Desperate, am I in the wrong place?

tirednewdad

Just spent the last hour reading through your Thread and i wish you all the luck in the world. We recently had to face up to our financail situation and it honestly scared the crap out of me so much so that you can't think of anything else.:T

You've taken some amazing steps so far with your SOA, but perhaps you can now try and push ahead with some other ways to get back money- once you get part of the way its sometimes easier to admire what you've done than keep making the best of it.

1) remember to ring council tax to see if your in the correct band- see what other perople in your road are paying and see if its the same

2) Bank Charges- request from your bank statements from the last 6 yrs of all the times you have been overdrawn adn charged an unfair amount (more than £12 say)- the court case is still ongogin but its better to make an earlier claim

3) reclaim unfair credit card charges- if you have gone over your limit, write off to the card companies and use MARTINS template letters.

You can very quickly get £1000's of pounds back very quickly.

Good luck
:A

James123_2

Forgetmenot68 wrote: »

Thank you James, I'm really touched by what you say. I really wish you all the best for your treatment. I think our country is great (I know that's not a fashionable view) but we're very good at providing for the people who need it.

Final thanks from me, re good wishes from last couple of posts. I've out-survived many with the same type of cancer (NHL), so consider myself lucky.
Anyway, the UK is indeed good at providing help. However, you do have to ask. So never be afraid to SHOUT!

Forgetmenot68

OK!! Thanks.

Thank you tirednewdad, and congratulations on your new baby! I'll definitely do the bank and credit card charges thing when things are more settled - though I think I've only kept the last three years. It hadn't occurred to me I could ask for copies.

We're talking to our morgtgage company about extending the term of our mortgage - it will only save us £60/m but still. We are seriously thinking though about selling our endowment policies, although the redemption figure of the one we've had since 1994 at nearly £100/m is £300 less than the total sum we've paid into it! Grr... we'd have been better off putting the money under our mattress! As for what we'd have earned in a high interest savings account..... I'm going to find out whether it's worth more on the open market. If it's worth it, then we'll use some to cover our immediate crisis (about £3000) and use the rest to pay off some of the interest only portion of our mortgage, swapping the remainder to repayment either now or at a later date. What with extending the term and cutting out what we pay for our endowment policies now (even with having to increase life insurance for the mortgage that we'd lose if they ended), and paying some off, our monthly payments will go down so we'll have more left to pay our debts back, especially if I'm earning... that's the theory anyway but we'll need someone clever to do the sums.

How is everyone else today?

Forgetmenot68 xx

Forgetmenot68

I think I'm going to have to read through all the posts on this thread again myself! I feel so totally different to the person I was last Tuesday night....

xx

debtweary

Hello FMN,

if you can summon the energy try to reclaim charges now do so, its a loooonnng process and it would probably be better to get the ball rolling. Credit card charges are supposedly easier to get back as the law has now changed to enforce lower charges. We are reclaiming from the bank and it has taken 18 months to get this far. The ruling has been held back till august. I am now going to try for credit card charges from defunct accounts which I do not have dealings with now. Exhausting process but wothwhile in the end, we hope! Look for the template letters on this site and National debtline.

If only you knew back then what you know now about cards- wouldn't be so tempting!

DW x

Forgetmenot68

Debtweary - ok, thanks for that. I'm at risk of becoming a bore about credit cards. The children are starting to roll their eyes as I say, yet again, "Remember children, when you're older, don't borrow money on credit cards! It's very, very stupid!!" Never, never again, I truly mean that. It's liberating to picture how we will live within our means (I know it will be tough at times). We won't in any case have a chance to get more credit once we've blotted our record, and at this point, I really don't care! Except about our mortgage - end of fixed rate in 4 years, that probably won't be fun...

xx

robpw2

can you or oh claim childcare vouchers -brief synopsis

you surrender some of your pre-tax earnings to pay for them so if you earn 1000 a month pre-tax you could surrender 200 and therfore only get taxed on £800 a month rather than full 1000


so 1000- 830.63 after tax paying approx 109.42 tax a month
800 = 692.63 after tax you pay 69.42tax on this scheme and have 200 towards childcare meaning a difference of 62.

kizzykizzywizzy

Forgetmenot68 wrote: »

Debtweary - ok, thanks for that. I'm at risk of becoming a bore about credit cards. The children are starting to roll their eyes as I say, yet again, "Remember children, when you're older, don't borrow money on credit cards! It's very, very stupid!!" Never, never again, I truly mean that. It's liberating to picture how we will live within our means (I know it will be tough at times). We won't in any case have a chance to get more credit once we've blotted our record, and at this point, I really don't care! Except about our mortgage - end of fixed rate in 4 years, that probably won't be fun...

xx

4 years is a Long way off - by then you'll be debt free :T
My fixed rate is coming to an end soon, we aren't any worse off as no longer paying into an ISA have gone back to repayment after being interest free was £427 will be £633 but ISA was £100 - so £106 difference. I work part time now though crap money, but will cover this deficit & the loss of WFTC, because of work ( so basically working for nothing:rolleyes: ) but no worse off, bit of a shame as after clearing debts we wanted to move & now can't afford to, so are now saving towards a time when we can & also to do a couple of improvements to the house we have.
You will be surprised how you can knuckle down & clear the debt, just try & put every spare penny towards it, even if it's just a quid, it soon adds up.
Good luck - you are doing really well

Soubrette

What an inspiring thread

I always feel there are (broadly speaking) two types of people who ask for help here - there are the ones that make me feel so sad because they have an excuse for not following any suggestions that people make to save money and really are just seem to be hoping for a magic wand to make their debts disappear.:(

And then there are the ones like you Forgetmenot68, where despite the highs and lows, you really want to succeed. I fully expect to see this thread at some point in the future proclaiming how you are now debt free

Here's wishing personal success to you and knowing that you'll be an inspiration to others difficult times.:beer:

Sou

Forgetmenot68

Sou - your words brought tears to my eyes, what a lovely thing to say. I so hope you are right. I hate the position we're in and want more than anything to sort it out, tough I don't expect it to be easy. I don't expect anyone else to do the work for us either as this is a self-created mess. Thank you. xx