Let's Connect Loan-ish - financial hardship

almghtysrlc

Thanks for the constructive replies.

As RichL74 says, I had no crystal ball and I needed the laptop to get the experience in the field in which I now find myself employed.

At 25, it's a lesson learned in terms of saving a rainy day fund...

My two options seems to be a loan, or beg my employers to enable me to continue (a steeper) version of my current payment plan, though I wouldn't enjoy the salary sacrifice element.

Anyhow, I have 2 questions:

1) My Let's Connect contract (the only thing that I signed) states that the contract is between me and my employer, which I find odd. Do I speak to Let's Connect or my employer? (Both have been unhelpful thus far) but I'm really struggling to get any clear answer on who I actually owe the money to

2) In all the relevant guidelines and regulations that I have scoured, it appears to suggest that in any purchase hire agreement, it must state the amount I would owe, in total, as part of the agreement - but it doesn't state this anywhere. Is this worth raising as something of a grievance to try and improve my chances of agreeing a further payment plan?

If I UL a copy of my contract, anyone care to take a look?

Thanks all

almghtysrlc

Arlene, making a personal judgement on what is, effectively a peer-to-peer financial help forum (for the want of a better term) is frankly bizarre.

What do you expect, people such as yourself gloating about their fantastic financial track record and great decision making? Why not show a little decorum?

I'm not asking for pity, I'm asking for options. If nobody responded to this post, then I could have no arguments - its is my bad judgement. I'm merely asking a question.

Next time you might want to consider that your sneering comments could be really quite damaging to the wrong sort of person, who is actually in hardship. Granted, this is self inflicted, but it doesn't justify the pointlessness and total redundancy of your 'live off noodles comments.'

rtho782

The whole point of Salary Sacrifice is that there are tax and NI benefits for the employee, along with NI benefits for the employer. Additionally, it's a form of tie in - it's designed to discourage you from leaving employment, for the exact reasons you've discovered.

Like the Cycle2Work schemes, the "loan" is paid for by the employer, and the employer owns the goods. They reduce your salary by the amount of the loan repayments, so they are not out of pocket - they actually save NI. You save as well, as £100 reduction in gross pay is only a £69 reduction in net pay.

In theory the employer owns the goods at the end, but in practice they usually sell title to you for a negligible sum, e.g. £1, or one extra payment.

In your situation, I would probably look to get a loan to pay off the agreement, so that you are not broke.

[Deleted User]

My employer offers a similar scheme but not with the supplier the OP uses. You own the product from day 1, the employer has no interest in it. There are no tax implications as the monthly payment is deducted after you have paid tax and NI.

Our T&Cs state that if you leave employment, the full remaining balance will be deducted from your final salary payment. Our scheme only goes upto £1500 though.

Arleen

almghtysrlc wrote: »

Arlene, making a personal judgement on what is, effectively a peer-to-peer financial help forum (for the want of a better term) is frankly bizarre.

What do you expect, people such as yourself gloating about their fantastic financial track record and great decision making? Why not show a little decorum?

I'm not asking for pity, I'm asking for options. If nobody responded to this post, then I could have no arguments - its is my bad judgement. I'm merely asking a question.

Next time you might want to consider that your sneering comments could be really quite damaging to the wrong sort of person, who is actually in hardship. Granted, this is self inflicted, but it doesn't justify the pointlessness and total redundancy of your 'live off noodles comments.'

I used to live on instant noodles, for almost a year of my adult life. Do you want to know why? Because I was bad with finances and I didn't expect other people to foot the bill for my irresponsibility.
But for you, that option is not even an option, is it? Because it would inconvenience you. And you are only looking for one that is comforting and bends the world to you. And that's not how real life works.

Feel free to read all those other helpful answers out of which you didn't draw anything practical and face the month on noodles and without going out. And maybe pawning some stuff to repay your loan.

takman

camelot1971 wrote: »

My employer offers a similar scheme but not with the supplier the OP uses. You own the product from day 1, the employer has no interest in it. There are no tax implications as the monthly payment is deducted after you have paid tax and NI.

Our T&Cs state that if you leave employment, the full remaining balance will be deducted from your final salary payment. Our scheme only goes upto £1500 though.

So what's the benefit of joining the scheme if the payments are deducted after tax and NI?

[Deleted User]

takman wrote: »

So what's the benefit of joining the scheme if the payments are deducted after tax and NI?

You get to buy a piece of IT interest free without a formal credit agreement with a lender. It's a bit like a season ticket loan for getting to work.