Financial Health Check

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How to Complete an Online Financial Health Check

Ensuring your household finances are healthy is important for both you and your family’s wellbeing.

For many households, however, balancing your household budget is not an easy task.

In 2017/18, for example, the Office for National Statistics reported UK Consumers, for the first time in 30 years, were on average running a £900 deficit in their household finances. This means on average £900 more was going out than was coming in.

This page and the links on it are designed to help you avoid doing that.

To help you carry out a Financial Health Check we recommend you take a number of steps.       

 

Complete an online Benefit Calculation

First, we recommend you maximise your income by getting a full benefit check. This will ensure you are receiving everything you are entitled to.

Inverclyde Council’s benefit calculator is easy to use and calculates your entitlement to benefits, based on the personal information you provide.  It is completely anonymous and only you get to see the calculation.

Completing it should take no more than ten minutes and at the end you can download a copy of your calculation or email it to yourself.

Establish a Budget

Second, we recommend you use our online budget calculator to create a household budget for you and your family.

It is easy-to-use and will create for a personalised budget that will help you manage your finances.

It can be completed in minutes and provides you with an overview of your household income and expenditure.

Obtain a Free Credit Report

Obtain a copy of your Credit Report. Although there are many services that charge you for this service, you can obtain a free copy by law.

Your credit report contains a lot of information about you and sometimes this information can be wrong.  You may be linked to people you have no financial connection to. This can damage your credit score and may negatively impact on your ability to obtain credit.

Correcting any mistakes is usually easy and free to do.

Manage your Debts

If you find that your budget is running at a deficit and you are struggling with problem debts then Inverclyde HSCP Money Advice Service can help you. In 2017/18, Inverclyde HSCP Money Advisers dealt with over £3.8 million of debt for Inverclyde residents and can provide you with access to all of Scotland’s formal and Informal debt solutions.

You can also speak with our online money adviser through our chat service.