Rohan Weerasinghe

I'm Speaking in Cardiff

If you want a great evening of being educated and challenged come along and see me speak at the YES Group in Cardiff on 7th May. The title of my talk is One Day in Not In Any Diary...

Click on this VIDEO LINK

Credit History Questions

When I am speaking to groups of clients on Wealth and Money I often get questions related to Credit Scoring and rating. I am not an IFA and what I present to you here is not qualified apart from my own experience – that said you can go to any of the credit agencies to confirm the points I have listed below.

These are the main credit reference agencies.

www.experian.co.uk
www.equifax.co.uk
www.callcredituk.co

Q: Is there such a thing as a credit black list?

A: There is no such thing as a credit blacklist. There are rating systems that each agency uses – however, there is not a definitive black list. Hence the need for you to obtain and assess you own credit file.

Q: Can my postcode affect my credit rating/score?

A:  Where you live does not directly affect your credit score – although there have been occasions when neighbouring flats for example have contained someone with a very poor credit score and it may in some cases influence your score – that would be one to raise directly with the credit agency.

Q:  Does my credit cards get worse when I apply for more credit cards?

A: The key with credit cards is to not apply for TOO many in a short space of time i.e. over a few weeks. This may be interpreted by lenders as you “over-stretching yourself” financially. People that I have spoken too who have apply for cards regularly tend to stretch it over a period of months when applying for a few cards.

The above information should be clarified through each credit agency and there are many more questions – the best strategy is to contact the agencies directly and ask.

A Quick Look at UK Economy

WOW - I am just back from 10 Days with Richard Bandler the originator of NLP and other amazing technologies. Great seminar and I got to spend the last three days with my good friend and Business Partner Deri James. A few of you have been asking me about Business Coaching - Deri has a fantastic track record in Business and now coaches people one on one - he has been getting great results with Clients. So it was good to catch up with him and share ideas.

There is a WEBSITE I would like you to visit. It is http://www.statistics.gov.uk

Here you can look a virtually any UK related statistics you want from Agriculture to Current Interest rates. In particular you can look at Inflation, interest rates, gross domestic product and real estate.

You will see at present from here that the Interest Rates have dropped in recent months whilst inflation is the highest it has been since 1997 and the general consumer confidence is a little low. This means that on the overall cycle of the economy we are somewhere between Early and Late Contraction.

If you look at the index chart for UK real estate you will see that we are still in an uptrend although it recently pulled back to support and took off again. It is now at a possible peak where it may just pull back a little over the next month.

Click here to voew chart  Download real_estate_nov_2005.jpg

Cleaing Up Your Credit File

In the past month I have taught several hundred people who are looking to develop financial freedom and security. One of the challenges that most people face is dealing with their Credit Files and repairing them. Whether you are UK or non-UK based the principle is generally the same.

One method I want to share with you all is how to get credit card companies to update your files with the Credit Agencies quicker.

Most credit card companies have a nominated date in the month when they update the Credit Agencies with your file. This can be really frustrating if you have cleared a card and wish to get your file updated immediately. This approach is really only applicable if you are making a big payment - e.g. you are clearing off your card and you need your file updating quickly. I would not work every month as they will get annoyed with you.

Here's what you do.....

Managing Credit Cards

I have had many new vistors to my site in recent weeks and a lot of people have been enquiring when they register their email about credit card management and also about raising extra starting capital in creative ways.

IF this is something that interests you then when you register please indicate that you wish to learn more - or email me at enquiries@rohanweerasinghe.com

Meanwhile - for anyone on my emailing list (make sure you have registered) - I will be sending out a spreadsheet shortly with an explanation for how to manage those flexible cards!!

Credit Card Management Tool Coming Soon

Following popular requests from delegates that have attended my seminars I am modifying a credit card management spreadsheet which I will send to to all of you on my data base. If you have not done so - go to the contact page and register.

Watch this space...

Website Enquiry

I have had many positive comments from people that have visited my site in recent weeks and I would like to thank all of you for your kind words. I have also been asked who developed my site and who is my Internet Mentor. The answer is Nicola Cairncross. Many of you will have heard me talk about Nicola whenever I mention Internet related business. At the start of the year I set a goal to have a web presence and to develop tools that I could use to help people through the Internet. Within 2 months of setting the goal I met Nicola when I became involved in the first ever UK  Wealth Conference. Over the past 4 months both Nicola and Steve Watson who is equally as passionate and dedicated to developing web-based business have coached and helped me develop the site and my skills. Whenever I have had queries, either Steve or Nicola have been quick to respond and support. That is the type of service I needed, particularly as I am very busy developing other areas of my business.

Nicola has a passion for Internet related businesses and has her finger on the pulse all the time. Anything new that she learns she is always quick to share it with others. My goal has been to implement her suggestions whenever possible and that process, like any learning is ongoing.

She is very approachable, so drop onto her site automated marketing machine and have a look.

Use Credit To Your Advantage – Build Your Wealth

These are powerful statistics and they confirm that we are living in a new age of credit and borrowing. As it becomes easier to borrow money - and credit and loan companies compete for business we will be able to borrow more money at lower rates. If we are smart, we can use this to our advantage.

There are many techniques that we can utilize to take advantage of this relatively cheap money which can help us create a platform for developing our multiple streams of income.

Watch this space for some new material I am producing.

If you are interested in learning more: REGISTER YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS…

Some Interesting Statistics about Debt in the UK

Borrowing

In the UK the total personal debt exceeded £1 trillion that is £1,000,000,000,000 last July and it is estimated to move beyond £1.1 trillion by mid summer 2005. This equates to an increase in debt of £1 million every four minutes.

Now that’s a lot of borrowing – the question is “How much is GOOD debt and how much is BAD debt.”

The growth is sitting at around 12.5% over the past year and during the 2004 we saw the largest increase in debt of approximately £116bn in one year since the Bank of England was founded in 1694. Of these borrowings, in the housing market, the total secured lending for home buyers February 2005 was £887.8bn. If we look at Consumer Credit Lending to individuals – during February 2005 the figure was £185.3bn.

Household & Credit Card Debt

Excluding mortgages, the average household debt in the UK is approximately £7,500. Including mortgages, the figure is around £44,000.

Unsecured loans have risen by 10% in the last year to an average of £4,000 per adult in the UK. This breaks down to:

£1,300 on Credit cards
£1,900 on unsecured personal loans
£800 on overdrafts and retail finance

At the end of February 2005, the total UK credit card Debt was £54 billion and spending on credit cards reached around £269 billion – one more £billion than cash payments during the month of December 2004. It is calculated that approximately 250 - 300 credit card transactions take place every second!

The UK accounts for over 55 per cent of the 155 million credit cards in circulation in Western Europe – in fact the UK has now overtaken Germany to become the most card using country in Europe.

And finally…

More than one in ten consumers experience problems meeting their credit card debt repayments.

Avoid Credit Card Blur – Create Wealth

Several years ago I heard a speaker talk about what he called “Credit Blur” when a person becomes almost overwhelmed with their current financial situation that they simply ignore it. I actually think it does not have to be as dramatic as that – these days with the hectic lives that we lead, most people don’t really have a handle on their financial situation.

Some friends of mine recently met with a couple who were worried about possible repossession of their home. When asked, “What is total amount of your current mortgage” the couple simply replied “£300 per month”. When asked “OK, so how much do you actually owe the building society?” they replied “£300 per month”. When my friends then shifted the question to “What is the current interest rate you are borrowing at, the reply was “£300 per month”. They had “credit blur” and simply new only one thing – that the mortgage payments of £300 per month were crippling them.

Most of us do it at some time or another – we spend and don’t always keep track of what we’ve spent and we don’t know whether we are paying to much interest on the money we have spent!!

A few questions for you:

What is the current limit on your credit cards?

What interest rate are you paying on purchases?

What interest rate are you paying on balance transfers?

What interest rate do you pay when you use a credit card cheque?

What is you annual fee on your card?

What is the total balance on all your cards?

It is very important that you know the answer to these questions. There are ways to make your money work very, very powerfully – and to make other peoples money work very powerfully.

Sometimes when I am teaching on a seminar I have people tell me they don’t use cards for instance – they want to avoid debt. I then ask them “What type of debt do you want to avoid?” You see, if you are trying to avoid GOOD debt – which can help you build wealth – then you are shooting yourself in the foot. GOOD debt is one of the ways the wealthy become wealthier.