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stuarto

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  1. Good morning. Firstly, sorry about this post being crammed into one paragraph! I can't seem to edit it to how I'd like to present it. I have a couple of questions as I'd like to be pre-armed with a tiny bit of knowledge before contacting the pension provider/financial adviser. I have a pension plan with Zurich, which was formerly with Allied Dunbar, which I haven't contributed to for many years. Firstly, should I be concerned that a Financical Adviser company has written to me (last year) to inform me they have taken over from Zurich Assurance Ltd in handling my pension? The statement is on Zurich letterhead with the new company's details on the right hand side. But, the main reason for the post is to just understand the basics of what the statement is telling me. It's showing two parts: EXCLUDING FORMER PROTECTED RIGHTS BENEFITS = Total Current Value of £6,301 FORMER PROTECTED RIGHTS BENEFITS ONLY = Total Current Value of £71,365 My questions are: Does my pension 'pot' literally consist of these two combined? When I reach the age of 55 next August will I be able to access the full amount? It's a small pot, therefore of course, I don't consider this is going to be providing me with a regular income at retirement - therefore the likelihood is that I'll take the 25% tax free amount and then go with one of the options available for the remaining. Hope that makes sense and thanks in advance for any replies. Stuarto.
  2. Good evening. My step daughter has just received a letter of Statutory notice to provide her details and also three alleged offences: RT 88218 - Failure to stop after a road accident RT 88220 - Failure to report an accident RT 88575 - Driving without due care and attention These are the result of an incident that I suspect many of us have experience during our driving careers. That of someone driving too fast and close to the middle of the lane down a country road, resulting in smashing each others drivers door mirrors. The incident occurred at 5.30pm on 3rd December and my step daughter says a car hit her door mirror and she went into the verge in her attempts to avoid it. She considers it to be the other drivers fault. My stepdaughter DID stop at the scene. She was very shaken up and got out to inspect the damage to her car. She waited in case the driver returned. The other driver DID NOT stop or return to the scene. She rang 999 while at the scene. She was advised to visit her local police station. She did so but the station was closed. She rang 101 and was advised that a. as her car was driveable, b. there were no injured parties and c. there would not have been any CCTV in that lane, there was nothing they could do. However, they did say that if she went into a police station she could get a crime no./reference number to use for insurance purposes. But, they did NOT at any point make it clear that she MUST BY LAW go to a police station and report the incident. From this conversation my step daughter decided that as she wouldn't be making an insurance claim she didn't need to report it. We know now that was the wrong decision therefore the charge of not reporting the incident is obviously one that can be brought against her. The letter states. . . "police have reasonable grounds to believe that the driver was sufficiently blameworthy to conclude they were primarily responsible for the incident taking place". We are puzzled by this - how can the police come to this conclusion without any evidence from the scene? How have the police gained my step daughters details? Why has this escalated to this level? How many of us have had collisions like this? Andhad to get over it and pay up/or make a claim - whether it was our fault or not. I have never reported anything to the police. I have only ever dealt with the other party through insurance companies. So I assume I've broken the law in the past by not reporting them to the police then! Just to make it clear in my 30 years of driving I've only had a handful of accidents - all the other drivers fault! Should we be getting legal advice at this stage or should we await the next stage? This seems a shocking escalation of what on the face of it seems a 'minor' incident which would normally be forgotten about after the initial shock and anger of the event taking place. We aren't in the habit of knowingly breaking the law - although I realise that is no excuse. Any comments or advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Stuart.
  3. ... and it seems the younger kids are coping better than the two older ones My nephew doted on his mum and is shattered by this. His father wad useless and now this - very sad.
  4. Thanks for replying. She did have a partner... didnt 'officially" live with her. He was the moron who introduced her to the drugs. My nephew who is looking for somewhere to live diring the 'notice to quit' period is over 18. Gettingy sister to admit shes using and asking for help is the big hurdle. Shes currently clubbing and sleeping wherever she can find refuge in London. And delusional to the point of thinking she's a music promoter. She's a 37 year old grandmother with five kids. The addiction had taken over and she now considers her family and friends to be 'negative' and 'haters'. Very sad and frightening not knowing where she is every single night.
  5. Thank you. The debts question is obviously not the highest priority, just wanted to clarify if possible and put my Mother's mind at rest regarding that problem. Finding a home for my nephew is in progress. The other children are settling in with their father's families. Finding a way to get our sister home is the next thing . . . but reading everything about her condition tells me that could be a long, upsetting and difficult task. Stuart.
  6. Thanks citizenB. Yes there is reason to worry. . . one word . . .Cocaine. Our family are in deep shock and my elderly mother is suffering the most. The eldest children knew about it but were scared to tell anyone. I feel so sorry for her children, aged 3, 8, 10, 18 and 21. Our initial thoughts were she was in the process of a breakdown after splitting up with her partner, we seem to have lost her now though. Thanks again for your reply. Stuart.
  7. Thanks for that reply. I think we will take your advice and ignore. she will never be in a position to repay any of it so if they only have her to 'chase' and no way of finding her then these debts will have to be written off. But like you say her credit record will be updated accordingly. Thanks again. Stuart.
  8. Hello everyone. I have a family situation on-going and without going into too much detail, my sister has left her home and 5 children (been gone a month now). After visiting the house and taking away piles of unanswered post that were hidden, my family have uncovered debts of approx 20k. These consist of utility bills, council tax, phone & broadband bills, nursery bills, and many, many PAY DAY loans. The family home is a housing association property and a 'notice to quit' has been issued. The three youngest children are with their respective Father's and the eldest has found accommodation. The only person remaining at the house is my 18 year old nephew who we are currently helping to find a home. My question is should we IGNORE the letters regarding the debts OR contact every single one of them explaining the situation? (contacting them would be my normal response to getting into difficulties) but we are not sure by contacting them all if this would open a 'can of worms' - ie. could anyone else become liable for my sisters debts? Only her name appears on the letters, invoices, etc. Thanks for any comments/advice received. Stuart.
  9. Good morning. My better half is currently going through the 'consultation period' for regarding redundancies in her department at a college of further education. During this period they have been told they can request a copy of their 'enhanced' (if choosing to go voluntarily) redundancy package and consider it without prejudice. So, she requested hers, it was sent via email on Monday of this week at 4.30pm and in the email they informed her she must make her decision on whether to take the offer by this Friday! Surely there are rules regarding a 'reasonable' length of time allowed to consider this massive decision? Also, they haven't told her the alternatives - other than to say that "there is probably a job for you in the re-structuring". Again, surely she should be given further information on what that new role will be and under who's leadership and where in the college she will end up BEFORE she can weigh up the choices? It's bad enough that the college is only offering the government statutory reduncancy package let alone adding the above stress to the situation. She's worked there 26 years - doesn't seem to count for much in times like these. Anyway, thanks for any advice/replies given. Stuarto
  10. Thanks for your reply. Since my Father's passing all matters have been dealt with by my brother and myself. I think you're right - we should involve a solicitor and will consider writing to her local MP if necessary. And yes, my Mother is a pensioner (71 years old). Married for 51 years and only ever spent one week apart, so currently going through a very tough time grieving her loss. My Father was diagnosed with stomach cancer last July and passed away on Christmas Eve - a period of time which I will never ever forget. Anyway, sorry to ramble and thanks again for your reply. Stuart.
  11. My Mother has just received a letter from Black Horse asking about the loan that my later Father had (mentioned in my original post back in November). They were informed of his passing back in January and agreed to put the loan payments on hold for 3 months. Now they seem to back on the case in terms of paying off the loan. There is no estate to be able to pay the loan back. They family home was owned as 'Joint Tenants' therefore now belongs to my Mother (so not included in my Father's estate). I thought the debt would then be 'written off' (as some have suggested here and elsewhere). BUT, I have just looked on the 'direct.gov.uk' website and found this regarding any oustanding debts: Joint Tenants ...But even though it's now in your estate, you can't ignore the debts. Creditors can apply for an Insolvency Administration Order' within five years of the death. This can have the effect of dividing the property in two and can force a sale. So it's in your interest to try and come to an agreement with people wo are owed money, and try to pay them yourself. So now I'm worried that it's possible my Mother WILL have to find the money from somewhere. Is this really the case? Does anyone have any experience of a loan company going to these lengths. Thanks in advance of any replies/advice/observations. Stu
  12. Thanks for that reply, very thorough. So in summary, I don't need a MAC code, but will definitely lose internet connection for a while. Will BT let me know the connection is 'up and running' or do we just keep trying until it does? Thanks again.
  13. So as I pay TalkTalk for the line rental I CANNOT get a MAC? So what does that mean? Just that as you say I will lost the internet for a while or is there more to it than that? Was the BT person telling me 'porkies' last night then? Thanks, Stuarto
  14. Thanks for the replies folks. After I put up this post I rang TalkTalk again and went through the whole process again! Again with a scotsman initially who tried to sell me a new 12 month contract! I insisted I wanted my problem resolved before I would contemplate 'chaining' myself up to them again, so he told me he'd put me through to 'technical' - which seems to just mean being put on hold until every song that's been released in the history of pop music has been blasted down the phone to you - I had to stop after 20 mins! I've ready terrible things about other peoples experiences of TalkTalk and am just hoping this person didn't 'assume' I'd take the new deal and has tried to put that through the system. Anyway, I have now signed up to BT (probably going to get slaughtered for doing that from many, but I just had to get away from TalkTalk) - I did the whole thing online and 'spoke' to someone on their 'chat' thingy. They ASSURED me that Bt would handle the transfer, all we had to do was cancel the direct debit. Although they did say I MIGHT need the MAC code, but it would tell me during the online ordering process. Nothing appeared telling me I need it - I checked with the BT person and again was ASSURED that it means I don't need it to do the switchover. I have been paying line rental to Tiscali - Pipex - TalkTalk. Everything has been fine up until the idiots at TalkTalk took over. I used to think Sky's customer service was the worst on the planet, but this lot have topped them! In fact to be fair to Sky my recent contact with them has been much improved. So BT switchover on 20 February - I'm scared stiff of this and just hope and pray it goes smoothly. Thanks again for any comments/advice.
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