We are about to pull the purse strings soooo tight!

Verbatim

Well done on just £4. Could have been a lot worse. Hope the petrol lasts and glad it didn't rain on your (pegged out washing) parade.

Alice_in_Poorland

Thanks Verbatim, yeah it could of. I don't like not to buy anything as I always feel a bit odd sitting in a club house with nothing in front of us, whilst everybody else is feasting on pie and chips lol.

No pegging out today unfortunately.

Have done meter readings. Admittedly we have had the heating on more and the heated airer (which I am doubting now is as efficient as they claim!!) but we have used £58 in 2 weeks!! We are now -£22. Will go back to extra jumpers me thinks.

Today should be a NSD 10.

Placed a small order with the av0n lady.

Xx

brizzledfw

We did the same today Alice...we had hot chocolates and cake rather than lunch..its all about taking it down a notch or two..rather than being a complete hermit and the kid's clubs and lessons are important I know

Have a good week

Alice_in_Poorland

brizzledfw wrote: »

We did the same today Alice...we had hot chocolates and cake rather than lunch..its all about taking it down a notch or two..rather than being a complete hermit and the kid's clubs and lessons are important I know

Have a good week

Agree brizzle, I think it's about trying to find a happy medium, not totally alienating us from everybody but keep the spends under control.:)

Xx

Alice_in_Poorland

I've had a phone call from bcard re my complaint. After the usual waffle this is how it is.......

Apparently when I reduced the payments last summer it was at the same time they stopped 0% interest on outstanding debts.........how convenient!!

They didn't know why I was told they didn't have any record of us going through step change when I called in September to sort out why I was being charged 12% interest.

If I reduce the payments to £51 per month that will reduce the interest to 3%....the lowest they can go (apparently) or I can send token payments for 6 months and then the debt could be sent to a DCA and the interest frozen.

As a goodwill gesture they have taken £50 off the debit.

Bcard have written to stepchange so I will call them and discuss the options. I'm not 100% how it works but I'm sure stepchange won't reduce payments to just Bcard.

I still don't feel ready to self manage things.

Xx

Workie_Ticket

I owe Barclaycard around £1200 - I have been paying £25 a month with no interest for the last 3 and a bit years years - it can be done, keep it up!

Alice_in_Poorland

Workie_Ticket wrote: »

I owe Barclaycard around £1200 - I have been paying £25 a month with no interest for the last 3 and a bit years years - it can be done, keep it up!

Hi Workie, thanks for the post. Everything was going great with Bcard until I had to reduce payments last summer. Now they are saying that 0% interest is no longer available, and the more I pay the more interest I will get charged. I currently pay £110ish a month and get charged £50 interest every month. Yet if I reduce my payments to £51 per month interest will be @ 3%. Don't think this is going to happen as stepchange pay all the debts off equally.

Good luck with paying your Bcard off.:)

Xx

brizzledfw

Boo. Seems like SC are not making your money work as hard as it should. Know they have done deals with everyone but where is the opportunistic angle here??

On a brighter note..you are over half way through paying your debt..more than!! What a signature. Testament to grit and resilience xxxxx

Alice_in_Poorland

brizzledfw wrote: »

Boo. Seems like SC are not making your money work as hard as it should. Know they have done deals with everyone but where is the opportunistic angle here??

On a brighter note..you are over half way through paying your debt..more than!! What a signature. Testament to grit and resilience xxxxx

I've spoken to Stepchange, they have said there is not much I can do through them as they have to be seen to treat everybody the same. I can't reduced my payment to bcard even though £50 per month is added to that debt. I can't take the bcard debt out of the DMP and pay the reduced amount myself as that wouldn't be fair on the other companies we owe money to.

They are going to write to bcard and ask them to reduce the interest, see if that does any good. The only other thing that was suggested is that we complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

I actually feel let down now.

Other news, spent £12 on food bits yesterday, OH got petrol....but lost the receipt also got cash, for lottery, need to pay £5 sponsorship money and £5 to bday collection.

xx

brizzledfw

That's kind of what I mean. Fair doesn't allow you to make the money work as hard as it could for you.

Is it possible to swop DMP providers?

Understand that you can't face doing the administration yourself but wonder if others have different policies which could be more proactive and creative on your behalf.

Have a good eve Alice