Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

beanielou

Take care elizabeth

Thinking of you today HHD

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thank you Beanie .

daisy_1571

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I agree that this is the ideal way to go about it, Daisy:T, but the process can be started without needing reference numbers and so on. I simply wrote to M&S Money, who had provided most of my big loans and other things:o, and asked them if I had had PPI on any of them. The paperwork on several had long been shredded in my various attempts to declutter. They sent me a list of all historic accounts and whether they had PPI. They also sent me a form to complete with any further details that I could add, such as my employment status at the time, why I thought it had been mis sold etc etc. Depending on how old the loans etc are, the lenders might still have records of your original application forms etc. To be honest I could add very little further information but they investigated it all the same and found in my favour:j


I contacted Santander both by phone and by using their online PPI reclaiming tool. You'll find that most if not all banks and other lenders will have full information on their websites about how to make PPI claims. It sets the ball rolling and they will contact you if they need to know anything else. Don't worry about filling in every section on the sometimes long forms they send for completion, it really isn't necessary to stress too much about it if you can't find paperwork or remember details.


That's how I did it anyway and it netted results:j. See if you can make a list of all the lenders you had dealings with, find their websites and look for the PPI claim section. Read that and take it from there. Making a claim is nothing to worry about. I can't stress enough the need to make a start as soon as you possibly can. The whole PPI claim situation has been ongoing for several years now and the deadline has already been extended with banks setting aside more and more money to cover the flood of claims. This final cut-off point is likely to be the last one and the banks etc are anticipating a mad rush of people who have left it to the last minute to get their claims in. I expect they may be overloaded and take longer to process claims, although I imagine they'll still accept your application so long as it arrives before the cut-off.


I'm assuming that you didn't ever send SAR requests to your creditors? That's one of the things posters on various debt-help websites recommend very strongly. It used to cost £10 per application (or per bank/financial institution if you had various products and accounts with them) which seemed pretty steep at the time but the amount of paperwork they send back is almost worth it in postage alone:rotfl: I understand it is now FREE though. If you haven't done it there's so much information on the NEDCAB website, an online resource which most people in financial difficulties find invaluable, They provide template letters for applying for the paperwork. As a result of a SAR request the bank or whatever has to send you copies of everything they have on file for you. Mine with Lloyds covered several old loans (alas no PPI:(), credit cards, bank accounts etc. You will see from that when you took out/closed loans etc and it will show if you had PPI. I appreciate this will take time and if it hasn't been done already you're probably wasting valuable time when any PPI can be discovered by other means anyway.


This post may well have crossed with someone else's saying something similar or maybe advising just the opposite:eek:. It's how I did it anyway and it worked:j

CBC, as usual you have made it so simple whereas I went the complicated way about it as i often do :rotfl::rotfl: where was your succinct advice when I was trying to pluck up the courage to put in a claim :money::money::rotfl::T ???


And why did I even need to pluck up courage? They can only send a letter saying no at the worst. And thats not a problem at all?

Daisy

redofromstart

Can't add to what has already been said, but understand your reaction.

A more productive phone call or email might be to the accountant to see if DH tax return has been filed yet, and if so what refund you are due? If it was overpaid tax on his pension payout then it would be a personal refund to him, not to the business.

Hope the oven fix is something simple like the fuse.

daisy_1571

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

@Daisy @Carboot @Jwil Thank you .

Daisy and Carboot thank you for posting such long and beautifully expressed posts. I do agree with you and I have wondered how he could bear to be in the house alone when I've been struggling even with DH and the DC. He has been mentioning the lady's name to me a lot in the past two weeks and telling me they were going places together, but perhaps naively, I thought they were just friends.

If this had happened in six months time then I would feel pleased for him probably. It's just the shortness of time that has disturbed me .

I won't cut him off of course. I won't even say anything to him about my feeling it is too soon, because I don't want to cause bad feeling.

But secretly inside myself I feel upset and disturbed because it has happened so quickly . The lady in question is a mutual friend of him and my mum, and appears very pleasant, although I don't know her well.

My sister is going to ask him today if they are just friends or romantically involved, as we both feel confused about what he thinks we know about it. He can be forgetful so he may think he's told us!

Anyway whatever the outcome I must deal with it and move on.

As CBC said you sound like such a lovely person, I'm sure we never thought you would cut him out but I can understand how hard it must be inside. You are being wonderfully loving by handling it this way. And you may find he is surprised to find you all thought there was romance, it was just friendship between two lonely people. Or it may have crept into something more.

CBC that sounds so hard to have to deal with that as a child but how nice that you still had some contact. Do you have any suspicion your dad may have done the same to any extent?

My granda was on his own from 92 to 101 and he struck up a friendship with a lady. Mostly they chatted by phone as due to their age it wasn't easy for them to meet physically and it was odd to hear my granda talk about another lady but I do remember him saying that phrase to me and it has stuck with me: just two lonely people having a chat. He wasn't saying it in a woe is me kinda way, just in a resigned sort of way but honestly, it would bring a tear to a glass eye to think of that. (Or make a plate of mince cry as we sometimes say up here :rotfl:)


Everyone has had such wise words on this emotive topic. Well done everyone xxxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

@Daisy Yes I must try to think of it as two lonely people keeping each other company. I should find out tonight whether it it is just friendship or not. But either way for my sake and his I need to try to take it philosophically and try not to feel upset about it. Although it's hard because I am only human .

There are some very wise people who comment on my diary, so thank you Daisy and others

HairyHandofDartmoor

redofromstart wrote: »

Can't add to what has already been said, but understand your reaction.

A more productive phone call or email might be to the accountant to see if DH tax return has been filed yet, and if so what refund you are due? If it was overpaid tax on his pension payout then it would be a personal refund to him, not to the business.

Hope the oven fix is something simple like the fuse.

Thank you Redo .


The accountants are doing our accounts right now and had a couple of queries. DH answered two of them today and will answer the other tomorrow after looking it up.

They said we MIGHT be eligible for a tax rebate. When they've finished our accounts we should find out for sure. We are a partnership and not a limited company so I think his business and personal tax are one and the same. But I'm probably wrong because I'm hopeless with this stuff . The tax we paid was on his pension from his old employment and we paid about 40% tax on it .
I really hope that we are owed some tax back, fingers crossed!

DH hasn't had time to research the oven yet so it will be microwaved food again tonight . Thank goodness the hob is working.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

DH hasn't had time to research the oven yet so it will be microwaved food again tonight . Thank goodness the hob is working.

Could be worse then:j. When my cooker died it was the whole lot, oven and hob. Not a glimmer from any of it:(. I didn't have a microwave then either:eek:. It's amazing how we get by in situations like that and I know you will:T. It's the good old Wartime Spirit coming to the fore;)

[Deleted User]

daisy_1571 wrote: »

CBC, as usual you have made it so simple whereas I went the complicated way about it as i often do :rotfl::rotfl: where was your succinct advice when I was trying to pluck up the courage to put in a claim :money::money::rotfl::T ???


And why did I even need to pluck up courage? They can only send a letter saying no at the worst. And thats not a problem at all?

Daisy

Very sweet of you to say so, daisy:A, but I don't deserve the accolade:o

I'm not sure mine was the right way, just that I wasn't aware of any other at the time. I was just playing it by ear as it were and surprisingly it worked out alright:j

HairyHandofDartmoor

Yes we won't starve Carboot .

How did you manage without an oven, hob, or microwave? Did you cook on a camp stove or an open fire? Or just eat cold food :rotfl:.

It would be lovely to order a takeaway every night, but sadly the budget won't allow for even one takeaway .

My Linda M burger tasted decidedly strange after I microwaved it last night, but DS1 suggested a small glass of water in the microwave with it to stop it drying out, so I'll try that tonight. My baked potato and baked beans tasted just fine though .