Armed Forces Personnel - tell the MOD about its effect on your finances.

inforeq

Tazilly - I know many service personnel and wives of, who were in that position.

In some cases they do become reliant on the forces for everything, especially when serving abroad (Germany etc), the rental on the houses/flats is generally lower than in the UK and deducted and source, Utilities are deducted at source and I have even know it possible to have car insurance deducted at source. To take matters one step further, they can even have life insurance taken from their wages (just so they dont have to think about it!).

All in all it can be fairly harrowing for the service personnel when they leave the forces as sometimes they have no idea of the implications of living in a "normal" environment.

Good on you for sticking it out for so long - I have managed 21+ years and the end is neigh

niksyg

An interesting thread, I work with young people who want to join the forces and this has raised some useful points.

inforeq

niksyg wrote: »

An interesting thread, I work with young people who want to join the forces and this has raised some useful points.

I would most def say though, that the army is a brilliant way of life and deployments put aside there is opportunity for travel etc. I feel those who have become reliant on thier service are a minority.

Veryskint

inforeq wrote: »

With regard to your council tax - my partner is a serving soldier who returned from a deployment last year, he was advised by his chief clerk to formally request a 25% reduction in the tax from the local authority, if they refuse, which will come in the form of a letter then the army can refund the amount. We went through this performance and received a long winded expalantion from our Civic Centre that they were not paying, the letter was duly taken (at the end of his tour) to the pay office and was actioned through them. I am sure there is lots of info on the intranet about claiming the council tax refund and theres lots on google too.

The rebate is supposed to come from the army not from the council, but many of the pay offices are ill informed. Ours told me that it was for soldiers living on camp only (we live in our own house). You might need to push, but be assured that this should be paid by the army, in the paypacket you get on return from deployment, and is a set amount regardless of how much council tax you pay. You may need a letter from the council confirming that they have not given you a single persons rebate.

inforeq

Veryskint wrote: »

The rebate is supposed to come from the army not from the council, but many of the pay offices are ill informed. Ours told me that it was for soldiers living on camp only (we live in our own house). You might need to push, but be assured that this should be paid by the army, in the paypacket you get on return from deployment, and is a set amount regardless of how much council tax you pay. You may need a letter from the council confirming that they have not given you a single persons rebate.

I think this pretty well sums it up, the arm doesnt know what the leg is doing.

Hopefully annomilies such as this will be sorted for future tours etc

Veryskint

The army does provide great opportunities, its a great way of life for many. But it doesn't provide young people with any need for financial understanding. Everything is dealt with for them.

My husband gets out next year, and has no clue re managing money. Luckily he is more than happy to leave it all to me, and aside from having to rein him in when he wants to spend spend spend, it works out ok.

If he had to manage his finances on his own when he leaves the army, he would be bankrupt in a few months.

So aside from making it easier for services personnel to access various financial products, the forces could really do with assisting soldiers with financial education.

Some of you may recall the fuss and drama when they introduced pay as you dine, as there was some assumption that soldiers would spend all their cash on beer and end up going hungry.

Re financial products - my husband had an AXA insurance policy for his kit, and when some kit went missing on Op Herrick, despite having MP reports and having done everything by the book, the insurance company wrote to us advising they thought he had made it all up and wouldn't be paying out. I had to write some letters asking on what basis they came to this conclusion, and as they had no basis, in the end they paid out. So even the forces specific insurance policies are not that great.

rattlermorgan

I served for 2 1/2 years in the US. while I was there:

I bought a house in the UK, but had to pay more for a mortgage because a number of lenders wouldn't lend to me as I was out of the country.

I wasn't able to play the national lottery online as i had to have an address in the UK

I tried to buy my sons (who were still in the UK) gifts with a number of companies but was unable to as they wouldn't accept payment from a foreign address - even a BFPO one.

When I came back Virgii refused to give me broadband and phone as I hadn't had an address in the uK for the previous 2 years, even though I offered to pay cash up front!


Diabolical.

BUFFS

Just saw this thread mentioned in the weekly e-mail and thought I'd drop in a few examples for consideration.

1. Travel Insurance. Not many of the insurance companies are keen to provide cover for forces personnel if the travel is in any way related to the Armed Forces. Even for a trip to a another western type country I've been told that as a member of the Armed Forces I may be subject to a greater degree of unwanted attention and am therefore a higher risk. The upshot is that annual multi-trip policies don't provide the necessary cover for all trips and as a member of the Armed Forces you have limited options or have to pay a premium. However, NAAFI Financial do provide cover, which is bizarrely underwritten by a the company that won't provide cover on their own.

2. TV Licence. When living on base with a TV in your room you have to have a TV licence; even if you already have one at your home address and no one is there (single people). Interestingly enough, MPs seem to claim back the cost of the TV licence fee for their second home on the justification that they have to live in two places as part of their "duty". Well that's the same as Armed Forces personnel in my book so why are personnel who are forced to live on base as part of their commitment to the Services made to pay for a TV licence when they already do so at another location?

3. Council Tax. Already coverd in the thread but a particular bugbear from so many angles, and here's mine. Single personnel with their own property get a 25% discount from the council for being a sole occupant; however, when living on base in a location away from their property they then get charged CILOCT (Contribution In Lieu Of Council Tax). When I've queried this one I've been told, "well you're getting a 25% discount at your home address". What that boils down to is that you are being disadvantaged for being in the Armed Forces and having to work and live away from your home address to meet the requirements of the service.

To be fair and balanced, there are a number of benefits that the Forces do get but I think they are outweighed by the disadvantages, and hopefully this thread will highlight some that need to be addressed.

Ubique_RE

A couple of examples of disadvantages, some may have been covered before:
Trying to get credit when you move around every 2 years and they do not accept no UK adresses.
Being tied to BA(G) car insurers who appear to ramp up the cost of the policy.
Getting companies to recognise BFPO addresses for delivery.

Not the end of the world, but frustrating.

Lottebear

For us the hardest thing has been working to restore a decent credit rating after my husband lived in barracks, as it is one address, he would have the same address as 100 people he had never met, but by this had fianancial links to, it has taken 4 years of carefully planning for us to be in a position to apply for a mortgage.

In addition for us it hard plan ahead to get cheap holidays, hotels etc.. as the plans will often change so much before the dates, that often we can only plan 1 week, in a course or posting comes up.

Lastly, the concern of signing up for contracts like mobile phones, gym, were the contract is a 12 month min, sometimes we have move sooner therefore you can be left paying, some companies are reasonable and wil suspend or cancel but is it there goodwill rather than the law, which perhaps it should be?