You Certainly Don't Need Cold Calls From Rogue Debt Management Companies - And Do you Really Need a Land-Line Telephone Anyway?

Better late than never, Citizens Advice has filed a 'super complaint' with the Office of Fair Trading and called for a ban on cold-calling - and upfront fees - by debt management and 'loan finding' companies.

Debt management companies make approximately 840 million cold calls every year - frequently to people who are already in debt or have poor credit histories. Some offer loans against an upfront fee, persuade people to part with their bank details, and extract their 'upfront fees' from their victims' accounts. The promised loans, of course, rarely materialise.

The Charity estimates that rogue debt management and 'loan finding' companies are costing the public £190 million pounds a year. And if something very serious isn't done about cold-calling very soon that huge sum is likely to increase. Current economic conditions have put main-stream credit out of reach for a lot of people - and made any offer of financial help very tempting indeed.

Obviously, you don't have to fall victim to cold-callers of any kind. You can just put the telephone down willy-nilly on all cold-callers. Or you can avoid the nuisance of cold-callers, put yourself out of the way of temptation, and save a lot of money by 'going French'.

The French are dumping land-line telephones in favour of bog standard, no frills, pay-as-you-go mobiles in droves. Several thousand people, for example, live in the same small town I live in - but the telephone directory lists only a few hundred, and those are mostly businesses. Everyone else has opted out of the expense of an in-house telephone that can only be used in the house - and the number of which is, alas, instantly accessible to anybody and everybody who can read - and gone for cheap and secret instead.

There are, of course, pros and cons to not being 'in the book', but the advantages can outweigh the disadvantages. For one thing, bog-standard, pay-as-you-go mobiles are much cheaper than land-line telephones. For another, you can always be sure that you might actually want to speak to whoever happens to be calling you...

Geoffrey - http://www.metlissbarfield.com/

Your Forgotten Assets Are Worth Money - and Maybe You Should Let Go of the Past

I cleaned out the garden shed yesterday - part of the mighty Spring Clean that I force myself into at about this time of year every year - and as I hauled gardening tools and equipment to and fro, and applied spit and polish to everything that was standing still, a couple of things occurred to me.

• I own two lawnmowers - one moterised and an old push-me-pull-me job. I haven't had a lawn (or anything else mow-able!) for getting on for seven years.


• I have a strimmer - but I haven't had anything to strim for getting on for seven years either.


• I have a tiller - but my garden is mature now, so there isn't anything left to till.


• I have a spade - but it's too big and too heavy for me, and it's been hanging in a corner with a John Lewis label attached to it since 2006.

Today was attic day. I found four kitchen chairs (blue with rush seats à la V. Van Gogh), a cupboard full of curtains that haven't seen a window since we left England in 1994, enough glasses to stock a public house, and a stash of ornaments and picture frames that have never seen the light of day in any house of ours. 1984????

Oh, yes. And when I opened the wardrobe this afternoon to pull out fresh clothes, I spotted a red feather boa. I tried it on. If you've got one - don't do it.

All that stuff! It's all in good condition and good working order - even the feather boa - but I had to ask myself why I'd still got it.

It's all going. It's all going in the next car boot sale I see advertised - along with the unwatched, unread and no longer listened to videos and CDs and DVDs and books that are clogging our shelves and cupboards, the clothing that we will never wear again, the tablecloths that we never use, and everything else that might be useful to someone else, but will never be useful to us again until it's turned into money and becomes the future, rather than the past.

Two things:

Firstly, your forgotten assets are worth something to someone else - and the money you get for them could pay a couple of bills, give you walking about money, or let you eat for free for a week or two.

Secondly - and this is just as important - all that old stuff is PAST. It's gone. It's lumber. Getting rid of it isn't just about getting money for it. The fact is that when you get rid of your old stuff you clear your mind as well as your cupboards, make tomorrow a better, unencumbered day, and leave space for the future.

It's Spring. Time to clear the dead leaves and leave space for new growth.

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Secret Resources...

There are lots of reasons that you might be barred - or believe yourself to be barred - from becoming any kind of landlord or landlady - but if you are living in fear of being unable to pay your rent or your mortgage, it's time to ignore the obstacles, bury your scruples, and work out whether or not you can squeeze some life-saving cash out of the place you hang your hat. And, maybe, let's not forget, help somebody else out of a nasty hole at the same time.

The fact is that even if you have a small one bedroom flat, you can still let a room. It means sharing a bathroom, making cupboard space for someone else in your kitchen, finding hanging space for your clothes in your sitting room and using that room as a bedsitter, but it can be done.

I appreciate that nobody in their right mind is going to be in love with the idea of doing that, and that few people will relish the idea of sharing an intimate live-in life with someone they are not sharing a bed with - but it really depends on what the alternatives are, doesn't it? And let's face it, if the alternative is losing your home - whether you rent it or own it - or sharing it with someone else it until times get better, then sharing it has got to be a better option.

Our families are no strangers to sharing their personal spaces. My son and daughter in law have let at least one room in their house since the day they bought it 12 or 13 years ago. Bill's son has let all the rooms in his flat (including the sitting room) one by one, and has now moved out altogether to live with his girlfriend. In every case it was a 'needs-must' decision - and in every case it has worked out very well for everyone concerned.

Obviously, if you contemplate sharing your living space, you need to do some research - work out the practicalities of exactly how you are going to share your space, and find out what your shared space might be worth and price it (including estimated utilities, but not including the telephone which is always going to be a separate issue) accordingly. And then move yourself out, as it were, so that the space remains furnished and attractive, but is empty of your belongings, and ready to be let.

Then, of course, you are going to have to decide how you are going to find a tenant. Word of mouth is best - my daughter-in-law invariably lets to members of her Church - but advertisements work well if you obtain (and check!) references and get a month's deposit and a month in advance.

You ARE, of course, going to have to declare the money you receive from letting your space on your Tax Return, even if you are paid in cash. That might mean paying someone else to help you prepare your Tax Return - but you would still have your space, and you would still be quids in.

Geoffrey - http://www.metlissbarfield.com