I'm slowly getting sorted out with my pictures and websites though I have some tinkering still to do. I've added more galleries to the website and very soon I'll make this the main destination for that domain and use it more for holding medium resolution versions of my pictures.
I've also started submitting prints on DeviantART, for example this one of a Poppy, which can be purchased and shipped to the UK. For the most part I'm going to keep providing images under the Creative Commons License, but for some I'm going to retain all rights and see if anyone is willing to part with their hard-earned cash. If you really like my pictures then do consider purchasing a print, it gives me a great ego boost as well as funding my shopping needs (well wants really).
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Money Grabbing B******
I'm generally a very calm and chilled out person but, possibly as other blog posts have illustrated, sometimes certain things do get me very annoyed, upset, angry and stressed. I think generally I'm in need of letting off some steam or spleen-venting so I'll indulge myself with a little rant about two such things now.
First of there are the banks, or in my case, the Nationwide Building Society. There has been a recent court case over the legality of bank charges and whether these are fair. From what I understand this has now collapsed and the banks are claiming a victory. No matter what the charges are still unfair - lawyers may be able to argue that black is white but it still won't change the facts.
I have an ongoing issue with Nationwide where they charged me for cheques accidentally written against the wrong joint account. The first incident was refunded the second not. They then continued to add charges to the account (as it was now overdrawn - no overdraft on it) but the only reason it was in this state was because of the charges they continued to apply, £20 each time. I did finally get some refund and was about to close the account when, yep, you guessed it, another charge.
Charging someone who has a regular income is annoying, greedy, etc ... when you are dealing with someone who is in the process of trying to sort out their finances and a bank, Nationwide again, slap on £90 for direct debits and refuse to refund them, that's when you start to wonder whether the charges are fair at all. It seems even more exorbitant when you remember that these are automated transactions; it would have actually not cost the bank anything to reject them, it would have just been done by a computer.
Obviously I'm being naive; the reason I can get a good rate of in-credit interest and the other services I enjoy is because the bank I choose is ripping off those less fortunate with bank charges and inflated interest rates. I guess that is how things work and I shouldn't complain too much. Then again I think I'd be happier with the whole situation if the banks would just be honest and not try and say that the charges are justified and that customers should be more responsible with their money. In reality they want you to be irresponsible!
And now we come to parking charges. What is the justification for these? Are they a deterrent? Punishment? Or simply a revenue stream? A case in point is the charge that York City Council slapped on me for parking on a residential street when they were carrying out regular cleaning. First of all I wasn't aware this was happening (not a resident of that street or York at the time) and second, the only sign I would have passed was likely obscured by parked cars or at the very least not in my line of sight when I was concentrating on driving, at night, safely down a road flanked on both sides by said vehicles.
Explaining all of this doesn't seem to have made a difference and it's now getting to the point where they are trying to recover the money having gone to the DVLA to get my address to send me various charge/penalty notices. Leaving aside that potential invasion of privacy and the dubious arrangement whereby councils and private parking enforcement companies can just get your personal details without you having committed any crime (so without any oversight), what do they hope to achieve by pursing people in this way? Is it to upset and stress their victims? It's not nice getting letters detailing dire consequences for not paying in large, unfriendly, letters!
The only conclusion I can come to in both of these cases is that the organisations concerned are just basically trying to grab money with little thought for how people feel. These places don't care about "fairness" or looking after customers. residents or visitors, no, it's just about squeezing every last penny out of them. Yes, I know there will always be charges of some kind but I think in many areas now it has long ago past the point where these were in any way justifiable, now it just seems to be common practice to try and penalise anything possible with some kind of fee, penalty or other money-grabbing scheme.
First of there are the banks, or in my case, the Nationwide Building Society. There has been a recent court case over the legality of bank charges and whether these are fair. From what I understand this has now collapsed and the banks are claiming a victory. No matter what the charges are still unfair - lawyers may be able to argue that black is white but it still won't change the facts.
I have an ongoing issue with Nationwide where they charged me for cheques accidentally written against the wrong joint account. The first incident was refunded the second not. They then continued to add charges to the account (as it was now overdrawn - no overdraft on it) but the only reason it was in this state was because of the charges they continued to apply, £20 each time. I did finally get some refund and was about to close the account when, yep, you guessed it, another charge.
Charging someone who has a regular income is annoying, greedy, etc ... when you are dealing with someone who is in the process of trying to sort out their finances and a bank, Nationwide again, slap on £90 for direct debits and refuse to refund them, that's when you start to wonder whether the charges are fair at all. It seems even more exorbitant when you remember that these are automated transactions; it would have actually not cost the bank anything to reject them, it would have just been done by a computer.
Obviously I'm being naive; the reason I can get a good rate of in-credit interest and the other services I enjoy is because the bank I choose is ripping off those less fortunate with bank charges and inflated interest rates. I guess that is how things work and I shouldn't complain too much. Then again I think I'd be happier with the whole situation if the banks would just be honest and not try and say that the charges are justified and that customers should be more responsible with their money. In reality they want you to be irresponsible!
And now we come to parking charges. What is the justification for these? Are they a deterrent? Punishment? Or simply a revenue stream? A case in point is the charge that York City Council slapped on me for parking on a residential street when they were carrying out regular cleaning. First of all I wasn't aware this was happening (not a resident of that street or York at the time) and second, the only sign I would have passed was likely obscured by parked cars or at the very least not in my line of sight when I was concentrating on driving, at night, safely down a road flanked on both sides by said vehicles.
Explaining all of this doesn't seem to have made a difference and it's now getting to the point where they are trying to recover the money having gone to the DVLA to get my address to send me various charge/penalty notices. Leaving aside that potential invasion of privacy and the dubious arrangement whereby councils and private parking enforcement companies can just get your personal details without you having committed any crime (so without any oversight), what do they hope to achieve by pursing people in this way? Is it to upset and stress their victims? It's not nice getting letters detailing dire consequences for not paying in large, unfriendly, letters!
The only conclusion I can come to in both of these cases is that the organisations concerned are just basically trying to grab money with little thought for how people feel. These places don't care about "fairness" or looking after customers. residents or visitors, no, it's just about squeezing every last penny out of them. Yes, I know there will always be charges of some kind but I think in many areas now it has long ago past the point where these were in any way justifiable, now it just seems to be common practice to try and penalise anything possible with some kind of fee, penalty or other money-grabbing scheme.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Random Acts
I am obviously biased in my opinion of Rachel and her photography but the picture above hopefully captures the 'real' and dedicated person that she is when engrossed in what she does. The main reason for mentioning this is essentially a shameless plug for Rachel's website, Random Acts, and photography services she provides.Alot of the photoshoots (I've mentioned some here before) are done essentially for free or mutual benefit, however it would of course be good to have this generate some money for Random Acts so that things can develop ("Develop Nurture and Inspire" being the motto) and progress, as well of course so that the tedious things like bills for hosting, equipment etc get paid.
So, if you are interested in having any photographs taken for whatever reason, do drop Rachel and e-mail (rachel at random acts dot biz) to discuss what services she provides. I'd also recommend you look at the pictures on her site as well as the multitude of images on her Deviant Art account also.
[ Oh, and it all also helps me too as I get to come along to the photo-shoots as Rachel's assistant which I thoroughly enjoy doing as I find the whole thing so fascinating and exciting ]
Friday, 22 May 2009
Suicidal MPs
Driving in this morning I couldn't believe what I heard: an MP involved in the expenses scandal has suggested that the pressure is so great a suicide is feared.
First of you have to worry that MPs aren't bright enough to fiddle expenses without getting caught - I agree that they shouldn't do it, it's totally wrong, but I'd feel somewhat safer if they were smart enough to get away with it: intelligent scoundrels seem more acceptable that incompetant money-grabbing buffoons.
Secondly, doesn't anyone either a) think before opening their mouths, or b) at least have some decent PR people in place to vet what is about to be said.
So MPs might be feeling a bit under pressure, did it not occur to anyone that there are numerous voters who are in a complete financial mess through no fault of their own (and possibly *because* of the very MPs that were making ridiculous expense claims) who have a slightly more justified reason for feeling suicidal?!
People are losing their savings, pensions, homes, jobs because of the mess we're in!
At the moment MPs from all sides look like they are greedy, uncaring and incompetant. Roll on the next election, sooner the better!
First of you have to worry that MPs aren't bright enough to fiddle expenses without getting caught - I agree that they shouldn't do it, it's totally wrong, but I'd feel somewhat safer if they were smart enough to get away with it: intelligent scoundrels seem more acceptable that incompetant money-grabbing buffoons.
Secondly, doesn't anyone either a) think before opening their mouths, or b) at least have some decent PR people in place to vet what is about to be said.
So MPs might be feeling a bit under pressure, did it not occur to anyone that there are numerous voters who are in a complete financial mess through no fault of their own (and possibly *because* of the very MPs that were making ridiculous expense claims) who have a slightly more justified reason for feeling suicidal?!
People are losing their savings, pensions, homes, jobs because of the mess we're in!
At the moment MPs from all sides look like they are greedy, uncaring and incompetant. Roll on the next election, sooner the better!
Monday, 18 May 2009
Dear Mr Brown
Thanks for helping to make my life that much harder because of the mess you have gotten this economy in the pathetic attempts you and your government have made to fix things. Oh, and I particularly like the money that the banks have got that doesn't seem to be filtering down to the likes of me.
I have debt. In fact I have quite alot of debt. Some of it was just spending for ages ago that was hanging around, some (most) is more recent spending (on credit cards). I don't blame anyone for it, I take full responsibility, it's my problem. I would use the, fairly pathetic but truthful, execuse that alot has been due to what I have gone through over the past year or so, it's certainly contributed.
So, faced with the problem I have attempted to find a solution. Stop spending on credit cards and try and manage the debt by consolidating it all so that I can move foward, pay it off and deal with things with the minimum of fuss.
I applied for further borrowing against the mortage, provided all the information, had to suffer the indignity of changing my name *again* when I thought I'd finished that process last year. I gave an explanation of why the debts had mounted up and said that I was trying to sort everything out.
Rejected.
No chance of appeal.
To add insult to injury, the application should have been rejected immediately apparently.
This was the last ditch attempt. I didn't want to borrow against the house but it was the only way I thought I would get the best chance of a loan: stick to something with security, with an organisation that is already familiar with me and to whom I'd proved I was a reliable and good customer.
Nothing.
So where is all this money that the banks have got? Presumably they are keeping hold of it because they clearly don't want to let me have it.
So, no, probably I'm not inclined to vote you and your party in for another term, you have done quite enough damage already. I'm obviously not one of the people who is worst off because of you but your policies and handling of the economy have now had a direct and damaging affect on me, as they are doing to many other people. Thanks again.
[ P.S. So, where do I go from here. I am not financially "screwed" for want of a better expression. I can't afford to repay the debts I have and no-one will lend me the money to help me manage them better. Catch-22, as I'm now almost certain to just get into more and more debt as the interest piles up ]
I have debt. In fact I have quite alot of debt. Some of it was just spending for ages ago that was hanging around, some (most) is more recent spending (on credit cards). I don't blame anyone for it, I take full responsibility, it's my problem. I would use the, fairly pathetic but truthful, execuse that alot has been due to what I have gone through over the past year or so, it's certainly contributed.
So, faced with the problem I have attempted to find a solution. Stop spending on credit cards and try and manage the debt by consolidating it all so that I can move foward, pay it off and deal with things with the minimum of fuss.
I applied for further borrowing against the mortage, provided all the information, had to suffer the indignity of changing my name *again* when I thought I'd finished that process last year. I gave an explanation of why the debts had mounted up and said that I was trying to sort everything out.
Rejected.
No chance of appeal.
To add insult to injury, the application should have been rejected immediately apparently.
This was the last ditch attempt. I didn't want to borrow against the house but it was the only way I thought I would get the best chance of a loan: stick to something with security, with an organisation that is already familiar with me and to whom I'd proved I was a reliable and good customer.
Nothing.
So where is all this money that the banks have got? Presumably they are keeping hold of it because they clearly don't want to let me have it.
So, no, probably I'm not inclined to vote you and your party in for another term, you have done quite enough damage already. I'm obviously not one of the people who is worst off because of you but your policies and handling of the economy have now had a direct and damaging affect on me, as they are doing to many other people. Thanks again.
[ P.S. So, where do I go from here. I am not financially "screwed" for want of a better expression. I can't afford to repay the debts I have and no-one will lend me the money to help me manage them better. Catch-22, as I'm now almost certain to just get into more and more debt as the interest piles up ]
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Why I'm in debt ...
This is both a serious a funny post which I just had to do before another depressing topic - sorry, not having a fun time at the moment, hopefully the level of joy in what I write will pick up soon.
Last night I realised that, financially speaking, I'm in serious trouble. Well, I guess I knew this already but it got worse when my plan to get a loan from my bank didn't work - well actually I can get a loan but at an APR of 13.5% which seems ludicrous (though I may still end up going this option bearing in mind that my credit card is about to finish it's 0% and jump to 19.9% APR).
So, the credit cards have now been removed from my purse. I'm going to go see my bank (and some other banks to compare) to ask about sorting my finances out (and hopefully getting a more realistic APR like the "typical 7.9%" that is being advertised.
Why have I got so much debt? Well, alot of it is entirely my own fault: I spent it. Some of it is debt that was moved onto 0% deals from credit cards that I (we) had before the seperation. The fact that more hasn't been paid off or that the current level of payments are such a problem is because I have little money with which to pay them off, I was too optimistic about what I could afford to live on.
What should be waiting to explain all of my problems but this article on The Register: Women's lust for shopping linked to periods - so that's it, it's all down to hormones, not my fault at all!
Last night I realised that, financially speaking, I'm in serious trouble. Well, I guess I knew this already but it got worse when my plan to get a loan from my bank didn't work - well actually I can get a loan but at an APR of 13.5% which seems ludicrous (though I may still end up going this option bearing in mind that my credit card is about to finish it's 0% and jump to 19.9% APR).
So, the credit cards have now been removed from my purse. I'm going to go see my bank (and some other banks to compare) to ask about sorting my finances out (and hopefully getting a more realistic APR like the "typical 7.9%" that is being advertised.
Why have I got so much debt? Well, alot of it is entirely my own fault: I spent it. Some of it is debt that was moved onto 0% deals from credit cards that I (we) had before the seperation. The fact that more hasn't been paid off or that the current level of payments are such a problem is because I have little money with which to pay them off, I was too optimistic about what I could afford to live on.
What should be waiting to explain all of my problems but this article on The Register: Women's lust for shopping linked to periods - so that's it, it's all down to hormones, not my fault at all!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
This may not be such a good thing ...
A really quick post about what happened on Tuesday:
- Annual review - apparently I'm a "nice" and approachable person but need to try harder on the leadership skills (fair point). Thankfully "nice" is enough to get me a good pay-rise so I have, until inflation and my spending kicks in, extra money per month which may help with moving out
- It is now possible that I could have another 6-9months in Vancouver. This is good from a financial point of view (if I can control my spending), it also gets me out of the house and gives my wife space, and of course it means Fiona has free reign and will be getting out and about even more (hopefully)
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