Tales from the city

ani*fan

I'm sat here drumming my fingers waiting for the new 0% credit card to arrive. I got a text yesterday saying it was in the post, maybe I'll come home to it today after work, that'd be good.

I rang A & L yesterday to try and make a claim for ppi. They didn't just want the address of the flat I bought, they wanted the previous address too. This was tricky as I spent a month sharing with a pal when the previous flat sold and I haven't a clue what the address was. So I've emailed my pal to ask, she'd lived there a while, then I'll get back onto it. I think I can also claim my exit fee from that mortgage back, I saw some stuff on here about unreasonable exit fee increases around 2006 which was when I sold the flat. It can't hurt to ask, right?

I also spotted on here that there may be a deadline for ppi claims coming soon. I really need to hurry this up with as many lenders I can think of. Even a few extra quid would help.

I spent £18.74 on some shopping yesterday. I was trying to keep it in the bank as very occasionally one of my direct debits goes out the day before payday. I will just have to wait with my fingers crossed and hope that doesn't happen this month or there will be a charge to deal with but it couldn't be helped.

Previously the shop would have been put on a credit card and forgotten about. Then one month would run into the next and I'd have no idea how much it had cost me to get through the month. This month has been much better. I have enough food to last til Thursday payday next week and some tobacco in case I need to smoke. Lots of study to do this weekend and a quiet night in with OH so it should all work out fine.

Happy debt busting day everyone.

ani*fan

A few things to report...

I got an application form through from NRAM. It's filled in and good to go.

My mate contacted me with the previous address information for my other mortgage ppi claim. I'll ring up about that on Monday. :cool:

I spent 10p on an out-of-date snickers today. It was lush.

No sign of the credit card yet. Still drumming my fingers...

Thank goodness it's Friday, it's been the longest week, just waiting for OH to come round in a bit for tea :smileyhea and a quiet night watching telly and making fun of everything on it, gotta love that. Yey!!

Have a fab weekend everyone.

ani*fan

A lovely white/silver credit card arrived yesterday. :j £5.5k with 15 months interest free, which is not bad but I was hoping for longer with no interest. Still, my credit is good and that feels amazing. I phoned them up immediately and got £4,900 transferred from my MBNA card. I forgot you can only transfer 90% of the total available credit so that leaves £550 on the MBNA card. This will be my target debt for the next couple of months until it's totally cleared. Need to check how this effects the snowball calculator.

I then went to stick the card in my purse before thinking 'what on earth am I doing that for? I won't be spending the remaining credit!' so I cut it in half and put it in the bin. I was truly proud of myself and OH was proud of me too.

Then me and OH did a proper budget for when we live together. My share of the bills is going to cost only £50 more than my rent alone costs here. I can't believe it. I feel like I won the lottery! I think I have lived on my own for so long now, 3 years, that I've forgotten how cheap it can be to share with someone. This is all good.

So after bills, food and everything, I will have around £1000 per month for debt repayment. I know it won't work like that, this doesn't include haircuts, presents, Christmas, all those extra things but for me it is a huge amount of money. I have a chance here, a proper chance to get a big chunk of debt paid off quickly. And I'm going for it. Me and OH have an appointment to open a bank account next weekend for paying bills out of. We're going for £5 reward account. I'm excited!

I got my old mobile posted off yesterday. Just waiting to hear their greatly reduced offer and steeling myself for the fight to get the full amount.

Finally got myself booked in for a haircut next weekend. £20 at my local place, first cheap hairdresser I have found in this city. :T

We got a giant chocolate cake from Mr T last night, £3 reduced to 50p. It was amazing.

I have £6 in the bank and £2 in my purse until payday on Thursday. I think it's enough.

Hope everyone's having an amazing weekend.

misstara

Morning ani

Well done for chopping up the new credit card. I chopped up all mine last year and it was such a good feeling

Fab news about your share of bills and the extra money you will have. The debt will very soon be gone. I've got the £5 reward account and love how the bank actually give me money for a change :rotfl:

ani*fan

misstara wrote: »

Morning ani

Well done for chopping up the new credit card. I chopped up all mine last year and it was such a good feeling

Fab news about your share of bills and the extra money you will have. The debt will very soon be gone. I've got the £5 reward account and love how the bank actually give me money for a change :rotfl:

Morning misstara

I never thought I'd be someone who could chop up a credit card, it does feel really good and like I'm finally in charge of all this debt.

And yes, I love the idea of the bank giving me money too, it feels like compensation after everything we have to put up with from them, charges and nonsense like that. It was your diary gave me the idea so thanks for that!

I'm scouring diaries, looking for idea, feeling all motivated, bring it on!

crazy_cat_lady

You sound so positive, and that's fantastic. Its all going in the right direction - well done on binning the CC straight away as well.

Igamogam

Just a word of caution on cutting up cards - its the best thing to do of course but make a note of the details first..............start/end dates, card/account number and credit limit especially if you think you will be moving the balance on again to another 0% BT deal as its those details you need and they are not always on the statements, and if you want to make a phone or on line enquiry you will definitely need those bits of info............speaking from experience!!

32b3in2013

ani*fan wrote: »

A lovely white/silver credit card arrived yesterday. :j £5.5k with 15 months interest free, which is not bad but I was hoping for longer with no interest. Still, my credit is good and that feels amazing. I phoned them up immediately and got £4,900 transferred from my MBNA card. I forgot you can only transfer 90% of the total available credit so that leaves £550 on the MBNA card. This will be my target debt for the next couple of months until it's totally cleared. Need to check how this effects the snowball calculator.

I then went to stick the card in my purse before thinking 'what on earth am I doing that for? I won't be spending the remaining credit!' so I cut it in half and put it in the bin. I was truly proud of myself and OH was proud of me too.

Then me and OH did a proper budget for when we live together. My share of the bills is going to cost only £50 more than my rent alone costs here. I can't believe it. I feel like I won the lottery! I think I have lived on my own for so long now, 3 years, that I've forgotten how cheap it can be to share with someone. This is all good.

So after bills, food and everything, I will have around £1000 per month for debt repayment. I know it won't work like that, this doesn't include haircuts, presents, Christmas, all those extra things but for me it is a huge amount of money. I have a chance here, a proper chance to get a big chunk of debt paid off quickly. And I'm going for it. Me and OH have an appointment to open a bank account next weekend for paying bills out of. We're going for £5 reward account. I'm excited!

I got my old mobile posted off yesterday. Just waiting to hear their greatly reduced offer and steeling myself for the fight to get the full amount.

Finally got myself booked in for a haircut next weekend. £20 at my local place, first cheap hairdresser I have found in this city. :T

We got a giant chocolate cake from Mr T last night, £3 reduced to 50p. It was amazing.

I have £6 in the bank and £2 in my purse until payday on Thursday. I think it's enough.

Hope everyone's having an amazing weekend.

What a happy post excellent news on all fronts.

You will be debt free before you know it x

ani*fan

Just a quick update...

I need to phone Cardiff P today and get my mortgage account number, I seem to need it for the NRAM PPI complaint form, I don't want to give them any reason to stall.

I still haven't phoned A and L, meant to do it at work but my days are mad busy this week, will keep trying to find a space to do that.

On a different note, I need a small medical procedure carried out, the NHS have said no they won't do it, apparently they used to do this but with cost cuts and under staffing they won't do it now. (I don't want to say anymore, bit embarrassing!) Anyway, I had a good think about it this weekend and whether or not I can tolerate the thing until the end of my debt and the answer is 'no' which means I need to consider getting it done privately. This is scary on a number of counts.

1. I've never had anything done privately
2. The consultation alone costs £150
3. I will have no idea how much the cost of the procedure is until after the consultation, if it runs into thousands then there is no chance right now and £150 has been wasted. I would guess maybe £4-500 though which is probably manageable.
4. My local private hospital offers an 'interest free for a year' credit account. Obviously this would add to the debt which is not good. However, I could work out payments over a year and with my new budget, should be able to pay it off, as long as it is not wildly expensive.
5. Should I save up the money first then pay it outright? What should I do?

And I need to figure all of this out while raging at the NHS for not helping me when I've worked and contributed my whole life. Makes me so angry. :mad:

If anyone has any thoughts about this I'd really appreciate hearing them. I'm pondering private health insurance too because I just do not trust the NHS any more. That's really bad...I know.

It's payday on Thursday and I have £2 in my purse and £1.17 in the bank. I don't need anything, but it's funny how worried I get about having no cash, just in case, like my world is going to collapse! Actually everything will be fine, I'm just going to work, studying and cooking tea for OH on Wednesday. No problem.

Have a great debt busting day everyone.

Igamogam

The last few years I have become a 'frequent flier' with the NHS and I consider myself to be fit an healthy - dont smoke eat well and exercise - that the key to it all............. yes?? However things have worn out,switched off or started not working as they should Now in that time my experiences of the NHS have been to :eek:, I have become the world leading expert on a life long inherited condition ( had no idea until diagnosed) and have had to fight my corner some times to get the treatment I need or indeed that procedure I want at a time and place that I want................. my only advice is dont take no for an answer - is it just the health board where you live who no longer carries out the procedure? Can you go 'over the border' for it to be done? Is it something a minor surgery at a GP centre could do? If its something cosmetic then I can probably see why cash strapped NHS wont carry it out...........but is it causing you psychological stress??? Will private health insurance cover an existing condition? There are some half way houses that you can pay into monthly and it will cover some things such as initial consultation, xray, scans amongst others ( I pay into one through work) In fact the initial consultation payment is very handy. I used this about a problem I was having, saw the consultant had the fee paid and was then treated by the consultant through the NHS - meant I didnt go through GP and have to wait months:)

Anyway I was up at the crack of sparrow f*rt this morning too! Think its my brain saying 'this time next week you will be on the road driving to work'......and I bet it will be a glorious sunny day- uuurgh;(