Can my bank really do that?

Zofo

Thank you Moozie,

Havent been about for a few days as ive been off the internet waiting to recieve phone calls from the bank and Incapasity benefits people.

Firstly in response to SOA
Electricity: Because of the long delay inbetween price rises on my meter, i now owe them about 350.00 so the meter has been set up to pay this off. (Not my fault they dont come weekends)
Mobile: This is for 2 payasyougo mobiles, and if i have no money then we go without although most of this is so that i can ring my OH while he is abroad, we keep it very breif although its still cheaper than contract which was costing me from 200.00 to 400.00 per month when we had our own business having to use our own phone.
Waterates: We dont have a shower in this house. We had a meter which fell off the pipe inside the house and flooded the kitchenl. Still waiting for a new one. Ive rung, written and told meter reader. So bills are estimated.
Telephone: I will ring BT regarding your suggestion.
Clothing: This is also trying to include my OH's teenage children who's mother demands school uniforms, new shoes etc. Only now have we had to start saying we havent got it.

Does that all sound negative?

Zofo

Thank you pboae,

We had a cool box, we dugg it out of the cuboard, it lasted 3 weeks before it packed up. Bought it about 2 years ago for OH when fishing.

I do freeze my milk at home but for some reason didnt think to take a frozen one.

Please tell me where i can purchase a new cool box for a fiver?

Thankyou so much for your ideas.

Zofo

Hi there pania,

I spent 18 months spending hours and hours on hold, trying to contact the right people about how high my charges were and whether or not i was paying someone elses debt, they said no, after 18 months they finally sent someone to check the meter, i was being overpriced on my night rate slightly so they amended it but obviously since then prices have risen beyond comprehension!
Ive been told that i cannot get any help with my heating bill as im not on benefit. Im still trying!!!!
Apparently once i receive my benefit i can claim a few other items.
Benefit helpline gave me the wrong number to find out why i havent heard anything about Dissability allowance claim, the wrong office gave me a different number, they then said that the Lowestoft branch that assess new claims hasnt started to process it yet and they cannot understand why, "they will email them and get them to call me". STILL WAITING!

bearing

Hi Zofo,

This is my first post, so hopefully you'll find it of use.

Regarding the mobile phones, if your OH is travelling abroad a lot it might be worth checking this site out. http://www.sim4travel.co.uk He can use the sim card they supply when he's out of the country, there are comparison charts on there to see how much you can save over your current provider in each country he visits.

Zofo

Hi bearing

Thank you for your response and i will look at the website you suggested, before i do, is this one sim card for one country? My OH is a HGV Driver travelling through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Switzerland.

bearing

Zofo wrote:

Hi bearing

Thank you for your response and i will look at the website you suggested, before i do, is this one sim card for one country? My OH is a HGV Driver travelling through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Switzerland.

It covers 110 countries worldwide, so I'd expect those countries will be covered, basically the sim card replaces the current card while abroad(you do get a different number, but that isn't a great problem) so as soon as he hits the other side of the channel he just swaps cards. There is an initial fee of I think £29.95 which includes £3.00 credit(it's easy to top up the card) It's got to be cheaper than what it's costing at present(even with the initial fee).

Which provider are your current payg phones with?

Zofo

At the mo were both with orange because thats the mobile that works from home.

bearing

Right then, I've had a look on the site and in all those countries he'd be charged nothing for receiving calls(60p/min with Orange payg), any local calls he makes in those countries he'd be charged 49p for the first min then 29p/min thereafter(£1.40/min with Orange), any calls to UK landline also cost 49p for the first min then 29p/min thereafter(£1.40/min with Orange) and texts are 35p/message(40p/message with Orange).

To call another SIM4travel phone the cost is 49p for the first minute then 29p/min thereafter and to call any other mobiles costs 59p for the first minute then 39p/min thereafter.

Also regarding the coolbox click on the link below to an ebay auction, looks a bargain.

Coolbox on Ebay

Dr.Shoe_2

I used to always ignore my bank but when I stopped doing this I had a revelation. By talking to your bank you can get all sorts of things, reductions in interest (permanent or temporary), refund or waiver of charges and repayment holidays of loans.

At the end of the day, the bank do want to help you even if their sole motive is to squeeze more money out of you.