Some Farepak Help

Tiff_2

Some Farepak Help
Good Evening Guys
I know those of us who come on this thread are DFW and so I'm probably going to get a DFW smack on the wrist for this, but while out in the supermarket today, I saw that an appeal for donations to help victims of the Farepak Fiasco.
I saw the chairman enjoying his holiday in Argentina last night and I saw an 8 year old boy dissolve into tears this mornning at the thought of no Christmas.
These people tried to spread the cost of Christmas over a year and will probably end up with around 4p for eveery £1 invested. This is a DFW principle and while we are all in need of help, these people tried to help themselves and nearly a million people are estimated to have been affected. I hope that's why I'll be forgiven for posting this suggestion here.
I'm in no way connected with Farepak or a victim - I just think word of mouth can work miracles.
So with your permission, the address for the Farepak Responce Fund is:
www.farepakresponsefund.org.uk.
If you want to help, go to the website, and check out the options. I have next to nothing but it breaks my heart to think of all these families sitting there watching all the TV adverts for "The Best Christmas Ever" when they've even had the food taken from them.
Sorry if someone else has posted this:o Look after each other
Much Love,
Tiff xxx
Sorry guys - fixed link

looby75

Tiff, the link in your post doesn't work.

Bossyboots

looby75 wrote:

Tiff, the link in your post doesn't work.

I wonder if that is because response is spelt incorrectly.

Poppy9

Why did people save with Farepak and not with a building society. How did Farepak work?

chrisj2006

The majority of people who put money into farepak are single parents/families on low incomes/older people - ie the poorest part of society.

The scheme worked by people saving money, giving the farepak agent a certain amount per week and it allowed people to save up over a number of months for food/presents etc for christmas. It was easier for these people to do this because benefits/pensions etc came every 2 weeks and they could just give the Farepak collector the money to save for them. THis scheme has worked extremely successfully over many many years - why on earth should people have thought otherwise when they started saving earlier this year ?

I've used this scheme for the hampers many years ago, when I needed to and it was an absolute god send for me - I could go ahead and buy presents without having to think about the christmas food bill. I just feel so so sorry for these poor people. If there is some fund for these people, or even people going round collecting food for them - please give something. The owners of farepak and their parent companies should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves and hopefully something can be done about them.

Poppy9

I can see from press reports that it seems to be low income families that have used Farepak, but I still can't see the attraction. Do they pay interest on your savings, how do they pay you out? Is it by buying goods from them, vouchers or cash? Even low income families can open savings accounts and pay in just £1 at a time if they want. I know you get interest on those accounts.

skintlass

I used farepak this year for the first time ever. I did it for 2 reasons. 1. I cannot save money (if its available I would find an excuse to spend it) and I didn't want to go into debt at Christmas.
2. My sister & bro-in-law had done it for 5 years (I think it was 5) and they asked me if I would use my bank account as they were consolidating their debts and didn't have access to a regular current account - they re-imbursed me for their contributions every month.
They are really hard-up and have 2 young sons and were hoping to give them a great christmas. I have recently changed jobs and money is temporarily tighter for me so I was really looking forward to getting the vouchers to buy presents and to get myself some new clothes.
tbh although I'm very annoyed by the loss of my money I feel much worse for my sister , b-i-l and nephews as they are a lot worse off than me.
Its Murphys Law that the first year I actually budget for Christmas the company goes bankrupt.

astonsmummy

There is already a thread on this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=307464