arggg grrrr arrrggg *rant alert*

[Suzie and Faith]

I'm officially having a bad day.
I warn you before you read further that i'm in a bad mood and liable to write an entire essay on it.


1. I had a letter from the student loan people informing me that if I didn't pay my outstanding £602 they would have to look at 'other ways' of recovering the money.

This is annoying because I wrote to them a while back explaining that I wasn't able to pay the money back yet and explaining why that was.
It's all because I started a degree in September, found out I was pregnant and decided to leave the degree about 4 weeks in. Now because of this it stopped me being entitled to a loan to cover tuition fees and therefore they want me to pay them £602 for the 4 weeks I was there.

I've written them another letter explaining that i am living off of maternity allowance and with a baby on the way I cannot pay this money. I've also offered to pay a small amount monthly to keep them happy.

But grrr because they wrote to me a few months back and said they wouldn't worry about collecting the money for now - that it'd be outstanding but they wouldn't chase it.


2. We ordered a bath support off of Additions and 2 months later we still haven't got it - they keep changing the delivery date for it every few days! And i'm fed up of waiting! It's not that I need it now it's just the principle of it! (it was supposed to be delivered 5 days after I ordered it!). Si i've emailed them telling them how annoyed I am.


3. My OH's car failed the MOT - we expected it to. It will cost £200 to fix, which is ouch but fair enough as we want to sell it asap and we need an MOT to sell it for a decent amount. BUT the guy at the garage (a friend of OH's family and who we got both our cars off of) told my OH's mum that we'd be better off selling my car and keeping OH's.

Which might be ok but neither car has boot space for the travel system. My car has 5 doors. OH's has 3. My car has power steering, OH's doesn't. The lack of power steering means I can't actually drive OH's car very well - i can't turn the wheel when the cars not moving very fast as I have weak arms!

So grrrr to the garage man. It led to me telling my OH that as it was my car and I paid for everything about it that there was no way I was selling it . His car has been paid for by his mum, who has also covered insurance and tax for the last few years whereas mine is entirely MINE!

Me and OH just use my car at the moment as we're selling OH's and trying to get used to having one car between us. This is fine but it leaves me stranded when OH goes to work. If I really wanted to use the car I could take him and pick him up from work but I couldn't do that if we kept his as I can't drive the bloody thing!

THEN OH thinks we should sell both cars and buy a more suitable one but I don't think we can get anything that'd be worth our money.









OK. I feel calmer having written it down. Well, a little anyway!

 

[muppetmummy]

Oh no! That does sound like a bad day. I would write to the student loans people and state what your earnings and outgoings are to prove you're not in a position to pay. I'm sure you can defer payment. My OH has been deffering his for years!
If they still keep bothering you contact the CAB for advice, they can't make you pay what you can't afford.

I'm not sure what to suggest regarding the car situation, but your car does sound better to keep with 5 doors and power steering. I hope you can sort something out

 

[Geordie&Bairn]

 

[lfc_sarah]

Stupid student loan people... dont listen do they!!

And i agree with muppetmummy about the car situation

 

[Sherlock]

Sorry its not a good day so far.

Ditto what muppetmummy said about the student loan. I'm sure its just the stupid computer system sending out automatic letters. Explain again in writing and offer to pay a tiny amount. So long as you offer to pay something they should leave you alone.

And regards to the car, I'd be inclined to keep yours if its 5 door and has power steering etc. If your boot space is small you could (if its a hatchback) at least drop part of the back seat down to allow you to fit your travel system in more easily if need be. You will still have room to fit our baby seat into a single back seat then

I'd call the bath support people and yell down the phone politely. Emails don't really work. I find calling usually gets more action and you can query why they keep delaying your order when it was made ages ago and you've paid for it etc. If its for your baby tell them your LO is nearly due and you would like to know what their refund policy is for failed orders. If it was in stock when you placed the order it should ship. Check their small print on cancellation etc.

 

[Happybunny]

Poor you, it all sounds very stressful! Muppetmummy is right about writing to the SLC, I know several friends who have not even started repaying after 10 years because they just don't earn enough.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Thanks guys, after a bit of hoovering and hanging out some baby clothes to dry i feel a bit calmer. Now going to clean some windows and polish. Lol.

I have written politely to the student loan people explaining that I cannot afford it and that i would be more than happy to make a small one of payment or even set up a small monthly payment.

With the bath support OH ordered it so I will get him to call them when he comes home and see what they say.

Car-wise, we'd already decided that the travel system will fit either in the front seat or in the back with half the seat down (as Sherlock suggested).
Apparently the garage man thinks that OH's car is less likely to need much doing on it in the future as it's just had a LOT done. But I love my car. So i'm keeping it I've decided!


thanks again guys, you're all so lovely

 

[nikkimitch]

glad things are looking brighter - sounds like a load of hassle you dont need right now

 

[BeckyJ]

glad u feel better hun x

 

[sarah2807]

poor you hun!!!

I agree with what the other girls say so won't try adding any more advice.

Hope you feel better soon

 

[Ginnymarie]

glad your feeling a bit better

pesky hormones as well, they don't help
x

 

[kalia]

Student Loans are useless! I've been trying to pay mine off for over a year (as in, give them back the money in one chunk so I don't have to pay it back a little bit each month forever) - but because of the ridiculous way they collect the money they cannot at any time give me an accurate statement. Without an accurate statement they won't stop my account. If they don't stop the account I can 't get an accurate statement I have now overpaid my student loan. They will notice when they get the money from the IRS but that won't be until about September (and that will be the money I paid from April 07 to April 08). And it will be the following September before I get back the money they are taking now Sorry for the rant, it's just so stressful trying to deal with them!!! One person will say one thing, someone else will say another. It won't be because of the money that they are after you, especially as you already had things sorted with you. It's just that in my opinion they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery!!!!!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Student Loans are useless! I've been trying to pay mine off for over a year (as in, give them back the money in one chunk so I don't have to pay it back a little bit each month forever) - but because of the ridiculous way they collect the money they cannot at any time give me an accurate statement. Without an accurate statement they won't stop my account. If they don't stop the account I can 't get an accurate statement I have now overpaid my student loan. They will notice when they get the money from the IRS but that won't be until about September (and that will be the money I paid from April 07 to April 08). And it will be the following September before I get back the money they are taking now Sorry for the rant, it's just so stressful trying to deal with them!!! One person will say one thing, someone else will say another. It won't be because of the money that they are after you, especially as you already had things sorted with you. It's just that in my opinion they couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery!!!!!

sorry for the hassle you've had! Silly people!!! Bugs me in the first place that i have to pay that much! but grrr to them. xxx

 

[abcd1234]

I woudlnt write to student loans, i'd ring them, they messed mine up so much when i started uni last year, i didnt get payments and turned out they'd sent it to the wrong account even though id written to them saying that acount wasnt in use or even open!
They also messed up paying the uni and they threatened me with so many £50 fines for late payment.

Every letter i've sent has been ignored but since i rang them they actually listen so id try that, they shoudlnt be busy atm either cos people should already ahve loans and wont be applying for next year quite yet.

hope your feeling a little better now, sometimes its good jsut to get it all out regardless of whether anyones lsitening lol