Crouchie's Lawyer

But, had anything else changed? Did you past a significant insurance age, like 25? Removing or adding anyone to the policy? Was it a renewal with the same firm or did you shop around? Had you previously had an accident which was over 5 years old now? Or previous speeding penalties which grew out of date in insurance terms? All of these could have resulted in your premiums reducing more so than the increase in the 6 points? Although getting 6 points in 3 months, I am quite surprised you werent bent over by the insurance companies?!

I bet she gushes when she see's you have added her as a friend!

Quite possibly yes. However, it depends on which system lenders use. I know a lot of mortgages dont show on Equifax, so most lenders use Experian checks and dont even bother with Equifax. Equally, some stuff doesnt show on Experian, but does on Equifax.

Equifax maybe slightly different to Experian. In terms of what I used to look at when brokering a mortgage, I would get a copy of experian. It would show the conduct of the clients payments for any credit for the last 12 months. It would give you an indicator, as to what the worst state of the account was in the last 36 months though. For example. Joe Bloggs Credit Card Balance £1000 Limit £2000 Conduct 000000000000 (the 0's indicate no missed payments) Last 36 months 0 If John Smith who missed payments on his credit card were to undertake an experian report, it would show something similar to the below: Conduct 433322101021 Last 36 months 4 If you could see the other 24 months as part of the conduct (which I believe you do with Equifax) and the 'last 36 months' figure was, say 6, you would expect to see the missed payments go up to 6, for example below: 321000001010210006543210101021033221 The 6 basically dentotes that the worst state the account has been in is 6 months arrears. In terms of lending (and this all may change now as a result of the credit crunch) lenders really only concern themselves with IVA's, Bankruptcy, Arrears on mortgage (or current arrears on credit cards and loans and hire purchase etc), CCJ's and defaults. Unless your 'credit score' was pretty poor, I would be surprised if lenders would decline you on the basis of a few missed payments from over a year ago, and generally, if you have kept on top of your credit since the missed payments over a year ago, you should have 'repaired' your credit score by a years time anyway.

thinking this picture needs it own thread???

I was thinking the same thing??

My god the rumours of a David Dickinson / Tango Man love child are true!

You could do that if a) you knew what you were looking for (which if you did, it shows you have a detailed knowledge of financing issues and it has to be questioned why you are in such financial difficulties) and b) you could find a solicitor qualified who specialises in this practise. Its not something which any solicitor would be very knowledgable in. Besides, by cutting out the middle man, you are likely to increase the costs as you stand a better chance finding out before it goes to the expensive solicitor if you use a company who can do it for you. I agree, the CAB are free and yes they will give you advice, but from my experience, the CAB's advice is often not the best advice for the customer. An example being I had a client with a credit card he had missed payments on, they credit card company were on the verge of giving him a CCJ. Other than the missed payments on the credit card (which stay on your Experian credit file for 12 months) they credit file was fine. I suggested a remortgage to incorporate the credit card debt and would have saved the client a few hundred pounds on their outgoings. The client went to the CAB and the CAB told the client not to remortgage and to just pay £2 p/m on their credit card. The client got a CCJ and consequently their credit file is impared for 6 years. They came back to me 6 months later wanted to take advantage of the remortgage I offered, but because they listened to the CAB and their credit file was now in a mess, I couldnt help them. They will struggle to get a mortgage for the next 6 years due to the advice the CAB gave them. Oh and the CCJ is secured against the property too. Its a common misconception that the CAB is the be all and end all of financial advice. The way I look at it, is unless you have a financial qualification, should you really be giving financial advice to people? IMO for the (financial side of the) CAB to work, they need to make it into a financial advice centre of some kind. Get the volunteers/workers to study CeMAPS of their FPC's so they are fully qualified. Dont get me wrong, the CAB are very good at all other areas, but IMO when it comes to finances, its best to leave it to the people who are qualified. I am not 'hard selling' this idea at all ESB, I may no gain out of it what so ever. My point is, that I wanted to highlight this concept to people who were not aware of it, in the hope that it could help someone who is struggling. If its not for you, then fine, your choice, I expect you are fairly well off ESB and Benji and you have no significant debts, you are only giving your opinion, and I feel it maybe one sided. If on the other hand, you were on the bread line and struggling, Im sure you would be willing to try anything within reason to help your situation out. As I said, Im only bringing this to the attention of people who were not aware of it.

What about this one?

Normally you are a c*nt, but that was very funny. I lol'd

And you have just proved that her 'illness' is infact that she is just a s|ut. If it were an illness, she would have accepted the lot of friend requests and diarised them accordingly. All attention seeking IMO. I would be surprised if she has slept with more than 100 people.

Atticus crossed with Tiggs. Now that be one ugly mother f*cker

Can i have this made into my avatar please? ta

No offense ESB but you are the voice of the niave. This is not an attack on you, it is common for people not dealing with finances day in day out to think that the CAB is a fully safeguarded route to take. In essence the CAB is made up of inexperienced volunteers. No real training is required to become an advisor in the CAB and certainly no qualification which I am aware of. Now, in terms of surgery, who would you rather operated on you? A qualified surgeon or a bloke who can read a book on how to do it? Written by someone else. Debt management plans (which is 99.9% of the time what the CAB recommend) only works if the lender is onside with the idea. Sure they may play along for a few weeks or if you are lucky a month or two, but eventually, they will want their money and as Panorama just showed, a lady whose step father was sectioned under the mental health act was refused a 'payment break' of 3 months. Again, not a personal attack but anyone who would chose an IVA or bankruptcy over any other option is financially retarded. IVA companies have pounced on the little known bit of govt legislation which enables them to wipe off a large portion of the debts in 5 years, however what they fail to tell people or highlight is the severity of what it does to your credit file. Kiss goodbye to getting a mortgage in the next 10-15 years. Just before the credit crucnch hit and the UK sub-prime companies were lending to the most risky of clientelle, an IVA was considered as serious (and some companies considered it more serious due to the fact it was relatively 'new') as bankruptcy. Its all too easy to make yourself bankrupt and enter into an IVA nowadays, but most people only look at todays gain and dont think of tomorrows costs. This route, if successful, will not in any way affect your credit rating. The debt is legally classed as unenforcable, which in essence means the company who provided the loan or credit card f*cked up the agreement, so nothing is registered against you. On top of this. If successful, will not COST you a penny. If I have £20k of unsecured debt and this process left me with only £5k. I have SAVED £15k, irrespective of whether the company who did it made £500 or £5000 from it so I do not agree whatsoever with your comment of 'could cost you a packet and leave you owing more' These are not cowboys. They are people who are trained in what they are dealing with. The CAB do not have the legal power to do these agreements (hence why you need a legal bod to do it) and from what I am aware, there are not too many people trained in this sector, so it is a cost worth paying IMO. But as I said, you only pay the money, once you have been told your agreement is viable.

Jorge Alberto Lopez-Orozco = Tiggs. Fact

Thats Robsk for you...

Im sat by my clock counting it down :smt069

Although I completely agree with what you say Ponty (and its my motto too - I try not to borrow any money at all, however if I do, I make sure the money is paid back asap and in full). There are always two sides to the coin. I have come across many people who are just plain outright priorty retarded. They would rather pay their Sky bill to carry on watching that, or go on holiday than pay their mortgage and debts. These people I have no pity for. But the other side of the coin is that people losing their jobs, becoming ill and as such struggling financially due to this. Thank god I have never been in this position and would never wish it upon anyone, however in these circumstances (especially watching Panorama at the moment) I feel this option is very much a viable one in which these people can become debt free (or reducing their debts significantly).

Ah in before the edit! Yes, that is correct Benji, however, if you are struggling with your debts and have a lot of them, then a £50 fee is IMO worthwhile for saving thousands of pounds. Imagine you have 3 x £5000 loans all at £150 p/m and £10,000 worth of credit cards which would set you back at £300 p/m your outgoings is £750 p/m. I believe the cost per application (if successful) is £1k per agreement so it would cost you £4k approx (assuming its only 1 credit card) however, turning a debt of £15k into only £4k and repayments of around £750 into £150ish per month would help a lot of people. Its not what its costing you, essentially, its what it is saving you. It only costs you money (and £50 at that) if it is shown for it to not work. I believe that the initial information which you provide to the company, will enable them to have a decent idea if it will work before going ahead with it too. These people are trained in what they are doing. They are not monkeys just sat there referring people on and taking money for it.

I am not sure of the t&c's, however I know that for each CCA challenged, a legal bod needs to write to the company in question to request a copy of the CCA and also sends a copy to the client direct. If the legal bod feels there is nothing in it and it wont work, I believe a refund of £400 is made, and only the £50 (which is charged for the letters the legal bod has done) has been lost. Fair price IMO if you consider that you could end up ££££'s written off?

If you're as c*nty in real life as you are on here, Im surprised you're still alive

Ah, I have re-read it. It doesnt give a date when it is. Just says it was meant to be 5th Nov and was postponed so I presumed it is happening tonight? If it is advertising, do you think that more registered users will sign up so they dont see the adverts? Or will less people use the site?

my 'mate' has a habbit of standing by one of us when we are all out when we are at a cash point and when the amount screen comes up, quickly reaching over the shoulder of the person withdrawing the money and hitting the highest figure there is - normally £100. Funny when it happens to someone else, but a pain in the arse when it happens to you and you only need a tenner!

Schut it you Schlag Im bored! Anyway, I thought that was your TMS awards thread?

Whoever invented Dorito's crisps, should have a team of minions doing anything he/she wishes for the rest of their life. I would happily do this job in respect for the bestest crisps!