TV Licence Rip Off

Tight_Old_Git

Have just finished paying for my TV Licence on the direct debit scheme now they want me to start paying for next years licence six months before it even starts. What a rip off! I have cancelled the direct debit and will be paying the £10.12 a month into my flexible mortgage instead. TV Licensing sent me a threatening letter trying to get me to do the DD again but no siree I won't be signing up again for another six months.

dougk_2

I think thats because they allow you to pay six months in arrears then 6 months in advance.....
I think technically speaking , when your licence runs out they could make you pay in one lump some in advance, like you would have to do with car tax for example.

Howells

I originally thought this and decided not to do the monthly DD and paid yearly BUT then I realised that I was paying everything up front.

Now I pay monthly DD, even though they take 6 months before the due date, as it is still 6 months in arrears on the due date, I assume it would not be much of a problem in losing interest.

Let's work it out now!;)

Say license is £120 (makes things easyish) and you have £120 in your bank account and monthly interest is 5%. From 6 months before due date:

Paying Yearly makes you take the hit of £120 at due date, but you got about £3.03 in interest in the six months before, taking compound interest into account (interest on interest) for the next six months you will get another 8p making the total interest £3.11.

While paying Monthly will give you £2.15 in interest while the money is being taken away for the first six months. Now you are in arrears of £60. In the next six months interest continues on this amount (slowly moving out each month) (plus interest already earned), you will earn another 69p, making the total interest £2.84

So, in reality, paying the TV license yearly saves you 27p (or 5p if you have 1% interest rate).

Well there you go. I still think that the monthly DD is not too bad as you don't forget it and you do spread the cost.

Hope my calculations were correct:D

Tight_Old_Git

Money Saving Miser Howells what about if I set up a new direct debit when they send me the new TV licence, that way I will pay over six months and not take the £120 hit and not pay in advance, I object to paying up front when the money could be in my flexible mortgage instead. Any chance you could redo the sums with a flexible mortgage rate of 5.79%? Surely I would be better off paying an extra £10.12 into my mortgage than letting the TV licence people have it just because it suits them.

Pricy147

Didnt there used to be a loophole in the law - where you could use PC TV cards and not require a TV license? I definately remember something about this - not sure if its still valid though. with the advent of LCD TVs and Plasma's - this could be a very interesting way of legally avoiding TV Licensing fees!

Howells

Your way of cancelling the direct debit every 6 months will return you £5.09 a year (assuming 5.79% is the monthly interest rate), so even better!

stuwilky

Pricy147 wrote:

Didnt there used to be a loophole in the law - where you could use PC TV cards and not require a TV license? I definately remember something about this - not sure if its still valid though. with the advent of LCD TVs and Plasma's - this could be a very interesting way of legally avoiding TV Licensing fees!

Unfortunately the people at TV licensing latched on to that very quickly.

If you have equipment capable of receiving TV you have to pay.

Tight_Old_Git

Howells wrote:

Your way of cancelling the direct debit every 6 months will return you £5.09 a year (assuming 5.79% is the monthly interest rate), so even better!

Thanks Howells better in my coffers than theirs LOL

However I only need to cancel it once a year.