The grumpy thread

[Talbot]

Just now, juular said:

How does that work if, for example, you use a credit card to buy online but have a direct debit to clear it every month? Is that actual debt?

That would indeed show up as "an good thing" on a credit report.  You've bought stuff on credit, and are paying it off reliably.  Same is true of store cards.  Even if the full balance is cleared every month, it counts as having bought something on credit and you could reliably pay it off.

Story that my old boss used to tell (and I have zero reason to disbelieve him) is that he had bought his first house for cash (he was fairly well-off and had saved...) and had never had to have anything on credit ever.. he had no credit card, no need for one.  Went to get a mortgage on his next house as he and his wife wanted something bigger.  He had a fairly decent deposit (something like 50% IIRC) with the sale of his first home, but with no credit history was denied the mortgage, despite it being easily affordable.

So he went down to Dixons and bought a radio for £20 on credit.  Made the first two payments of £1 each week exactly on time.  Now he has a credit record (and a really good one) so he is able to get his £100k (or whatever it was) mortgage.  As soon as the mortgage was approved he paid off the other £19 on the radio and then gave it away as a gift.

So absurdly ridiculous, it's clearly true.

[chadders]

Both my sons took out credit cards a few years ago with a view to making getting a mortgage easier. They don't use them much but have direct debits set up to pay the balance in full every month.

[juular]

6 minutes ago, Talbot said:

That would indeed show up as "an good thing" on a credit report.  You've bought stuff on credit, and are paying it off reliably.  Same is true of store cards.  Even if the full balance is cleared every month, it counts as having bought something on credit and you could reliably pay it off.

Story that my old boss used to tell (and I have zero reason to disbelieve him) is that he had bought his first house for cash (he was fairly well-off and had saved...) and had never had to have anything on credit ever.. he had no credit card, no need for one.  Went to get a mortgage on his next house as he and his wife wanted something bigger.  He had a fairly decent deposit (something like 50% IIRC) with the sale of his first home, but with no credit history was denied the mortgage, despite it being easily affordable.

So he went down to Dixons and bought a radio for £20 on credit.  Made the first two payments of £1 each week exactly on time.  Now he has a credit record (and a really good one) so he is able to get his £100k (or whatever it was) mortgage.  As soon as the mortgage was approved he paid off the other £19 on the radio and then gave it away as a gift.

So absurdly ridiculous, it's clearly true.

Interesting. So in effect there are ways of increasing your score that won't cost much in the way of money or effort, providing you afford to put money on a credit card and payn it off frequently.

Doing your weekly shopping online for example, paying by credit card then clearing the balance.

[Fumbler]

2 minutes ago, juular said:

Doing your weekly shopping online for example, paying by credit card then clearing the balance.

Yep, another good way is to take out a SIM contract or something of the like and put that on credit. It's inexpensive and affordable to pay off in good time.

[juular]

Also worth noting that if you ever take on a joint debt such as a mortgage, your credit files become linked. If you shack up with someone that takes on a habit of piling up overdue card bills, that will bring your score down.   

Normally the files would be automatically separated when you split up and sell up, but I've known that not to happen on occasion so an ex can be dragging your score right down years after the debt no longer exists.

It's worth checking if the above applies and the score is lower than you think it should be. It can easily be sorted.

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, juular said:

Doing your weekly shopping online for example, paying by credit card then clearing the balance.

...is perhaps the easiest and safest way of improving your credit record.

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, Talbot said:

Fucssssakes!!  I would have absolutely lost my shit at that.  Last time someone threw anything at my car it was a young-ish kid who lobbed a tennis ball at me.  I heaved on the anchors, ran back and gave him the roasting of a lifetime.  I think he actually pissed himself.  If he never throws anything at a car ever again, I'd call that a win.  I was absolutely raging.

It happens here every year.  The footpaths are totally remote to the roads so they can hide (and vanish) basically instantly. 

The distributor roads are all 70mph dual carriageway with nowhere to stop too, so they know they can get away with it.

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

It happens here every year.  The footpaths are totally remote to the roads so they can hide (and vanish) basically instantly. 

The distributor roads are all 70mph dual carriageway with nowhere to stop too, so they know they can get away with it.

I'd be pestering the living daylights out of the local police and harrassing my MP like there's no tomorrow to do something about that.  Statements like "why are you waiting for a death to occur before doing anything" often makes people wake up.

[andy18s]

5 hours ago, Talbot said:

Yes.  You've probably not had any credit recently, so any information about your creditwortyness, relating to maintaining payments etc. is now getting out of date.  The best credit scores are achieved by people who have current credit and pay it off on time.  I have heard of people who have never had any credit before in their life being turned down for things like credit cards and mortgages, as there's absolutely no available data for whether they can make repayments or not.

I have a friend who had this issue.

She was very proud of always paying cash for everything, never had a credit card as it wasn't wanted.

Got turned down on a mortgage as she literally had no credit history.

Her bank got her sorted and advised her to just pay it off the balance every month.

She only used it to pay for the car fuel...

[Spurious]

8 hours ago, myglaren said:

Be very careful with this.  It is a stressful enough job to start with and largely unappreciated until someone has a medical problem.

My daughter found herself working fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.  She was owed months of time in lost holidays.

Lots of her work was done during the night when she should have been sleeping.She has made several suicide attempts and has been sectioned, is in a nearby mental hospital.  I saw her yesterday and fear that the treatment may be worse that the problem.  She has gone from a bright and capable young woman t

o a lost little girl.

Overwork is rarely appreciated.

 

Yes, clever advise, I'm usually in the office if my hours drift over.  It was just a lot of 12hr shifts last month and the hours stack up easily if you're not keeping an eye on them.  It does have a toll, and I've to be conscious of that. Thanks for the kind words @High Jetter too

I can't say I'm very  familiar with the acute psych side of hospital, but I know how difficult it is to get sectioned these days and get an acute bed.  I do hope she comes out the other side felling more her old self. It's a tough process but at least she'll be getting some form of help despite she may not feel like that right now.

Mind has some decent information for families, but beyond that, it's something I am not familiar with.

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/how-to-help-someone-whos-been-sectioned/

[eddyramrod]

More benefits shenanigins.....

Today I tried to phone up about my ESA claim.  Found a number online for Barrow Jobcentre.  Number no longer in use.  OK... Phoned the 0800 number on the letter I had to hand; took me through a bunch of recordings, then finally told me to use the website, click.  Fucking marvellous.  So I assembled my paperwork and drove down to the JC to see if I could see someone in person.  Lo and behold, I did!

It looks like my ESA claim is dead in the water.  Following the nice lady's advice, I've opened a claim for Universal Credit instead, which is, contrary to her opinion, a right faff.  It's anybody's guess when, what or even if I'll get anything.  What did I work for for four decades?

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

I'd be pestering the living daylights out of the local police and harrassing my MP like there's no tomorrow to do something about that.  Statements like "why are you waiting for a death to occur before doing anything" often makes people wake up.

For about the first five years I did.  This and a laundry list of similarly serious issues long enough I've lost count.

Seven years in and I've just given up to be honest.  Neither the Council nor MPs have ever even responded beyond the automated "your message has been received" email.

We hope to be moving in the next year or two and frankly will be glad to leave this nonsense behind us.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Unless it's going to further their career they won't be interested.

[hairnet]

antibiotics bastard

hospital scan bastard

*drowns sorrows with iced tea and retail therapy

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 02/11/2021 at 13:09, artdjones said:

Because it often is designed by the mentally immature? Just be glad it's called Android 12 and not Android Butterscotch Fudge Sundae or some other stupid dessert name like the early editions were.

you mean like Snow cone?

Android Pie		9
Android 10	Quince Tart	10
Android 11	Red Velvet Cake	11
Android 12	Snow Cone	12

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 02/11/2021 at 15:59, iainrcz said:

I make the mistake of sending the Mrs for tickets.

Every time she comes back "what's the number plate?"

I've only had it 3 years...

"it's the white oblong bit of plastic screwed to the front bumper, love..." 🤣

[New POD]

On 08/11/2021 at 14:04, juular said:

Interesting. So in effect there are ways of increasing your score that won't cost much in the way of money or effort, providing you afford to put money on a credit card and payn it off frequently.

Doing your weekly shopping online for example, paying by credit card then clearing the balance.

There are credit cards that give you cash back, or nectar points or Clubcard points, or air miles. So put your monthly spend into a side account getting interest. And pay for petrol, food and everything you used to pay with cash or debit card, on the credit card. Then when you get the bill, just after pay day, pay it off in full. 

If the shit hits the fan, the money to pay it off is in a side account anyway earning  0.000001% interest, and you are back where you started. 

[myglaren]

2 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

you mean like Snow cone?

Android Pie		9
Android 10	Quince Tart	10
Android 11	Red Velvet Cake	11
Android 12	Snow Cone	12

I wonder what mine is?  Spent all day getting the damned thing in somewhat like working order, managed a couple of texts to my grandson.

I secretly hope it doesn't do actual phone calls, done enough over the past couple of days to last the rest of the decade.

Went to get the charger and tried to plug it in but it seems to have shrunk.

The black one.  Fortunately the Samsung one works.

 

 

 

[myglaren]

Bugger - just seen what the trouble was.  Not used to these new-fangled whatsits.

[Noel Tidybeard]

4 minutes ago, myglaren said:

Bugger - just seen what the trouble was.  Not used to these new-fangled whatsits.

slidey earth pin?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

4 minutes ago, myglaren said:

Bugger - just seen what the trouble was.  Not used to these new-fangled whatsits.

Something about pulling a finger out something something....

[Wack]

Fuck me , they have no fear of the general public, hopefully this is enough evidence for a conviction , some poor bastard worked hard for that 

[Spurious]

Hope the grinder kicks and he looses his hand. Actually that would be too good for him. 

[New POD]

1 hour ago, Wack said:

Fuck me , they have no fear of the general public, hopefully this is enough evidence for a conviction , some poor bastard worked hard for that 

 

What I don't understand is why someone filmed him.but didn't stop him and phone the police. 

[Wack]

5 minutes ago, New POD said:

What I don't understand is why someone filmed him.but didn't stop him and phone the police. 

It's the new Britain , can't film and phone on the same device , being London there might've been a chance of a copper being within ½ a mile 

[robinmasters]

1 hour ago, Wack said:

Fuck me , they have no fear of the general public, hopefully this is enough evidence for a conviction , some poor bastard worked hard for that 

 

I hacksawed a very thick cable lock off my bike, in the middle of Canterbury city centre, on a busy day. Nobody batted an eyelid. 

[Pieman]

On 11/8/2021 at 9:00 AM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

No, but there are plenty of other things to set fire to.

EDIT: this, for example....

Big bang fire

That was at a banger race meeting at Ringwood Raceway.  It was advertised as an "organised display" yet was done by the promoters themselves (having worked at that venue a couple of times I will refrain from commenting on them) and what they appear to have done is simply lit the fireworks while they were still in the back of the pickup and run away.  I know a few people who were there on Saturday and I am told of several fireworks flying into the crowd as well as at least one vehicle on the infield - which the staff didn't even bother to move before the display - going up in flames.

It was reported a couple of weeks ago that there's a possibility of them building houses on this venue.  On this evidence, and that of some extremely unruly and downright dangerous activities at some other meetings, I hope they hurry up and do so!

[stephen01]

On 11/7/2021 at 11:19 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

The more debt you service, the more it improves*. Allegedly.

But don’t have too much credit that you’re not using, a few years ago I had a crazy amount of availability on credit cards, not maxed out, I had a couple I’d not used for a while and was advised to close them by our bank when sorting our mortgage out a few years ago. 
 

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

10 hours ago, New POD said:

What I don't understand is why someone filmed him.but didn't stop him and phone the police. 

That's what society is today. 

[Tickman]

11 hours ago, New POD said:

What I don't understand is why someone filmed him.but didn't stop him and phone the police. 

I certainly wouldn't go near someone who has a running angle grinder and obviously doesn't give a shit about anything!