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The Finance Thread


Devon Malcolm

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I keep seeing a new PPI advert with John Cleese. Now I'm not saying that Cleese is a barometer for something being worthwhile doing (I imagine so long as he gets his paycheck he'll say anything that's put in front of him), but it's got me thinking about whether or not it's worth looking into. I always just put PPI ads down to being a new breed of ambulance chasing solicitors.

What exactly would the process involve, I don't really want something going through my entire credit card purchase history, even though I have good credit

Edited by WyattSheepMask
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  • 3 years later...

I was scammed today on PayPal and am beating myself up about it.

A friend messaged on Facebook saying that they'd sold a laptop on eBay but were struggling to get into their PayPal account. They asked if they could send the money to my PayPal and I send it to their bank account instead. I went with it, especially thinking there's not really anything that can come back on me, and now have a refund request from PayPal.

My friend's Facebook account had been hacked and the bank details for me to send the money to were in his name, but to some other account that's not his. The money seems to have come from a different person's account and been forwarded onto me to then send back to him. I'm beating myself up over this for being so naive and too easy-going. As I was at my laptop already, I did it all pretty quickly and as a favour to him.

I've responded in PayPal's resolution centre with a screenshot of the Facebook message and explaining the situation but am shitting it. It's £180 which I absolutely don't have to reimburse. I'll call PayPal tomorrow but am pretty anxious at the moment. Anyone been in a similar situation or know if it's likely I get out of this ok?

Edited by Sphinx
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In about 2011, someone got the details of my PayPal debit card and scammed about £500 off me. I immediately rang PayPal and they'd refunded me within an hour. You should be alright.

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It's worth mentioning that there seems to be a much higher success rate if you ring them as opposed to trying to sort it online. I've read plenty of accounts of similar happening, and they almost always seem to be resolved quickly if you call them. I know you mentioned you will call them, but I just wanted to make it clearer rather than chance it and try and sort it online.

Edited by Undefeated Steak
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  • 2 weeks later...

I forgot to update on this with all that's going on.

I rang PayPal and they said it was out of their hands to give me the money back because I'd withdrawn from PayPal into my bank account and transferred it to the guy. I went to ring my bank instead but checked my account beforehand and the charge had been reversed, so I can pay the PayPal balance and haven't lost any money. Much needed then and even more so now! And a lesson learnt.

Cheers for the responses.

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  • 5 months later...

Anyone got any experience with/recommendations for lifetime ISAs? We want to start saving for a house but we've only got a couple of years left before we're not eligible to open them. Doesn't look like any of the main/high street banks offer them at the moment.

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6 hours ago, hallicks said:

Anyone got any experience with/recommendations for lifetime ISAs? We want to start saving for a house but we've only got a couple of years left before we're not eligible to open them. Doesn't look like any of the main/high street banks offer them at the moment.

I've got one with Skipton and think it's ace. I'd never saved before so getting an extra quid for every four I put in was quite the encouragement. Just set the money to come out of your account after payday so that you never see it and sit back.

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10 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I've got one with Skipton and think it's ace. I'd never saved before so getting an extra quid for every four I put in was quite the encouragement. Just set the money to come out of your account after payday so that you never see it and sit back.

That's great, thank you

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Hi @hallicks. They are great products, but a word of warning - if something unforeseen happens and you need to withdraw the money for any reason other than buying a house, you will sacrifice the bonus in full (fair enough), but the thieving tax man will also scalp 25% of your whole pot if you withdraw before aged 60 - and I think that's daylight robbery!

I'd encourage you to read more on MoneyFacts: https://moneyfacts.co.uk/isa/lifetime-isas/. Moneyfacts do a really useful weekly newsletter on all savings accounts that is also incredibly useful to ensure you get the best interest rates.

A quick look shows Skipton's Lifetime ISA is only paying 0.35% interest, but Moneybox does one at 1.1% and Nottingham BS does one at 1.05%. 

https://www.moneyboxapp.com/cash-lifetime-isa-2-3/

All these accounts are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so the first £85,000 of savings per person is protected by the government - meaning it doesn't matter if you go with a major institution or a provider who is more obscure. 

Whichever one you open, use MoneyFacts to keep an eye on the interest rates and consider switching on an annual basis to the account with the highest interest - but don't do so within a year when a bonus is applied - for example the MoneyBox account is paying 1.1%, of which 0.6% is a bonus paid after 12 months of opening. 

I hope that helps. 

 

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