dark clouds and silver linings.

HeadAboveWater

Merlin_and_Me wrote: »

erm... that i'm working all weekend...

Ummmmm.... sorry but I don't get how you working all weekend will make me not feel good.... :rotfl:

please-let-me-be-lucky

Merlin_and_Me wrote: »

Thanks again, thats interesting to know. I honestly cannot believe how they have acted and neither could the ombudsman when talking to him. I gave him the whole long 5 years worth of story the poor chap, along with a few tears thrown in too! :eek: Its awful that they have been, erm, awful, about DH's accident. at times in your life when you need someone to be there hey...:o

I really hope you get somewhere with the ombudsman. At the time of DH's accident we had 2 credit cards, our bank account, mortgage, home insurance, unemployment and (so I thought) sickness cover and 3 savings accounts (albeit empty!). I called them and told them that DH had suffered a head injury and would be going onto ssp and benefits immediately and could I have a bit of breathing space while I sorted it all out. They flatly refused on the accounts I was named on, and wouldn't even make a note on DH's credit cards as I wasn't named on those. They insisted I go down the DMP or bankruptcy route, and wouldn't put any sort of plan in place when I refused to do so. Instead I borrowed money from family to keep them at bay while I got straightened out but they still called me and harrased me on a sometimes twice daily basis. I wouldn't care, we'd never missed any payments or anything before.

I also called the relevent department to make a claim on the unemployment and sickness cover we had with them. It was then I found out that we actually only had unemployment cover as it had been set up incorrectly 10 years earlier!! They ended up refunding all our premiums for the last 10 years though and I used this to wipe out the smaller of the 2 Santander cards! Effectively, they paid themselves back!

The other debt we had was with Lloyds TSB. In comparisson, they couldn't have been any better despite us having no other financial relationship with them. Again the card was only in DH's name but they accepted a signed form from one of the nurses in the Head Injury Unit as prof that DH couldn't give authority for me to act on his behalf, but that it was in his best interests that I did. LTSB wiped £50 off the balance as a goodwill gesture, reduced the interest rate to 0% for the first 6 months and 5.9% for the second and even sent me a bunch of roses as a 'sorry for what you are going through'. Admitedly they aren't willing to help any further now 12 months down the line but I'd still recommend them to anyone.

Sorry for the long post, didn't mean to hijack your thread!:o

Merlin_and_Me

Morning all! How are we all doing?

Lucky please don't apologise and hijack away!! its nice to log on and see a nice long post I'm just sorry to hear of the problems you have had but to be honest i'm not surprised in anyway. For the last 5 years despite me placing the account in dispute on a number of occasions abbey have refused point blank to engage in any conversation with me surrounding the issue and prefer instead to just keep resurrecting the default, sending the "debt" to DCA's (for them to immediately return it again after talking to me) and on one highly memorable occasion sending bailiffs to my mum and dads address!!! So yes, the FOS is long overdue, purely from complete despair that anything else is going to help!!

Well, today I have managed to pay £330 off my debt, Not quite as much as I was hoping but my £50 from british gas will be put straight towards it later on this week too.

This week is my first week in memory with a set amount of spending money. £30 will be drawn out today, placed inside my spending diary and see how we get on. Looking back at my statements, a lot of my money has been going on OH and I eating out which we love to do (probably explains the weight issue too!.....HOWEVER!! we are both shift workers, and this week our shifts totally collide so there will be no opportunity for eating out! therefore both my £30 and the diet should go a long way!

My job is mainly sedentary, however I generally go for a run or to the gym on my hour break each day. Its amazing how money saving has a knock on effect to other corners of your life too. I am now feeling more motivated in a number of ways, including with my diet and fitness... Life is good!

Right, off to do online shopping... I have given up on the idea of sleep. Aint gonna happen. *Sigh*

HeadAboveWater

Good for you! That's a chunk off your debt! I was always happy with an extra £50 here and there so £330 in one go is fab! :T

It may surprise you how you get on with your £30 cash limit. I don't like parting with money as much when I can see how much I'm handing over and how much is not left in my wallet :eek:

I'm thankful I've never had to fight about any of my debts. My credit report (to me!) looks fairly decent, but I guess unless I was applying for a loan/card/mortgage I probably wouldn't know exactly how good or bad it was!!

Happy shopping!

Merlin_and_Me

Good evening everyone, how were all your weekends? I went into work on Friday and picked up 3 12 hour shifts :T which is 6 Hrs. overtime Woohoo! So I have been mainly working and sleeping, and when I haven't been doing that i've been either sleeping, or working...:p

Well this week, financially, has turned out to be a very good week. personally, not quite so good, we are approaching the 3rd anniversary of my best friends death which always knocks me and M-I-L has just been told her chemotherapy is now palliative and not curative. Now I am the one in tough times that glues everyone back together so time to dig deep, stay strong, be there for the other half and pull it all in. and most of all, keep smiling!!!

We have also now been told that we are definitely back in court very soon which means a massive leap of another 3k in my total debt, :eek:however at that point we are hoping that will be that, my debt will level out and we may even be able to charge it back. Followed by a massive drive to get it back down below the 20k level (where i never wanted it to be again )

So, this week so far has been money neutral!! it seems that whatever has gone out has come back to me in many ways, to the extent that my £30 is mainly intact. £20 of which has been converted into £2 coins and is placed away in a secret stash, I won £10 on a lottery scratch card and a few pounds on the lottery at work :T I have paid an extra £30 off my debt taking my weekly total to £360 and still have a fiver in my purse so, still feeling positive... The diet is working too. I just need to focus...

I have also had a start date for permanency at work which means a return back to monthly pay :j weekly pay has its benefits but makes it bloody hard to budget accurately. A return to monthly pay means a return to the jamjar system (my version of martins piggy banking system!) being able to pay swathes off my debt in one go and knowing what i have left to save etc.

All is good in my world.. (ish!)

please-let-me-be-lucky

Sorry to hear about your MIL and the impending anniversary. Hugs.

Great news about the date for permanency though :j.

Pooky

Hello :wave: nice to see your new diary. I've been a bit of a lurker but we do have a few mutual friends so I thought I'd pop by, offer a hug towards the MIL situation and subscribe to see what amazing things you're going to get up to.

Buffythedebtslayer

It is a bit of a rollercoaster. crikey.

really sorry about the MIL situation. tough times ahead.

Good on the job front tho.

hugs for both xxxx