Winter Heating Allowance

zygurat789

margaretclare wrote: »

I didn't get the WFA yet, but I did get a nice surprise in this morning's post. Cheque from HMRC, tax refund, £372.47. I've no idea how that comes about, but it will pay off my credit card, then I'm out of debt before the New Year. Very good news.

Then you should find out, they can always ask for it back if they have made a mistake. You may also be able to avoid overpaying them in future.

margaretclare

zygurat789 wrote: »

Then you should find out, they can always ask for it back if they have made a mistake. You may also be able to avoid overpaying them in future.

It was related to last year, when I paid too much, the 2011-12 tax year. This was because of the married people's tax allowance which, for one year, didn't get split between us as we'd asked but only got credited to DH. We seem to have to write to them every year to say 'hey, we're married, we want half of this each'.

seven-day-weekend

My £200 in my bank this morning

iris

2 x £100 in our bank account today as well:D

margaretclare

Mine too, £100 + normal SRP this morning. With the tax refund yesterday, credit card is now paid off. I feel good about that. It was traditional where I grew up, to pay off debts before the end of the year so as to start the New Year with a clean slate.

DH went to Waitrose yesterday and bought a free-range chicken all oven-ready in a roasting-bag. The week before at Tesco, he bought a Christmas pudding. We won a bottle of wine recently at a church do, we've almost got everything we need for Christmas Day just the two of us. Just some fresh green veg and some more fruit, but that's an on-going thing because we eat a lot of fruit.

I think DH managed to dispose of most of his £100 yesterday, took the car for an oil-change which cost £68. He used to do that kind of thing himself, but no longer. He doesn't begrudge it, though.

zygurat789

margaretclare wrote: »

It was related to last year, when I paid too much, the 2011-12 tax year. This was because of the married people's tax allowance which, for one year, didn't get split between us as we'd asked but only got credited to DH. We seem to have to write to them every year to say 'hey, we're married, we want half of this each'.

That only took 13 minutes to find out. Tax isn't really dificult is it?

iris

margaretclare wrote: »

Mine too, £100 + normal SRP this morning. With the tax refund yesterday, credit card is now paid off. I feel good about that. It was traditional where I grew up, to pay off debts before the end of the year so as to start the New Year with a clean slate.

We always pay our credit card off in full every month, wouldn't dream of paying interest. We also use a cashback credit card, which gives us at least 1% on all purchases. Our bank account also gives us 4% interest every month.

Another thing we do is use TopCashBack for almost everything we buy online.

chesky

Agree about paying the credit card debt off every month - last year after Christmas, I decided to spread it over two months instead and it really depressed me having to pay interest. Hadn't done it before and won't do it again.

Also got my £200 today - they must have had a mass bank transfer. Probably found some loose change down the back of the Treasury settee.

jennifernil

Ours arrived yesterday, looks like a lot are being paid this week.

Jennifer_Jane

iris wrote: »

We always pay our credit card off in full every month, wouldn't dream of paying interest. We also use a cashback credit card, which gives us at least 1% on all purchases. Our bank account also gives us 4% interest every month.

Another thing we do is use TopCashBack for almost everything we buy online.

Iris, would you mind letting me know which bank account gives 4% every month, please? You could pm me, if you prefer.

My £200 always arrives on or around 22nd November, and I'm very grateful for it to part pay off the £400 I owe Co-op fuel!