I am thinking about going to New York shopping for christmas, even though I'm not going until next year (2009), I need to save some cash first), I'd like to start looking into it now so I can have some idea of costs and things and then book it as early as possible (depending on answers to this thread) so I have time to pay it off over a long period. Has anyone done this? If so, can anyone recommend any travel companies or the best way to go about organising something like this?? Marie

Hi all , I own my own property and have done for 3 years. I have recently tried to change my mortgage, because its at the end of its fixed rate, with L&G however they've tried to make me take out life insurance. Now I dunno if I actually need this. I have no dependants or anything, not married. If I popped my clogs surely my mortgage would be written off and no one would have to pay this so why would I need to invest in Life Insurance. Marie

Hi all, I dunno if this is in the right place. I made a mistake a few months ago, I sent off 2 cheques to 2 mail order companies, however the cheque book I used was an old one, hence the cheques did not clear. So not only have I gone into my overdraft that I don't have and am now getting billed for but I also have to pay for the bounced cheques. I'm on a tight enough budget as it is and for a while I buried my head in the sand and thought I could reclaim all the charges back anyway, but now I've started paying back the money. I paid £50 as an initial payment and then set up a standing order to the account for £100 a month which is all I can afford. But on looking at my statement I noticed that A&L charge £5 a day for everyday you are in your unauthorised overdraft. I'm getting charged £150 a month for this. I'm now upto almost £500 and with £150 being added onto this every month and me only being able to pay £100 off its just money wasted and I will never get out of this downward spiral!!! Please can anyone advise me on what to do next, I'm desperate. I'm trying to change my ,mortgage because its come to the end of its fixed term but I can't go with a 'normal' company because of this outstanding balance on my credit file. Thank you in advance Marie

Hi all, I dunno if this is in the right place. I made a mistake a few months ago, I sent off 2 cheques to 2 mail order companies, however the cheque book I used was an old one, hence the cheques did not clear. So not only have I gone into my overdraft that I don't have and am now getting billed for but I also have to pay for the bounced cheques. I'm on a tight enough budget as it is and for a while I buried my head in the sand and thought I could reclaim all the charges back anyway, but now I've started paying back the money. I paid £50 as an initial payment and then set up a standing order to the account for £100 a month which is all I can afford. But on looking at my statement I noticed that A&L charge £5 a day for everyday you are in your unauthorised overdraft. I'm getting charged £150 a month for this. I'm now upto almost £500 and with £150 being added onto this every month and me only being able to pay £100 off its just money wasted and I will never get out of this downward spiral!!! Please can anyone advise me on what to do next, I'm desperate. I'm trying to change my ,mortgage because its come to the end of its fixed term but I can't go with a 'normal' company because of this outstanding balance on my credit file. Thank you in advance Marie

I have decided that it is time that I took control of my finances, and before I start I got hold of my Credit Report from Experian. I have just finished going through it and there are 19 entries on there that are incorrect!!! I know why they are on there, I just need to know how to get rid of them. Me and my mother have the same first name (Julie), and so all her entries and debt is on my credit report. Obviously the dates of birth are very different so I can't see there being a problem identifying that the entries are not mine. Please can someone help me with this??? Thank you in advance Marie

I'm just about to start adding up what Egg owes me for 3 years of banking with them. I have my statements in front of me but I'm not sure what exactly I can claim for. There's 5 payments it looks like they take off me on a monthly basis: 1. Credit Card Payment Protector 2. Cash interest at 1.59% per month (up to feb 06) 3. Unpaid DD fee 4. Overlimit charge 5. Merchandise interest at 1.313% per month (from feb 06) Can anyone help me on what I should be claiming. Thank you in advance.

I am in the exact same postion as you. I have pursued my claim and got to the "taking them to court" bit, but now I don't have the money to go to court. Everything they send out is totally generic and they never look at anything case by case! Its nice to know I'm not the only one battling

Ok, I don't know if this is in the right place, but I'm afetr some mortgage advise. I am currently with The coventry building society and have had no problems at all. My initial 3 years fixed rate is coming to an end in June 2008, I know its a while yet, but I am starting to think about my options - obviously its huge payment every month and I want o get the best possible deal. I borrowed £66,000 in June 2005 and this was 100% mortgage. Does anyone have any tips or hints on whether I need to change my mortgage now that the fixed rate is coming to an end? And if so, how can I find the best deal for me and how do I go about changing mortgage companies. Thank you in advance

I just wanted to say a big thank you for your recommendation of the step account from Natwest. I explained my credit history circumstances and they had no problems with me getting an account with them. Once again thank you, I had been searching all day with no joy :)

Thank you very much - thats a great help!!

Do you know if this account is any good for someone with bad credit?? I don't want to just apply for a number of accounts because they check your credit history don't they and this gets put on your file and can make it worse!!

You siad in the 1st thread that you would be willing to make a copy of your spread sheet that helped you with your finances... is it possible to get a copy of that??? Thanks for the great advise

Thanks for your help, but I don't really need to contact them anymore, except to cancel my brothers contract in a few weeks. And I've had that number to hand for some months I'm after some advise on who I can turn to to either reclaim some of the money or submit a formal complaint!!

I don't know if this is the right place to post this thread... I have just read the fantastic advise given on this site on managing debt, I am about to start taking my first steps. Does anyone have any good experiences with an online banking org?? And if so which one?? I was with Intelligent Finance but I found this to be alot of hard work, especially when you needed to talk to someone - there were a million (slight exageration) numbers and passwords you needed to provide before they would speak to you. Any advise on how I can find an online account that would suit me would be greatly received Thank you in advance

Ok, this might be a long one.... I moved from British Gas to NPower in Jan 07, at the time I was out of the country and British Gas supplied NPower with estimate readings for both my Gas and Electricity. Also at the time of the move my property was undergoing building work, and therefore, no gas was being used and very minimal amount of electricity (only when my dad went to do work on he property). When I received my final bills from British Gas they were £106.21 for electricity and £78.41 for my gas. I instantly knew this was incorrect and tried to get British Gas to resolve this. They immediately passed the buck onto NPower saying that they would have to suppy BG with a reading for both meters and they would then agree with those readings. I pursued NPower and kept supplying manual reads. Nothing was done and therefore, because I had refused to pay 2 companies high bills, I started to receive the usual "we're coming to disconnect you" letters. I finally got NPower to come and read my gas at the beginning of Nov because whenever I supplyed a read they could not imput it on their systems because it was so low. They are now trying to agree this read with British Gas and hopefully I will receive a refund from both compaines. However, is there anyway I can speed up this process?? It has taken 11 months just to get someone to read my gas meter, and my electricity still hasn't been done!! I'm affraid that if I just leave it with those 2 companies to bum fight this out between themselves I'll still be sat here waiting for an answer. Plus, is there anything I can do with regards to the stress and inconvinience this whole mess has caused me??? Thank you in advance