Savings Log of a 26yr old on low pay

MoneyWaster2007

Got anything you can sell?

Nah, sold absolutely everything I could sell, barring essential items http://static.moneysavingexpert.com/images/forum_smilies/redface.gif

I ended up pulling out my entire months savings (£136.50) into my current account. That's the first time I've done that in months and months. Feel a bit gutted. At least I've not overspent, per se. All I've done is saved diddly squat this month.

With the boost of pulling my months savings back, I'm still fairly cash strapped. I'm averaging £37.49/ weekend across 3 weekends. Seems ok, but I have bits to get through the week such as food etc. which brings the average down.

Changing subject briefly, I've noticed a pending payment of around £30 on my curr acc. I don't recall paying for anything by card and have been into branch to report fraudulent activity. However, the bank says there is nthing they can do until the money has left my account. If it is fraud, they said they will give me the money back. However, I somehow don't think it will be as easy as they made it sound. Anyone else had experience of this? Did you get your cash back quickly/not at all?

black_taxi_2

my fav jacket cost me 50p,oxfam charity shop

mind u it cost £10 to dry clean it

surprised bank couldn't tell you what payment was for

excellent thread

ajwolf

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

Changing subject briefly, I've noticed a pending payment of around £30 on my curr acc. I don't recall paying for anything by card and have been into branch to report fraudulent activity. However, the bank says there is nthing they can do until the money has left my account. If it is fraud, they said they will give me the money back. However, I somehow don't think it will be as easy as they made it sound. Anyone else had experience of this? Did you get your cash back quickly/not at all?

Sorry to barge in. Just some info about the above, not sure about all banks but definitely some of them.

It's normal practice that a bank they don't take any action when the payment is pending. It normally takes a couple of days to officially come out of the account. If you have online banking you can check yourself when the entry appears on your statement. First double check you didn't actually spend it.

How easily you get it back depends on the situation. If you've never had anything to do with the company then it's fairly straightforward and the bank should be quick to get it back. If it's a company you've previously had dealings with then depending on what exactly has happened the bank may look into it for you or they may ask you to contact the company.

Sorry I can't be more precise, it all depends on what exactly the situation is.

MoneyWaster2007

my fav jacket cost me 50p,oxfam charity shop

That's amazing! I had a look around some charity shops myself yesterday. However, they don't all do men's clothing. Found a nice t-shirt for £3.75 though. Tried it on when I got home and it didn't fit (story of my life). I'm not taking it back as that would be tight on the charity I donated to (in this case Barnados) so I'm trying to think of someone I can give it to.

Re. the situation I had with the mysterious pending payment; it had to do with a subscription to a movie website which I'd signed up to. I had to give my bank details, which I thought was strange as it was advertised as 'free.' But what had happened was after a free 5-day trial, they put you onto a plan, if you've not selected one yourself. All of this info was in the T's+C's, which I didn't read. As I'd not downloaded any movies, I requested a full refund and got it. So all sorted now. Must remember in future if any website asks for my bank details, it will want money from me, regardless of whether it says 'free' or not!

Changing topic, I should get my Open University course grant of £265 next month (they pay me this each academic year to support costs involved with study materials). I don't actually need this money, and last year I added it to my ISA. I'm very grateful the government give me this cash, as I know not everyone qualifies for it. This year, I'm thinking of taking £136.50 of it to replace the money I should have saved this month but didn't, and spend the rest on clothes. I need a winter jacket, trainers, boots, jeans etc. So it will definitely help. Alternatively, I could save the lot and try to make do without the new clothing. Any thoughts on this? I hope I don't sound greedy here.

lippy1923

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

That's amazing! I had a look around some charity shops myself yesterday. However, they don't all do men's clothing. Found a nice t-shirt for £3.75 though. Tried it on when I got home and it didn't fit (story of my life). I'm not taking it back as that would be tight on the charity I donated to (in this case Barnados) so I'm trying to think of someone I can give it to.

Re. the situation I had with the mysterious pending payment; it had to do with a subscription to a movie website which I'd signed up to. I had to give my bank details, which I thought was strange as it was advertised as 'free.' But what had happened was after a free 5-day trial, they put you onto a plan, if you've not selected one yourself. All of this info was in the T's+C's, which I didn't read. As I'd not downloaded any movies, I requested a full refund and got it. So all sorted now. Must remember in future if any website asks for my bank details, it will want money from me, regardless of whether it says 'free' or not!

Changing topic, I should get my Open University course grant of £265 next month (they pay me this each academic year to support costs involved with study materials). I don't actually need this money, and last year I added it to my ISA. I'm very grateful the government give me this cash, as I know not everyone qualifies for it. This year, I'm thinking of taking £136.50 of it to replace the money I should have saved this month but didn't, and spend the rest on clothes. I need a winter jacket, trainers, boots, jeans etc. So it will definitely help. Alternatively, I could save the lot and try to make do without the new clothing. Any thoughts on this? I hope I don't sound greedy here.

The uni grant- I would personally put the £136.50 away to replace the money, buy the new clothes shopping around, using cashback websites or trying e-bay. Anything left over add to savings. You need to enjoy a little bit of your money

MoneyWaster2007

Hi all, I think this may have been mentioned previously but I've either not fully understood it or I've not paid enough attention to it (if so, sorry)...

So, I'm talking about the Nationwide curr acc which is offering 5pc on balances up to £2.5k. The plan is to transfer my monthly salary so it gets paid into this account (which would meet the condition relating to paying in £1k + per month) then, transfer by standing order the money over to my Halifax curr acc to meet that account's conditions. As all my dd's are set up on my Halifax acc, that will cover them.

To make full use of the Nationwide offer of 5pc on balances up to £2.5k, I'll transfer exactly that from my current year ISA. My only doubt in this is regarding the exact specifics of the requirements on the Nationwide current account - do they require that you set up dd's?? I hope not as I need these on my Halifax acc to qualify for the £5 per month freebie!

Also, what does 5% equate to after tax? As I assume this is taxed.

Archi_Bald

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

do they require that you set up dd's?

No. See http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/flexdirect/default.htm

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

Also, what does 5% equate to after tax? As I assume this is taxed.

For a basic rate tax payer, 20% go to HMRC, the other 80% are yours. 80% of 5% is 4%.

MoneyWaster2007

Thanks archibald. So would you say that what I've set out to do is sound? I want to make sure I've not overlooked anything before I commit.

Archi_Bald

Yes of course it will work. Just remember to review in 12 months time when the FlexDirect interest goes to 1%.

MoneyWaster2007

Why does a current account pay better interest than a savings account? I'm baffled....