How much has this board saved us?

suzialwaysbroke

Well, a humungous amount!!!!!

Our first move was to check out our pension mortgage as we have had the letters from the pension providers over the years, saying that our pensions would not cover our mortgage, so please would we pay loads more in so that we would be able to retire in style. My OH (bless him) is a bit of an ostrich about money & as we have had 3 DD's, one of whom has had health problems, I have always left money things to him to sort out - BIG MISTAKE - we took our pension mortgage out 17 years ago when our girls were little so I didn't really get involved with the discussions (I know, sharp intake of breath). We were just told that we were in a win/win situation, loads of dosh at the end of the term, tax benefits, blah, blah, blah, which was probably true then (back in the early eighties), sadle not true now. After reading up about endowments on this site & other places & with the help of my BIL (who is a IFA), we questioned whether we had been given the right information at the time of taking out the mortgage, ie - there may NOT be enough money in the pot to pay your mortgage at the end of the term. As records could not be produced to say what exactly we had been advised, the bank (NatWest) said that we would get compensation - to the tune of £37,500.

See my sig for our progress with bank/cc reclaiming.
Our claim for council tax reassessment has been turned down, but my neighbours is probably going up (Whoops):o

So, we LOVE MSE, & just want to say thanks muchly for helping us to try & steer our little craft through the rocky waters of life to safer waters (aaah)

aah

Dreadful to hear of site sabotage, its horrendous. It's amazing to think that the enemies of MSE will take criminal measures to stop people becoming more money savvy.

Since joining this site I have gained £500 in unlawful bank charges, found out how to sort out my erroneous gas bill to the tune of £200 and - best of all- LEARNED that money is not for frittering but is to be taken seriously and that consolidation loans and loan companies are the enemy!

tealady

I have had a large Council tax rebate, got freebies from Pigsback, and found good places for my savings as well as changing gas/electricity. I recon I have saved over a grand so thanks Martin and the team.