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hi all
xxx



a lovely sunny day here .......... but the temperatures are falling as the Arctic front moves down from the north!



s
xx

I'm of the same vintage as the others ...... don't buy unless you have the money, unless it is absolutely necessary (like major house repairs!) .


However ............... do you have enough equity in your house to take out a Line of Credit using that equity as the security???


That can sometimes be the way to get access to an amount of money without going through the moneylenders.

We have a Line of Credit with the bank, that was once tied to one of our credit cards ................ it allowed us to go to Europe and the UK for 2 months without having to worry about unpaid credit card payments piling up at exorbitant rates of interest ........................ the amount on the cc statement just rolled over to the LOC (ie, M/C was paid off by the LOC), and we paid then paid that off on our return to Canada at a much lower rate (I think it was 5% instead of 25% :-) )

We still have that LOC available, I think it is for something like $5,000 ......... but haven't used it for about 10 years.

We also now have a LOC set up with another financial institution using the equity in our house ..................... as we own the house outright (no mortgage), and as house prices are obscene here, that is a much much larger LOC ...................... but it is aimed at providing money if one or both of us need expensive medical care or care home.

In that event, it would be paid off when the house is sold ...... at the rate house prices are rising, it will probably be around one-quarter of the house's value!

It reduces daughter's inheritance .................... but it means we can afford whatever care we need.

Sylvs

We have a tiny mortgage and a lot of equity in the house but........I can borrow money from the mortgage lender, no problem but it is a loan just like any other

You cant re-mortage, they just offer you a loan to run along side your mortgage!

I thought you could just add onto your existing mortgage loan and was going to pay extra each month, apparently not!

We also have 'pot' of overpayments but that won't cover the cost of the windows

We don't spend or borrow if we haven't got the funds but buying new doors and windows is not rainy day money, it is thousands and thousands :-0

I swear I'll come home from work one day and they will have fallen out. Yes they are THAT bad!

Kettle is on...............

Good morning all.. :-)


Thanks for putting the kettle on Gins.....I'll start on some bacon and mushrooms for Dea and you sound as though you are in need of some eggy bread!


It's absolutely beautiful here at the moment - despite the fact that we are threatened with rain. Hoping to get out for a walk with OH before the deluge comes..... :-)


Meanwhile, the washer is on and so I am hoping to get some out on the line - especially the bedding......... :-D


See you later ~~~

Gin,

A thing to remember when considering purchasing double glazing is that its salesmen are usually paid commission as a percentage of the price paid for the job. Quite naturally they start with a high quote hoping that the customer doesn't quibble but of course most customers do so the salesman then offers a "Special" discount which he hopes will secure the order. He may even call his sales manager pretending to get the "Best" price. But don't give in.

My own experience is that there is still a lot of margin for haggling as no sale means no commission so it is relatively easy to get the salesman to back pedal a long way before either he will give it up or the customer gets to a price that is acceptable. On one occasion what started out as a job quoted for at almost £5,000 ended up as an order for just over £2,000. It is always fun to haggle when you are holding the whip hand.

In the meantime don't slam any doors. ;-) ;-)

The firm is a family one, local and they don't advertise

All their work comes from recommendations and the price they quoted is way below the big national companies

There was no sales talk, he was here about 15 minutes and left, sending the quote in the post. No pushy sales call either

Thank you Cynthia - You DO look after me - breakfast was delicious, as always. <3

It looks a very pleasant day here too at the moment but very cold. It is so nice to see a bright sky though after all the grey we have been seeing for the past several days :-)

I remember when we first had all our double glazed doors and windows put in - I think the Salesman must have been fairly new as he arrived with his Manager and they did the Survey and arrived at a figure well over £12,000,

After a while the Manager left and we were left with the Salesman. Now, we had made it a rule that we would NEVER sign up to buy anything 'on the day' but will always consider after they have gone and make our own decision.

However, the pice, as usual came down a bit and he strugled to persuade us - my husband, for some reason, had left the room and by the time he came back in I had somehow managed to get the price down to just under £5,000 so, as we had other quotes similar to the higher price and this was now for a far superior quality of product, I suggested to my husband that we should accept.

A day or two later we had a phone call from the 'Manager' to say that the windows downstairs at the back and the patio doors (and maybe the back door?) had not been included in the quote !! :-0

I pointed out that I had in my hand a copy of the documentation which proved that all doors and windows were included so the agreement stood !

They were all duly fitted and have lasted well for over 20 years. Last year we had new glass fitted into the frames because a few of them had started to 'mist' but the rest is as sturdy as ever.

I wonder what happened to that poor Salesman? I had been well trained in Sales myself and the poor thing didn't know what hit him. I do hope that he learned from the situation though and didn't get the sack :-(

Dea x

As a compromise, how about having only a few of the worst ones replaced this year while you save up for the rest?

Well, it has been a crisp, bright, pleasant morning but the winds have been increasing all day and are now VERY strong !

No snow though Cynths so that is a plus ! ;-) :-D

Dea Xxx

Cripes.

Just nipped out for a loaf and nearly got blown away!

However as Dea says.............no snow :-D

No snow indeed but buddy big winds by anyones standards !!

Dea xxx

Mornin all~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kettle is on

Cheese and onion toasties, bacon, toms, mush and muffins almost ready

Good morning all and thank you for the bacon Gins. :-D



I will have to eat it 'on the run' so to speak. I have to be you-know-where an hour earlier today so am leaving very soon.


Wise words from DET.....that's what I am thinking of doing myself...... :-)



See you later ~~~~~~~~~~

Good morning all :-)

OOooo Yummm - cheese and onion toasties please with some bacon and mushrooms. - Thank you Ginns <3 <3 <3

Dea Xxx

Windows...........

I spoke to the guy yesterday and got a good discount. We decided to take a lower loan over a shorter period

Looked at loans and applied to Yorkshire Bank online.........they turned me down :-0

So I downloaded my credit file at Experian, guess what.........My credit rating is EXECELLENT which I knew anyway. No idea why Yorkshire Bank declined?????

Applied to Sainsbury's for the same loan and have been accepted in 'principle' they are sending out the paperwork

Interesting looking at what companies run a credit on you. I found that when I was looking for car insurance on the compare sites, they all ran a credit check on me, I only wanted a quote

I know it's not good when too many credit checks are run in a short period of time as it looks like you are desperate for cash

Read on Experian that the insurers checks are not shown to other companies that run a check

I'm pretty mad that these companies run checks without your consent/knowledge

:-|


Edit: Just thought.......when I completed the form, I put zero for my mortgage repayments as JB pays that. Maybe I should have added that amount on the form and because I didn't they declined?

I did add it to Sainsbury's form, why didn't I add it on the first....doh!

Got this message a couple of times over the last two days when on the GR site



This website has been reported as unsafe


www.14updatejava.com



We recommend that you do not continue to this website.

This website has been reported to Microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information.


Anyone else?

Oh My Goodness Ginns!!!!!!

I refreshed this page and was scrolling down to read your post but before I could read it a message came up and covered the screen and it was the same one that you are posting about.

It then flashed up with a download button recommending that I update to the new version in order to view the GR page as my version was out of date.

I know that most of my drivers and add-ons are old versions so I almost pressed to download but thought that I would come back and read your post first in case the download took a long time.

By the look of things, it was a good thing I did !!! ;-) :-D

Thank you for the warning.

Dea Xxx

Gin,

Well done in getting a good discount on the new windows, it is always worth asking.

Banks can be strange when being asked for a loan. In some cases you have to prove to them that you don't actually need the loan for them to grant you one. Back in the mid 80's my business partner and I had been in business together for about a year in our first shop and our plan at the time was to build a chain of hardware shops. Our first shop was profitable and we had money in the bank (Midland, now HSBC) so we could buy a second existing business for cash but just in case a third potential acquisition came along quickly before we had rebuilt our cash reserves we decided to talk to the bank manager about the possibility of a bank loan to buy a third shop.

He enquired what size of loan we might need and we told him £20~25,000. He said that a loan of that size would need security and asked whether we owned our houses. In my business partners case he owned his house outright and in my case I still owed about £4,000 on my mortgage. He said that was OK and as security he would want my business partner to lodge his deeds with the bank and in my case the bank would set things up so that the bank would have first call on my house should things go pear shaped. We pointed out that the 2 properties were worth approximately £200,000 between them at the time and that the bank was in effect demanding securities worth 8 to 10 times the size of the loan it would provide. The bank manager meekly replied, "Yes I know, it is more like pawnbroking rather than banking isn't it?"

We declined the bank's offer, suggested that they erect the traditional pawnbrokers 3 ball sign outside their premises and we left. :-P

We never did achieve our hardware shop chain but we did purchase 3 other businesses over the years, all bought for cash.

What you are describing is a virus but not a particularly harmful one. Lots about it on the General Chat board yesterday. It seems to be appearing on the back of a hooky Adobe Reader or Java update message.

Dea, glad you didn't download it


Strange indeed Jonesey, I feel like taking my credit report into the Yorkshire Bank and shoving it up their................... :-|

Thinking on though, they are in a little trouble financially, maybe they are not lending as they don't have any cash to lend!