Marleys Money

Claim your Tax Refund.......They won't remind you !

2007-08-17T10:29:00.000+01:00

In my ever searching quest to reclaim money that i am entitled to and in the meantime tighten my belt i was told recently about my tax payments. A friend of mine recently reclaimed tax he had paid in the 2002/2003 period. I asked him how and i was amazed at the simplicity of it all.

Here's how........

Everyone who pays tax gets a P60 at the end of the financial tax year outlining their income and tax paid for that year. I for some reason seem to have every P60 since i started work ( sad i know ) and thus began my search.

I came across the following website of which i have no connection with but find it a very useful tool to use, CLICK HERE. On the left hand side you will see three boxes for you to enter the details directly from your P60. When you click the calculate button, making sure it's the correct year you will be informed as to whether you are entitled to a refund. Here's the bit you need to be careful with though, it will then ask you to fill in your details as they will claim on your behalf but they don't do it for nothing, they take a cut of your repayment so do the following.

How do i claim it back then ?

Easy, simply print off the details and ring the following phone number 08459 000 444 this number is to the Inland Revenue and they will be able to confirm if the refund details are correct. Ask them for your Tax Office where you can send them a brief letter explaining you are reclaiming a refund and also enclose your original P60, you will get this back.

I am currently claiming £1250.50 for 2003/04 and £369.53 for 2006/07 as i was on the wrong codes. I have contacted the Tax Office and they confirm that the figures are correct and i should be receiving a repayment soon.

If you have success then please feel free to post a comment.

August Freebie list

2007-08-10T19:19:00.000+01:00

Here are a few Freebies i have found during the month and i will add to as the month progresses.

Free 4 Pack of Fosters Twist Beer - Hurry
Fill out your details in the blue form and take your voucher down to Threshers for your free 4x330ml pack of Fosters Twist.

	Clothing at Tesco
	Register at Clothing at Tesco to enjoy fashion updates sent straight to your inbox as well as information on sales, exclusive offers and £25 worth of vouchers to save on clothing at your local Tesco! Registration is free. Complete the short form to claim your free £25 vouchers and get an easy £0.21 cashback.

It's Good to Talk

2007-08-10T18:44:00.000+01:00

"It's Good to Talk", once a catchphrase made popular by Bob Hoskins when he was the face of British Telecom, however this advice may be words of wisdom that British Telecom would rather people forget but certainly one i would recommend.

I have been a customer of Orange (formerly Wanadoo) for over 3 years and was merrily zipping along with my 8 meg Broadband package paying them £17.99 per month for the privilege, i say 8 meg but i don't recall reaching the dizzy heights of 8 meg nor has anyone i have met in my town which uses the same exchange server. I have been informed that the local exchange is only capable of pumping out 2 meg so in a way this fuelled my fire when i decided to reduce my Internet charges.

A family member switched to Talk Talk and was paying £16.89 on a similar package to mine but the best bit was his land line costs were included, unlike mine where i was still paying BT £10.50 per month on top of my £17.99 Orange package. I rang Orange and requested a MAC code and informed them as to why i was switching, "But you're a long standing customer, why change" came their reply. "To save me £11.60 per month" came mine. As i said at the beginning " It's Good to Talk" and the upshot of my 10 minute conversation with them resulted in my staying with Orange but adjusting my package to a £9.99 per month one whilst keeping all the same features and managing to negotiate the first 6 months FREE. I did try for the Free laptop offer through PC World but i think that was pushing it too far.

So the sum total for my 8 meg Orange Broadband package for the year is now £15.49 per month over 12 months including the statutory £10.50 to BT, weighing in at £1.40 per month less than Talk Talk. So it just shows you that it really is " Good to Talk "

Incidentally when i rang Orange the number i would have rang was an expensive 0870 one but i managed to use the amazing site called Say No to 0870 and get the Freephone number, another saving.

FREE Passport photos

2007-08-02T12:30:00.000+01:00

The passport photograph, just where do you have it taken ? well now you can do it at home and send for the approved size images online and all for FREE.

No more balancing at a strange angle perched like an arthritic parrot on its perch in the photo booth, now you can do it in comfort and not stand around the booth in a supermarket anxiously waiting for the photos to pop out for everyone else at the checkout to stare at.

The following website http://www.epassportphoto.com/ allows you to upload digital images of yourself to it's secure site and takes around 1 minute on broadband connection, from there you can crop and rotate your chosen image and choose your 4x6" Passport Photo Sheet.

It really is that easy and here's the best bit, if you click through the Snapfish link below and register with them you will get 20 Prints FREE delivered to your door.

	Snapfish
	Snapfish enables digital camera owners to share, print and store their favorite photo memories at low prices. Register now and get your first 20 digital prints FREE.

July's Freebie List

2007-07-27T12:50:00.000+01:00

Please find below links to all the FREE stuff i come across during July, i know it's near the end of the month but there are still some great items listed.

£20 Worth of FREE Postage
Franking Machine try it free for 30 days plus £20 free postage and free advertising plate.

2 Weeks of FREE Movies
Use the promotional code: LFTD14 for a two weeks trial. No commitment and late fees plus free post.

20 FREE digital photo prints and free delivery

1 Month FREE Gym Membership
Get 1 month FREE at participating LA Fitness, Dragons, Otium or Quality Living health clubs worth up to £59.95

FREE £10 + FREE luggage tags

2007-07-27T09:37:00.001+01:00

I think i have come close to how someone waiting in a condemned cell must have felt these past few days as my continuing quest to find a credit card to transfer the balance from one to another has taken another twist. One of the companies M&S declined and was the first to spearhead the onslaught, current hopes are pinned on 2 more low rate balance transfers but i must admit my hopes are fading.

Anyway on a more buoyant note i came across this little gem but the offer is only open till 31st July 2007 so as it's now the 27th July 2007 you have literally 5 days. I jumped at the offer and am pleased to report...........it works.

What is it ?
In a nut shell ( or Egg shell as the case may be ) it's a FREE £10 from Egg.com a friend of mine had a saying " Every Egg a bird " and now i know what he was implying. Although i have just benefited from this offer their generosity did not extend to a 0% Balance Transfer.
How do i claim it ?
Egg.com have an account tool called " Money Manager " When you log in to Egg, using a PC that you've upgraded with Egg Money Manager, your other bank's security details are collected from the password safe on your PC. These details are sent, via your computer, to your bank so you can access your accounts with them securely. Your other bank's balances are then collected and displayed on the 'Your money' page here at Egg, alongside your Egg balances.
Even if you don't have an Egg account you can still get the FREE £10 by doing as i did and opening an Egg Savings account with a deposit of £1.00 then once it's up and running add another one of your accounts to the 2 Money Manager " and low and behold a FREE £10 will be credited to your account in the near future.
Why should i bother ?
Are you mad ? if someone is giving away money then grab it with open arms, the main reason Egg are doing this offer is it hopes you will use the money manager to manage additional accounts you have added and in managing them from the Egg site you are open to the adverts and promotions and hopes to gain further business, however my main aim was to get a FREE £10

FREEBIE OFFER

For anyone who is going on holiday or emigrating ( as i hope to do ) then this FREEBIE OFFER offer may be of use for you.

Personalised luggage label from KLM, Designing your own luggage label.

Give your baggage a personal touch using one of your own photos or choose one of KLM’s pre-made images. One thing is certain: Your travel bag, suitcase or backpack will have a new look.

You can either upload your own picture or choose a KLM one then follow the on screen instructions and a set of luggage tags will be sent to you. If you register a couple of email addresses chances are you will get enough for the whole family.

Fight Fire with Fire

2007-07-26T08:55:00.000+01:00

Firstly let me welcome you, i decided to start this as i felt if i put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard as the case may be) it may just act as the impetus for other people who are in similar circumstances to act upon their own financial affairs and restore some order, by the way i am no financial expert, just a plain guy in the street and what information i pick up is through ours of trawling the Internet and asking questions, so i offer this information purely on the basis that it will inspire others to get up of their chair and deal with their finances.
Almost everyone in the UK has some form of debt, whether it be for a mortgage, car loan, overdraft, credit cards, the list goes on, and it's the last one i am discussing in this thread today as this has been my nemesis for some time.......Credit cards. Only recently i realised what i was actually paying in interest on my credit card, a whacking great big 29.9% PA. I worked it out that i would never pay it off in any decent level of time with the funds i had available to do so, i suppose up to that point i was to some degree burying my head in the sand and trying every month to somehow pay the bill when it hit the mat. It's very frustrating when your money is stretched already and then mortgage increases etc add further weight to an already over laden wallet. Like myself i am sure people looked at ways of increasing their income, options which seen to regularly crop up when you do a search for such ideas are mail order, so called get rich schemes, part time work and the choice which I'm sure a lot of people try....Ebay. Up and down the country thousands of households engaged in a de-cluttering frenzy, scurrying back and forth to the post office with their Ebay parcels. This easy money fix can only last a limited length of time until you end up with no possessions in your house and then wonder what to do next. I know as this happened to me and i didn't know what to do, then after further research mainly through the Internet i had what some weirdo's call " a light bulb moment ". Instead of chasing additional income i should be concentrating on reducing my expenses, seemed simple, in other words saving money, not by putting it in a building society ( can't do that anyway as i have no money to do so ) but by using the biggest resource available, and it was right in front of me, the Internet.

How to clear a Credit Card.

As the title say's " Fight Fire with Fire" i was going to play them at their own game. I was going to clear my current credit card by using.......another credit card. Sounds crazy i know but before you dismiss it just think about this, if someone offered you enough money to pay off your credit card debt and asked for no interest for 12 months what would you do ? i'll tell you what you would do, snatch their hands off. Well that kind of offer is readily available, and it's name is Balance Transfer. Credit card companies offering 0% interest for periods of time ranging from 9 months to 13. I found that the Natwest and the RBS offered 0% for 13 months with a payment of 2% of the switched balance, but the longest length of time at 0% was VIRGIN with a massive 15 months, but you would pay a higher 2.98% fee. These wee just a few of the many that are out there and guess what, i applied for most of them. My credit rating was FAIR, so with this in my mind i was perhaps feeling over confident and this proved to be the case when my bubble burst very quickly. Like a pack of cards they all came tumbling down with the phrase " Thanks for applying for a ........But on this occasion " I was the undesirable, the itch no one wanted to scratch, where to turn to now ? I visited Moneysupermarket.com and did a " Credit Worthiness " comparison, entered the options i wanted ie 0% Balance Transfer and clicked for the best deals available. I then applied for the ones i hadn't already done so and low and behold the same replies came flooding in, to say i was at a low point is underestimating it.
After hours of thinking and turning my head to soup i directed my attention to the source itself, the credit card company themselves. Upon ringing the number on my statement, listed there for such enquires i spent the next 10 minutes, and this i add is no exaggeration pressing every number on my telephones hand set to be guided through series after series after series of pre-recorded " Press 1 for this and 2 for that ". All of which made the old lift music we moaned about years ago when put on hold seem highly pleasurable, when i finally got through to a " Human " and i explained my situation, she replied " I will have to transfer you through to another department " Agh!!!!!
At this point i was probably developing phone rage as i again explained my situation and asked for some assistance but more importantly guidance. I was informed there were a number of possibilities i could try which were,

0% Balance Transfer
Lower Rate Balance Transfer
Loan
Request the intervention of the Debt Management Team

Of the 4 she explained to me i concluded that number 1 was now a dead duck, number 2 hadn't even entered my head, number 3 sent shivers down my spine and number 4 nearly made me collapse as this would completely ruin what credit rating i had left and would place me alongside the single cell amoeba in terms of banking evolution.

I opted for option 2 and revisited the Credit Worthiness checker to see what deals were available with lower interest rates. The cheapest one i found was GOLDFISH with a 3.9% PA and M&S with a 5.9% PA but do some further searching and there are many others. I was refused the M&S one earlier today and am still awaiting my fate on the others, pinning my hopes on the old saying " No news is good news " however my financial time bomb is ticking away as the next payment is due soon and i am some what skint. So the next time i write i hope to inform you all that i have succeeded in Transferring my balance and have effectively reduced the interest PA from 29.9% to at least 5%