Off on our adventure....Jan 2015

System

Well.......I have just spent another 36 mins on the phone to Natwest trying to find out why it is taking so long to get the details of our new joint account!! The guy I spoke to yesterday, did not ring me as promised and the details of the account did not show up on the online banking! He now says it will be tomorrow or Saturday before they can give us the details to enable us to set up the DD's etc. IF they had told me in the first place that it would take this long, then at least we would have known, but they just seem to keep telling us one thing and then it turns out to be wrong....beginning to think we should have chosen another bank. If we had wanted to have DD's set up on an individual account then it would have been sorted by now, but joint accounts seem to be taking ages.
Sorry for the rant, having worked in a customer facing environment for many years, it really bugs me when people can't keep their promises about ringing you and give you the correct information in the first place. Isn't that what "customer Service" means... Tempted to write to them and tell them how much it has cost me in phone calls so far.....nearly £4 just tonight plus 2 other calls this week!

Well apart from that, everything is fine. Just browsing online now and watching some TV.
Hope you are all having a good evening.

System

Well, today was a great day as we finally sent all the paperwork to SC. Yesterday I rang them and did a little tweak to the budget and they are now estimating 7 yrs 1 month instead of 6 yrs 7 months, due to me miscalculating the amount we needed for fuel and also wanted to put some extras in hobbies section to make up for the fact that the allowance for hairdressing was not enough.....cost me £45 every 6 weeks to get my hair done and hubby £5 a month so needed a bit extra....LOL, although I think it will work out slightly more by the time the extra interest from this couple of months is added on.

NatWest have burned their bridges with us!!! WE are now using NationWide as our joint account for direct debits....the guy from NatWest did not ring as promised and the joint account details were not on the online banking as promised. So I have calculated that I have probably spent over £10 this week in phone calls to them, so will be writing them a little letter of complaint. They call themselves the helpful bank but they are really not....LOL It is now 2 weeks since we first applied for the account and it is still not sorted, and yet Nationwide sorted us out in no time at all.

Now just working out the money for each week/month. The next month will actually be harder than once we get started on the DMP as we suddenly seem to have a few extras to deal with which weren't planned. Hey ho....such is life....LOL

Just off to get some dinner on now and then going to watch a film that hubby has downloaded.
Hope you are all having a good weekend

Scaredofdebt_2

Hi Ploppy, just found your thread and have been reading through it and it has really made me feel that there is more to life than a DMP!!! You have messaged me before, I have the same amount of debt as you and we have a DFD of 9 years and 7 months but hopefully will pay it off sooner than this. I have been struggling with every aspect of it and have been in a bit of a fog. It is a proper emotional rollercoaster and up until this afternoon was feeling rubbish. Don't get me wrong, I am not singing from the rooftops now but after a good chat with my hubby feel as though this could be a real turning point in our lives so have decided I need to pull myself together for the sake of myself, my hubby and my boys and see this as a fresh start - one that will see us debt and mortgage free in 10 years from now and although my boys will be big by then, it will be me and hubby time!!! We even have a little money stashed away - not much but some, never had that before. Sorry for the long post on your thread. Thanks for the encouragement - I really needed it.

System

Scaredofdebt wrote: »

Hi Ploppy, just found your thread and have been reading through it and it has really made me feel that there is more to life than a DMP!!! You have messaged me before, I have the same amount of debt as you and we have a DFD of 9 years and 7 months but hopefully will pay it off sooner than this. I have been struggling with every aspect of it and have been in a bit of a fog. It is a proper emotional rollercoaster and up until this afternoon was feeling rubbish. Don't get me wrong, I am not singing from the rooftops now but after a good chat with my hubby feel as though this could be a real turning point in our lives so have decided I need to pull myself together for the sake of myself, my hubby and my boys and see this as a fresh start - one that will see us debt and mortgage free in 10 years from now and although my boys will be big by then, it will be me and hubby time!!! We even have a little money stashed away - not much but some, never had that before. Sorry for the long post on your thread. Thanks for the encouragement - I really needed it.

It is an emotional roller coaster, you are right. We have had so many arguments this last couple of weeks, even though we know we are doing the right thing. Just seemed such a lot to do to start with and I didn't feel I was getting any help from hubby, even though he wanted the DMP, he expected me to sort it all out and he would just sign whatever I put in front of him.
Feel like at last though things are improving, we have finally set up all the new DD's with Nationwide and the paperwork has gone back to SC and I have done a budget forecast right up to July, to make sure everything looks ok as there were a couple of things we had forgotten about....hubby needing £80 in May to take his motorbike test which has to be renewed every 2 years unless he pays over £200 to take the full one....he will probably do that but not sure if he can do it this year. We also know that washing machine is on its last legs and we will probably have to get one very soon, so went and looked at a few today and hope we can save enough to get one in the next couple of months, as SC payment not starting till 10th March.

I am now going to start little saving pots for all sorts of things, birthdays, Christmas, holidays, etc and even though there will not be much in them, it will at least be something and I will be able to see it improving slowly. I have always saved copper and 5ps and now doing the £2 saving challenge as well, so as they mount up I will transfer them to the savings pots.

So like you, I am now starting to look forward to a new start and a debt free future....7yrs and 1 month.....( we had to re jig the original forecast of 6yrs and 7 months).....and who knows it might be even sooner if we come into some money!:rotfl:

System

Wrote a letter to Natwest today as hubby checked phone bill and we had spent £9.09 last week in ringing them and still not got the details of the account. I told them that we were now using Nationwide as our main bank and that I did not find them the helpful bank that they claim to be....LOL Will see if I get a reply.

Had a lovely morning, browsing the charity shops as we are both off work this week. Now got the grandchildren coming to tea after school and then tomorrow and Wednesday they are both coming for a sleepover as my daughter has to work and son in law has to be away for 2 nights for work. They are only 5 so it is a lovely age and we do enjoy having them, even though I am normally worn out by the time they leave...LOL

HarrysMummy

Enjoy having the grandchildren round. My mum loves having little dude around, veen thoughshe's also worn out when he leaves haha.

She wouldn't have it any other way, so she says. She's even taking us both away at the weekend.

I hope you get somehwere with Natwest, thats ridiculous. I'm just looking into switching account, mainly for the rewards as I have no loyalty to banks anymore.

System

Well today was another good day! :j Had a phone call from Natwest this morning, re my complaint letter over the joint account taking so long so to set up. Lovely gentleman who said he could see that my application was still showing as pending and apparently the chap we had spoken to when we took our ID into the branch, had sent it to the head office without the branch stamp on and also had not asked for enough ID! I said ok, I could see that was their fault, but why had the 2 people in the call centre not been able to see that and phoned me when they had promised. He agreed that it was not acceptable and said he would be investigating further and he totally understood why we had set up a joint account elsewhere. He has refunded all the money for my phone calls, plus a mileage expense for driving to the branch on 2 occasions and parking and also some extra compensation....total £53! :rotfl: I am a happy bunny with that. Been wanting to decorate the downstairs look for ages so decided as it was extra money we could splash out on 2 rolls of cheap wallpaper and some paint. Didn't spend it all by a long way and it will make me feel better to see the loo looking fresh. Should even be enough paint left for the kitchen with any luck, which has also been in need of a touch up for the last few years.

Went into Lloyds to get our old Platinum account downgraded to make sure we don't still get charged the Platinum account fee. Explained that we were starting DMP with SC and the lady said that was fine and they probably would freeze the OD charges once they hear from SC.

Sold a couple of bits on Ebay as well (nearly £30) so all is well at the moment. SC have emailed to say they should have everything set up by 10 March.

So tomorrow I am off out clothes shopping! That is not as bad as it sounds....LOL I am going to treat myself to some new (cheap) trousers and a couple of tops, with the Compliments card that British Gas sent me. I have been wearing the same pair of jeans to work for ages now and they are getting a bit faded, so time to invest in a new pair I am afraid and as I have my Ebay sales as well, which will go into the savings pot, I don't feel guilty spending the gift card.

January2015

Great news Ploppy and a good result from the Nat West fiasco

Enjoy having the grandchildren - are they twins or have I misread one of your posts?

You are catching me up on the SC progress bar - fantastic. The feeling of relief just keeps growing and the smiles just keep getting bigger

System

January2015 wrote: »

Great news Ploppy and a good result from the Nat West fiasco

Enjoy having the grandchildren - are they twins or have I misread one of your posts?

You are catching me up on the SC progress bar - fantastic. The feeling of relief just keeps growing and the smiles just keep getting bigger

Yes, they are twins, boys. They are so different though, in looks and personality,you would never know they are twins. They were 5 in July....growing up too fast.

System

Just a quick diary entry. Not much happened the last couple of days. Didn't get much clothes when I went shopping....a cheap pair pair of leggings from Primark and some boxers from hubby. Nipped to another town today and did manage to get a couple of bits, but have come to the conclusion that I am just a horrible size...nothing fits properly!

SC have emailed to say DMP is all set up and have sent us the list of payments and what goes where.

Just been listing a few things on Ebay, so hopefully we will make a bit of money there. Waiting for the good weather and the car boots starting up again next month as we have loads of stuff to get rid of and may be able to make quite a bit. I do love a good car boot!

Hope everybody is ok and all is well with you all