General Chat

Vera, I know a lot of people who find official forms very intimidating or just plain confusing in the case of some sections of tax forms. I'm sure your friend was grateful for your help, and so good that it proved profitable :-)

We keep a record of everything we spend on credit/debit cards etc and money in and out of bank accounts and check them against statements once a month. I am always surprised at how many of my friends don’t do this and how many are “frightened” by official forms.

I have just helped a friend, a non taxpayer, reclaim some tax. She wasn’t going to bother because it would be such a hassle and she might fill the forms in wrongly.

It took 5 minutes for me to locate the right form, download and print it and a few minutes to help her fill it in and she has got nearly £100 back :-D

Mine are in folders ( why when I am so good with those am I so bad with all the scraps of family tree 'stuff' ? ).

I only use my mobile for the odd day away from home, or if I know I will need to get a return cab from somewhere. It's about 15 years old, just a phone lol.

Well done on the PPI, I got mildly excited when the bank contacted me to say I might be due something, ( without specifying what it was based on) and then they found they'd already paid it to me about 10 years back which I suspected might be the case.

I always check my statements.
Are they neatly in a folder? No, they're not, but in a carrier bag!
However, this didn't stop me, years ago, not only finding relevant statements to claim back PPI, but I also had the agreements and the Insurance document!!
It also means, anyone wishing to find them (apart from me) would have a mammoth task!!

As for old mobile phones - I have a drawer full - none of them smartphones, but my children's old ones (plus my 'sob' 25 year old Nokia that 'died' last year).
I still don't use a smartphone, so nothing too personal on mine, just phone numbers, and very few messages, as it's got such a small memory! :-D :-D

Typical that a security worker was so insecure.
Mind you, I find that those who harp on about security tend to be the worst offenders! ;-)
Bit like hairdressers with terrible hair :-D

( off the back of comments on Sue's thread re shredding bills :-) )

I am always staggered at the number of people mentioned on Martin Lewis programmes and the like who seemingly never look at their bank statements and then are shocked to find they have been paying out direct debits on things they no longer have or need. Do you always check yours?

And the second thing is re security, when you recycle your mobile phone do you remember to clear the info off first?

I ask that because son buys and sells phones and often gets some via companies that themselves buy old phones and who claim to have securely cleared any info on them . Usually it is only past conversations, photos ( sometimes risque lol) etc left on but one recent phone not only had the work details, pay slips, name, address etc but also a copy of the owner's passport...the owner worked for a security company lol.