh, another one. Hello again. She's on the wall. Yeah. As my dream is to finally own my own place. My dilemma is something my head and my

heart are in conflict over, so I'd appreciate some input. I've never really had an issue with overdrafts. I don't have a car. I don't buy anything on buy now pay later schemes. However, my debt nemesis has always been credit cards. I tell myself all the excuses under the sun. I'll only use it for work expenses or for added protection when buying a more expensive item. And then before I know it, I've racked up even more debt and the end date to clear it all. And the end date to clear it all gets further and further away. My only current credit card will be cleared next month and I really want to clear it all and the end date to clear it all gets further and further away. My only current credit card will be cleared next month and I really want to cancel it completely. That's what my gut instinct is screaming at me to do. However my head knows that my credit score will completely

tank. This is what happened to me last year. It dropped massively when I closed my previous one so I panicked and got another one and then before I know it £2,000 is racked up. I need my finances to be in the best possible shape for mortgage applications but I know it, £2,000 is racked up. I need my finances to be in the best possible shape for mortgage applications, but I know that credit scores are only an indication of managing debt. So if I close my only source of debt and end up with a poor score,

I'm terrified that I will be rejected. Do I take the risk that the score will recover over time or do I close it down, knowing deep down that I can't be trusted with a card and to just stay away from them forever? This is a really, I can't be trusted with a card and to just stay away from them forever this is a really I don't say good dilemma because it's not but this is so common isn't it there she goes she's getting right I'm settling everyone credit scores are bullshit yeah I feel like everyone's obsessed with credit scores I don't is there like a US equivalent or is it just a UK score they call it credit score, but credit

scores are absolute bullshit. There is a complete industry taking advantage of people to get them to gamify credit scores. And so, yes, credit reports are taken into account by lenders, but not the ones that we see. It's kind of based on a similar behavior, but it's lots of different data points, especially with your current bank. They'll be looking at what you're spending and how much is in your account. They won't just be looking at debt. Credit score is a reward for how well you manage debt. And whilst credit scores can go up and down, what they see on the back is just a completely different set of data. And I think that she sounds like she's not close to literally applying for a mortgage.

If she's got to save and she's just got this one bit of debt, she's probably got a little bit of time anyway. But she should be building an emergency fund that she can rely on so that she shouldn't need the credit card. And she doesn't talk about needing emergency savings, so she should be okay. But if she keeps that open, she'll use it. Like that's literally the game. The game is have a line of credit or you could just, oh, and I'm just buying the house. I'll just need some furniture. I'll just need this. It's all I could do with the holiday. It's really stressful. Same for expenses are about to go up. And it's just awful. And these websites that talk about your credit score,

that's your free credit score, make money from you taking on a card. Let me give you a little story, right? There's a wonderful member of our community who was really, really struggling. I've done a couple of calls with her and we were trying to get an idea of how much debt she had. And to be honest, it was very overwhelming and she actually didn't know. She had some numbers, but it was a bit chaotic. And I said, do a free credit report online and let's have a look at that because that will definitely be the debt that you have. And she had, and I'm laughing, this is not like in her situation, like a nine, four, six out of a thousand score.

Oh my God. And this person is in dire straits financially, like is absolutely rock bottom, doesn't have a lot of options, has a long way to go and she'll get there, but is not in a, she's got, I know I swore really badly. She's got an amazing score.

I would probably have a 500 maybe. And do you know why? The biggest thing that my credit score tells me is you could do with taking out a few more cards and then you'd have a better score. And it's just, it's just complete rubbish. So obviously you knew you set me up for that. That was a complete rant on my part, but I just want to reassure people that if you're getting distracted about a credit score, you're missing the point. The point is if you are very financially well, if you're financially resilient, if you're getting distracted about a credit score, you're missing the point. The point is if you are very financially well, if you're financially resilient, if you're financially stable,

you will be given a mortgage. You are not going to be suddenly have a mortgage withdrawn from you because you closed a credit card. That's not going to happen. There's a lot of other things you can do with your credit score. I've got loads of stuff in the app on it where you can like look at your residential addresses and like electoral if you're in the UK

and all these different elements. Maybe on top of your life admin can help, can't it but but she's like getting like so do lenders actually like will they listen to you explain like you're actually in like a good financial place no they'll look at the data i mean if you're using a broker mortgage broker really valuable and i would always recommend that because you know different if you're self-employed you might need a particular type of broker if you want a particular type of mortgage you've got a particular situation i think you should use a professional for for the amount of money that it does cost ultimately sometimes it doesn't cost you anything and it's a fee off

the mortgage you get someone's professional advice they're regulated you've got protection in case they give you the wrong advice because they've got professional indemnity insurance um but you if you're buying a one two three hundred pound three hundred thousand pound like asset that's a big asset some people pay more to go visit the nail technician to make sure the nails are good do you know what i mean and yeah and actually getting someone to sense check what you're doing um and when a mortgage decision goes through like a computer if it got rejected or if it was kind of being looked at, it would go to an underwriter and eventually that's a human. So there is a human and sometimes there's a broker to human conversation.

So even if it's not us going, I'm really good with my money. Like Holly said, they'll look at your bank account, they'll look at your savings. Arguably, if you're racking up loads of credit card debt, you have to make minimum payments on those. Or they look at your fixed expenses, don't they? What goes out every month. If you've got loads of credit card debt versus someone that's got no credit card debt your fixed expenses are going to be so much higher and that's ultimately what they look at

isn't it what comes in versus what goes out yeah and there's a big thing on what's called credit utilization which means you know how much of your if you've been awarded 10 000 pound credit card if you've only got a hundred on it, they'll still look at it and go, you could have up to 10. So they'll take that into account. So I would urge people be brave and ditch the credit score obsession, be financially well, look after the basics and trust that it's going to work out. Closing one credit card will not impact a mortgage application. And if it does, tell us and let's have a look at it because I challenge you that it wouldn't just be that. It probably is that you're applying for a mortgage that's too high. It probably is you've got some

red marks on your credit. It probably is a couple of other things. It's not going to be closing one. It's like one of those rumours. It constantly goes around. We hear it all the time in the money space, people saying and community members coming on to say, I really need to keep my credit score good because I want to buy a house. And's and it's great like you should be thinking about that but the way that it's like positioned and like you said gamified and the way they make money off it it's it's immoral really people have been put into horrendous financial difficulty trying to keep up with this we're trying to build up credit oh i'll get a credit card at 18 because i'll build my credit into them buying stuff if you're 18 years old you've got no idea of the implications

of oh parents put credit cards on kids because they're like, you need to build up your credit score. And that's what they were told as well. It's just... Exactly. But you can do that by paying utility bills on time, paying a phone bill on time.

Like having... Having some direct debits. Yeah. Proof you can manage payments. A couple, you know, having an overdraft, like God forbid, like if there's one element you could do, that's a form of credit.

It shows that you can, you know, have available credit. There's lots of different things that you can do. She needs to rip the bandaid off. And like, basically as long as her credit scores in terms of like red marks and fixing your addresses and not being connected to financial, you could be financially connected to people that could not be great with credits, with an ex-partner, making sure that you do, if you do all those, delete your account.

Don't look at it. Do not look at it. I don't look at it. When you buy that house, houses are expensive and to furnish them even more so. And that's when it's really tempting to dip into credit.

Because when she buys that house and she has a credit card, I'm telling you now, all of us would be tempted to go to next. There's so many more temptations about to be yeah I need a couch I need I need a swing

I need a swing on finance you need what a swing yeah of course you do all those things come into play and the temptation

will be too much if she knows that she's triggered by that wait till you've got a house because I don't think she seems massively triggered I think the bigger thing

is she's like I need this credit card open so that someone will give me a mortgage. And no, especially because she's had credit. So have it, close it, crack on. Good luck. Let's not hide it. Do you know what your credit score is?

No idea. Good. I don't know what mine is either. Mine's excellent. Is it? Yeah. You're looking at it because you see, okay. It's because it's gamified.

Yeah. You like the dopamine. She's a top player. You are also, you also think you were in a similar space where you're thinking about mortgages and houses in the future so actually like what do you think and how does it make you feel like i i have a credit card but i don't touch it i mean someone told me to like buy us because it's bad no why do you have one oh because of the credit score i have credit karma you know credit karma like it's good is it i don't maybe it's not um but

it was like it tells you to do different things like don't don't close this bank account and don't undo do this like i'm gonna good habits i'm gonna maybe delete that but i get it like it it gives you this feel good on it's like a school report yeah it's a bit of a structure you think i'm such a buying a home i like them from because you go to one space and see all like if you have a bit of debts here a bit of that sometimes we forget you've got a few accounts and you go on let's be clear a credit report helped me realize that i had accidentally bought a swimsuit on credit and it nearly cost me my mortgage so i am not anti-credit reports because

i had this was years ago pre-financial but i for a 19 pound retailer store card which i'm not going to name the names but lots of us accidentally take on credit with this retailer because in the Shmex. I accidentally in the checkout buying a swimsuit, um, must have clicked take on credit and it was 19 quid. I definitely had the money for it. And then I kept getting emails from Shmex and letters and never opened them. I was like,

nope, I'm not falling for this never open them delete delete delete delete look at me and then i was months away from applying for a mortgage for the first home that i bought and um the more no i was at the time and the mortgage advisor said you've got a mark on your report and And I looked, I was like, oh my God, nine months ago I bought a swimsuit and I still haven't paid for it. Didn't even like nothing. And so that's another episode

and another chat for another day. But had it not been for seeing that on a report, I wouldn't have known what it was. I had to go and go find. Yeah, I found out, this is years ago, but I found out that I had a premium subscription to Shmoliveroo that I'd never used. It was like eight pounds a month for like a year.

And I was so upset. I phoned them. You didn't even get the benefit. They gave me a little bit of it back. I was like, I haven't even used it. God damn it. I want it in fries. You were angry at yourself.

So yeah, but like you said, they're a really good snapshot. They're a really good snapshot they're a really good place to check in but the danger is we become obsessed with gamifying it and getting lots of ticks

and lots of like good behaviour yeah I like a lot of like good girl pats on the head yeah yeah

we can do that for you we need to do that come on the debt free world well you're already on the debt free world yeah yeah okay

ditch the credit score obsession obsession yeah and good luck buying your house so any final words before we close the vault today so i think we've got a few housewarming that we should be invited to because i feel like we um helped i mean we didn't graft we did do the work but i feel like we're buying it with you. So Housewives, I want like upturned boxes and plastic cups. And we'll bring

really outrageous gifts. Like really good olives. We'll bring you an apple watch. We'll order a shmoliveroo. Money club merch. Yes. Okay. That's all for this episode.

The Vault is now closed. If you'd like to send your dilemmas please send them to the vault at financial.com and just a quick disclaimer the vault is just a chat around life and money and it is not financial advice