Moving home / getting broadband whilst BR

Raphael

I am finally moving home, I finally found somewhere I like and can afford, and got accepted! The one thing that concerns me now is how to get broadband in the new flat.

I'm currently with Virgin Media and would like to stay with them but I've read here that they won't take people who are BR? Will I be treated like a new customer and have to go through credit checks or can I just transfer my existing contract? Is it likely to make a difference if I manage to wait until I am discharged (less than 3 weeks now)?

Otherwise I could try Sky but I'll also have to take a landline with them, and there'll be a connection charge. There is an offer on just now where they waive the connection charge until 24th March but that's only a couple of days away so I'll need to decided quick!

Worcsman

Raphael wrote: »

I am finally moving home, I finally found somewhere I like and can afford, and got accepted! The one thing that concerns me now is how to get broadband in the new flat.

I'm currently with Virgin Media and would like to stay with them but I've read here that they won't take people who are BR? Will I be treated like a new customer and have to go through credit checks or can I just transfer my existing contract? Is it likely to make a difference if I manage to wait until I am discharged (less than 3 weeks now)?

Otherwise I could try Sky but I'll also have to take a landline with them, and there'll be a connection charge. There is an offer on just now where they waive the connection charge until 24th March but that's only a couple of days away so I'll need to decided quick!

Good effort finding a place to move to, did you find a private landlord or an agreeable lettings agency? Srry cant helpwith the broadband question but when I recently tried to move to Virgin from BT, I couldn't. At least not via the web application so didnt bother phoning.

Ineedaname

You might find you'll get away with it just transferring as you have an existing account and they may not credit check you. I'd try that first because any new account with a new company will likely be credit checked and refused.

Well done finding somewhere suitable to live, hope it's with a decent landlord who will look after you.

Mikey44_2

When I moved I just did a transfer to my new address with both BT and Orange Broadband. I have not experienced any problems, so hopefully it will be the same for you.

Raphael

Worcsman wrote: »

Good effort finding a place to move to, did you find a private landlord or an agreeable lettings agency?

A small agreeable letting agency!

I'd deliberately only contacted private landlords on gumtree and not had any luck finding anything suitable. Then I viewed this one over the weekend, which I really liked, so I asked the guy what I needed to do next. When he said "you'll have to come to our office on Monday to sort the paperwork" my heart sank (until then I thought he was the owner). I asked him if there was anything I needed to bring, and he mentioned references, but made it all sound as if they were pretty relaxed about things.

I was so nervous on my way to the agency, but as soon as I got there I started discussing a few things with the lady there and she was very friendly and it was looking good, that is until she handed a 4-page application form and my heart sank again. One of the questions asked whether you have ever been declared bankrupt, another asked what you average earnings are, and another one asked if you intend on claiming Housing Benefits (which I do), so I had to tell her about it before I could go any further. She wasn't sure so she had to ask her son (the owner of the agency).

About the bankruptcy he asked me how long ago it was and I had to say I wouldn't be discharged until April, then he asked me what the reasons for my bankruptcy were and I tried to explain the situation: that it was all old credit card debts and a loan taken whilst I was employed and earning good money, until I got made redundant and lost my flat (unrelatedly) early 2006, which forced me to max my credit cards; that I'd been self-employed since then but earning a lot less and unable to repay the credit cards and loan; that I'd moved in to my current flat in September 2006 and been living in it since then, always paying my rent on time; and that I hadn't incurred any new debts since 2006.

Then we got on to the subject of housing benefits and whether I could really afford to pay the rent on the flat. I assured him paying the rent had always been my priority and offered to show him proof that I'd always paid the rent on time since 2006. He asked if I could bring him proof the same day, but it would have taken me nearly 2 hours to go home and back, and more time to find all the receipts (they're all over the place mixed with loads of other paperwork, and since I have to pay the rent into 2 separate bank accounts every month we're talking about over 100 receipts!).

He then suggested calling my current landlady to check, which I wasn't sure about, because I've not seen her since 2007 and my dealings with her weren't the best (she's a bit dodgy, for instance there's no gas certificate, and it took me months to get her to send me a plumber - the only time I've asked for anything in nearly 5 years - and she only did it after I got the local rights office involved!), and I thought she would struggle to find another tenant willing to take that place as it is.

But she was more cooperative than expected and confirmed the fact that I'd always paid my rent on time and been a good tenant. (I phoned her later that day to give her my notice, and it would appear she has someone from her family who might want to move in, so everyone's happy!).

So yeah, I now have a new home!

Ineedaname

It all comes right in the end doesn't it? I'm so chuffed for you that you found somewhere, AND with an agent, AND your (ex) landlady was cool about everything. You couldn't have wished for a better all round deal. :T

Worcsman

Raphael wrote: »

A small agreeable letting agency!

................
So yeah, I now have a new home!

This has defo geed me up to have another bash cheers.. We will start looking again. We are rural though and want to stay rural so our options are limited on which lettings agencies work in our area. But we will try again!

Raphael

Ineedaname wrote: »

It all comes right in the end doesn't it? I'm so chuffed for you that you found somewhere, AND with an agent, AND your (ex) landlady was cool about everything. You couldn't have wished for a better all round deal. :T

Yes it does! And finally got broadband at home again, after a 7-week wait because of Virgin Media messing things up, but I got there in the end (and no credit checks, although I now need to make a complaint and try and get a refund of some of the charges!). Oh and hours and hours of scrubbing and trying to make the place actually nicer than it was in the first place paid off: I got my deposit back!

And I am also discharged, have been for just over a month now, it barely registered with all the upheaval of the removal at the time (mind I wasn't actually that focused on the discharge itself, cos I have an IPA, so there's still another 25 months in my countdown towards freedom).

Ineedaname

Hi Raphael, thanks for coming back and updating us. Brilliant news you're in your new home and with broadband. Great you got your deposit back too, always helpful to have that returned.

Also, congrats on your discharge. Don't forget to print the record off the IS website so you have proof, do it soon before it drops off the site. Get yourself settled in properly and then you can start thinking about credit report clean up!

dojoman

Well done on your discharge :T:T:T as well as printing off a copy from the IS website, I also got a letter of confirmation from my OR, some companies seem to prefer this. As for Virgin media try this number below and ask for complaints, don`t bother with customer services, I have done this in the past and always had a satisfactory outcome with them.


01256 752000

Raphael

Ineedaname wrote: »

Also, congrats on your discharge. Don't forget to print the record off the IS website so you have proof, do it soon before it drops off the site. Get yourself settled in properly and then you can start thinking about credit report clean up!

Thanks, never thought about it and the fact that it drops off the site, I'm in Scotland though, so it'll have to be the AIB site, I assume it's the same?

I'd like to think about credit report clean-up but still drowning in tons of more urgent paperwork / other stuff linked to the removal! I still need to send a new SOA to KPMG now that some of my outgoings have changed, file my 2010-2011 tax return and get my WTC up-to-date (I might even be due a lump sum payment as my 2010-2011 earnings were actually less than 2009-2010 but I'm not sure if I'll get to keep any of that since I have an IPA, I'd like to be able to keep some of it to cover my moving costs, even though it's been paid for already I had to use every single penny I had including what was set aside for other things!).

Anyway, I'm digressing, thanks for the advice about printing the record, as I said I probably wouldn't have worried about it until someone asked me for it (out of curiosity, what do you need it for, who is likely to ask for it?).