SOA (lightbulb moment!!)

fatlad9

i'll tell her about the pills. she tried endless products. that over-priced puffer thing that replaces a tab was a waste of time. she didnt get on with the gum either.

o2 wont budge on the contracts... even when i hinted that i might not be able to continue paying them. now ive banned myself from betnow (for 10 years!!) my bill for my phone should come in around 40. wife is overspending on her minutes / texts (she spends a lot of time talking to family etc as shes moved 200 miles from them and obviously misses them a lot!)
will get her signed up to the o2 website to view her bills... o2 kindly changed our bills to online only... then if its minutes shes going over will see about buying a bolt-on? that will surely be cheaper than paying for each minute or text out of the bundle.
can o2 set a limit on an account so we cant go more than 10 over the bundled allowance? there seems to be no limit on ours??

sky is dropping down to the minimum package and the sky internet we will put down to the free service. or is it 5 pounds? either way going to be better than what we are paying them. will get wife to ring sky after shes finished work.

BT advise me I have 3 months left of the minimum term contract, which is the same as sky broadband. will dump both of these in 3 months as have no need for them really. will use my mobile broadband more (although the signal and connection really is pants! used to be great, then i renewed for another 18 months and my speeds and signal dropped dramatically!)

entertainment is dropping. 2 nights out a month (on a sunday when drinks are 1 pound in newcastle)

today will be writing to all creditors asking to freeze interest and charges with the view to paying enough each month to pay each account off in 12 months or less. not sure if they'll do this.

and going to write to bpo and wescot and offer a full and final settlement. will start low though and see where we go. i cant find the relevant template letter for this though. or is it a case of just telling them heres my offer, and waiting for them to knock it back!?

thanks everyone, with your help and comments im now determined to do this.
(even the slightly harsh comments are appreciated!)
its a good job you didnt see what would have been my SOA a few months ago!!

gifts will be stopped pretty much. that was high because that seemed to be what was expected of us. sod them all, i always thought i got crap presents in return anyway!!!!

Tixy

Glad to hear you have got some ideas in place to move forwards - you sound determined to improve things which is great

This link tells you all you need to know about F&F settlements (incl a template)
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers

fatlad9

Tixy wrote: »

Glad to hear you have got some ideas in place to move forwards - you sound determined to improve things which is great

This link tells you all you need to know about F&F settlements (incl a template)
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=24_full_and_final_settlement_offers

thanks, i'll get on to that.
:beer:

saxysarah

good for u! u really seem to be getting things sorted good luck with everything and don't forget to try out the 'up ur income' forums to see if u can get a bit extra off ebay/amazon etc - might not be alot but every little overpayment you can make on the CCs is a bonus ;-)

best of luck!

fatlad9

ok... the 100 to Wescot was actually Moorcroft. Had got myself mixed up there. Owe Wescot nothing.

made them a F&F settlement offer.
made BPO Collections a F&F settlement offer.
(these nasty people above write letters addressing me in lowercase. name address etc all lower case. i know i dont use uppercase etc but im typing with 2 fingers on a message board.)
also made a F&F offer to Next, on the grounds I'm in arrears by 5 months, and they want a minimum payment of 230.06..... which i cant afford.

opening those 4 drawers that are full of letters was scarey.... need a big flippin paper-shredder now!!! :eek: i had phone bills from 2006 from accounts closed years ago!! (brought them 200 miles with me when i moved back up here 2 years ago!!!):rotfl:


now to write to the rest of my creditors just explaining my financial situation and asking to set up some repayment plan.

do i send F & F letters by recorded del? or is first class ok for these?

fatlad9

saxysarah wrote: »

good for u! u really seem to be getting things sorted good luck with everything and don't forget to try out the 'up ur income' forums to see if u can get a bit extra off ebay/amazon etc - might not be alot but every little overpayment you can make on the CCs is a bonus ;-)

best of luck!

i'll have a look about and see if theres owt i can sell. personally never sold on ebay before, but it would be interesting to have a go.

:beer: <- even though i cant afford one !!

[Deleted User]

Hi fatlad

With regards to your landline/broadband/tv - can you get a bundled package of calls & broadband & just get free channels? If you have a laptop dump the mobile broadband dongle then use your wireless broadband router & free wifi out & about. Might save you at least £30 a month which is £360 a year! You could use this to pay for an MSE Xmas!

WASHER

To find out your remaining minutes on an O2 contract simply send a blank txt to 21202, its free and o2 will tell you how many minutes you have left from your allowance and if you have made any chargeable calls.

HTH.

fatlad9

suppose we could drop sky to the free channels... the + function is a godsend though and i think you lose the recording facilities if you cancel the paid for channels.

thanks washer for that number!

fatlad9

what an eye opener this 'being sensible' is...

looking at latest statements... owe 100 less on simplybe than i thought
and owe 140 less on next2 than id originally thought.

now doing letters to ask my creditors to freeze the accounts for 28 days while i try and sort out where and what is going to get paid off and by how much.

and an even bigger positive .... tomorrow we are having a roast dinner.... made from scratch - we have all the ingredients in the house. to be honest i'd rather have a meal like this a million times over pizza / kebab / curry etc.

i sense im going to be like a mad-man , and get overly obsessed with getting rid of all our debt.............. wife will be on 40 a day at the end of this !!