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money rant
Sorry please bear with me but I don't know where else to get this off my chest. It's too close to home to talk to oh about.
Okay tuesday I get a call from my landlady saying her mortgage payment bounced because my rent cheque didn't clear, and the just minutes later I get a court summons for non payment of council tax. I had paid both, I thought. Turns out both my cheques bounced. So looked at my bank statement and found I hadn't been paid. NOT FOR 10 WEEKS!!! I hadn't really looked at my bank statements because I had payslips saying they paid me, and I keep a tight budget of what I spend, and was saving up for new baby. That's the only reason I manage to make it so far without noticing. I had had over ??3000 put away for new baby and maternitity leave so I was devestated to find nothing in my account. I phone my boss, and the send me to this shared centre, what ever they are. Turns out they have been paying my money into someone else's bank account! There was a note made on my file to change the accounts, not done by me. They promised to change the mistake and I had to fight them to pay me now, beacause they are saying it could take two weeks for the change the bank details to go through. I want a cheque but they won't give me one. They promised me the money would be transfered into my acount the next day. It's been a week and now they act like I"m lying because their stupid computer says the money transfer happened. I've spoken to my bank and they assure me they have recieved no money nor do they have any money waiting to be processed.
I have two small children and no money even for grocheries. The council wants me to pay over ??1000, to pay the rest of the whole year in full, if I don't make a payment in 5 days. Which expired two days ago. Not only that my landlady has told me I will not be getting my damage deposit back because of the bank charges incurred to her and her over due mortgage. I've never paid rent or council tax late ever before. My damage deposit was ??1300, I really needed that back. I've even shampooed the carpets at my own expense and paint the sitting room. On top of it all my bank has charged my ??60 in bounced cheque fees. At this point I'm buying milk from the remaining four pounds change at the bottom of my purse.
Now for the icing on the cake. My husband was meant to get a bonus this week because he worked over time for the last three months on a major case for his firm. He did it solely on his boss's word that he'd get this bonus for ??2000, and they've told him after he completed all the work and earned them a long term contract with a major client, that sorry because of budget constraints we can't afford it now, maybe after this next case. They want him to continue working over time! He wants to quit.
But I can't even say sweetie screw them you can get a better job because we don't even have any money in our account.
I just want to cry.
Okay tuesday I get a call from my landlady saying her mortgage payment bounced because my rent cheque didn't clear, and the just minutes later I get a court summons for non payment of council tax. I had paid both, I thought. Turns out both my cheques bounced. So looked at my bank statement and found I hadn't been paid. NOT FOR 10 WEEKS!!! I hadn't really looked at my bank statements because I had payslips saying they paid me, and I keep a tight budget of what I spend, and was saving up for new baby. That's the only reason I manage to make it so far without noticing. I had had over ??3000 put away for new baby and maternitity leave so I was devestated to find nothing in my account. I phone my boss, and the send me to this shared centre, what ever they are. Turns out they have been paying my money into someone else's bank account! There was a note made on my file to change the accounts, not done by me. They promised to change the mistake and I had to fight them to pay me now, beacause they are saying it could take two weeks for the change the bank details to go through. I want a cheque but they won't give me one. They promised me the money would be transfered into my acount the next day. It's been a week and now they act like I"m lying because their stupid computer says the money transfer happened. I've spoken to my bank and they assure me they have recieved no money nor do they have any money waiting to be processed.
I have two small children and no money even for grocheries. The council wants me to pay over ??1000, to pay the rest of the whole year in full, if I don't make a payment in 5 days. Which expired two days ago. Not only that my landlady has told me I will not be getting my damage deposit back because of the bank charges incurred to her and her over due mortgage. I've never paid rent or council tax late ever before. My damage deposit was ??1300, I really needed that back. I've even shampooed the carpets at my own expense and paint the sitting room. On top of it all my bank has charged my ??60 in bounced cheque fees. At this point I'm buying milk from the remaining four pounds change at the bottom of my purse.
Now for the icing on the cake. My husband was meant to get a bonus this week because he worked over time for the last three months on a major case for his firm. He did it solely on his boss's word that he'd get this bonus for ??2000, and they've told him after he completed all the work and earned them a long term contract with a major client, that sorry because of budget constraints we can't afford it now, maybe after this next case. They want him to continue working over time! He wants to quit.
But I can't even say sweetie screw them you can get a better job because we don't even have any money in our account.
I just want to cry.
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Replies
Kick up as much hell as you can. None of this is your fault, start making a big Big noise to all of them. Threaten legal action against your work, even if they are your employers they have effectively not paid you for the work you carried out which is in breach of contract. Tell your landlady you will cover the cost of her bank charges but not the damage deposit, check what is in your lease terms and agreement and thraten her also with legal action if she refuses payment.
Go to the council and appeal to their humanity if they have any, go on the charm offensive, take bank statements and payslips with you to prove you are telling the truth.
Your oh should firmly say no more overtime unless he gets something in writing which will ensure he gets paid for it - again legally an employer cannot refuse to pay for work carried out.
I hate injustice of this kind!!
No wonder you needed a rant!
I hope you can get it all sorted - just put your no nonsense, take no crap from anyone hat on and give them hell! xx
I work in lettings and just wanted to say that this isn't quite correct.
The new tenancy deposit scheme which is only effective from 6 April 2007 means that a landlord cannot use the deposit for anything without the tenants agreement - and if the tenant disagrees then it will go to arbitration with whichever scheme the landlord has lodged the deposit with and the arbitration people will make a decision on how much, if any, of the deposit to award. If you can't agree anything with the landlord and you moved in after 6 April this year then this is your best bet of sorting things out
The deposit can be used to cover costs like bank charges, rent arrears, repairs, cleaning etc - our company tenancy agreement does actually include a clause specifying charges to be made in respect of bounced cheques and chasing rent and so on and we have taken these charges out of deposits on occasion.
Our advice to landlords is always to not rely on rent arriving on a certain day to cover your mortgage however usually landlords do and then they get in a state if for whatever reason rent is late. To be honest I don't think it would be unreasonable for a landlord to pass on any bank charges to a tenant - especially if there is a clause in the agreement to say this can be done - at the end of the day, if a tenants rent is unpaid for whatever reason and whether deliberately or accidentally then the tenant is in breach of their lease which is a legal document.
??250 does sound like a hell of a lot in charges to be honest - I would ask your landlord for a breakdown and proof of this!!! I'd also be tempted to argue the toss if she is trying to charge you for any mortgage related charges as it is not your responsibility to ensure that her mortgage is paid!
If you have never had any problems with your bank before it may be worth going into your bank and crying at them and seeing if they will refund you some of the charges - my hubby works in a bank and he says that if someone has a good history with the bank then they will often refund charges for a 'first time offence'. Its worth a try.
Regarding your bond - is your landlord a private landlord or do you rent through an agency? If an agent is involved and they are members of ARLA then you also can go through them if there is a dispute.
I'm not coming down on the side of the landlord here... honest... I'm just trying to state the legal side of things - and the CAB aren't always right to be honest..it depends if you talk to someone with knowledge of lettings.
About the council tax court summons charges - I've seen a fair few of those letters through work and there are usually several reminders sent out for unpaid monies before summons are issued - it may be worth checking with the council whether these were sent out because it would be unreasonable of them to simply hit you with a summons without first sending you a reminder of missed payments!
It may be worth investigating the change in your account details as if someone has changed them by mistake surely your company is responsible for your bank charges, and if someone has changed it deliberately then this is fraud! CAB might be able to help there.
Hope this helps a little - feel free to shout if you need any advice relating to yoru tenancy/deposit etc