A year in the life of my BR.

ANewEra

So I finally made a start on these yesterday, printed off the template letter, filled in the gaps by hand on each one as really couldn't be bothered to re type them for each creditor, in envelopes with copy of discharge notice - still need to copy my bankruptcy order - will do that today, so think I just need to send them recorded delivery now?

Quick question though - Abbey National - have got address for the data controller but do I send it there as it was the abbey I owed money to, or do I need to look up data controller for Santander?

ANewEra

I sent it to Abbey as I hadn't heard any different, so hope it was the right thing to do!

ANewEra

I had a letter from Nationwide today (weird feeling of not wanting to open it has still not gone even after all this time) anyway, it was to acknowledge the clean up letter I sent them and to say they had passed the details onto the credit agencies.
I didnt expect any replies from any of them, but it is nice to know they have made a start.

ANewEra

I looked at a copy of my statuary report today - Equifax - not asked for the others yet, and 4 are still not shown as satisfied, although 3 are (but not the date of either the BR or the ED??) Do the dates matter much, or the fact that they are 'satisfied' ok?

As for the 4 that have not done anything - Grrrrrr - I suppose this means more letters etc? Will have to check the thread to tell me what to do again.

Any advice from anyone who has 'been there, done that'?

Many thanks

ANewEra

Thought I'd find my old thread and read through it again. Wow, how time flies, that was over 5 years ago now.
So, in the last 5 years a few things have changed. Married to the best chap I have ever met, 2 more children and financially although we are not rich we are doing ok. My husband works full time, I have been a stay at home Mum for the last 3 and a bit years, went back after no2 (although when I went back was already pregnant with no3....) but after no3 we worked out that childcare for 2, plus before and after school club for no1 and running 2 cars wasn't financially viable. Husband is still paying a HUGE loan that he and the ex wife had taken out (unfortunately only his name is on it, and she has refused point blank to pay a penny towards it) However, we manage our money in the same way that I did just after the BR. Put aside enough to cover anual bills each month and let it build up, so when the car tax/house insurance/car insurance etc comes along we have it covered. The smaller of the two loans finishes in April, and we figure that as we don't spend that money now we won't miss it if we just squirrel it away and then in a years time pay off the big one in full, hopefully 8 months early, which will then leave us with about £500 a month extra, so we have decided that we are going to start saving for our own home! Not easy when you're paying £900 a month on rent, but we are so determined to do so, and hopefully in about 5 years or so we might have enough for the deposit, seems a long way off, but in reality 5 years ago I would never have even thought it was possible.
Over the last three years I have had a credit card with Vanquis - use it a little and pay it off in full each month, in the hope of rebuilding my credit score (they probably hate me as I never pay them any interest!)
I must say, my attitude to money has changed, and my husband is completely the same - we both know what it's like to have an ex that spends money like it grows on trees - and we don't buy things we don't need, find the cheapest option for things we do need, ok, I suppose we do things sometimes we want rather than need, like taking the children swimming etc - but we still find the cheapest way of doing it, BR has taughht me a valuable lesson, wish I'd known how to manage money properly before, without having to go through all of that, but I guess it's made me appreciate the small things and also makes me teach our children (the eldest one anyway) the value of things. Sorry for the huge long post, felt a little nostalgic after reading through the previous posts!

woodformoretrees

It's great to hear how your life has moved on - I hadn't seen this thread until today and it was a great read.
thanks for letting us know how things have turned out for you.

montymud

Your update is so refreshing and just what those of us currently going through BR need to hear. I hate it so much, just want it to be over. Never ever again will I get into debt in any way! We have already made really positive changes. We pay our water bills and tv license weekly on a payment card they sent us at our request. We also had gas and electricity meters installed so we can never get into debt with them. Made massive changes to our tv, broadband and phone package - saving £60 a month which is a bonus as we find that making sure we always have gas and electricity is costly but its a damn sight better then getting into debt!

Thank you for your update and I really wish you the very best in the future

ANewEra

Thank you both of you.
Montymud, good on you for making those changes, £60 a month is over £700 a year and that's a massive saving!

Had a nice email from Quidco this morning saying they were paying £155 into my account - that'll be from the Sky package as we changed from Virgin at the end of last year. I just checked my quidco account and over the last 4 years have had over £800 from them. Always go through them for any internet buys, even the odd pence here and there adds up - well worth signing up if you haven't already, because even though we are all on a budget on here, some buys are essential aren't they.

So far this year we needed some drawers for one of the children's clothes - found exactly what we wanted on ebay for £10 (Ikea £55) and I also wanted a frame for one of my maps - free from a local freebie facebook site - I dont know about you, but I get a bit of a buzz from getting bargains rather than just going to a shop and buying new.

What I really want to get my teeth into now is saving money on our monthly grocery shop. Currently we spend approx £400 a month, this includes toiletries, cleaning, food etc basically everything we get from the supermarkets.
Last weekend I made some pizza bases to freeze, T value plain flour 45p makes either 6 large or 18 kids sized bases. So for the large family sized one thats only 7.5p each, I must work out costs of yeast, tomato puree, toppings etc, but I reckon a family pizza can be done for less than 50p - there's 5 of us, so to pad it out I have a large sweet potato left which I can make wedges from.
I know this is more suited to the 'Old style money saving' board, and I do browse those threads daily for ideas! But if anyone reading this has some good ideas please share! Our children are 3,4 and 9 eat most things (eventually!) but the youngest is allergic to eggs and peanuts.