Your Finances: Get Your Paperwork In Order

Do you know where all your important documents are? Can you lay your hands on your last three months’ bank statements or wage slips? Are you quite sure where both parts of your driving licence are – and if they are together?

Life is so busy that the little things – like filing paperwork, otherwise known as household administration – get put off. And put off. And put off again. And it’s all fine, until you need to lay your hands on the important stuff, like when you want to take out a Logbook Loan or other type of personal finance; who hasn’t spent hours opening envelopes stacked on the kitchen table, or rummaging in drawers?

Tips for home filing

1. Choose a system that fits you: a filing cabinet, box files, A4 lever arch files, envelopes, cardboard fan files … there are a multitude of possible filing systems for your personal documents and there will definitely be one that suits you.
2. If you open a bank statement or a loan letter, throw the envelope away (or recycle it) even if you’re not going to file the document immediately. This cuts down on bulk and means you don’t have to hunt through envelopes again for the right one if you need it unexpectedly.
3. File on a regular basis – every Friday evening, for example, just spend a few minutes putting your paperwork away. The benefit of this is that you won’t overlook urgent letters buried under a pile.

What counts as important documentation?

You might not need to look at your documentation very often but if you’re applying for a Logbook Loan or other secured/unsecured finance then you will need these:

1. Logbook (your V5 document)
2. Motor insurance certificate
3. Utility bills and credit card bills as proof of address (you need one issued within 8 weeks of your application – another incentive to keep on top of your filing)
4. Driving license or passport
5. Wage slip (most recent)
6. Bank statements (you need at least two, three if you’re self-employed, so keep on top of these)

And how do you file your keys?

Here’s a tip if you are thinking of applying for a Logbook Loan: if you know where your spare key is and you pass it to us for safekeeping along with your logbook, you might qualify for an even more competitive interest rate on your loan.

So get organised!

For more information about Logbook Loans visit our page explaining how they work.