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Aug. 4th, 2012
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A few days ago we got a letter from Littlewoods turning down my application for credit. There were two worrying things about this:
1) I have never applied for credit from Littlewoods.
2) The address on the letter was for the flat directly upstairs.
The incorrect address appears to be the reason I was turned down, as they couldn't link my name and that address.
So I emailed the police*, who told me that I could get a credit report and report any mistakes on it to the credit agency so they could be fixed. Not quite the response I was looking for, so I asked if nothing was going to be done about the people doing this. And their email said to phone up for a proper chat.
So I did. And was told that basically I have no direct bearing on this case. Someone is attempting to defraud Littlewoods, and failing. Which means that Littlewoods might have a case against them, but I certainly don't, as I'm only tangentially involved. The nice man at the other end of the phone _did_ tell me that I could sign up for a month free with the Equifax/Experian credit agency by going to creditexpert.co.uk/, and check my credit report that way.
Which shows that my credit report is completely clean, my credit score is 997 out of a possible 1000, and that I have nothing to worry about. So I emailed their fraud people anyway, just so I have something for my records. And I guess that's where I have to stop, unless anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can do**?
*They handily have an email address for reporting non-urgent crimes. Their contact page also states that they cannot accept reports for crimes over Twitter. I'm somewhat boggled that people would try.
**Short of drilling through the floorboards into the upstairs flat and releasing lighter than air poison gas.
1) I have never applied for credit from Littlewoods.
2) The address on the letter was for the flat directly upstairs.
The incorrect address appears to be the reason I was turned down, as they couldn't link my name and that address.
So I emailed the police*, who told me that I could get a credit report and report any mistakes on it to the credit agency so they could be fixed. Not quite the response I was looking for, so I asked if nothing was going to be done about the people doing this. And their email said to phone up for a proper chat.
So I did. And was told that basically I have no direct bearing on this case. Someone is attempting to defraud Littlewoods, and failing. Which means that Littlewoods might have a case against them, but I certainly don't, as I'm only tangentially involved. The nice man at the other end of the phone _did_ tell me that I could sign up for a month free with the Equifax/Experian credit agency by going to creditexpert.co.uk/, and check my credit report that way.
Which shows that my credit report is completely clean, my credit score is 997 out of a possible 1000, and that I have nothing to worry about. So I emailed their fraud people anyway, just so I have something for my records. And I guess that's where I have to stop, unless anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can do**?
*They handily have an email address for reporting non-urgent crimes. Their contact page also states that they cannot accept reports for crimes over Twitter. I'm somewhat boggled that people would try.
**Short of drilling through the floorboards into the upstairs flat and releasing lighter than air poison gas.
What should I do with my money?
Aug. 4th, 2012 11:48 amI have a pension* with my company that I don't contribute to, and that's great. I _also_ put money into a retirement account plan, which is basically a separate pension that I drop some money into to supplement things.
Last year I put £3,600 into the pension, and it ended up worth £2,970 more than it was at the start of the year, so they've lost £630!. Which is not, shall we say, the intended result. If I put money into my pension I'd like it to end up worth at least that much more, if not significantly higher.
Part of me thinks "Fuck that, I should pay off my mortgage instead." which is costing me just over 5% per year, if I remember correctly.
But the pension payments come out before tax, which is likely to go into the 40% bracket this year, if there are bonuses**.
As my pension is never going to be high enough that I'll be paying 40% tax on it, it looks to me like I'll be saving 40% _now_ and 20% overall by putting the money into the pension. And hopefully the plan will start making money at some point.
The question is, does that work out better off than paying off the mortgage faster? Which one works out better in the long run?
*Career Average Defined Benefits, for those that care about such things.
**Which there have been every year so far, so I'm assuming that will continue.
Last year I put £3,600 into the pension, and it ended up worth £2,970 more than it was at the start of the year, so they've lost £630!. Which is not, shall we say, the intended result. If I put money into my pension I'd like it to end up worth at least that much more, if not significantly higher.
Part of me thinks "Fuck that, I should pay off my mortgage instead." which is costing me just over 5% per year, if I remember correctly.
But the pension payments come out before tax, which is likely to go into the 40% bracket this year, if there are bonuses**.
As my pension is never going to be high enough that I'll be paying 40% tax on it, it looks to me like I'll be saving 40% _now_ and 20% overall by putting the money into the pension. And hopefully the plan will start making money at some point.
The question is, does that work out better off than paying off the mortgage faster? Which one works out better in the long run?
*Career Average Defined Benefits, for those that care about such things.
**Which there have been every year so far, so I'm assuming that will continue.
Interesting Links for 04-08-2012
Aug. 4th, 2012 12:00 pm- Greenland Ice Melt not quite as apocalyptic as some people are making out.
- New ruling says that text chat between two people counts as publishing, falls under obscenity legislation
- CIA drone strikes into Pakistan are undermining democracy and pushing people twards extremist groups
- Incredible photographs of raindrops on spiders.
- Why Men Can't Have It All
- What do we need corporations for and how does Valve’s management structure fit into today’s corporate world?
- The waves in quantum physics are real.
- The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater (Very funny if you are amused by diet fads)
- Atos assessors caught on film being told to keep disability benefit approvals low
- Guy Walks Into Giant Bear While Texting (I would _totally_ do this)
- Comparing stories to press releases shows why I don't care if the whole industry crumbles.
- Girl born with muscles that couldn't lift her arms. So scientists print her a new exoskeleton.
- An interview with a lesbian ex-model about life backstage.
- Just Release Assassin’s Creed, Not Six Different Versions
- allRGB - images created with one pixel of every RGB colour.
- The 50 Cutest Things That Ever Happened
- My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate Underprivileged Kids vs. Can We Please Have A Real Teacher
- Lords reform: what next?
- The ten most absurd promises in the Coalition Agreement
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