Oh My God, Amex Just Killed Me

Robflh

Hi kathy206

I have never asked for reasons why I should give up nor do I want them or need them. So far, I have been very patient with these people but from now on, I will not be. If you do not have anything positive to say, do not post here.

I owe you an apology for that paragraph, it was NOT aimed at you. It may have come across like it was but as I have said before I am dyslexic and that what I think I have written may not be what I have written.

Hi Nicola

Sorry if I offended you I was not judging you, I would never do that to you as you have not done that to me. Again, I am dyslexic and that what I think I have written may not be what I have written.

I am honestly upset that I have offended both of you. I must go or I will be late for my first pick up but I just wanted to apologise as soon as I could.

climbgirl

Robflh wrote: »

I could have told nicola1982 that she was a complete idiot for getting pregnant without first making sure she was financial secure but that would be a negative criticism and that severs not purpose what so ever. Except to drive home what she all ready knows, which would do her no favours at all.

I'll be reporting this too. That is bang out of order and there's no excuse at all for comments like this.

myrnahaz

My wise old Dad used to say that if you intend asking someone's advice, you should be prepared to accept it and not just cherry pick the bits that most closely match the decision that you've already made.
I think that the best way to ensure that he stops writing unpleasant things about you (us) all is to stop answering his posts.

climbgirl

Robflh wrote: »

but the point is, I will get though it whether that means selling the house now or finishing the house off and then selling it. Either way the debt will have been killed by this time next year.

This is what I just don't get about you - you keep going on and on about either selling the house now or finishing it first to clear the debt. But you don't have any more credit available to you (and you don't have any income and can't/won't work) so the logical course of action is to sell it now. The only course of action really. People post suggestions like taking in lodgers etc but you can't do any of them for various reasons. So we come back to the only piece of advice that will work, but that you don't seem to want to hear - sell the house now!

Robflh wrote: »

Personally speaking I have never had a moments doubt in my mind that I will get the house finished, keep making my payments until the house is sold and still keep my sanity. As I have said time and time again, I will get past the obstacle that is in my way. All I have ever asked for is suggestions on ways I can get round it.

You're asking us ways to magically find you £3000 more credit (not gonna happen if you've been living on credit for 12 years and the banks have finally woken up to it!) or £3000 cash to finish your house. You can't/won't work so that rules out the logical option. And when people suggest things like lodgers etc, you post reasons why that won't work. Fair enough.

The only reason people aren't posting more ideas to get £3000 quickly is because...there aren't any more! There is no quick fix here. Instead of looking for ways to find more credit, you need to adjust your thinking and start looking at the bigger picture - the banks have cut you off, it's time to deal with the debt problem. And that's what we're trying to say to you. Over and over.

You don't have any more cash/credit available to finish the house so you need to sell it to clear the debt. Ok, it's a deviation from your original plan but you were always prepared to sell the house in either state, so I don't see what the problem is. You're lucky you've got an asset which will clear your debt so quickly, most people on these boards scrimp and save for YEARS to clear their debts.

Robflh wrote: »

You may not like the replies you get from me and that is assuming I can be bothered to waste my time and energy on you in the first place.

You don't like what you're hearing so you lash out at people. I don't think anybody here has been particularly harsh on you, there's a few wakeup calls sure - but you need them!

climbgirl

myrnahaz wrote: »

I think that the best way to ensure that he stops writing unpleasant things about you (us) all is to stop answering his posts.

Yeah I think you're right. There's plenty of good advice in this thread if he's willing to take it on board. We're just repeating ourselves now.

Fidget

Originally Posted by Robflh
I would also have to inform the Benefits Agency that I am getting income from a third lodger. It is not worth hiding it from them and these days you can go to prision for it. Although I think that is more for those that are working and still claiming benefits.

Interestingly, when I first signed on at my local jobcenter I only had one lodger and when I put down the details for that lodger, the lady I saw told me that most people never put down that they have a lodger. I also got the impression that if they do not know they do not care.

You have implied this in other posts too as regards mortgage relief and council tax.

A benefit cheat is a benefit cheat no matter which way you do it (even if the person helping you fill in the forms at the BA or Jobcentre is willing to overlook it - the law won't) Non-disclosure of lodgers is still benefit fraud and if someone reports you (say for example a disgruntled ex-lodger) they will have to investigate it. It is all still stealing.

I too find it hard to find a job because of depression/social anxiety and have the added bonus of being dyslexic but I still do not think that I am owed a living (I claim nothing except £18 child benefit and £40 tax credits per month)- I have an able body so I will make sure I get a job no matter how much it hurts and if that means cleaning toilets with my degree certificate I'll do it.

Robflh

Hi Fidget

Thank you for that, the paragraph has been amended.

Interestingly, when I first signed on at my local Jobcenter I only had one lodger and when I put down the details for that lodger, the lady I saw told me that most people never put down that they have a lodger. I also got the impression that if they do not know they do not care. However, I have always told them that I am getting income by having lodgers. The other strange thing is that I loose less in ICB then I did while I was on JSA.

May I also wish you the best of luck in finding a job, we both know how hard it is. As soon as it is possible, I too will be back looking for a job.

I have only just recently found out that if I get a job sometime in the future and if I have done it too soon I can go back to the ICB. That means I can do it that little bit sooner.

As you too suffer from depression/anxiety are you sure any old job will do. The last thing I need is a job that would cause me too much stress, which would lead to more anxiety and thus more depression.

I can quite understand that you just want a job so that you have money and are not worrying about where the next penny is coming from but surly the last thing you wish to do is to replace one form of stress for another form of stress.

misspoppy

Robflh wrote: »

Hi Steel

Ps. If you are also in debt and have not already started your own thread, do just that and perhaps I can help you out or I can set up a temporary email address and post it here. Once you have used it to send your email address I can delete the temp email address.

Rob you are in no position to be offering debt advice to anyone, you have been living in serious amounts of debt for at least 12 years and you are in a precarious situation currently. Please don't fool yourself any further thinking that you have found the perfect way of living beyond your means, when you choose not to work to support your poor health you must accept that that means you need to change your way of life and live much cheaper than you would like.

meme_3

Robflh wrote: »

I have never asked anyone on here for money and I never ever would.

Hi Rob
I said I wouldn't post again, but I feel it is needed.
You're not asking us for money, but you want us to tell you where to find it!
Answer is - nowhere, I'm sorry!

The banks and credit cards are now saying - ' no more! '.
Oddly enough, they know what they are doing.........:cool:

You have to face that, because you can't afford any more.:mad:

I know my posts don't 'help' you, but that's because you want to go further into debt.
AND YOU CAN'T.

Please be reassured that I am not out to get you. I don't want to upset you - nor was that ever my intention. Just wanted to spell it all out - what might result if you wait to see if you can still get £3000 from somewhere, instead of accepting you can't.

Nobody else on this website would want to upset you either.

As I have said before this is a place of mutual support for dealing with debt.

I really do want you to come out of this and enjoy the rest of your (long) life. Like everybody else, you have so much to offer to the rest of the world - you're intelligent (that's clear), and you want to support yourself into your pensionable stage of life. Many people don't even see this as a priority - they'd laugh at the slightest suggestion!

If you can get through this (and you will), you can return to work, and, as you are still young, live well to a ripe old age. with some financial security!

At the risk of stating the blatently obvious, however _

GETTING RID OF THE DEBT WILL HELP YOU TO GET BACK TO WORK.

Then you will be able to build your nest egg.

The crippler is the interest on the credit cards - you said that yourself right at the beginning (albeit disguised as minimum payments - because minimum payments grow out of interest charged!).

As long as you are paying even 10% (or anything:eek: , even 0.1%!) interest on a card, the profit from renovation is, potentially, zero. Because of the timescale involved.

Because, every month costs you £300 :mad: in interest, as it is, at the moment.

And I still don't see how £3000 in renovation can become £20000 more for a sale.
I will accept, however, that spending £300 might make an extra £2000.

Rob, If you're really still upset with me after reading this, please PM me. Then I WILL stop posting.

I want you to get through this problem.
We all do........

Robflh

Hi meme
I have written my replies in blue and I would be grateful if only you replied to this post. If I have not explained anything well enough just let me know and I will try again.

I said I wouldn't post again, but I feel it is needed.
You're not asking us for money, but you want us to tell you where to find it!
Answer is - nowhere, I'm sorry!

That is not strictly true. It is more a question of asking how I can finish of the house on a greatly reduced budget.

The banks and credit cards are now saying - ' no more! '.
That maybe correct now but if Amex had reduced my limit three years ago, I could have applied for another credit card to replace the £3k reduction. Due to the renovation work and something else, the debt is now too high for me to be able to get another card or a loan from my bank. That does not mean I cannot get money from somewhere else. In the old days, boy that makes me feel old, they were called loan sharks.

Oddly enough, they know what they are doing.........
They do but not for the reason you are thinking of. Amex told me and other people have been told the same by their credit card company that they need to check their credit report. They and I have checked them and we can see nothing wrong with them. We have no late or missed payments and we have never gone over our limits.

If memory severs me correctly, the amount of mortgage anyone can have is five times their salary, if that was reduced to 4.5 times a salary, everyone would have a smaller mortgage. If the same thing happens with regards to the amount of unsecured debt people are allowed to have. Everyone will have a reduction in that amount.

If you have more debt then the new limit allows you to have, then every time you pay more then the minimum payment they will reduce your credit limit until you have less debt then the new limit says you can have.

If you have any unused credit and by using that credit you would go over the new limit they will again reduce your credit limit so that you cannot have more debt then the new limit says you can. That however is only my personal opinion of why they are reducing peoples credit limits.

You have to face that, because you can't afford any more.
Not quite true, under normal circumstances a loan is taken out for a period of months, you use the entire loan to make your purchase, and then you pay an amount each month until the loan has been paid off and that I do not have the money to do.

However, if I was able to take out a loan and it was for £3,000, I could use £2,000 of it to make my purchases, use the other £1,000 to make the payments each month until the house is finished, and it has been sold. That is not something anyone would normally do but as people have said before I have to come up with something that is creative or I have to think outside of the box and I could not get much further out of the box then that.

I know my posts don't 'help' you, but that's because you want to go further into debt.
AND YOU CAN'T.

Please be reassured that I am not out to get you. I don't want to upset you - nor was that ever my intention. Just wanted to spell it all out - what might result if you wait to see if you can still get £3000 from somewhere, instead of accepting you can't.

Nobody else on this website would want to upset you either.

As I have said before this is a place of mutual support for dealing with debt.

I really do want you to come out of this and enjoy the rest of your (long) life. Like everybody else, you have so much to offer to the rest of the world - you're intelligent (that's clear), and you want to support yourself into your pensionable stage of life. Many people don't even see this as a priority - they'd laugh at the slightest suggestion!

If you can get through this (and you will), you can return to work, and, as you are still young, live well to a ripe old age. with some financial security!

At the risk of stating the blatantly obvious, however _

GETTING RID OF THE DEBT WILL HELP YOU TO GET BACK TO WORK.
Could you please explain this in more detail?


Then you will be able to build your nest egg.

The crippler is the interest on the credit cards - you said that yourself right at the beginning (albeit disguised as minimum payments - because minimum payments grow out of interest charged!).
As I understand it, the interest grows as the debt gets bigger and gets smaller as the debt decreases. The minimum payments increase and decrease for the same reason. They are both based on a percentage of the outstanding debt.

As long as you are paying even 10% (or anything , even 0.1%!) interest on a card, the profit from renovation is, potentially, zero. Because of the timescale involved. Because, every month costs you £300 in interest, as it is, at the moment.
That is of concern to me as well. If I am able to finish off the house but at a slower pace and it takes an extra ten months to do that. It will have cost me an extra £3,000 in interest payments.

And I still don't see how £3000 in renovation can become £20000 more for a sale.
I will accept, however, that spending £300 might make an extra £2000.
If I put the house on the market tomorrow for £170,000 and it took 18 months to sell the house I will have lost around £6000 in interest payments on top of the £10,000 I have already knocked of the price of the house. To prevent that from happening I would have to lower the price of the house so I could sell it quickly. Do I knock £15k off to do that or do I take off £20k or even more.

Rob, If you're really still upset with me after reading this, please PM me. Then I WILL stop posting.
I am the only one that knows the full extent of my circumstances. I have taken onboard all the advice I have been given and I have VERY CAREFULLY processed that information and concluded that I do not, as yet, have to sell the house now. It is not because I have not had my LBM nor is it because I am in denial or that I am so rapped up in myself. It is because I am the only one that knows the full extent of my circumstances, which makes me the only one that can make that decision.

When you are in a pit and you know you need to get out of it, the last thing you need is people telling you that you are in a pit and need to get out. That as the say is rubbing salt in to the wound and that is what really hurts me. It causes me stress and that is something I can do without.


I want you to get through this problem.
We all do........