how is the credit crunch affecting you

lynzpower

amcluesent wrote: »

>I think it costs them about £50k<

That's probably DV level (the top) where they speak to a range peeps right back to those you knew at Uni. They're paranoid you may be a closet homosexualist. I knew somewhat who applied and they knew he'd not long split with his partner. At the interview their first question was "So, you must be downloading a lot of p0rn?"; it's all mind games.

A Basic Check isn't much more than the CRB do for teachers etc.

Absolutely true.

It is not expensive to get a security clearnace although I understand your employer has to apply ( ie a civil service employer) My OH has full security clearance and temps for central london government depts ( eg home office defra etc) He does not have a degree ( or a levels in fact) but has worked a range of EO and AO grades. ( adn is working at EO grade now)

the_ash_and_the_oak

As long as I keep my job I will remain unaffected. From any recession or credit crunch those that remain in employment come out big winners - at the expense of those that don't. It seems like a shaking of the tree, those that manage to hold on are in a very good position afterwards

Trouble is - in the interim - none of us really know if we will or not - and modify behaviour accordingly. My spending was low before this anyway, it has not increased

princess1984

I find this thread really interesting, as a lot of people I know are struggling financially. My mother is being taken to court over non payment of her life insurance that came with her mortgage, my friend is facing voluntary bankruptcy and a few people I know are uncertain about their jobs.

My job is fairly safe...although I wouldn't bet on it as you never know for sure with these things. I am enjoying the price of petrol going down as I get more mpg now.

However I have a student grant and loan coming through next week, which I will use to pay off both of my credit cards, saving me about 80pounds per month and lots of interest and charges. (obviously I will have to pay back the loan but this will be when I am earning enough to repay it).

The main aim of the game is to reduce my outgoings and save money.

shelovestobuystuff

Well so far it has not affected us much in our household budget.We have a fixed mortgage so we have not even been able to benefit from mortgage interest rate cuts,on the other hand though we have avoided 2 years worth of rises by having the fixed rate.
Hubbies christmas bonus,% of profits, which is usually less than £200 anyway was only £70 as he works in construction and the company profits were down.
I am worried about my local town centre as everything seems to be closing down.We have no toy shops,gift shops,furniture stores or kids clothing shops now and even the low end stores are closing.I am hoping that with so many of the big high street stores closing their doors the independants that are left will blossom and keep our town from becoming a ghost town.
I agree with the ash and oak above re the uncertaintity of it all,even though we dont feel the effects yet we dont know if or when we will and have modified behaviour accordingly.I didnt go Jan sale shopping this year for the first time,not because I couldnt afford to but because I want to keep my spare money just incase.

neverdespairgirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think it costs them about £50k, that was a figure I was told about 5-6 years ago.

As I understand it, most people obtain clearance by working in the services in the first instance. Then they go on to security cleared jobs once they've left/retrained and are re-employed as civvies.

The two people I know who needed such clearance didn't work in the services first.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

So far we're doing ok.
We have a long term fix on our mortgage so although we don't have the benefit of any present savings we have peace of mind which is worth more to us.We have'nt had to cut anything out at all so not feeling the pinch.
On the downside we won't be taking any holidays through choice as we want to be able to help our daughters if need be and don't want to waste any money that our family may need should the worst come to the worst.
It's the younger one's I fear for in all this.

incesticde

Not sure what my answer to this question is...

Pure figures wise - I used to be 18 Grand in debt, now I'm DF. I carried over my DFW practices into my DF life. My job is pretty recession proof (after all people will always get ill), and am recognised as an asset to my department (people always coming over to my desk saying 'Apparently you're the person to ask about ...') .I earn more than i have ever earned and I'm saving over 600 quid a month. My diesel costs have gone down by about 100 quid per month. Nice stuff I like to buy has gone down in price. I decided not to buy a house early last year as I knew prices were gonna drop, so I've missed being in negative equity (about a 20K drop) if I had brought.

So pure figures wise, I'm much better off now

Personally : Mates of mine have lost their jobs, some have seen pay cuts and almost no one has had a pay rise. One of my mates was in marketing and has lost his job when woolies went bust, the poor chap has his first kid on the way and a mortgage to pay. Me and my mates very rarely go out to the pubs or clubs now, people just can't afford it now. Pubs are a damn site quieter and so is town and clubs. Everyone bar students seem to have gone into hibernation.

Here I am in the best financial situation of my life and I can't really enjoy it, that may sound really crass to say considering what some people are going through, but it's how i feel.

The credit crunch has financially been good for me but not the people around me and thus the credit crunch has not been good for me personally (if that makes sense).

zarazara

cheaper petrol. low savings rates so have spent some of my savings on new furniture :-) also bought a car cheaply. I have no mortgage or laons so ok there, so ,thus far, its looking pretty good.

PasturesNew

Anecdotal new information... I've been half-heartedly (no, think 1%-edly) looking for work. Sent out 4 CVs... and got a phone call this morning.

A role has come up and the man asked me what salary I was after, so I said "I was after £35-45k, what've you got" and he said the role was originally planned at that level, but they've now had a re-think and want to recruit somebody a level down from that at £25k so in 1-2 years they're ready for the higher role. I said "House prices are back to 2003-2004, that is what I was earning in 1999.... yep, put me in for it, I'd rather be ahead of the market".

So, might have a job interview at 1999 wages level. Which wouldn't make me angry at all. More grateful anybody sniffed at my CV in this market.

sportbeth

Petrol Cheaper than last year, mortgage at the cheapest rate that we have ever had. Clothes cheap, eating out cheap, shopping bills going down.

Hubby and I are saving for the worst potential situation, no threat of redundancy but these things can turn round very quickly as I have learnt before so being very cautious. Hubby is finally coming around to MSE ways and cutting down in all sorts of areas, Alchohol spend, Shopping wisely, checking bank balance regularly so in that respect its been good for us.

The only negative (apart from stability worries) is that we have been told by our MD to keep a really low profile on everything at work. As a couple who work together and have double-income-no-kids-yet we've been cutting back lots to put money aside for a carribean holiday later this year so that we can comfortably afford it (last year it would have gone on the credit card and been paid off when we could). As many people I guess there is an unfashionable air if you mention anything extravagant and our management team have been told to keep anything like that under wraps. So we will tell staff in other departments that we are holidaying in bognor and pass off the tan as "Lucky".