CrozierFamily

Typical response, no rational argument so just hurl a quick insult. Illegal immigrants have no rights to be here, a campaign to remind them of that fact is surely only a good thing. The reaction against such a measure demonstrates much of what is wrong with the world. Rathering that critising people who are breaking the law, you critise the people who are trying to enforce it. The bit that really annoys me is the lazy claim of racism. I am absolutely not a racist and I support this campaign 100%. People of all races who are in the UK legally should support a campaign of this nature as it is rightfully trying to do something to reduce the problem of illegal immigration created by Labour.

I think the bit that you can't make up is that an advert aimed at telling illegal immigrants to go home is accused of being racist. It's not racist at all, it is telling you to go home because you are here illegally. It makes no reference to race. If you are not here illegally there is no need to take any offence, it is not aimed at you. If you are here illegally who really cares if you take offence or not, you are here illegally, go home! The whole pandering to the EDL and UKIP bit is nonsense too, typical left wing tripe. This is nothing to do with racism, it is to do with people who have no right to be here and who need to go away. Fair enough I doubt the adverts will have had much impact, but at least they are trying something, unlike labour who did absolutely nothing and just accused people of racism any time they questioned their ridiculous approach to immigration...

I replied to someone who was questioning the fact that we were out of a recession, which we are.

Hi again. Technically was is being reported is correct. We are out of a recession for now. Also, the government are not the only ones that report data. The markets react to data also and there is optimism in that space also that we are on the slow road to recovery. Of course something could happen tomorrow that throws everything back to square one again, but based on available data the economy is out of recession and appears to be on the path to recovery. The statement that we are out of recession is a statement of fact, it is not a subjective statement.

It is a fact that the UK economy is coming out of recession. It is not a subjective thing, it is based on statistics in respect to growth in the economy. That is not to say it won't go back into again at some stage, but the data does show that at the moment the economy has come out of recession. I personally would not expect the average man on the street to notice any kind of material difference immediately though, and to be fair the economy is only marginally out of recession, but still what the originally poster wrote is technically correct.

Would one of the applicants having health issues not be viewed as a negative thing when applying? I would have thought it would be seen as someone coming in to the country who would be a potential burden on the state from the point of view of medical costs etc? I don't see how that would be something that would speed things up personally. Could be wrong of course, but from my understanding of the Visa processes they tend to want to make sure you are in tip top shape before you come, otherwise you will struggle.

Hi It is normal practice that the lower your loan to value %, the more good deals will be available to you, but once you get your LTV below between 60-70% you will probably find most of the best deals are available from that perspective. So if you are putting down 30% (which makes an LTV of 70%) I would guess a large proportion of the best deals would be available to you (assuming no other issues with not having a PR etc if that is the case). The best way to see what restrictions apply for LTVs and other restrictions is to look on the main banks websites and see what conditions are attached to their current mortgage offers, you can them reasonably simply work out the difference in costs between the different options you have suggested. There are loads of different ways to skin this particular cat depending on your individual circumstances though, so I would recommend you get some proper financial advice from someone who can look at all of your information and give you thoughts based on that. I don't think anyone on this forum would be able to give you a proper answer without a full review of your finances.

Thanks for that, though one of our kids is too young to walk and the other one is only really a toddler who does have a mind of her own and finds running away from us a very amusing pass time. If they make me check it as luggage would that cost me extra do you know?

Lol I didnt know what category to go for!

Hi Thank you for your response. We do have a sling, which I think we will pack in our hand luggage just in case we do not get the pram back in between flights. I did not expect the buggy to go in the cabin if I am honest, I always thought it would be put in the hold for the flights at least. The additional complication I have is that we are bringing our toddlers forward facing carset to put on the seat on the plane and that weighs a tonne. I just wanted to make sure we did not have to check the buggy in at check in, because I was not sure if my buggy qualified as a foldable buggy. Really appreciate the thoughts. Regardless of whether I get the buggy back quickly I know this whole flight experience is going to be torture!

I really appreciate you replying to me on that. Thank you. From what I can see, if you were able to use that buggy right up to the aircraft door then we should also be fine. I take it when you collapsed your buggy down it seperated into parts, rather than all collapsing into one piece? A weight off my shoulders to be honest, thanks again for the response.

Hello folks I am trying to work out whether we can bring our iCandy peach onto the plane with Singapore Airlines (when I say bring it onto the plane I mean can I leave the girls in the buggy up to the point we board and then they take it from me, or would it have to be checked as luggage). I am not sure if anyone has ever done this before, any advice would be appreciated. A picture of the buggy I mean can be found by following this link: http://www.touristinformationcentres.net/webshop/images/webshop/177/product/large/iCandy-Peach-Blossom-261.jpg In the picture above there are 3 versions of the pram, ours will be the one on the left hand side, with the infant car seat and toddler seat. I have written to Singapore Airlines and asked them, but their answer was not conclusive. They have come back to say if it is fully collapsable then I can take it up to the plane, but I am not sure if my pram qualifies as although the main frame collapses, it does also split into 3 parts with the car seat and toddler seat detatching and the frame then collapsing down. If anyone has any experience of trying to bring a pram like this on board a flight and can let me know if it is allowed, or if it will need to be checked in as baggage I would be very grateful! If I am not allowed to bring this to the plane I am not sure what I am going to do! Also, if I am not allowed to bring it on, does anyone know what the charge might be to have it checked in? Thanks in advance. Andrew

Hi The amount you can release in equity from your mortgage will be influenced by the LTV (value of loan vs value of property). So part of the decision may be influenced by you hitting a threshold in that respect. Equally, all though you may disagree, the fact that you and your partner own your own business will make you more of a risk in a lenders eyes so this could be a small part of the decision. Indeed the fact you are going to be residing outside the country also increases the risk posed to the lender, as does the fact you are renting your property out (if that is what you plan to do), so unfortunately in a lenders eyes you are probably not viewed to be low risk. Releasing equity is not something lenders are massively keen on these days compared to pre-crisis, as by it's very nature it is a higher risk than a standard mortgage etc. There are probably a number of reasons why you cannot find the provider, did the broker not outline some of the reasons they think are impacting your specific case? To be honest though, you describe a number of things that will be viewed as a higher risk to a lender than most, so when you put them all together it is perhaps not overly surprising that you may struggle to find a lender in this market. Your LTV is important though and you do not mention what that is. If it is still low after you release the equity you maybe could have expected to find something.

Hi Does anyone know what to do regarding insuring your dogs while they are in Quarantine? I am not sure how to go about making sure our two dogs are covered while they are in quarantine for 30 days, is this covered under a normal policy or are there any specialist providers? Thanks, Andrew

Sterling is at 1.725 on XE at the moment!

I don't think that there is any expectation that he will do anything to make things worse (more quant easing etc), if anything there is expected to be positive news on the growth of the services sector in the UK this week, which would have a positive impact. If you couple that with the expected decrease in base rate in Aus this week you could be forgiven for expecting the dollar to drop a reasonable amount in the coming week. That said, Carney is new, so somewhat of an unknown quantity, I am personally hoping for no curve balls!

I should add that one of the reasons why banks are not passing on interest rate cuts, is because they are being forced by governments to significantly increase their capital buffers, so therefore are having to use the difference in margin to enhance their liquidity in case there is another crisis. Another sensible precaution. But again, the banks are just evil. That's the easy answer.

Banks really can't win can they? Many people slate them for taking their eye off the risk ball during the credit crunch and blame the worlds ills on their ineptitude. Then they move to be more risk focused and knock things back (like the above) and again they get slated for not lending people money. The bottom line is that banks like lending people money. They make money from that, it is their bread and butter. If they choose not to lend the money there is normally a good reason for it. Maybe they feel over exposed to the minerals sector and are reducing lending in that arena to manage their exposure should a significant downturn in demand be seen in the coming years. If banks had of proactively done something like this in the housing market in places like Ireland and USA before the credit crunch, they would not have been in so much trouble. People are never happy though, and it is always the big bad bankers fault.

I am actually very surprised that something like this was not already in place. As far as I can understand this levy will be very similar to the financial services compensation scheme in the UK that protects deposits up to around £80k per institution. The fact that the govt of Aus had protected savings up to $250k without some kind of fund to pay up if things hit the fan is very strange, because ultimatley it would be the govt (or tax payers) who would of had to pay up if a bank had gone to the wall. I would be surprised if the banks in Aus directly passed on this cost to savers. I would expect them to do it in a more indirect way, with reductions in savings interest rates being more likely. I doubt even that would be the case to be honest, I would guess that most banks will just take the hit on the charge and watch it disappear in the rounding of their balance sheets. Given that the charge is very slight at a customer level, it would be hard to explain to a customer why they would be taking the direct hit on their savings. It is almost not worth it from an institutions perspective. Regardless of the above, this is actually a very sensible precaution and if anything the shocking thing is that a guarantee was in place with no fund to support it.

Hi. Does the no turbos rule apply to over 25s? I was not aware of that one, and it is a pain in the neck. My wife is going to have to learn to drive in Victoria so it would be good to know more info. She will only drive an Auto though, and has had some lessons in the UK but not many. Cheers.

That would be fraud. Not naughty, FRAUD. A crime the same as robbing an old lady in the street, so I would suggest you do not do that.

Hi. You are definitely not going to get your payments back from the insurer Jessie, it is your responsibility to keep meeting the requirements of the policy so refunding you any money would go against the treating customers fairly regulations that require each customer who is in an identical situation be treated the same. If they gave you money back they would have to do it to everyone who either purposefully or accidentally breached the terms of their agreement. That would be financial suicide. That said, one tact I see people using all the time is threatening to take their case to the regulator, in some instances financial services firms will pay you something to prevent that as every complaint to a regulator carries quite a high cost to the provider (many hundreds of pounds regardless of whether it is a fair complaint or not). This is of course a long shot, and really they should not do this as they are not at all in the wrong in this scenario, but you never know. The other thing to do is write straight to the chief executive, not the normal route through the complaints team. You would be amazed at the impact this can have at times... The alternative (if you want to keep your cover) is to write to them and explain a change in your circumstances that means you are now living outside the UK to see if they can amend the policy to allow this. I think you have more chance of this as you are living in country that is not dangerous and has good health services, so it may not be viewed as a significantly enhanced risk for the provider. They may charge you more, but at least you would not lose all the premiums you have paid in and still have cover. Keeping in mind that if you tried to take out a new policy now, you are older than when you took it out, and as such a much higher risk for a life policy. A new policy (depending on your age) may be too high a cost to worth paying. Did you not change your contact details with them when you moved to Australia? I would have thought you would have to do that to receive the annual statement you would most likely recieve to reconfirm premiums etc. If you did change your address to Aus and they did not pull you up on it, maybe then you have a case...

I used go walkabout. They insure your travel and medical cover for the 1st 21 days you are there. Very reasonably priced, for our family of 4 it was about £90.

I know, if I was him I would not get excited about it and stick to counting all the money I have saved by not moving to Australia.

Aw well. I happen to know a reasonable amount about the report they are referencing. So I honestly would not be getting overly excited. There is potential that some of the government measures to increase demand will have some impact on prices in time, but mostly because people will feel that they can start charging more because of the new initiatives, not because people generally have more money to spend. There may be some small rises in prices in certain pockets of the country, but nothing really to write home about. The good news if anything is that we would not expect to see price falls in the coming months as things have at least stabilised. Growth will be slow though, so you are not all of a sudden going to make a fortune. Lenders have also not changed their risk appetite so loads of people are not all of a sudden start getting accepted (govt guarantees aside) who recently would have been declined. You are also not going to see a flood of 100% mortgages so people still need a very significant deposit to buy compared to the pre crisis days. That said there are green shoots in the lending markets, more specifically in the unsecured space. For the first time in a very long time we are starting to see some positive growth in unsecured lending which suggests people are starting to feel a bit more confident about borrowing again. So that is good as it suggests some of the storm clouds are lifting somewhat. I am not raining on the parade here, things are looking better, but at the same time I would not be expecting to all of a sudden get a fortune for your property compared to what you would have got a few months ago. You won't.