The rising cost of living

[foreveryoung]

39 minutes ago, bickster said:

FTFY

39 billion profit can blind you from the  facts.

An even if you wanna stick up for the Shells etc with unbelievable facts, it's like your employer buying a million pound Lambourghini and still refuses you a pay rise, you would start to think something ain't right here.

[sidcow]

43 minutes ago, bickster said:

Why would anyone pay interest on a current account? There must be benefits that would justify paying interest on it.

Both my current accounts pay me, albeit tiny amounts, of interest each month

My Lloyds Bank current account pays higher interest rate than my Lloyds Bank savings account.  I have no idea why this would be the case, but there it is.

Maybe it's a way of attracting customers in.  You're more likely to have large amounts flowing through your current account so offering a high interest rate may win them customers.

[Genie]

21 minutes ago, sidcow said:

My Lloyds Bank current account pays higher interest rate than my Lloyds Bank savings account.  I have no idea why this would be the case, but there it is.

Maybe it's a way of attracting customers in.  You're more likely to have large amounts flowing through your current account so offering a high interest rate may win them customers.

My Lloyds current account is a bit shit. It’s Club Lloyds, it “costs” £3 a month but they refund it again as I pay in over the minimum each month. 1.5%. 

Chase are great, especially if travelling abroad as one of their other advantages is no currency exchange charges. 

[bickster]

36 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

39 billion profit can blind you from the  facts.

An even if you wanna stick up for the Shells etc with unbelievable facts, it's like your employer buying a million pound Lambourghini and still refuses you a pay rise, you would start to think something ain't right here.

Shell and the other extraction companies do not set the prices, the prices are dictated by the market, an actual market in an exchange in the Netherlands. It's not like a corner shop where they can charge lower and higher prices as they see fit

It's not a case of sticking up for Shell et al, it understanding how it works. This has been explained numerous times and sometimes specifically in response to you

It is then down to the Government to hit them with a windfall tax if the money should be coming back in to help with the energy crisis. Just like the government already did and just like Labour are saying they should continue doing

AIm your gun of displeasure at the profits in the right place - The Government.

[cheltenham_villa]

21 minutes ago, sidcow said:

My Lloyds Bank current account pays higher interest rate than my Lloyds Bank savings account.  I have no idea why this would be the case, but there it is.

Maybe it's a way of attracting customers in.  You're more likely to have large amounts flowing through your current account so offering a high interest rate may win them customers.

A few reasons:

Savings account cost banks money. Billions of pounds are stored in savings account and unfortunately the vast majority of those balances are owned by a smaller number of customers.

If banks pass on the latest interest rate to all of those billions of pounds, it costs them a lot more so they will typically tread carefully.

A higher interest rate on a current account often comes with a limit of how much balance they will pay interest on (typically 20k). This helps to make them appear really attractive but also limits their exposure.

On top of that, current accounts are the currency of banks, all banks want to attract current account customers as this typically helps them make more money by being able to market other services.

Main reason though, banks want to make money though appear to be doing good things.

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, bickster said:

Shell and the other extraction companies do not set the prices, the prices are dictated by the market, an actual market in an exchange in the Netherlands. It's not like a corner shop where they can charge lower and higher prices as they see fit

It's not a case of sticking up for Shell et al, it understanding how it works. This has been explained numerous times and sometimes specifically in response to you

It is then down to the Government to hit them with a windfall tax if the money should be coming back in to help with the energy crisis. Just like the government already did and just like Labour are saying they should continue doing

AIm your gun of displeasure at the profits in the right place - The Government.

These companies BP, Shell etc, are telling the government to do one, that's the problem. If you think the Government can just click there fingers and put a stop to this insane profiteering, your wrong, same if you think the energy companies cannot voluntary offer help.

Like has been said, there might be a windfall tax, but we are giving it all back to the energy Companies through the help the government are providing.

Totally understand they do not offically set the prices, but as said there is so much more they could offer, its not a good look posting record profits when people are struggling to fund them.

[bickster]

20 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

These companies BP, Shell etc, are telling the government to do one, that's the problem. If you think the Government can just click there fingers and put a stop to this insane profiteering, your wrong, same if you think the energy companies cannot voluntary offer help.

Like has been said, there might be a windfall tax, but we are giving it all back to the energy Companies through the help the government are providing.

Totally understand they do not offically set the prices, but as said there is so much more they could offer, its not a good look posting record profits when people are struggling to fund them.

But the Govt have already done it TWICE! WHy on earth do you think they can't do it again?

How do the energy extractors volunteer to help, legally? They can't, the board of directors have a fiduciary duty to do the best by their shareholders. If the energy companies did anything they'd get sued to high heaven for giving away other peoples money. That is how company law works. Which is absolutely why its on the government. If the government acts, the shareholders can't do a thing

[blandy]

3 hours ago, bickster said:

You said current account, not saving account

I've got one - it's basically an app based account, a current account and you transfer money to and from the current part and the saver part with the swipe of a finger - it's all the same thing in practicality. Other apps call them "spaces" or whatever.

Edit - as already answered by Genie. Doh!

[bickster]

7 minutes ago, blandy said:

I've got one - it's basically an app based account, a current account and you transfer money to and from the current part and the saver part with the swipe of a finger - it's all the same thing in practicality. Other apps call them "spaces" or whatever.

Edit - as already answered by Genie. Doh!

Yeah I have two of those already but not paying as much interest as that one

[chrisp65]

Just had the annual chat with Virgin Media where I ask for my bill to be lower and they offer me 100 more TV channels and I say I’d prefer the bill to be lower and they say what about if we doubled your broadband speed and… well you get the picture.

Anyway, it’s difficult to know how far the haggle can go, but I just got bigger broadband and my monthly down by £24. Didn’t quite get it down to new customer offer prices, but close enough for it not to be a big deal.

It took me from what sound like an Indian call centre, the best they could offer me was deals via the (maybe) Malaysia / Philippines call centre, they couldn’t get low enough for me not to say I might as well switch to BT at which point you get the UK call centre and the genuine haggle can begin.

 

[Genie]

7 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Just had the annual chat with Virgin Media where I ask for my bill to be lower and they offer me 100 more TV channels and I say I’d prefer the bill to be lower and they say what about if we doubled your broadband speed and… well you get the picture.

Anyway, it’s difficult to know how far the haggle can go, but I just got bigger broadband and my monthly down by £24. Didn’t quite get it down to new customer offer prices, but close enough for it not to be a big deal.

It took me from what sound like an Indian call centre, the best they could offer me was deals via the (maybe) Malaysia / Philippines call centre, they couldn’t get low enough for me not to say I might as well switch to BT at which point you get the UK call centre and the genuine haggle can begin.

 

Yeah, I am currently on a great deal after doing that. 

First people out in the far east somewhere just offer £2 a month off to see if you bite. If you keep saying you want to cancel I think the retentions team in Scotland will offer circa 50% off full price bundles.

[maqroll]

Groceries just hammer me. Every week I stand at the cashier dumbfounded at the total. 

[desensitized43]

The Mrs and I are trying Gousto this week. £15 for a 4 person box (we’re worried about the portion sizes being small) that’s 50% off the first week, then 25% off weeks 2 and 3. The main driver is just the obscene cost of doing our weekly shop which regularly tops out at £110. We’ve got other things to get as well with a 2 year old and the regular staple things but hopeful it might be able to cut the bills.

 

[Demitri_C]

7 hours ago, maqroll said:

Groceries just hammer me. Every week I stand at the cashier dumbfounded at the total. 

I hate tesco but one thing that i like are those scanning guns as you can scan all your items so you can monitor what the shop will be. Since i been doing that i been saving about £20 a week

[Genie]

4 hours ago, desensitized43 said:

The Mrs and I are trying Gousto this week. £15 for a 4 person box (we’re worried about the portion sizes being small) that’s 50% off the first week, then 25% off weeks 2 and 3. The main driver is just the obscene cost of doing our weekly shop which regularly tops out at £110. We’ve got other things to get as well with a 2 year old and the regular staple things but hopeful it might be able to cut the bills.

 

I think there’s zero chance using Gousto will be cheaper than buying food from the supermarket.

You could buy ingredients for several meals for £15. 

[Stevo985]

55 minutes ago, Genie said:

I think there’s zero chance using Gousto will be cheaper than buying food from the supermarket.

You could buy ingredients for several meals for £15. 

It’ll be cheaper while you’re using the offer. Get as many different recipes as you can and then cancel and just buy the ingredients yourself 

[Genie]

Is it £15 for 1 meal (for 4) or for a week? I assumed it was just 1 meal. 

I just looked at Tesco, as an example you can get a bag of 4 ready to roast chicken breast for £5.50. A bag of Tesco roast potatoes for 76p, a bag of peas 55p, a bag of sweet corn £1.22, bag of potatoes for mash for £1, yorkshire puddings 50p

All in £9.50, and everything apart from the chicken will do a few meals.

If they are providing a weeks worth of ingredients for £15 then it’s decent value

Edited February 6, 2023 by Genie

[trekka]

6 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

It’ll be cheaper while you’re using the offer. Get as many different recipes as you can and then cancel and just buy the ingredients yourself 

That's what I did with Hello Fresh.  I found it really good value if you include the discounts but I wouldn't continue once the discounts have ended. It was quite fun though - I have a blackboard / magnetic thing in my kitchen and it was fun to pop up the menu for the week with their print outs. 

[Stevo985]

13 minutes ago, Genie said:

Is it £15 for 1 meal (for 4) or for a week? I assumed it was just 1 meal. 

I just looked at Tesco, as an example you can get a bag of 4 ready to roast chicken breast for £5.50. A bag of Tesco roast potatoes for 76p, a bag of peas 55p, a bag of sweet corn £1.22, bag of potatoes for mash for £1, yorkshire puddings 50p

All in £9.50, and everything apart from the chicken will do a few meals.

If they are providing a weeks worth of ingredients for £15 then it’s decent value

It’s not. By a long shot. 
 

4 meals for 4 people is about £50 a week without any discounts. That does work out about £3 a serving, but still, nowhere close to that value. 
 

You have to get the offers

[desensitized43]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

Is it £15 for 1 meal (for 4) or for a week? I assumed it was just 1 meal. 

I just looked at Tesco, as an example you can get a bag of 4 ready to roast chicken breast for £5.50. A bag of Tesco roast potatoes for 76p, a bag of peas 55p, a bag of sweet corn £1.22, bag of potatoes for mash for £1, yorkshire puddings 50p

All in £9.50, and everything apart from the chicken will do a few meals.

If they are providing a weeks worth of ingredients for £15 then it’s decent value

It's 4 days of meals for 4 people.

I imagine we could reduce spend on the usual Tesco shop by going down the readymeal route but we do tend to cook with fresh ingredients as much as possible (I find cooking quite therapeutic) and like to have a variety of different meals over the week otherwise I find I juist get bored then you have the temptation to takeaway.