This is part 5 of the 5 part series “Dig Yourself Out of Debt”, published every Thursday. Surfing old posts? You can catch up on Part 4 by clicking here, or start at the beginning by clicking here.

Hopefully by now you have worked out what you owe, started spending less than you earn, got your avalanche rolling and worked out why you ended up in debt in the first place.

Is there anything you need to do beyond that?

Just a little bit of housekeeping really.

Credit Reports

In part 1 I talked about using your credit reports to find any errant accounts you might have forgotten about.

Credit Reports provide a much wider view of your financial wellbeing than just who you owe money to, though. Now would be a good time to badger me to finish writing my “A Guide To: Credit Reports” and see all the different pieces of information they show, why they are important, and how to correct them if something is wrong (or doesn’t tell the whole story).

In the meantime log back in to your credit reports and take a careful look at all the information they present. Are there any inaccuracies? Are you linked to anyone you shouldn’t be?

Keep Records

While you and I were busy burying our heads in the sand and avoiding creditors, I suspect your record keeping was a little lacking in the accuracy department just as mine was. Everything that came through the door got filed under ‘S’ for Shredder, ‘R’ for Recycling or ‘P’ for Piles and piles of letters out of the way somewhere.

Now you have got to grips with yourself and your finances, get a proper filing system organised. There are lots of different methods about, but get yourself a filing cabinet, box file or some other container and get sorting.

Properly accessible financial files protect you in case of error. It makes preparing to apply for a loan or mortgage that much easier. Good recording keeping also enables you to analyse your financial life down the road should you wake up one morning and wonder “Just how much has my car cost me in its lifetime“?

Lost for where to even begin? The Simple Dollar has laid out the system I use now, or if you want to be 21st Century about it, check out the digital filing system that I want to try soon.

Reclaim Charges

This is not a guaranteed process,but for the sake of the few pounds it will cost you, it is worth spending the time to do. Few people would have gone through their own debt meltdowns without getting dinged for fees on bank and credit card accounts hourly or daily at the worst part of your journey. In the worst cases some people have reclaimed over £20,000. Some, as little as a few hundred pounds. The point is it is your money, the banks and credit card companies in the majority of cases had no legal right to fine you (only to recoup their ‘reasonable costs’), so you get to claim back with interest.

Keep Reminders

Now you are working towards getting out of your debt hole – or if you already have – keep reminders around you in the places you are likely to spend money. If you are working towards buying a house, put up a picture of your dream near your computer if Amazon is your weakness. If you like a double-mocha-skinny-latte instead, put a smaller picture of the same thing in your wallet.

Always count to 10 on the smaller unnecessary purchases, and keep a 30 day list for the larger ones. These tips and others are explained in my Frugal Friday! post for September 18.

I told you there was not much more to do, and I wasn’t kidding! Debt is just a very small slice of the whole ‘personal finance pie’ though, and I would hope and encourage you to stick and keep an eye on the entire pie to get tips all over the place for saving and growing your money.

• My Financial Meltdown: Part 2
• Notice of Disassociation
• Reclaim Bank & Credit Card Charges
• A Fundamental Question
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 3

Since splitting with my wife last December, I have been constantly reminded of her presence by virtue of her being a ‘Financial Associate’ on my credit reports. This never used to be a big deal; Up to the point of the split she had an excellent credit rating. Since then however she dropped the bombshell that she has been declared bankrupt.

I have been racing around since learning this, trying to get her off my reports by filing Notices of Disassociation with the three Credit Reference Agencies here in the UK. When I apply for credit, she is checked as well. When they see ‘Undischarged Bankrupt’ on her report, they tend to (quite understandably) run a mile.

What is a Notice of Disassociation?

It’s essentially a document you send to a Credit Reference Agency (CRA) notifying them that you are no longer financially linked to another individual. Each CRA has a different method for unlinking, but all require much the same information.

Why Would I Be Linked?

People become linked when they hold a joint financial product: For example they may hold a joint bank account, have (as in our case) taken out a joint loan, have a mortgage, or jointly hold credit cards or any other line of credit in ‘both names’.

Can I Become Unlinked?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is it depends on the circumstances!

If the joint product that linked you is ‘Settled’ (paid off), then you can request the link be broken as you no longer hold a joint credit product. In my case for example, the joint loan we had was settled a while ago (by taking out a bigger one at a higher rate – doh!). Because we held no other joint products, my request to break the link was approved by all 3 CRA’s.

You don’t have to stay financially linked just because you’re still married, or still going out with each other, or they are still your parent, or whatever. The only factor that matters is that whatever caused you to be joined, must no longer be active.

I’ve broken down the steps you need to take with each CRA below to become financially disassociated with a particular person if you need to.

Experian / Credit Expert

I’ve listed this one first, because they’re the most pleasant to deal with and the fastest to act on the request (in my experience it took them 5 days from start to finish). I was in my 30 day free trial of CreditExpert and it didn’t cost me anything to request, or to see the result. Because I did it via QuidCo, they actually paid me 50p to sign up for my free report!

1. Sign up for their free trial (direct) or QuidCo and get yourself all activated.
2. Pull your Report (don’t include your score)
3. Fill in this form (you’ll need your report reference number from (2)).
4. Wait for the confirmation email (5-14 days).
5. Re-Check your report to make sure the association is gone.
6. Ring 0800 656 9000 (Option 4) to cancel inside 30 days.

Equifax

These guys are the next easiest to deal with, but I found they did not act on my Notice until after my free trial ended and they’d taken my first subscription payment of £6.99. However, as above, if you do it via QuidCo you’ll get a cashback kickback for signing up to the free trial. In the case of Equifax, they’ll pay you a fiver. Therefore you’ll either make £5 pure profit from doing this, or at the very worst only be stung for £1.99 overall.

1. Sign up for their free trial (direct) or QuidCo and get activated.
2. Pull your Report and note the reference number on it.
3. Create a Customer Assistance Account (Click ‘Login’ then ‘Create New’)
4. ‘Ask A Question’ > About ‘Associate Names’ (and fill it all in)
5. Wait forever (they’ll email you when they’ve done it).
6. Re-Check your report to make sure the association is gone.
7. Ring 0800 7839421 to cancel your membership.

CallCredit

These require the most work from you, and also the most initial outlay. They offer no free trial, and require you to spend £12.99 upfront to get access to their service. The only saving grace is it offers you 3 months of access and includes a calculated credit score for free. You will also need access to a printer, an envelope, a stamp and a post box.

1. Sign up for the service and get activated.
2. Pull your report and note the reference number.
3. Print out this form and fill it in.
4. Post it (see below).
5. Set a reminder in your diary to cancel in 3 months.
6. Log in > Account Details > Cancel Subscription button.

The completed form should be posted to:

You will receive a letter by return postal mail advising of the result (about a 3 week turnaround).

As you can see doing this will cost you about £13.35 (including the cost of the stamp and envelope) but if you need to get someone off your report for the same reason I did, then it is money well spent. If you are a QuidCo user already, then you could get paid £5.50 to do the first two meaning the third one only really costs you £7.85 for 3 months of access to your credit report and score – which isn’t all that bad at all.

Let me know how you get on. Did you have any issues reporting a problem with your credit files?

• Say Hello to Kublax
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Spend Less Than You Earn
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Cleaning Up
• A Warm Welcome to BBC Radio Listeners
• A Formal Complaint to my Bank

If you’ve accessed your Experian Credit Report lately (they’re offering a 30-day free trial at the moment, but do it via QuidCo and get paid £8.50 to check said free report!), you’ll see they are keen to sell you your ‘Credit Score’ for £5.95 a go, as well as give you free access to your credit file. A good deal, right? After all, knowing your credit score is very important.

Wrong. Please don’t fall for it. The number they will give you in return for your hard-earned cash is all but irrelevant. The mythical number they generate is not given to any financial institution that checks your file, and has absolutely zero bearing on whether you get future credit or not. Instead, each institution creates their own internal ’score’ from their own highly complex, highly secret algorithms that take into account their own circumstances at the time, yours, and possibly the time of day and whether it is a full moon or not. A score from one lender will likely differ wildly from the next.

Why are they trying to sell you a useless 3 digit number? Because you’d likely buy it if you didn’t know.

Save your money. Your credit score is 791, and it’s just as valid (or perhaps more accurately, invalid) as any other. If you’re checking your credit files in general, CallCredit will give you one along with your 3 month access subscription.

It’s no more valid than the one Experian generates, but at least you are not paying extra for it.

• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Spend Less Than You Earn
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Cleaning Up
• Frugal Friday! 7 Tips to Reduce Your Grocery Bill
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Know What You Owe
• Investing Made Simple