Cost of living crisis.

[Parafox]

1 minute ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

If I could do a laugh and thanks emoji reaction at the same time I would haha, I'll continue to sit on the fence. 

FWIW you're not wrong. I wouldn't execute them though. A good kicking around Parliament square would do for me. As long as I get to repeatedly kick Mourdant and any other public school twats on their thin bony shins.

 

[Spudulike]

I've found a halogen oven in the garage, few years old but unboxed. Never used one before so don't know how good they are. Cheaper than putting the oven on so might give it a go, not that I have a clue how to use it. 

 

Anyone else use one? 

[Foxdiamond]

15 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

I've found a halogen oven in the garage, few years old but unboxed. Never used one before so don't know how good they are. Cheaper than putting the oven on so might give it a go, not that I have a clue how to use it. 

 

Anyone else use one? 

Hello. We have and they are very good. Quick and will save you money . Read instructions. Main thing is unplug lid before putting on worktop. We would not go back to using old oven over the halogen. 

[Spudulike]

8 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Hello. We have and they are very good. Quick and will save you money . Read instructions. Main thing is unplug lid before putting on worktop. We would not go back to using old oven over the halogen. 

Why do you need to do that? Sorry, probably a stupid question but I haven't got it out of the box yet. 

[Foxdiamond]

1 minute ago, Spudulike said:

Why do you need to do that? Sorry, probably a stupid question but I haven't got it out of the box yet. 

The lid with the lamp gets hot as this where the element is. Switch off after cooking. You don't want to burn the worktop. Please don't let this put you off. They are great for cooking most things. No more having to waste energy on pre heating oven.  We been using for years

[Spudulike]

1 minute ago, Foxdiamond said:

The lid with the lamp gets hot as this where the element is. Switch off after cooking. You don't want to burn the worktop. Please don't let this put you off. They are great for cooking most things. No more having to waste energy on pre heating oven.  We been using for years

That's made me slightly nervous having just has a new quartz worktop installed! I'll give it a go though, carefully. Cheers. 

[Foxdiamond]

Just now, Spudulike said:

That's made me slightly nervous having just has a new quartz worktop installed! I'll give it a go though, carefully. Cheers. 

That's the ticket. Just take care and you will be fine. 

[FoyleFox]

https://www.upday.com/uk/homeowners-face-months-of-building-arrears-before-getting-help-ex-minister

 

Numerous stories doing the rounds regarding the mortgage arrears and banks repossessing property. Having worked for a mortgage lender a few years ago, during previous recessions and cost of living problems, unless things have massively changed, lenders do not like repossessing homes. It's not cost-effective and a lengthy, messy process.

 

My colleagues within the arrears/possessions teams, all said the same thing. It was a last resort. The most important thing you can do if you're experiencing issues with mortgage payments is to talk to your bank. Early. Set up a payment arrangement plan, even if it's £50 not £500 a month, and stick to it.  The people who ignored the letters, did nothing and paid nothing at all, did get repossessed.

 

At the first sign of a problem, talk to your lender.

 

We had people walking into branches in tears, handing in keys. If they'd talked early enough, it probably wouldn't have reached that point. Some would, yes, obviously, but for a lot of people it could've been avoided if they'd communicated.

 

It's not an easy decision or action, but a very essential one.

[Bellend Sebastian]

38 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

https://www.upday.com/uk/homeowners-face-months-of-building-arrears-before-getting-help-ex-minister

 

Numerous stories doing the rounds regarding the mortgage arrears and banks repossessing property. Having worked for a mortgage lender a few years ago, during previous recessions and cost of living problems, unless things have massively changed, lenders do not like repossessing homes. It's not cost-effective and a lengthy, messy process.

 

My colleagues within the arrears/possessions teams, all said the same thing. It was a last resort. The most important thing you can do if you're experiencing issues with mortgage payments is to talk to your bank. Early. Set up a payment arrangement plan, even if it's £50 not £500 a month, and stick to it.  The people who ignored the letters, did nothing and paid nothing at all, did get repossessed.

 

At the first sign of a problem, talk to your lender.

 

We had people walking into branches in tears, handing in keys. If they'd talked early enough, it probably wouldn't have reached that point. Some would, yes, obviously, but for a lot of people it could've been avoided if they'd communicated.

 

It's not an easy decision or action, but a very essential one.

It's good to hear from someone backing up the official line (that you should tell your lender when you're struggling) as it's always been something I've been a bit cynical about

[FoyleFox]

1 hour ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

It's good to hear from someone backing up the official line (that you should tell your lender when you're struggling) as it's always been something I've been a bit cynical about

I can only relay what a limited number of staff at one bank shared with me personally. But they said they would always do everything they could to help, if conversations occurred early enough. Once the automated letters start, and if they are ignored, a process kicks off which is difficult to halt. If you ignore the situation it doesn't go away, it gets worse. The problem is, if you are in difficulty, ignoring it is very easily done.

[Bellend Sebastian]

In other news, has anyone else been looking at their bank statements and now that things are getting a bit tight realised how bloody careless they've been?

 

I've just realised that Amazon have been taking 9 quid a month off me forever for Prime membership. This would be fine, but I don't remember ever agreeing to this and was under the impression I was sharing my wife's membership, who is also paying for it. Their customer services have offered me a refund whilst clearly not understanding the issue

[Bellend Sebastian]

I'd best not mention the extended warranty I've been paying for on the freezer that would have paid for 3 new freezers by now 

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

https://www.upday.com/uk/homeowners-face-months-of-building-arrears-before-getting-help-ex-minister

 

Numerous stories doing the rounds regarding the mortgage arrears and banks repossessing property. Having worked for a mortgage lender a few years ago, during previous recessions and cost of living problems, unless things have massively changed, lenders do not like repossessing homes. It's not cost-effective and a lengthy, messy process.

 

My colleagues within the arrears/possessions teams, all said the same thing. It was a last resort. The most important thing you can do if you're experiencing issues with mortgage payments is to talk to your bank. Early. Set up a payment arrangement plan, even if it's £50 not £500 a month, and stick to it.  The people who ignored the letters, did nothing and paid nothing at all, did get repossessed.

 

At the first sign of a problem, talk to your lender.

 

We had people walking into branches in tears, handing in keys. If they'd talked early enough, it probably wouldn't have reached that point. Some would, yes, obviously, but for a lot of people it could've been avoided if they'd communicated.

 

It's not an easy decision or action, but a very essential one.

Over the past 25 years of having a mortgage, there's been three times where I've financially been in the shit.

 

On each occasion the mortgage company agreed to me having a 'holiday' of no payments for 6 to 12 months while I sorted myself out.

 

No fuss, no drama, and easy to arrange each time.

 

Edited 4 October 2022 by Izzy

[Dahnsouff]

12 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In other news, has anyone else been looking at their bank statements and now that things are getting a bit tight realised how bloody careless they've been?

 

I've just realised that Amazon have been taking 9 quid a month off me forever for Prime membership. This would be fine, but I don't remember ever agreeing to this and was under the impression I was sharing my wife's membership, who is also paying for it. Their customer services have offered me a refund whilst clearly not understanding the issue

Do this every couple of years, take a look at statements and there is usually quite a bit of ‘What’s that?’, which tends to result in some sleuthing prior to cancelling a whole load of stuff.

[Izzy]

Without wishing to teach anyone to suck eggs on here, If you want to get out of debt, stick to a budget, make your money work better etc, I'd highly recommend subscribing to Dave Ramsey on YouTube.

 

He's a bit 'in yer face' and American, but his principles have helped me massively over the last couple of years. 

 

An example of one of his brief video's on making a budget:

 

 

[FoyleFox]

49 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In other news, has anyone else been looking at their bank statements and now that things are getting a bit tight realised how bloody careless they've been?

 

I've just realised that Amazon have been taking 9 quid a month off me forever for Prime membership. This would be fine, but I don't remember ever agreeing to this and was under the impression I was sharing my wife's membership, who is also paying for it. Their customer services have offered me a refund whilst clearly not understanding the issue

I do it every few months due to the other half signing up to stuff - i.e. free 30 Amazon trial and not cancelling. Or adding sh!t onto the tv package (I've changed the password now). I did once find a PC World care plan for a computer that had died about a year earlier. Companies are awful for slipping in extended warranties, which as you say cost x 3 buying a new one. Our computer plans have always been good value (apart from the afore mentioned) as no idea what we do to them, but we kill laptops at an alarming rate, if they can't fix it after a couple of attempts, you get a replacement.

Edited 4 October 2022 by FoyleFox

[Bellend Sebastian]

51 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Do this every couple of years, take a look at statements and there is usually quite a bit of ‘What’s that?’, which tends to result in some sleuthing prior to cancelling a whole load of stuff.

 

33 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

I do it every few months due to the other half signing up to stuff - i.e. free 30 Amazon trial and not cancelling. Or adding sh!t onto the tv package (I've changed the password now). I did once find a PC World care plan for a computer that had died about a year earlier. Companies are awful for slipping in extended warranties, which as you say cost x 3 buying a new one. Our computer plans have always been good value (apart from the afore mentioned) as no idea what we do to them, but we kill laptops at an alarming rate, if they can't fix it after a couple of attempts, you get a replacement.

My wife's just looked at her bank account and on top of paying for Prime, she's also paying for Amazon Music, a service that we've never knowingly signed up for, and why would we because we've had Spotify forever?

[Zear0]

10 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

 

My wife's just looked at her bank account and on top of paying for Prime, she's also paying for Amazon Music, a service that we've never knowingly signed up for, and why would we because we've had Spotify forever?

Buggers got me to. Asked for a song on Alexa and I got signed up for it. Obviously didn't listen to the thing at the time, but irritating none the less. 

[Parafox]

44 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

 

My wife's just looked at her bank account and on top of paying for Prime, she's also paying for Amazon Music, a service that we've never knowingly signed up for, and why would we because we've had Spotify forever?

 

32 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Buggers got me to. Asked for a song on Alexa and I got signed up for it. Obviously didn't listen to the thing at the time, but irritating none the less. 

Doesn't Amazon music come as part of the Prime package? I've got Prime and never been billed extra for Music.

[FoyleFox]

6 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

Doesn't Amazon music come as part of the Prime package? I've got Prime and never been billed extra for Music.

Not all music is included. No idea what the criteria is, but a few times I've asked for something as Alexa has wanted to sign me up to pay extra.

[Parafox]

Had to negotiate a reduced package with Virgin last week to try to get our bill down from £138 a month. They rejected my initial approach via ismybillfair.com as the package I had wasn't included.

I contacted Virgin media and had to a have a conversation by text via WhatsApp, which was a bit odd. Anyway, the upshot is that ditched BT Sport, Sky Cinema and Disney (never used BT Sport since our CL games and Sky Cinema is rubbish) but I now have a better router, increased speed and 2 boosters plus a 02 simcard for £85 a month. Will never use the sim card, which is £10 a month and tried to cancel it but apparently, it's an agreed deal between Virgin and 02 (who are soon to become a joint company) and, to cancel the 02 bit, I will have to cancel the whole Virgin deal.

So, I'm forced to pay £10 a month for something I'm not going to use.

Still, £85 is better than £138.

Edited 4 October 2022 by Parafox

[Parafox]

5 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Not all music is included. No idea what the criteria is, but a few times I've asked for something as Alexa has wanted to sign me up to pay extra.

Can't say I've ever been asked to sign up via Alexa. It just says "sorry I don't have that" or similar.

[Trumpet]

14 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Had to negotiate a reduced package with Virgin last week to try to get our bill down from £138 a month. They rejected my initial approach via ismybillfair.com as the package I had wasn't included.

I contacted Virgin media and had to a have a conversation by text via WhatsApp, which was a bit odd. Anyway, the upshot is that ditched BT Sport, Sky Cinema and Disney (never used BT Sport since our CL games and Sky Cinema is rubbish) but I now have a better router, increased speed and 2 boosters plus a 02 simcard for £85 a month. Will never use the sim card, which is £10 a month and tried to cancel it but apparently, it's an agreed deal between Virgin and 02 (who are soon to become a joint company) and, to cancel the 02 bit, I will have to cancel the whole Virgin deal.

So, I'm forced to pay £10 a month for something I'm not going to use.

Still, £85 is better than £138.

It’s a shame they don’t look after loyalty as they do new customers. I’ve just taken on every channel, 1gb fibre, 2 boxes and an o2 unlimited sim for £79. Netflix thrown in for good measure.

[RobHawk]

26 minutes ago, Trumpet said:

It’s a shame they don’t look after loyalty as they do new customers. I’ve just taken on every channel, 1gb fibre, 2 boxes and an o2 unlimited sim for £79. Netflix thrown in for good measure.

You have to cancel and wait for the retentions team to get in touch to get a half tidy deal. 

 

I have in the past cancelled and signed up as a new customer in my wife's name and then back to me again, but this can be a bit of a pain in the ass for a few days.

[Bellend Sebastian]

59 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

Doesn't Amazon music come as part of the Prime package? I've got Prime and never been billed extra for Music.

 

50 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Not all music is included. No idea what the criteria is, but a few times I've asked for something as Alexa has wanted to sign me up to pay extra.

I've never been aware of Alexa doing anything like that, but it's a bit random how it sometimes says it's playing something from Spotify and then the next time you play the same track it says it's coming from Amazon Music. Find it hard to believe the kids would have done it accidentally as Alexa generally ignores their incoherent nonsense requests