debt free in 1200 months!?

bountiful

NSD=:D, no NSD=:o

Mon 16th.......£1
Tues 17th.......£1.25
Wed 18th.......£17.76
Thurs 19th......£16.65
Frid 20th
Sat 21st
Sun 22nd

Monday - broke my determination to have a NDS (son did buy his own milk though) - I went out for a 5 hour walk - took my packed lunch, bottle of water, fruit etc, a flask of hot water, tea bag and pot of milk. Saved my cuppa for this afternoon when I was half-way home and very tired and in need of it - made my brew, added the milk - and it fell to the bottom in clumps - gone off! So - I bought myself a Calyppo ice lolly to quench my thirst and boost my adrenaline (sugar instead of caffeine) - and threw in a postcard for good measure. However, I did reflect on this as I walked the last few miles, and controlled the urge to buy a cup of tea and have a sticky bun or something in the cafe in the park. When I got home I had a mug of tea, and made a sweet fix by spreading butter on two cream crackers and sprinkling hot chocolate powder on the butter - made a sort of chocolate biscuit!:p

bountiful

'On a more serious note' I phoned the Tax Credit Helpline this morning to try to figure out what information they were asking for - as it said they had asked me for more information, but didn't say what it was. I was very polite to the person on the helpline - even when she didn't know what information they wanted. I asked her what I needed to do about the overpayments they had provisionally calculated at £186 and she said she would send me a pack to dispute the overpayment. I said I didn't dispute it - but I couldn't pay it, so what should I do. She said it wasn't her department, I need to phone the overpayments department - and I should have their number on my previous overpayments letter - to make an arrangement. I guess I send them the same letter from National Debtline that I've sent the other creditors - and a copy of my budget sheet - and see what they suggest I pay? Token payments perhaps? Will wait and see. No other replies from creditors yet.

tenmah

Hi bountiful

Well done on your nearly NSD day today, and for going on a 5 hour walk :eek: .

I bet you have some lovely countryside to walk in?

Tax credits are so trying aren't they? I am glad that I no longer claim for them as they make life more difficult than it needs to be! At one time I was supposed to owe them £4000, I queried it and they sent me another £500!

Luckily that seemed to be the end of it, as I haven't heard from them for over two years now.

If the overpayment was their error, stick to your guns and perhaps get your MP to write to them. I did that when they said I owed them £440 which my Dad had to pay it for me - but they refunded it after my MP wrote to them and they gave me some compensation money too!

Tenmah

bountiful

bountiful wrote: »

NSD=:D, no NSD=:o

Mon 16th.......£1
Tues 17th.......£1.25
Wed 18th
Thurs 19th
Frid 20th
Sat 21st
Sun 22nd

Tuesday check-in: last of the big spenders eh?! £1.25 on an ice-cream (is there a theme going on here?) on the way home from a long cycle ride; went to visit a friend - 2 hrs cycle ride to get there, 1.5 hrs back (more downhill coming home). Am I getting fit or what? I felt pretty pleased with myself - and it is so very very nice to have whole days off to just go out and go at my own pace - wish I had more than a week, but I am making the most of it.:D
Nothing serious in the post today.:cool:
Good night all!

bountiful

tenmah wrote: »

Tax credits are so trying aren't they? I am glad that I no longer claim for them as they make life more difficult than it needs to be! At one time I was supposed to owe them £4000, I queried it and they sent me another £500!
Tenmah

I totally agree - both the WTC and the CTC and the HB and CTB have ALL been more trouble than they were worth - HB and CTB have been a nightmare because I work shifts and my pay packet is slightly different every month - so every month I have to take my wage slip in, they recalculate, decide how much they have overpaid me, then calculate what they will pay me for the next month - it always seems to end up with me owing them money. WTC and CTC nightmare - I have the CPAG handbook and occasionally sit down and try and work it out - but it is so very hard to figure out whether they have got it right or not, because they never show you how they have worked it out, do they? And you only receive money because you're on the breadline, so of course, whatever they send you gets spent because you need it! Then they adjust it when they find out what you earn for the year, or after each change reported, and again - it always seems to turn out to be me paying them back. I am sure if I could be bothered to work it out, I have probably paid back as much as I've been given. I've given up trying to work it out. I'm pretty sure they got two lots of £680 back (from me and from my ex-partner) for WTC which he got, not me..etc....etc... just needed to let off steam! How do you stop claiming it????? They still keep sending forms even though I have said I don't want to claim!

Seaxwyn

Hello bountiful. It sounds as if you're having a lovely week - and getting good use from those shorts.

I agree with you about the tax credits. Our income goes up and down too and I can never predict what we will get. It goes up and down seemingly at random. At one point we got £500 a month - fantastic! Except that we then had to pay it all back.

tenmah

What is the point of it? I don't know anyone who hasn't had to pay some of it or all of it back!

Mine stopped because my daughter went to Uni and was no longer classed as in full time education - makes you laugh really, because everything stopped, WTC and CB, free prescriptions etc just as the most expensive time of our life started!

I envy you your days off - I would love to take time off and just do whatever the mood takes, although knowing me I would probably waste it by sleeping in and sitting in front of the TV all day!

bountiful

Hi Tenmah - yep - exactly the same happened to me - my son hit 19 and was still in full-time education - overnight I lost about £500 a month in WTC/CTC/CB etc.... I took a second job 3 nights a week as care worker - it solved the income problem, but I could only keep it up for 6 months - I was on my knees with exhaustion! We are all absolute miracles on legs if you ask me!

Hi Seaxwyn - yep - exactly right! mad isn't it? C R A Z Y

I am having a lovely week - really making the most of having a week's annual leave. Won't get another proper break until end of November - when I have booked two weeks' leave - I get about 6 weeks a year paid leave, so I spread it out through the year and I'm always really ready for it!

Will pop over and see how you are getting on.

bountiful

bountiful wrote: »

NSD=:D, no NSD=:o

Mon 16th.......£1
Tues 17th.......£1.25:o
Wed 18th.......£17.76:o
Thurs 19th
Frid 20th
Sat 21st
Sun 22nd

Today I got a bus (£2.25) to the seaside and had another wonderful walk along a lovely valley with a babbling brook and back along the cliff path. It started raining just before I got the bus home, so all in all - good timing. I took a flask with me - and I think I can see the problem now; the flask is warm on the outside - I think the flask will have to go! Bought a cup of tea in an up-market water-front cafe (£2) and stopped at shops on way back and bought food (£12.91) (savings £5.26 with BOGOFS and offers). Also got two pizzas from Sainsbury's (£5) with a voucher for BOGOF meal at Pizza Express.....I saw the tip on here somewhere - but I did hesitate and wonder if spending £5 on 2 smallish pizzas was really worth the voucher - but on balance I think it probably is, as I want to take my son to Pizza Express for a meal before he leaves for America on 7th July.

bountiful

'On A Serious Note'

Had a call from Steve at Halifax on my mobile this morning - I didn't get beyond saying that I was not willing to tell him the first line of my address and saying that if they wanted to communicate with me they could mail me. Left my heart pounding and fear purging my innards - deep breaths - it's only a bloke at a desk somewhere, and it's only money, and the worst thing that can happen is that they charge me for the call (I think I heard him say something about a charge before I cut him off). Later I had a text message asking me to call the Halifax - so I did (from my landline with all my papers in front of me) - spoke to female who said she could see they had received a letter which was being dealt with - in the meantime I agreed to pay £21.26 as a one-off payment over the counter at Halifax tomorrow and she would stop all further calls for 10 days - by which time they should have dealt with my letter and replied to me to arrange a permanent arrangment for repayments. So - wasn't as bad as I had feared.

The District Council have accepted my reduced offer of £1.04 a month and duly sent me a payment schedule which runs to December 2029. I am thinking that it might be worth claiming housing benefit just so they can take back what they owe me...... I haven't re-submitted a claim from the new District Council where I am now, because I fear overpayments - I am only JUST entitled to benefit, and if I do an extra sleep-in shift or something, it pushes me over the limit.