Corona007's random ramblings

Corona007

You'll be pleased to know I'm feeling happier today. I had a half decent nights kip (only marginal mice horrors last night) and I have seen the cheque from GreedyLL appear in my account. I know that doesn't mean it has cleared and it can still bounce for another few days but it's a massive step forward from where I was 2 days ago . Now if I can just find another £1,700 in the next million years I can tell Evil Halifax to look for their profits elsewhere. I can't tell you how pleasurable that would be.

I didn't get a better offer from Egg but I did tell them to stick their card and I wanted to remain on the lower rate. Frankly I don't want the card once I've paid it off so I'm not losing out on anything. Funnily enough a chap at work was moaning about Egg doing exactly the same to him last week so I obviously wasn't solely targeted.

Lula my dear I would love to take you up on that offer but I fear I just wouldn't get them back in the same condition as I lent them. :rotfl:. Perhaps instead though I should just drink a bottle or so a night and I won't care about mice any more. And on the plus side I could club the little gits with the empty bottle

Lula-Hula

Hi Corona,

glad to hear that a good night's sleep has lifted your spirits again :j. Well done for telling Egg you'll keep the apr until debt cleared :cool:. Just make sure you dont have any debit agreements set up on the card ( like Amazon quick pay) I speak from experience here .

I've been pondering on your next financial move & I reckon that once the GLLs cheque has cleared you pay Evil Halifax :mad: & how about shifting the remaining balance to HSBC Mastercard ?

You've got plenty of credit available on it & as your current balance is fairly low & the amount to tranfer isnt that high, they probably wont flinch at all. You also get the satisfaction of clearing & closing one card evil card .

I am by no means an expert at this, but I think that's how I would play it.

My next move would then be to try to clear the Rotten Egg balance because :

1) although the apr is lower than others, the balance is so high that by my rough estimation you are paying aproximately £88 a month interest on that as oppsed to approximately £ 59 / 60 on the American Express card & about the same on the HSBC Mastercard if you were to transfer as I outlined above.

2) they stink so I would want them to have as little of my cash as possible.

Your choice obviously .

How about also setting yourself a small but achievable challenge to reduce the overdraft a bit every month too. Even if it's just £10, it will help.

I completely understand your reluctance to relinquish your grip on the bottles & there might well be some 'contents loss' :whistle: but wait, I have another cunning plan ...

I also have a spare hamster cage, so you bait it with cheese & crumbs, catch the mice then sell them on ebay

Cant wait to hear that the cheque has cleared ...

Corona007

Hi Lula. I think you are right about shifting the balance from Evil Halifax onto my HSBC MC. It should be around £1,500 all things being well at the end of the month and that shouldn't cause too many problems with HSBC.

I'm not sure about then targeting the Egg card - so long as I keep the rate at 16.9% it is cheaper than the other two cards and the snowball calculator tells me to hit the AMEX next too. I have though set a monthly payment of £160 a month up to it which is above the minimum just to stop me falling into the trap of my payment amounts falling as the debt decreases (something I read about in an article Martin wrote here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/minimum-repayments-credit-card)

I think I'm going to try and clear my AMEX card next as I want to start using it for my work expenses to build up some free airmiles and I don't have any credit available on it at the moment. I will pay it off each month as I am much more aware of the consequences now I have had my LBM.

I am also trying to clear my OD. It has gone about £200 since my LBM but I keep feeling that the money would be better used paying off my CCs (so long as I keep staying within my OD limit though).

Anyway, I had my TV tax renewal through the door today and unlike the last umpteen years I haven't just ignored it until they start sending threatening letters. I normally pay it in full eventually (on credit card for the last few years ) but this year I've gone for a DD. I am quite miffed though that they structure the payments so you are paying 6 months in advance for next year - normally I am 6 months in arrears and I just hate paying the damn tax as I don't watch much TV (second on my hate list only to council tax which the robbing bar stewards will be invoicing in the next week or so I guess). Anyway, like it or not at least I'm not going to end up in court with a huge bill to pay.

Not much else to report. It is quite likely that some red wine will mysteriously evaporate tonight but we'll not go into that

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I quite agree about nasty tax on tv being payable 6 months in advance. I disliked the idea so much that I'm actually paying mine quarterly at the moment, but realise that this means I am paying an extra £5 for the privelege :mad: Mine ends /begins in January so I've never had the cash to pay a whole year ... but I will next year

I've already had my council tax bill & was horrified that it had gone up by over £30 a month :eek:, then discovered that I hadnt received the 25% single occupant discount, so am now waiting for it to be recalculated. I reckon I'm owed a decent amount from last year too.

Sounds like you're doing really well with all the repayments & you should always follow the plan that suits you best.

I'm trying to work up the courage to apply for the Virgin 0% card; I hate rejection

I've still not touched my alcohol stash, but hpe you enjoy yours

Corona007

I hate paying council tax - not because my council are inept or anything but more because I consider my salary mine once it hits my bank account and I don't like giving it to anyone after that point unless I choose to. Well that plus my local council must be one of the most expensive in the country - my flat is rated a lowly band C but last year my rates including the 25% single occupant discount were £133 a month. I'm guessing close to £150 next year :mad:

Hope you get a nice fat cheque back from your council Lula. Good luck on the Virgin application - Mr Branson rejected mine. I'm guessing that unless you have an excellent credit rating that 0% cards will remain out of reach.

Lula-Hula

Ouch to your council tax I too am a lowly band C but mine is £129 a month before the discount. Surrey is much cheaper than London then, but we do have more pot holes . According to the local paper this week, nearly 2,000 of them & I think my poor car has been in most of them

Thanks for the good luck vibes but I'll be amazed if I do get the Virgin card, was rejected a year ago, but I'm a tenacious type who wont take no for an answer

Corona007

Funnily enough, I've just checked my council tax letter from last year and despite me applying for a 25% discount it doesn't mention it anywhere. I moved in half way through the year so only paid half of it, but the annual amount stated at the top of the letter is exactly the same as the FULL amount for a Band C property stated on my council's website :think:. Methinks I might have also overpaid last year :T

Corona007

Corona is a very happy man at the moment. It seems I have indeed overpaid my council tax by about £190 so hopefully will get that refunded soon. It seems my council had not applied the 25% discount. Maybe they thought that mice counted as occupants so charged me full price :rotfl:

But more importantly I just found out today that I am due a bonus from work next week. Apparently I was one of the "highest performers" last year which is a surprise to me because according to my credit card statements I was on holiday for most of it! Maybe it says more about my colleagues than me.

Who cares - after the government have stolen their disgraceful percentage to waste on ID cards or some other rubbish, I should still be left with around £1,000. That will leave me within £600 or so of closing Evil Halifax card for good. I don't care how late it is, I'm cracking open a bottle of wine

Corona007

Oh this just gets better and better! I've just been on the phone to my local council again about my CT overpayment and they confirmed I have over payed by £198 last year. Then she mentioned that I also had credit against my previous property of £115 which I had never claimed. Thinking I might be pushing my luck, she also checked the property before that one too. Turns out I was £75 in credit there too! So it seems they owe me a total of £388.

The best part of all this is that as a result of these changes she has noticed my previous flat is in now arrears and it was with great big grin on my face that I gave her GreedyLLs name and address to pursue for payment. :rotfl:

Anyway the lovely lady at the Council is going to apply my 25% for next year and offset the bill with all the credit which should bring my monthly payments right down to about £65 a month going forward.

Lula I think I owe you some wine - I wouldn't have thought to check if you hadn't mentioned it.

Lula-Hula

All wine donations graciously received

Seriously though, I am absolutely delighted that you are getting some council cashback :j I am ecstatic that also managed to let slip GLLs address :rotfl:

I think the missing 25% discount is a bit of a recurring theme at the moment, I also checked my grandmothers & discovered that hers is also missing ... I am slightly suspicious as to how genuine the omission is in this area, I am aware that our local council invested heavily in certain Icelandic products ( no, not fish )

Enjoy your celebrations & please keep your fingers crossed for me; I've just applied for the 0% Virgin card ... they "may need more information before processing" :think: & will let me know in 7 - 10 days ... I am rubbish at patience games