Teetering on the brink

badmemory

The driving practice with my father sounds horrendous but it served a very good purpose.  There was an examiner here that was a nightmare.  Criticised women on their tests.  Told me off for changing down into second gear to take a right turn, this is fifty years ago & I still remember & he is still wrong.  But despite the fact I was in tears I still passed my test.  They had so many complaints about him from women that they moved him to testing heavy goods drivers.

I'm sorry your TN is so bad.  My sister has it but hers does seem milder.

Cherryfudge

badmemory said:

The driving practice with my father sounds horrendous but it served a very good purpose.  There was an examiner here that was a nightmare.  Criticised women on their tests.  Told me off for changing down into second gear to take a right turn, this is fifty years ago & I still remember & he is still wrong.  But despite the fact I was in tears I still passed my test.  They had so many complaints about him from women that they moved him to testing heavy goods drivers.

I'm sorry your TN is so bad.  My sister has it but hers does seem milder.

Interestingly, one of the drivers I referred to (female) drives an HGV. Shows how society moves on. Good for you passing your test despite all the hurdles.

EatingBeans

Been a busy day today at work. I have a sneaky suspicion that they are putting me on an apprenticeship. I applied on a whim several months ago and it never went anywhere (which I was secretly pleased about). Now there is another round they have decided to pick from the list of people who applied previously and my manager, his boss, his boss and her boss have all spoken to me and said they are supporting me to be put forward to do it. E-mails have started saying things like “when you start” rather than “if you start”. 😨 It really wouldn’t go down too well to say I have changed my mind, so all I can do is just pray the funding is cut or something! 🤞😬

Anyway, today’s DFW idea was to start looking for another bank switching offer to move my old “overdraft/pots” account to. I know credit score wise, getting rid of the overdraft might not make sense, but whilst it is there it will always be there lurking. The temptation will be to see it as my emergency fund when realistically any emergency I have where I use it, will then cost me ~40% interest until paid back. I would much rather lose the account altogether and focus on building a real emergency fund in a savings account. So, after looking around I spotted a £150 incentive to switch to a NatWest Reward account. I almost automatically assumed I couldn’t get the deal but it says for existing customers too so I want to see if I can just switch the old account into my existing Reward account and still get the bonus. It will be awesome if I can. I have left a message for the customer service team to confirm before I start the switch but so far looking very promising. 🤞😁

EatingBeans

Looks like the £150 switch deal is on! I have requested the switch and will finally be kissing goodbye to TSB. 🎉 I have had nothing but trouble from them since I opened the account in 2012 but stuck with them thanks to the overdraft. Overdraft will be going as part of the process and now, instead of making a monthly payment to cover the overdraft interest, I will instead be putting that money aside to build an emergency fund. 😁

Added bonus will be one less account to reconcile each month! 👍

~FlowerPot~

brillient news

well done

I love how positive you are and how you are tackling you debt

Keep going!!!

SuzeQStan

EatingBeans said:

Looks like the £150 switch deal is on! I have requested the switch and will finally be kissing goodbye to TSB. 🎉 I have had nothing but trouble from them since I opened the account in 2012 but stuck with them thanks to the overdraft. Overdraft will be going as part of the process and now, instead of making a monthly payment to cover the overdraft interest, I will instead be putting that money aside to build an emergency fund. 😁

Added bonus will be one less account to reconcile each month! 👍

Thanks EB - looking at doing this switch too thanks to you 👍🏻

EatingBeans

With the TSB to NatWest switch all started I thought I would look for one last switch, this time for my spending account. 

Handily, Nationwide seems to be offering a good deal - a £175 switch bonus, plus a bit of interest on money in the account and a bit of cashback too. And the ultimate bonus - they even have a branch in town! 

So, in preparation, I have just been moving a couple of easy to manage direct debits on to the account and they should both go out in the first week of April. As soon as I am sure they are both set up, I will see if I can switch. 🤞they keep the offer going until then as it really does seem like a match made in heaven. 

BadBookkeeper

Highly recommend Nationwide.  I’ve had payouts from them last few years just for being a customer so more free money! 

EatingBeans

I like the sound of free money! 😁

EatingBeans

Omg, they have gone and done it! 

I officially start my apprenticeship next week! 🤦‍♀️

Why oh why did I apply! And how come when I apply for something I desperately want, I don’t get it, but when I apply for something I only vaguely have an interest in, I end up getting it! This is why my career has ended up being so random. 

Ah well, it’s only 13 months dedicating half my weekends to something I don’t really want to do. 🤣 But it is £18,000 worth of free training and they chose me out of the whole team so I best appear grateful as I know there are quite a few who applied who now didn’t get it because I did, including my own line manager! 😬

Dare I mention that the last external training course they put me on I still haven’t passed because I never got around to sitting the exam… the course was last November! Best crack on with that! 

The best laugh is, in the absence of the lady that organised that training last November, senior management have asked me to go get some stats about how many people have qualified since that training course. Er, well I know there is one that hasn’t… me! 🫣