Farepak in administration: What to do? (Merged Thread)

MSE_Martin

Just as a quick note, that I thought MoneySavers would appreciate, on behalf of the site I donated £1,000 to the Farepak fund today.

Martin

kate1976

MSE_Martin wrote:

Just as a quick note, that I thought MoneySavers would appreciate, on behalf of the site I donated £1,000 to the Farepak fund today.

Martin

Ooooh you're a darlin', I could just kiss you!

Thank you Martin! :T

marleyboy

cheers Martin, your a real Santa!

clareandlee

Thanks Martin, you are fab XX

ReportInvestor

My sympathies to all those who have lost out in this disaster and I sincerely hope that Money Savers affected can find a way to stay out of further debt in 2007.

For those who are still in the black and can bear to think about it, now may be the right time to start planning for next Christmas in a different way.

Some of the best value accounts on the market at the moment are 12 month regular savers. So if you started one now, you could access the money at the end of November 2007.

Ipswich BS Target Saver pays 8.25% (minimum £90 pm though) but Britannia BS pays 7.5% (but allows a more manageable £25+pm) and both these allow you to open the account with a cheque (November's payment) before setting up a standing order for December. You do need to keep up these payments in order not to lose interest, however. For those of you who prefer the High Street, Halifax also does one @ 7% from £25pm upwards.

[In terms of interest earned over the year, you can expect just over half the interest rate figure, since the building society obviously won't have the full amount you save for the full year.]

A more flexible option could be the Yorkshire BS Regular Saver that pays 6.5% and starts from £10pm. This would be my personal choice.

This account allows one withdrawal per year with no loss of interest, so you could set this up and make the one sole withdrawal earlier than the end of November if you wanted to start you Christmas shopping early.

This account might also suit those who can't afford to deposit any money until after Christmas 2006 (assuming the account is still available). If you started saving in, say February or March 2007, then you could still make your one annual withdrawal in November or December 2007 with no loss of interest. Please bear in mind, though, that interest is paid on the account's anniversary - so if you start in Feb 2007 you can't count on any interest in time for Christmas 2007.

You may make more than one withdrawal per year from the Yorkshire BS account, but the interest rate falls to 3% starting with two withdrawals, so it's best to plan for one withdrawal only.

Of the four accounts above, Britannia & Halifax unfortunately end on maturity after 12 months, but you could continue saving with Ipswich & Yorkshire so one of these could become your permanent Christmas saving account for future years. Interest on all the accounts mentioned is paid 12 months from opening.

Apologies if any of this has been suggested earlier. I read the first ten pages of the thread before running out of steam .

I know that many people simply won't have the money to go down this route and hope that my suggestion doesn't seem out of place. The reason for making it here and now is the timing i.e. it makes some sense to start these accounts before early December 2006 given their 12 month nature.

Good luck to everyone for Christmas 2006 and Christmas 2007.

karren

I'm going to open a post office account and support them, and do what i did last year for the hamper write 12 cheques and pay them in every month, no effort maximum return, if they hadnt robbed it it would have been ideal, but hey what goes around comes around and the dti and the fruad squad are looking into it so perhaps we will get the anwsers one day.

jfossey

I got a letter on thursday from my bank halifax asking me to fill in a claim form for the payments I had made.
I sent the from straight back and the money went back into my bank. £120 today (tuesday)
I am just thankful Halifax have done this.

I hope more people can be helped in the same way !:j :T :rotfl:

alwaysbusyMUM

thanks MARTIN - - - Santa in disguise

K9cuddles

I got a letter from my local MP today... the Farepak Response Fund currently has £4million donations from charities, individuals and business. Tesco has already pledge £250,000 to the fund with large donations from Argos, ASDA, Boots, HBOS, Marks and Spencer and WH Smiths.

the Minister of Consumer Affairs - Mr Ian McCartney also asked members of the House of Commons to donate a day's salary (est. £165 - My MP has donated a day of hers!).

The Response Fund will be providing goodwill payments in the form of vouchers no later then the 18th December!!

kayt_2

MSE_Martin wrote:

Just as a quick note, that I thought MoneySavers would appreciate, on behalf of the site I donated £1,000 to the Farepak fund today.

Martin

Many thanks Santa! Have had a complete s**t year as it is, have been really poorly,been off work for four months,went back to work part-time but now back full-time, still struggling some days. Being so ill also left me feeling very down ,but with the support of my Bosses and workmates I was getting there. Have been an agent with Farepak for nearly 15 years and their collapse was nearly the last straw but I`m clinging to any offers of hope and I just want to say a huge thanks to you Martin for helping us all out so much. In the words of a Welsh person NADOILG LLAWEN MARTIN! A DIOLCH!:T