Where I am now?

theskintfamily

well done! ive just sent off my first CC charge reclaim letter off to MBNA. so fingers crossed ill be as successful as you.

bathgatebuyer

Thought I'd update and resurrect my little thread!

Since starting this thread, I've been successful in getting back some PPI monies from Egg Credit Card. Basically, I had a pre-existing medical condition which would have prevented me from claiming in the event of illness. They asked for medical evidence, I gave it to them, adnt ehy still refused to pay out saying that I would still have been covered under the unemployment part of the policy. So, fair enough, I offered to settle for half my claim, and within a week had £550 put into my account by way of a settlement! The balance of the card is now £654 (It was £2,300 in July last year :eek:)

Not made much movement on the RBoS card. The balance is now only about £1650. I've been concentrating on getting rid of the Egg card as my priority and I've only recently went from minimum payments to paying £70 a month on this. I had planned to pay much more but you may recall that Edinburgh flippin' Council sent me a bill for council tax arrears from 2004 / 5 in September which meant that I was paying £240 a month in Council tax as opposed to just over £100 :mad: (Complaint went to the leader of the Council, in particular about the member of staff who said to me, "It's your responsibility to pay your bills on time" to which I responded, "It's your responsibility to send me some bloody bills!" The whole problem being that they'd not tallied up properly when I came off Council Tax Benefit when I was last out of work and never told me there was money due. Muppets.

On the Council Tax overpayment front, my last overpayment is on 16th March, and the month after that I go back to roughly £100 a month The extra £140 that I struggled to find each month to pay the arrears is going straight onto repaying the RBoS card.

My Sainsburys card and PPI claim is still with the FOS :rolleyes: I have the same issues with them as Egg. Sainsburys have refused to put the account on hold pending a decision from the FOS, so every month that goes by without a decision, the more I'm forking out in interest. My initial claim was made to the FOS in May 08, and my most recent contact with them suggests that it's likely to be at least May 09 or so before there's a decision. I hope not. Sainsburys were one of the most brutal creditors I had and would phone many times a day (because the PPI cover I thought would cover me never did :mad: ). Hopefully they'll repay my PPI monies and the balance of the card will be cleared (PPI claimed £1,100, balance, £1,100 which is purely coincidence). I had asked if they would at least put me on a more favourable rate of interest while awaiting the decision from the FOS, but again, no.

I also have a Flybe credit card which offers a favourable balance transfer which I'm going to take up. I've yet to do the sums, but I'll certainly be moving one of the higher balance (and interest) card across to it to take advantage of their offer. I use it for work expenses and so far have built up enough points that it's taken me over the threshold I need for a free flight to Europe! Jose Mourinho beware, I'm coming to Milan to get you!

On the mortgage front, my lender GMAC-RFC (who were the ones I went to when I was only able to get sub-prime) have recently written to me to tell me that I will be going onto their variable rate on 16th April when my fixed deal ends. That makes a difference of £160 a month to my mortgage :eek: That's probably the best letter I ever got from them! I'm meeting an advisor next month to see what the options are in terms of finding a new deal or waiting with what I've got for a while. Who knows, but I'll see what works for me.

I've been told by my employer that I'll be getting a 2% pay rise as of 15th April 09, which makes a difference of £40 a month after tax to my income We're certainly not expecting a bonus this year, and even the pay rise was something of a surprise.

My credit score is now 'fair' and is just short of being in the 'good' catogory (by about 20 points). Before anyone says, "yada yada.............lenders use their own...............yada yada.................credit scores mean nothing................" I know! But it does illustrate the changes that I've made to my life in the past 3 or 4 years and the impact upon how a lender may see me. Hopefully the move into the good will mark the start of me being mainstream (whatever that means thesedays) as far as credit goes and that I get the chance to save even more by getting favourable rather than 'bad credit' products.

So, with all of these things taken into consideration, I'm hoping that 09 will be my last year in debt.

• If the FOS decide Sainsburys should pay me back the PPI monies, then it's goodbye to them
• The Egg card will be repaid by the Summer;
• The balance of the RBoS card is likely to be transferred to the Flybe card to get a better deal, and once the Egg card is paid off, I will be focussing on repaying this.

What happens after that, I don't know! Maybe try and build up some savings. Can someone remind me again what savings are? I think I had them when I was about 8, but they've went right off my radar since!:rotfl:

wantabetterlife

Hi Bathgate buyer
I have just come across your thread and read it from the beginning. I think you have done a fantastic job in reducing your debts and you are really inspirational. The end is sooo close. Just think how much money you will have when everything is paid:beer:

Well done!!! and keep updating:T

LilacPixie

BB you are doing so so well. 2009 will be you DF