my SOA

MERFE

if you are looking to reduce your outgoings it may be worth giving virgin a ring, we were paying around 40 pounds a month now 20 pounds a month for all 3 including free weekend calls to landlines, we did lose a couple of tv channels to bring the package down to freeview but is more than worth it imo, still have plenty to watch.

amanndajane

thank you all for your advice ! you are all fab !!!
i`ve been "oldish style" for about 4 months, only use vinegar,stardrops,soda crystals and microfibre cloths! i batch cook wherever poss, spen approx£40 mainly less per week for me my son and 1 student.
i get my council tax reduced cause i`m the only resident adult, cant claim ct benefit as i`m on working tax credit not income support.
i`ve sold pretty much everything that i can that isnt important to me(i havent even got a wadrobe anymore lol)
i phoned southern electric this morning, turns out i`m £200 in credit :eek: , so they are reducing my DD by £10 a month and are gonna send me a cheque as soon as they`ve wrked out my bill ! so thats good!!
hoping to switch from virgin to BT, a friend and her husband both work for them, so they are entiltled to free phone,tv and BB, they`ve kindly gfted it to me so all i`ll have is the line rental to pay for :j .
going for a bath and a lie down now lol
will ring the abbey later to find out what all those insurances are for !!!
:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

RAS

Hi

If you have got PPI, work out whether any of them would realistically pay out if you lost your job. If not, reclaim them as mis-sold.

Also cut the spending limits on your Nationawide, Abbey and Buy and Fly cards as having unused available credit does not help if you apply for a new card on a lower APR.

taxi73

Hi there and well done for posting ..you seem to be getting quite far so far and good luck with the phonecall to find out about the insurances

amanndajane

I am on the phone to Abbey now (past 20 mins) trying to figure out what all these insurances are for !! been pushed from pillar to posttrying to find the rigt department !
watch this space ..........:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

amanndajane

amanndajane wrote: »

I am on the phone to Abbey now (past 20 mins) trying to figure out what all these insurances are for !! been pushed from pillar to posttrying to find the rigt department !
watch this space ..........:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

dum dee dum !!!mand is tapping fingers on desk....still holding

amanndajane

amanndajane wrote: »

dum dee dum !!!mand is tapping fingers on desk....still holding

well after all that, i`m not sure that i`m any the wiser ! apart from knowing that one of them (£35.64) is for buildings/contents insurance !
think `im gonna make appointment with local branch so that i can actually sit down with someone and talk about it properly !

amanndajane

RAS wrote: »

Hi

If you have got PPI, work out whether any of them would realistically pay out if you lost your job. If not, reclaim them as mis-sold.

Also cut the spending limits on your Nationawide, Abbey and Buy and Fly cards as having unused available credit does not help if you apply for a new card on a lower APR.

well you`ve confused me with what you said about credit limits, so if i reduced my nationwide card which has the highest linit(£7710) but not much in comparrison to pay back(£2194) i would then stand more chance with another company of transferring the balance ???sorry if i`m being thick but fianance really is a minefield to me

amanndajane

amanndajane wrote: »

incomings

wages £355.00
Tax Credit £450.00
Child Benefit £ 72.40
Child Support £140.00(if Ex Pays Up)
Students £320.00(if I Have Them)

total=£877.40/£1337.40

outgoings

mortgage £373.03
Council Tax £ 85.00
Gas £ 31.00(reduced Down From 48.00)
Electric £ 43.00(looking To Reduce)
Tv Licience £ 11.61
Virgin/tv/phone/bb £ 55.00
Denplan £ 22.90
INSURANCE 35.64(BUILDINGS/CONTENTS)
INSURANCE £32.23(LOOKING INTO WHAT THIS IS FOR)
INSURANCE £7.03(LOOKING INTO WHAT TJIS IS FOR
INSURENCE£5.48(LOOKING INTO WHAT THIS IS FOR)
MOBILE £29.99
GYM £14.00(WORKS OUT LESS THAN 50P A DAY)
WATER £10.64
SEWERAGE £14.73
PETROL £40.00
FOOD £160.00(DEPENDING ON STUDENTS)
TOTAL=£976.28

CREDIT CARDS
NATIONWIDE CREDIT LIMIT £7710 BALANCE £2194
ABBEY CREDIT LIMIT £2660 BALANCE £1864
BUT &FLY CREDIT LIMIT £2300 BALANCE £1966
A & L CREDIT LIMIT £1000 BALANCE £939

HOPE THIS ALL MAKE SENSE AND THAT I`VWE DONE IT RIGHT

well i`ve managed to get electric reduced from £43 a month to £33
however considerring they`ve told me i`m £200+ in credit i thought they would`ve reduced it by more !!!

Tiglet

amanndajane wrote: »

well you`ve confused me with what you said about credit limits, so if i reduced my nationwide card which has the highest linit(£7710) but not much in comparrison to pay back(£2194) i would then stand more chance with another company of transferring the balance ???sorry if i`m being thick but fianance really is a minefield to me

What will matter to a credit card company isn't so much the £2194 balance you've got now but the £7710 that you could borrow in future. So yes - you may find it easier to get a new card with a 0% rate if you reduce your existing credit limit.

You might be able to save money without getting new cards, though. The credit card shuffle article gives a lot of very good advice about how to manage balances spread across several cards.