Money nightmare - anyone have any ideas?

[Druckles]

If you can't get to work, it'd be brilliant. You could aim for budget PCs, trying to produce the best computers as cheaply as possible, or go for the really, really high end computers, which you can get creative with, modding them to your hearts desire. Only problem with the latter is the market wouldn't be too huge.

After all, you don't need to much, just enough to pay off, right?

 

[repiV]

If you can't get to work, it'd be brilliant. You could aim for budget PCs, trying to produce the best computers as cheaply as possible, or go for the really, really high end computers, which you can get creative with, modding them to your hearts desire. Only problem with the latter is the market wouldn't be too huge.

After all, you don't need to much, just enough to pay off, right?

Yup. It's an easy job too - perhaps two hours work to assemble and configure a PC. I haven't kept in touch with the market recently, but say a couple of years back you could buy all the parts for a mid-range PC for probably 400 quid. Flog it for 650 and the job's a good'un, and a shitload faster than a more expensive Dell machine to boot. They're sly bastards - sell PCs with numbers that sound good to the unwashed, like "3ghz HT technology" and then throw in an onboard graphics card and a 30gig hard drive. Total waste of space.

I could also do CV/interview coaching, same again though the problem is the marketing.

 

[Druckles]

?650 might be a bit over the top, but you get the general jist. Selling the machines "relatively" cheaply would also be a big bonus for people to come see you. Get the message to your friends as you said. It sounds like it could go somewhere. If you can get a manufacturer and a client, you're all set.

:thumbs:

Go repiV!

 

[Kadayi]

I tried to get a debt consolidation loan but the application was rejected. I asked for five grand over 2 years and then over 3, wouldn't accept either..

Shop around is my suggestion, you'd be surprised what's out there. No guarantees, but don't be disheartened if you get refusals from some quarters. You've nothing to lose in applying.

What's that supposed to mean? It's where everyone started off.

Most people become graphic designers through actual study. The software is just a tool.

 

[repiV]

?650 might be a bit over the top, but you get the general jist. Selling the machines "relatively" cheaply would also be a big bonus for people to come see you. Get the message to your friends as you said. It sounds like it could go somewhere. If you can get a manufacturer and a client, you're all set.

:thumbs:

Go repiV!

Thanks for the motivation.

I might put an ad on Gumtree or something.

 

[repiV]

Shop around is my suggestion, you'd be surprised what's out there. No guarantees, but don't be disheartened if you get refusals from some quarters. You've nothing to lose in applying.

Won't I get pretty much the same result every time, as all the companies reference a central credit reference agency?
Doesn't a refusal of credit also put a mark against your name?

 

[Druckles]

Most people become graphic designers through actual study. The software is just a tool.

I never mentioned that the software was the only reason people are good.

 

[repiV]

Fortunately, advertising business services on Gumtree appears to be absolutely free!

Here's my advert - hopefully I'll get at least a couple of enquiries.

 

[Druckles]

Heh, that's so typically adverty .

You need some images /marketing

 

[Ennui]

The only problem with that is that most people will want to have warranty/tech support from a big PC company.

 

[repiV]

Heh, that's so typically adverty .

You need some images /marketing

I take the no-nonsense approach. I want people to pick up the phone and call me so I can close the deal. You can't build a business relationship through email.

 

[repiV]

The only problem with that is that most people will want to have warranty/tech support from a big PC company.

They'll have to pay through the nose for it.

 

[Druckles]

The only problem with that is that most people will want to have warranty/tech support from a big PC company.

If anything, it's an advantage, because you can give them personal support, rather than the client having to phone up customer services (which we all understand can be a pain). And it's easier to understand someones' problem when you can see their machine. So you could also offer PC support at a small extra fee.

I take the no-nonsense approach. I want people to pick up the phone and call me so I can close the deal. You can't build a business relationship through email.

I said images. So people notice you. And a logo and all sorts of crap. But that may be taking it too far too fast

 

[Beerdude26]

An idea would be to bring the parts over from the US. The Dollar is incredibly weak currently, I'm certain that if you buy some parts at the same time and spot it'll spare you some cash even with shipping.

 

[repiV]

It's been a while since I kept up with PC technology, so I'm going to have to get reacquainted with the market. I'm currently using an XP64 3200+ and ATi X800XT, so fairly old now. However, looking at Ebuyer:

Asus nForce 500 socket AM2 motherboard - ?48.81
XP64 X2 6000+ processor (OEM) - ?92 (is dual core any more relevant today than it was a year ago?)
Arctic Cooling heatsink/fan rig - ?12
Western Digital 500gig SATAII 7200RPM drive - ?62 (holy crap, hard drives are cheap as dog shit now)
2GB Corsair (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2 5400 XMS, CL4 - ?28 (not the fastest RAM on the planet, but more than adequate for most people)
Pioneer 18x DVD/RW - ?17.34
Asus 8800GT 512mb - ?180
Add 20 quid for a nice looking el-cheapo case

That's less than 450 quid for a fairly high-end machine. Again, I'm a bit ignorant of the market at the moment, but I could sell that for 700 quid and still undercut any of the major companies massively?

 

[repiV]

If anything, it's an advantage, because you can give them personal support, rather than the client having to phone up customer services (which we all understand can be a pain). And it's easier to understand someones' problem when you can see their machine. So you could also offer PC support at a small extra fee.

Yup, absolutely.

I said images. So people notice you. And a logo and all sorts of crap. But that may be taking it too far too fast

A website would undoubtedly help. Alas, I am not gifted as such. If I get even one deal from free internet advertising, I'm not doing too badly so let's see how it goes.

An idea would be to bring the parts over from the US. The Dollar is incredibly weak currently, I'm certain that if you buy some parts at the same time and spot it'll spare you some cash even with shipping.

That ain't a bad idea at all...

God bless America.

 

[Kadayi]

Won't I get pretty much the same result every time, as all the companies reference a central credit reference agency?
Doesn't a refusal of credit also put a mark against your name?

There are about 3 agencies and the only thing that gets listed is an inquiry (not a refusal etc), however that isn't instantaneous. Your credit rating is principally based on past history over 3 years and most importantly your payment history. To have a truly bad credit rating you'd need to have defaulted on a large number of payments (which you state you haven't), so I doubt you'd be viewed as a credit risk. Fact of the matter is is though, you can have a good credit rating and still get turned down for stuff, because it's the lender who decides ultimately. I've a credit rating of 998 out of 1000, which pretty much means I have credit card companies & banks pestering me to take out loans or have a new CC all the time (the junk mail is horrendous), however I recently applied to Tescos for a CC and got refused, because despite my good rating they thought I had too much credit available to me because I had several live but unused cards registered to me. Your rating isn't everything.

 

[Beerdude26]

Throw in some free software like AVG and/or Komodo Firewall on a disc aswell

 

[CptStern]

consolidate your loans ..take out a line of credit with lower interest (mastercard often has 0% interest for 15 months), pay off credit cards and then lock them away ..you have to do something about aquired interest as that's going to be a big portion of your monthly bills

you dont want to declare bankruptcy ..anything but that

 

[No Limit]

I haven't read anything past the first couple posts so forgive me if this was mentioned. Why do you say you have no way to get to work? Do you not have access to public transportation in your area so that you can get to work that way? I know riding the bus sucks but I did it for a long while when I was down on my luck, it saved me a lot of money.

From what I am seeing on this page you want to start a business selling computers. That's fine, but usually thats something you do when you have a steady income incase what you are doing doesn't work out. Your best bet is to get a job with a steady income, then you can try to venture out to try to do something like that. Even if it sounds easy most of these types of ventures fail, especially when you don't have the proper financial safety net and the last thing you need is digging yourself in to a deeper hole.

I dont have time to read the rest right now but I might later. Good luck to you though, being broke totally sucks.

 

[Druckles]

From what I am seeing on this page you want to start a business selling computers. That's fine, but usually thats something you do when you have a steady income incase what you are doing doesn't work out. Your best bet is to get a job with a steady income, then you can try to venture out to try to do something like that. Even if it sounds easy most of these types of ventures fail, especially when you don't have the proper financial safety net and the last thing you need is digging yourself in to a deeper hole.

I dont have time to read the rest right now but I might later. Good luck to you though, being broke totally sucks.

To sum it up for you. He's got a job, but lacks the access to get to work, because he has a huge metal thing in his leg. Getting public transport in London is a nightmare, definitely not possible, and he can't cycle/bike/car it to work. Thus he's stranded until January.

He simply needs some cash to pay off the outstanding credit he has. It's just for some more "immediate" cash to get him up to date.

 

[repiV]

There are about 3 agencies and the only thing that gets listed is an inquiry (not a refusal etc), however that isn't instantaneous. Your credit rating is principally based on past history over 3 years and most importantly your payment history. To have a truly bad credit rating you'd need to have defaulted on a large number of payments (which you state you haven't), so I doubt you'd be viewed as a credit risk. Fact of the matter is is though, you can have a good credit rating and still get turned down for stuff, because it's the lender who decides ultimately. I've a credit rating of 998 out of 1000, which pretty much means I have credit card companies & banks pestering me to take out loans or have a new CC all the time (the junk mail is horrendous), however I recently applied to Tescos for a CC and got refused, because despite my good rating they thought I had too much credit available to me because I had several live but unused cards registered to me. Your rating isn't everything.

So even having a single default issued against you isn't that big a deal, all things considered?
I'll definitely look for other providers then - is there any way for me to find out which bank uses which credit reference agency?
Maybe I should talk to my bank manager, I've had the same bank account my whole life and I've never been a problem, despite spending most of my time with the account either working in a temp job or studying.

 

[repiV]

Throw in some free software like AVG and/or Komodo Firewall on a disc aswell

Can't hurt.

consolidate your loans ..take out a line of credit with lower interest (mastercard often has 0% interest for 15 months), pay off credit cards and then lock them away ..you have to do something about aquired interest as that's going to be a big portion of your monthly bills

you dont want to declare bankruptcy ..anything but that

I haven't been able to get any further credit so far - the fact that I'm unemployed seems to be the sticking point. If I could find a credit card with 0% on purchases though, that would be great - I could just use it to pay off the remaining balance on my loan in one go.

I haven't read anything past the first couple posts so forgive me if this was mentioned. Why do you say you have no way to get to work? Do you not have access to public transportation in your area so that you can get to work that way? I know riding the bus sucks but I did it for a long while when I was down on my luck, it saved me a lot of money.

From what I am seeing on this page you want to start a business selling computers. That's fine, but usually thats something you do when you have a steady income incase what you are doing doesn't work out. Your best bet is to get a job with a steady income, then you can try to venture out to try to do something like that. Even if it sounds easy most of these types of ventures fail, especially when you don't have the proper financial safety net and the last thing you need is digging yourself in to a deeper hole.

I dont have time to read the rest right now but I might later. Good luck to you though, being broke totally sucks.

Thanks. I have a feeling things are gonna work out better for me in the long run, so I'm not feeling too negative about it. Bizarrely enough, I'm actually happier than I was before the accident. It's just a short term problem.
Basically what Druckles said - the public transport system is not even remotely disabled friendly. At peak time it's packed full and just far too hazardous, and then I couldn't get there anyway because I couldn't walk that kind of distance on crutches. I can barely walk to the end of my street.
Then my local tube station has about 100 stone steps to climb, which are also liable to be wet and slippery at this time of year - if I fell down those stairs I'd be lucky to survive. There's just no way, I need a car or a bike, and I have never, ever driven a car - I couldn't get to my work by car anyway. Nor could I afford one.

 

[Kadayi]

So even having a single default issued against you isn't that big a deal, all things considered?

It shouldn't be majorly detrimental if it was a late payment I'd pay around with the loans stuff on [...] it can advise you which lenders are probably likely to accept an application and it can determine your credit rating (using equifax iirc)

 

[CptStern]

repIV ..why are you unemployed? your company shouldnt be able to terminate you because you've been in an accident

 

[repiV]

It shouldn't be majorly detrimental if it was a late payment I'd pay around with the loans stuff on [...] it can advise you which lenders are probably likely to accept an application and it can determine your credit rating (using equifax iirc)

I just tried the Equifax thing...apparently my credit rating "needs improvement" and the only loans available to me come at 26.9%, 28.7% and 60.4% APR.
Change my employment status to "full-time" and my credit rating jumps all the way to "good", so that must be the one overriding factor that's stopping me from getting credit at the moment.

repIV ..why are you unemployed? your company shouldnt be able to terminate you because you've been in an accident

It's a temp job...I was employed on an hourly basis. Through an agency.
Although, thinking about it...I wonder if I am technically unemployed. Could I be employed through the agency but currently not working I wonder...I should probably know this. In fairness to myself though, I worked in permanent recruitment...

 

[CptStern]

I just tried the Equifax thing...apparently my credit rating "needs improvement" and the only loans available to me come at 26.9%, 28.7% and 60.4% APR.



It's a temp job...I was employed on an hourly basis. Through an agency.
Although, thinking about it...I wonder if I am technically unemployed. Could I be employed through the agency but currently not working I wonder...I should probably know this. In fairness to myself though, I worked in permanent recruitment...

lol permanent recruitment placements done by temps ..sweet sweet irony (although that sucks for you ...sorry, couldnt you have placed yourself somewhere? )

anyways cant you collect unemployment?/disability?

 

[Druckles]

Then my local tube station has about 100 stone steps to climb, which are also liable to be wet and slippery at this time of year - if I fell down those stairs I'd be lucky to survive. There's just no way, I need a car or a bike, and I have never, ever driven a car - I couldn't get to my work by car anyway. Nor could I afford one.

Urgh. I really feel sorry for you living in London. Manchester's just about livable, as there's the Metro, which is simple enough. It's still awful. Just glad I can cycle across Cambridge in half an hour or so.

Edit: nvm

 

[repiV]

lol permanent recruitment placements done by temps ..sweet sweet irony (although that sucks for you ...sorry, couldnt you have placed yourself somewhere? )

Ah, no, not quite. I stopped working in recruitment back in the summer, ever since I've been temping through the same company I worked for. Which was quite odd to begin with. I guess there is still some irony there.

anyways cant you collect unemployment?/disability?

Yeah, but it's shit. 100 quid a week. Not enough to pay the bills, and they're taking forever to process the claim.

Urgh. I really feel sorry for you living in London. Manchester's just about livable, as there's the Metro, which is simple enough. It's still awful. Just glad I can cycle across Cambridge in half an hour or so.

Getting around London is easy enough when you have a motorbike - although, I must admit, commuting across the city is the most dangerous thing I've ever done (er, that is, apart from breaking my leg). Every other method of transport in London is really shit, though.
Still takes me an hour to get from the north-western edge of London to just south of Westminster Bridge in the morning.

You know I just realised I miss the views actually - past the Houses of Parliament and the same old protestors every morning, at night the central London high streets look amazing and the view from the Marylebone Flyover is incredible. Great atmosphere when it's raining, too.

 

[No Limit]

I had no idea you were disabled because of an accident, I guess I have to check in here more often. Going to the state will be your best bet until you can get back on your feet, but if its really only 100 a month then that sucks, I dont see how anyone could live off that. Good luck and at least be thankful you aren't in a position where you could end up homeless because of this, at least you have a family to live with. Once you get past this work on those savings, they can literally be a life saver.

 

[CptStern]

Ah, no, not quite. I stopped working in recruitment back in the summer, ever since I've been temping through the same company I worked for. Which was quite odd to begin with. I guess there is still some irony there.



Yeah, but it's shit. 100 quid a week. Not enough to pay the bills, and they're taking forever to process the claim.

couldnt you say you have dependants ..100 quid isnt enough to pay for a weeks worth of groceries

 

[repiV]

I had no idea you were disabled because of an accident, I guess I have to check in here more often. Going to the state will be your best bet until you can get back on your feet, but if its really only 100 a month then that sucks, I dont see how anyone could live off that. Good luck and at least be thankful you aren't in a position where you could end up homeless because of this, at least you have a family to live with. Once you get past this work on those savings, they can literally be a life saver.

Yeah, I posted a thread about it a while back. Your prophecy pretty much came true.
Happened five weeks ago today - I came off on a bend at 60mph and got catapulted into a tree. Dislocated my hip and ankle, and my left shin bone shattered into lots of little pieces, looks like broken glass on an X-ray. Spent 5 days bedridden during which I had an operation, 9 days in hospital and I'll be on crutches for 6-8 months. I have an external fixator on my leg for the next month or two, like a metal tube with screws in it. But you know what, who gives a **** - it's a miracle that I survived, and I'm going to recover 100% (but it will take a couple of years before I'm fully normal again), so hey, it's all good.

It's 100 quid a week, which is somewhat better than 100 a month - but it's still not really enough. I'm definitely going to manage my finances very differently in future, and be very careful to avoid this happening again - thanks.

 

[repiV]

couldnt you say you have dependants ..100 quid isnt enough to pay for a weeks worth of groceries

Unfortunately, they do check these things.

 

[No Limit]

Yeah, I posted a thread about it a while back. Your prophecy pretty much came true.

That sucks, this is not the case where I want to sit here and claim "told you so". Be glad you are alive and for god sake when you do get back on that bike be more aware of the dangers involved. My advice to you would be get rid of the bike and find a car once you can afford it. But no need to get in to a long discussion about that, I wont be able to change your mind in regards to what you decide to do.

 

[repiV]

That sucks, this is not the case where I want to sit here and claim "told you so". Be glad you are alive and for god sake when you do get back on that bike be more aware of the dangers involved. My advice to you would be get rid of the bike and find a car once you can afford it. But no need to get in to a long discussion about that, I wont be able to change your mind in regards to what you decide to do.

Believe me, I've learnt my lesson. It was a horrible experience. Laying on the ground screaming in absolute agony, the worst pain I've ever felt, unable to do anything about it - in the middle of bloody nowhere, wondering if anyone is going to find me (luckily they did). I had constantly reocurring flashbacks for a week afterwards, and went into shock in A+E - after the event.
For a while they were talking about amputating my foot because the dislocation had stopped the blood flow for about 15 minutes. It was not cool. It wasn't cool when they snapped my hip and ankle back into place in the ambulance either.

It's cost me dearly aswell - my pride and joy is a total wreck. My brand new racing leathers were cut off me in the ambulance. My helmet may or may not be structurally damaged, I need to send it off for X-ray. We're looking at about three grand's worth of damage caused to my stuff, plus the loss of income.

I can't see myself ever giving up bikes - I should be riding again in the new year. I'll just have to pick my moments more wisely. There's no reason for this to happen again.
I have no choice but to learn to be exceptionally cautious anyway - I have to ride through this winter to get to work, and I can't afford to have even a minor fall because it could cause serious damage to my leg. After a few months of severely dialing back the risk-taking, hopefully it will become something of a habit.

 

[No Limit]

I can't see myself ever giving up bikes - I should be riding again in the new year. I'll just have to pick my moments more wisely. There's no reason for this to happen again.
I have no choice but to learn to be exceptionally cautious anyway - I have to ride through this winter to get to work, and I can't afford to have even a minor fall because it could cause serious damage to my leg. After a few months of severely dialing back the risk-taking, hopefully it will become something of a habit.

Maybe I should take this to pm but what the hell.

From my experiance driving safe will not become a habit for you. At first sure. But as time goes on you will get more comfortable and you will start looking back at your accident and say to yourself that you were just stupid and inexperianced and its different now. You will start riding faster and start taking more risks at which point the same shit will happen to you, and next time you might not be as lucky. And this isn't just some bullshit I am pulling out of my ass, sure I never rode bikes and I dont know anything about the type of person you are. But it applies to everything we do, its simply human nature. Wether it is driving a car, mountain biking, hiking, working with high voltage electronics, etc. As soon as you start getting more comfortable with something the more risks you start to take until it comes back to bite you in the ass. I understand what you are saying when you say you will probably never give up biking, but there is no reason that you can't get a car and use that as your primary transportation while using biking as a hobby (and the sooner you can do this the better).

 

[repiV]

Maybe I should take this to pm but what the hell.

From my experiance driving safe will not become a habit for you. At first sure. But as time goes on you will get more comfortable and you will start looking back at your accident and say to yourself that you were just stupid and inexperianced and its different now. You will start riding faster and start taking more risks at which point the same shit will happen to you, and next time you might not be as lucky. And this isn't just some bullshit I am pulling out of my ass, sure I never rode bikes and I dont know anything about the type of person you are. But it applies to everything we do, its simply human nature. Wether it is driving a car, mountain biking, hiking, working with high voltage electronics, etc. As soon as you start getting more comfortable with something the more risks you start to take until it comes back to bite you in the ass. I understand what you are saying when you say you will probably never give up biking, but there is no reason that you can't get a car and use that as your primary transportation while using biking as a hobby (and the sooner you can do this the better).

Yeah I know what you're saying. I'm usually actually very cautious, but sometimes I just get my moments of mania. I'd just picked up a dark visor and some new gloves (the 45 quid visor is now scrap - sigh), and it made me feel like going for a mad blast. This time I decided I was going to go up and down my favourite road over and over again until I got my knee down round my favourite bend. In summer, that lean angle is perfectly safe but unfortunately the cold October tarmac and the scattered leaves make it somewhat less stable. Something I overlooked.
The stupid thing is, the previous couple of times I took that bend the rear wheel had slid out slightly but regripped. I should have taken it as a warning, ****ing stupid. Third time unlucky - it just let go.

My riding style is completely different depending on why I'm riding though, if anything I think using biking as a hobby would make it more dangerous because it's when I'm riding as a hobby that I ride like that.
I think I need to spend more time on racetracks, they're designed to be crashed on - 100mph fall and no injury is an everyday occurence. That way I can push the absolute limits in relative safety and then ride well within those limits on the road.
Perhaps the most important thing is to learn from near misses as well as crashes. If the bike is starting to feel unstable, stop doing that!
If I followed that advice I'd have been fine.

If it helps, I temporarily hated bikes. "I ****ing hate motorbikes, evil pieces of shit" was the kinda thing running through my mind when I was laying on the ground. Just laying there looking at the thing and thinking "my god". It was hard to come to grips with how a fraction of a second can change everything before you even have time to think about what's happening.

 

[Kadayi]

It's a temp job...I was employed on an hourly basis. Through an agency.
Although, thinking about it...I wonder if I am technically unemployed. Could I be employed through the agency but currently not working I wonder...I should probably know this. In fairness to myself though, I worked in permanent recruitment...

You not get any entitlements from the Temp agency at all? Some of them give you sick etc (unlikely..but what the hell). Also just put yourself down as employed for the credit assessment and see how that fairs on the options available to you. Sure your unemployed now, but thats a short term thing after all.

 

[Parrot of doom]

With regard to your biking, the only thing I can suggest is that you take an advanced biking course. Good practice will become subconcious. Its very easy to enjoy yourself on the roads without putting yourself or others in danger.

Those ?30 charges should hopefully be coming back to you. Go to www.moneysavingexpert.com and read all about it there. I claimed back about ?200 in charges from my bank. The banking sector are acting unlawfully.

Do you own your own house, or rent? As bitter as it may be, I think you should seriously reconsider your living arrangements, while you still have that option. Have you considered living on a canal boat, or on the river?

Oh, heres some reading: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges

 

[repiV]

You not get any entitlements from the Temp agency at all? Some of them give you sick etc (unlikely..but what the hell). Also just put yourself down as employed for the credit assessment and see how that fairs on the options available to you. Sure your unemployed now, but thats a short term thing after all.

They do offer statutory sick pay, but I'm not sure what the conditions are. I went for Incapacity Benefit instead, because you can only have one or the other, they're the same amount of money and I'd rather take money off the government than my employer.
I will just say I'm employed then.

With regard to your biking, the only thing I can suggest is that you take an advanced biking course. Good practice will become subconcious. Its very easy to enjoy yourself on the roads without putting yourself or others in danger.

I'm an Associate Member of Herts & Beds Advanced Motorcyclists (IAM). I never actually got the chance to ride with them before the accident though.

Those ?30 charges should hopefully be coming back to you. Go to www.moneysavingexpert.com and read all about it there. I claimed back about ?200 in charges from my bank. The banking sector are acting unlawfully.

It's all on hold while the test case is going on though, right?

Do you own your own house, or rent? As bitter as it may be, I think you should seriously reconsider your living arrangements, while you still have that option. Have you considered living on a canal boat, or on the river?

Oh, heres some reading: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges

Canal boat?
I live with my parents. Thanks for the link, I didn't realise credit card charges were treated differently from bank charges.