7 | STT.ai

0:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

we'll kick off but uh do do stop me do veer in any direction you want that's that's fine so just kind of wanted to start off by just noting like when you think about kind of the financial system so like banks and credit cards and kind of apps and anything in that space um how do you find using them like are you able to use them if not why not um kind of what's what's been your experience there

0:30

S… Speaker 3 (7)

Are we talking about internet banking? Yeah, we can talk about internet banking as part of that, yeah. I find internet banking quite easy because they're shutting down so many branches now. It's very difficult to actually go in branch. Anyway, but I found out something today that's interesting. Say it was Yorkshire Building Society. Because everyone's making a big hype because it's obviously the financial year has just started, hasn't it?

1:00

S… Speaker 3 (7)

But I didn't realise that if you go in branch, the interest rate for opening up an ISA is different if you open it up online. And that's never made clear. These big banks and buildings don't make that clear to people, do they? Because there's a lot of people that can't.

1:20

S… Speaker 3 (7)

get onto the internet for one reason or another but they never say to you oh if you open it up online you'll get one percent more than if you come in branch and open up I never knew that until today something I learned today which is a bit naughty really I think yeah yeah no and that this happened

1:42

S… Speaker 1 (7)

that as a kind of challenge of almost like digital exclusion almost some people that aren't able to use it on online glad to hear that you find kind of internet banking works okay for you though do you how how about you steven you were kind of nodding in in agreement with some of that yeah um i find internet banking is quite good as well but we're going to move off to one of the other things as well ferret card basically right

2:12

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I think I've discussed it before with credit cards. When I came debt free, the amount of credit card companies who I had debt with then said, oh, we can up your card to this. We can up your card to this. Bankless was the worst credit card company because they said, oh, we can make you platinum. They're trying to pull you into more debt, you know, and I don't want that. So I kind of like...

2:42

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Obviously, I knew it was for them, so I put return to sender on the credit cards and then they phoned me. Oh, have you moved address? Because your address is, we've received your credit card back because I don't want it. So, stop trying to put... So, obviously, all these credit card companies want to get you back again, I think. And I don't want that, so...

3:19

S… Speaker 2 (7)

So I've not had any more correspondence from... So the correspondence with them, it's like they've kind of backed off now because they can see that I'm not interested in anything like that. So internet banking is quite good as well because you can see what's going on, what else is going on as well.

3:51

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I find internet banking is quite good as well to see what's coming in and what's going out. I've always said when I came out of debt, I've still got three bank accounts open. So one bank account is my main one where money comes in, but there's so much money comes out of that main one in my second bank account for the rainy day funds and then there's another one goes into the other ones for my direct debits.

4:20

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So that all comes, so I find it easier that way, with the financial things there. Yeah, I'm glad that you found a way then of being able to kind of manage your money with that. And you mentioned them being like...

4:36

S… Speaker 1 (7)

reaching out to the the credit card company off the back of that and kind of answering their call of saying I don't I don't want to um to be offered any any further when you when you have spoken to kind of banks or different credit card providers this throwing out to others as well like how have you found that engagement have you kind of have you struggled have you felt heard have they used any language

5:00

S… Speaker 2 (7)

that you didn't kind of well nationwide who i'm with they know that i'm i became debt free so now nationwide it's now sending me emails take a loan out with them or take a credit card with them and i'm like no i'm not getting myself into that and i've opted after obviously i've put um i went to the nationwide um last week and i spoke to them and they said what we'll do is um we'll take you off the mailing list

5:32

S… Speaker 2 (7)

So that's what they've done now. So I won't get any text messages, phone calls, emails asking me to take another bank account with them, like a credit card or take a loan with them. So it's quite good that way that they can listen to that. Because if you're getting bombarded every minute of the day with credit cards or banks trying to get you to... So you're off the mailing list. So that makes my life a bit more easier.

6:04

S… Speaker 2 (7)

So I don't have this temptation that, oh yeah, they're going to get me a credit card. Alright, okay, it's going to be this. No, I'm not with the temptation there. I mean, as I say as well, my other bank accounts I've got, it's good that I've got a savings pot there that I can fall into. So if I need something like a new sofa, go check that, see how much money's in that account. Okay, I buy that sofa. I've got the money there. Because I'm not falling into that trap again.

6:34

S… Speaker 2 (7)

where a 3p suite would cost you £1,000 in the shop, but then when you get it home, it's fine. But then, before you know it, your 3p suite costs you maybe two and a half grand because of the amount of finance. Because you're never paying the finance off. You're never paying that sofa off. Because what you're doing is every month, you're just paying the interest rate every month. But that's another thing. Interest rates is a nightmare because...

7:04

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Sometimes when you go and get something that says it's 20% APR. So that's fine. But then, so they say, oh, your monthly payment's £45. So you go, that's good. But then the following month, there's £55 came out. Then there's a £60 come out after that. So you're like, wait a minute. So you go out and talk to them about it. You told me it's going to be £45 a month. But interest rates went high. And then some months it comes more.

7:34

S… Speaker 2 (7)

And that's the bit where I find that people get into debt so easy. Because these interest companies, they don't care about people going into poverty. Because what happens if you've got £45, you know it's £45. They take £65 at your bank account, but you've only got £45 there. But you've got a bank charge on top of that as well. And banks...

8:02

S… Speaker 3 (7)

It's just a nightmare, isn't it? Yeah. And as you noted, like often there's, if you can't pay that initial amount, then you actually end up having to pay more over time as it's kind of spread over there.

8:15

S… Speaker 3 (7)

Paul, just wondering from your experience as well, have you ever felt kind of locked out from any services? Like, have you been refused kind of bank accounts or not been able to use cash at a shop? What's been your experience of anything that's been mentioned so far or anything else? Oh, I think you're on mute, Paul.

8:43

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah, but no problems with opening bank accounts. Online banking I find very useful. You know, the senior payments, you transfer money, you could do all stuff like that. But before that, I was doing a lot of things manually, you know. That's before I knew about internet banking. You know, going to the post office, paying the rent, all the stupid things like that, you know. Just wasting time and queues. And I could be on the app just doing simple things, you know, so.

9:10

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Online banking is very good for me. I can't remember the last I was in my branch. Must have been some years, you know, years since I've been in the branch. Everything's just on mine now, you know, so, yeah. And do you feel like you would be able to kind of access the support that you need now that it's kind of, a lot of it's online? Yeah, I can speak to the banks, you know. I can speak. I can even message what you don't like doing or I can speak on the phone.

9:38

S… Speaker 3 (7)

yeah yeah great and then there was kind of mention as well that um like just that steven's brought up of of that sense of kind of the savings and if you've got savings and being able to or access to kind of extra pots of money uh able to pay pay that got three accounts like steve got three accounts

10:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

I've got my account where the money comes out and I've just got some extra account that's just there at the moment. So I pay my bills between the first and the fifth of each month, calculate what's going to go out and what's going to be left. What's left for myself, I'll just transfer it to the other account and what's the bills in the other account so I can just come out and just keep things simple.

10:25

S… Speaker 2 (7)

It's simple. Yeah, great that, again, that system's working for you too. Vicky, what's been your experience as well? Well, I had a bad experience with a bank when I was rock bottom. Cap asked me to go in and open up a bank account, and it was like a basic bank account because I didn't have a very good credit score.

10:54

S… Speaker 2 (7)

And I found that really difficult when you haven't got a credit score. So I went in, I had my appointment and they weren't very nice to me. As soon as they went in, they said, oh, we've got this, we've got this and this. I said, well, I need a basic one because I've got no money. And her attitude changed from me to the point where I left.

11:23

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I said, I'm sorry, I can't do this. I left. I got on the table and told her what had happened. She was very cross, very cross the way I've been treated. I was made to feel really small and uncomfortable. Anyway, I rang Sally.

11:46

S… Speaker 2 (7)

She then made, we made an appointment and we went to NatWest and opened a bank there and they were brilliant. We went in and we said, right, she's got no money. This is the situation. We're working with Kat. They've been asked, no, no problem at all. Absolutely fine. But the one, this was Santander I went into and they, seriously, I can see why people.

12:10

S… Speaker 2 (7)

crack up sometimes when you've got no money and no credit score and that's another thing credit score my gosh i get emails every single day from clear score and credit score saying because you've got no credit cards you're never going to have a good credit score and they're almost like trying to bully you in to taking one out just take one out just apply for you don't need to use it just take it out and then

12:38

S… Speaker 1 (7)

The temptation, the temptation is terrible. It's almost like you've been bullied into doing it because they're going to give you a low score until you do. You're stuck, aren't you? I don't want a credit card. Not since I've become debt-free with CAP. I'll never have a credit card again. No, it's the same year, Vicky. I wouldn't have another credit card in my life. Never. You get bullied, don't you? They're bullying you. Time bully you into getting... How do you get the... They're just when you actually send it back.

13:11

S… Speaker 1 (7)

tell them because you know it's a credit card you send it back return to sender when they're trying to phone you and say oh we've received your credit card back have you moved address and i'm like my question i'm like i could lie to them and say yeah i've moved the dress and i'm giving you my new address or something you know but no i try and be tripping with my words i don't want it you keep sending your credit cards to me you'll just get them returned back and send them

13:42

S… Speaker 3 (7)

yeah as you say like obviously you've got the kind of credit score element where um there is a lot of kind of forcing of credit cards and things has there been anything else any other kind of experiences that that you've found it's been harder um if you can haven't had enough kind of money coming in go on what's been your experience

14:11

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Onto the credit card thing. I was told I couldn't hire a car because I didn't have a credit card. So I didn't have a car and I needed a car and I had to hire one. But because I didn't have a credit card, they wouldn't let me hire it. I couldn't pay cash. They wouldn't accept that. It had to be done on a credit card. So there's a lot of things that you can't do when you haven't got credit. And yeah.

14:39

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Sorry, it's got that out there. Yeah, definitely. Have there been any other things like that? Bank statements. This is another thing. Bank statements, right? I don't know what bank views are worth, but my bank, they charge you £5 for a statement. They get sent in it once a month. We nationwide charge.

15:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

£35 so they can get you and send a bank statement to you for months but i said no i didn't want that i'm happy with just checking my online bank just to check how much is there i could check my bank balance all the time or if i want to go in and see like what i've paid out to someone that's another thing as well but i don't know about i mean i don't know how banks can i think it's obviously you send a bank statement that yeah it's fine but if you do need a bank statement

15:30

S… Speaker 2 (7)

You can always go to the bank and they'll print one out for you if you need one. Yeah, because often you do need to have some sort of proof of address and there's the assumption that you'll have kind of a bank statement as one of them. Is there anything else like the kind of sense of the hiring a car that you've been kind of excluded from?

15:55

S… Speaker 3 (7)

by because of kind of bad credit scores or not having kind of enough money up front that you found yeah petrol pumps some petrol pumps where you have to have a hundred pounds in your bank before they let you get petrol what's that all about I never understood that one and then they keep it pending they keep it pending for ages

16:22

S… Speaker 3 (7)

So not only do they take your £20 out that you've used to put in your car, the £100 is still pending and it takes days for that £100 to then go back into your account. It's showing a deficit on your account. So if you then have a direct debit that's coming out, the bank says, sorry, you haven't got enough money in your bank, this £34, because I have got enough money in there.

16:49

S… Speaker 3 (7)

Sainsbury's or Tesco's or whoever it was I can't remember hanging on to my money and I can't now pay my direct debit so I then get told get a fine from the bank because but it wasn't my fault so I don't know why these big companies do that to people yeah

17:12

S… Speaker 2 (7)

yeah no that's a really really great example as like paul have you have you got any other kind of examples of things that that you have found more difficult if you haven't had kind of savings or or kind of credit or enough upfront money you're on mute at the moment i think that's all i apologize for the noise at the back of the change rooms you know it's a bit quieter innit um so if you repeat what you said there before uh just wondering like if you have have

17:46

S… Speaker 2 (7)

kind of felt excluded or not being able to access something because you haven't necessarily had kind of a good credit score or enough kind of initial upfront money or savings um have you kind of felt found that there's kind of what we sometimes call a poverty premium so like a higher amount or that you've had to pay or been excluded at all um well like my experience is none

18:14

S… Speaker 3 (7)

Well, that's good news. We want the answer to be no, but the reality is that it's not always the case, but I'm glad that that has been for you. Oil prices, that's a good example. When oil's, right, heating oil, so it's at the lowest, it goes drop down really low and everyone's going, oh yeah, yeah, fill up your tank, fill up your tank. But when you haven't got any money...

18:40

S… Speaker 3 (7)

You haven't got the money there to fill the tank up during the summer, whenever it is, when it's lowest. So when it comes to winter, when the prices have shut up and you've got money, you're paying higher premium. But if you'd had that savings, you could have filled your tank up when it was low. Do you know? Yeah. Yeah.

19:04

S… Speaker 1 (7)

That's one that always used to hit me, was oil. I didn't have the money to fill my tank up when it was lowest. I had to fill my tank up when I had the money. And that wasn't always, yeah. I was going to say, where things have been easier for me, because I get a lot of help, you see, it's not just where I live. It's like all our bankers as well, because I've got my disabilities that help me with that, you know, electricity, I get a lot of help, you know, so, you know.

19:34

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Yeah, and I'm positive to hear that, yeah, you're able to have that disability support so that that, that you're off. Yeah, it'd be a lot tougher, you know, a lot tougher money. And just thinking of the kind of, yeah, the mental load, mental energy it takes to sometimes be juggling those pots of money. A couple of you have mentioned having three different accounts and thinking about kind of the...

20:00

S… Speaker 3 (7)

logistics so how much mental energy do you spend thinking about managing your money so kind of that sense of like checking um your bank uh balances or moving money around or to avoid fees no i just do my once a month just the calculations of what's like rent and all the other bills just get them out of the way with and others

20:24

S… Speaker 2 (7)

spend what I've got left for myself, which I do put some away, and the rest is for food and whatever I want to do with it, you know, so, yeah. I think that's where internet banking is a bonus, because you can keep track of your money daily, whereas before, you'd have to go into town, get a mini-statement, oh my gosh, the dreaded mini-statement, and go through it all.

20:51

S… Speaker 2 (7)

But I think today is a lot better with the internet banking because, and it's so easy to just transfer money across. So I normally get notifications from the nationwide saying, oh, you haven't got enough money to cover this direct debit. I forgot about that. You've got to pay it by 2.30. So they do give you a warning, which I think is absolutely brilliant because I've got a bit of menopause going on and I forget things.

21:19

S… Speaker 2 (7)

So I've got a bank account where all my direct debits come out. But I don't keep much money in there because I got caught from someone trying to take money from my account. And luckily Nationwide stopped it. It was like £800. And they stopped it. But now I'm paranoid. So I keep the bulk of my money in another Nationwide account. It's like a savings account.

21:52

S… Speaker 2 (7)

And I just then transfer straight away the money. When you say, so when Julian said something about why we get penalised, Nationwide also, I don't know if you're all aware, but they give you a £100 loyalty payment. But you've got to have £100 in a savings account.

22:18

S… Speaker 2 (7)

to get that £100 bonus. And I think a lot of people like myself, when we had no money, were penalised because we didn't have £100 spare to sit in a savings account. So we lost out on that bonus. So they were basically paying people that had loads of money, giving them £100. Whereas they should have said, actually, you've got nothing in your savings. Maybe we'll give you £100 and not...

22:48

S… Speaker 2 (7)

The richer people. So, yeah, you're penalised in that way, I think, if you haven't got the money to get that. But even though I've been a customer of theirs for 30 years, I missed out on that £100 bonus scheme that they do. They've been doing it quite a few years now because I didn't have £100 in my savings account. Yeah, that's another really kind of strong example. Sorry, go for it, Paul. You were going to say something. No, I was on to say my throat.

23:18

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah. Is there anything else, like Stephen, on any of those kind of topics that you wanted to add there? I'm like Paul as well with the electric, because my houses are electric. But it's like I pay £40 a month for my house for electric. But then I'm on this royalty scheme where they pay me back. So it's like I check my... I check my...

23:50

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Scottish Power thing this morning in my account and I was like you know what I'm going to just I'm going to phone them up one day and ask for that money out because there's quite there's £800 in there about £800 saved up with Scottish Power and that's almost since October last year because you get the you get a loyalty you get loyalty points with Scottish Power and you get the cheap electricity rate as well so

24:23

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So you get eight hours of cheap electricity. So they ask you to pick the days you want it. Well, I'm hardly in the house during the day anyway. So what I do is I say, right, I'll take it Monday 7th till 9th. Tuesday 7th till 9th. You know, I have to do it that way. Because at the weekend on a Saturday and Sunday, you get half price electric all day. It was quite good because...

24:54

S… Speaker 1 (7)

We had the bank order to feed it. And I was getting...

25:00

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I was getting half price electricity on Friday's card on Sunday and Monday. And I was like, I checked it and I was like, you've only used £12.50 this month for the electric. You've only used water. I went, that's quite good. But what's it going to be like in the summertime? Because I'm not going to be using much electric in the summer.

25:23

S… Speaker 1 (7)

You know, and it's just one of those things, eh? And I suppose that opens up another question of just how much do you find that you are trying to kind of cut costs or kind of go without things like heating or, like, yeah, what's been your experience there? I mean, trying to cut costs is how you try to budget better. And since I came, obviously, when I was in debt, I was trying to budget more. But since I came debt free in October...

25:56

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I've never went back to my old ways of maybe saying, well, since I'm debt free, instead of this going to be this a month, I'm going to maybe up to £40 a month. But if not, I've just kept it the same way all through. And my hot water tank, well, it's a tank of water I've got there. So what happens is I get a notification on the board thing to tell me that my tank's about to be empty.

26:28

S… Speaker 2 (7)

So I fill tank in there for what water does me for about four or five months. So then I don't have much water. My water bill's not the same. Well, it's always the same. But then when you have to top up a tank with water, your water bill goes higher because you're filling the tank up with water. So I got an email this morning from, well, last week from the water board and they said to me, oh,

27:03

S… Speaker 2 (7)

We have noticed that we need to put your diary debit up from £32.99 a month up to £52 a month because you've used an X amount of water. But when I spoke to the water board and explained to them, yeah, the reason why it could be high, because I've got to top up my tank with 500 litres of water.

27:30

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah, and almost that's going to be spike rather than it being kind of gradual over the months. Yeah, so you've got to fill that tank with water and it's a nightmare because you've got to try and find the hose that attaches to the water thing into the tank or it can be a nightmare because one night in the shower, the water ain't cold.

27:57

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Oh no, it's happened here. I looked at the board and it was like saying, no hot water. So you would think it'd be a combi thing, but being all electric, but it's not. You've got a separate water tank to fill up.

28:16

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah, and that does mean also, like, as you say, that if it's not gradual over the same amount every month that you're paying, then that could be difficult to kind of budget with that. Yeah, so I would say 500 litres of water does about, what, six, seven months. Yeah. Of course, with a shower.

28:40

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So when people will be standing in the shower for 20 minutes or something, I'm in the shower for five minutes max and straight back out. I've actually got a stop-water in my shower on the wall. I'm taking myself in the shower so I'm back out. Yeah, well, that's how you've managed to save the water. Vicky, you were kind of nodding when I asked the question. What were your thoughts there?

29:08

S… Speaker 3 (7)

The thing that they, you know, you mentioned something about how does this affect you mentally, being poor. My biggest thing was my car. I couldn't afford to run my car. I couldn't afford to, I had to make sacrifices. So my car was my sacrifice. It was either that or freeze to death and not boil oil. And that was my biggest mental, because I couldn't get out.

29:36

S… Speaker 3 (7)

We only had a bus once a week in my village. So that was a Wednesday morning. So my only day out, my friends used to laugh at me, oh, you're going into town on Wednesday? Because they didn't know the full extent of my problem. So that was my one day out a week.

30:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

and the things I missed out on because I didn't have a car I couldn't get where my friends were meeting up we're going out oh I can't come sorry I'd make I always used to find myself making excuses for not going out not oh sorry I can't come out because I haven't got a car or I can't afford to run my car so that my mental health really suffered

30:24

S… Speaker 1 (7)

because I could not run my car. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd had buses every day, but because they only had one bus a week, and they say, oh, you know, use public transport, but they don't supply public transport in some of these rural villages, so you're stuck. So my mental health really did suffer, really did suffer from not being able to afford a car. It's not just the tax, it was the insurance and petrol.

30:56

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So in the end, that went. I didn't have a car at all. Now you're debt-free, but still living on quite a tight budget. What's been your experience now? Have you been able to run your car now? It's got worse than petrol. No, I must admit, since being debt-free...

31:25

S… Speaker 1 (7)

My mental health has improved drastically. You know when you go to the doctor and you say, oh, you're depressed, let's give you some tablets. And I say, but it's not going to go because the mothership is still there, the debt is still there. You can't just give me a tablet and think I'm going to wake up in the morning and go, oh, great, I've got no money, but I'm happy.

31:49

S… Speaker 1 (7)

It doesn't work like that, you know, and doctors don't see that. They just think, oh, give her a pill, send her home, she'll be fine. But until, and I didn't realise how suppressed I was until I became debt-free and then I can sleep. Oh my God, I can look at my emails. Oh, I don't care what comes through the door.

32:15

S… Speaker 1 (7)

when I was getting threatening letters and emails and all these things going on, when you haven't got money, you're in a really dark place. And you don't know how dark until the light shines through again and you're free of that. And then it's almost like, whoa, I can breathe. I can do things that I couldn't do before. And I almost felt like I was being punished.

32:46

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Because I was poor. I felt like I was being punished. I felt that people looked down at me, like banks, particularly, you know, because you're going in there saying, I need an account and I'm poor. They just looked at you and said, well, we've got nothing really to offer you. But now they're all wanting my business, you know. Oh, open an account with us. We can offer you this now. And it's like, you know what? No. No.

33:18

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So, yeah, my mental health was, I didn't realise how bad it was until I became debt-free. And even now I've got money, I still can't be. I was just going to say, Vicky, that I think, you know, I've definitely noticed you've changed over the time, like, of us working. Because it hasn't been all that long, really, has it? I mean, I think you went debt-free at a similar time to Steve. I think me and you came debt-free at the same time in October.

33:50

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Similar or just before then and yeah, there's definitely less of a wait. It's the sleep, it's the sleep. Being able to go to sleep without that worry and then wake up in the morning without that worry. I hadn't slept for years and I didn't realise how much I'd missed my sleep until I got full night's sleep.

34:20

S… Speaker 1 (7)

And I remember saying to the person that rang me from CAP and they said, whoa, you're debt free. And I said, you know what I'm going to do now? I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go and have a sleep. And it was the best night's sleep I'd had for years. But even now I still worry. I still think, oh, is something going to suddenly happen where I've missed something and somebody wants more money off me? I still get that in the back of my head, but it's not.

34:54

S… Speaker 2 (7)

You can have that money, you can do things, you know.

35:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

with my daughter for my 60th birthday in June. Yay!

35:07

S… Speaker 3 (7)

How wonderful. And as you say, I'm so glad that kind of that mental weight has been kind of taken off your shoulders and you're able to kind of rest. And it, yeah, kind of must be such a difficult period. And Stephen, Paul, is there anything that you wanted to kind of share on your experience, whether you kind of resonate with any of what Vicky said at all?

35:31

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Even now, I'm still feeling energized. Even from back in 2016 when I was debt free. I'm still feeling it now. I'm still evolving. Still evolving through it. I'm still feeling it, man. Lovely. Yeah. Yeah, for me, I feel much better now because I'm debt free. I mean, I can actually... I don't need to think about, like, can I afford this or can I not afford this? Like, to go to events or something like that.

35:59

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I mean, I don't need to think twice. Just go on, book a train ticket, book a hotel, and off I go. But see, when I was in debt, I could never do that. I could never get up and say, oh, alright, I can't afford to go, I'm not going to bother. I was like, nah, but now I can just go online, book my tickets, book a hotel, and off I go, which I enjoy.

36:28

S… Speaker 3 (7)

Yeah, wonderful. It's given that freedom to spend the money that you need to spend on those essential things, but without having to overthink it and balance it so much. Yeah, because this month I've got two shows I'm going to go to this month. So it's good. I've got that. I've booked a hotel for the night as well. Before I could never do that, I could never book hotels and bookstores.

36:55

S… Speaker 2 (7)

I can do it now. I just go on and say that I can do it. There you go. I'm away. Last minute things as well I can do last minute. Like a couple of weeks ago, I went to stewardship in London and I liked that there as well. Yeah, and able to go for those. Wonderful. Yeah, I could just afford a ticket to go to London, go to the hotel for the night. I enjoyed it because I learned quite a bit more.

37:29

S… Speaker 3 (7)

so noting i don't want to kind of take up all of your your afternoon so just kind of a few more thoughts that i was having of things to pick up on but if you could kind of change change one thing um about kind of the society that we're we're in or like design a bank from scratch um that's kind of better supporting people on on lower incomes or who've maybe

37:56

S… Speaker 1 (7)

kind of experience debt or financial difficulty what what would be the things that you want to change compassion in bank a bit more compassionate and um maybe have people that have been in debt work with people that are in debt you know that's what i always say about these mps they're all all these prime millionaires all got all this money how can they even

38:31

S… Speaker 1 (7)

begin to understand what's going on in the real world with people that can't afford food and stuff? How can they even begin to understand? So I think they should have people, like say, if I could open up a bank, I would open up a bank and it would be everybody welcome, a little room where you could go and leave them in private and don't judge them. So Kat, you could run a bank because you're like...

39:01

S… Speaker 1 (7)

amazing you don't look down on people you don't you look you talk to people and you're it's the honesty and the caring you know people when i was having money i was scared i was scared to go into banks scared to do those things so yeah if i could run a bank it would be compassion would be and yeah my bank would be called the compassionate bank

39:36

S… Speaker 1 (7)

I think we'd all be banking with you. That sounds like a lovely initiative. Give some of the profit to the people that haven't got money. Stop giving these fair share things to people that have got money. Maybe give the fair share to people that haven't got money.

40:00

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Well, for me being out of debt is because I'm actually helping other people as well who are struggling. They actually kind of work out and they actually cut costs and things. But I would say someone, I mean, I'm not that kind of person who applies to friends. I just couldn't work with a friend on their own budget because it's no matter where they see what they've got.

40:35

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So I thought a friend of mine is carrying me and said, Stevie, I need help with budget. Can you help me? Yeah, but I don't want to see what's in your bank account. You can tell what you pay out every month and I'll see if I can help you on the costs with gas, electric or these things. It's difficult because I've been there, but I don't want to see a friend back down.

41:02

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah, which opens up that question. Do you think there's enough financial education available for people? Yeah, I don't. The thing is, as well, there's not really much out there because right now, I've seen a hangover sentence device in Wincolnshire. Sentence device have got a backlog in four months. They can't see people for four months. Sentence device.

41:35

S… Speaker 1 (7)

So it's, there's not many people, there's not many places out there that can help people. So there was some way out there that could maybe say, okay, we'll help you until certain device can get to you. And I know with Simon as well, his diary's full for about three, four months. So that's why if someone really needs help, I mean, I wouldn't say to get to changes because...

42:08

S… Speaker 1 (7)

They wouldn't be really the helpful people with me as they did that because they said, oh, you can sort a direct debit to them. You can pay your credit yourself. That's right. They take all your finances there. They sort it out. You pay CART whatever that is a month. Then they distribute it to the creditors, which is good. They changed on that as well.

42:39

S… Speaker 1 (7)

then I think it would make it a better place. And just more availability then of the level of support that would be helpful? There's not many support groups out there for people. I've noticed that, I mean, it opened my eyes as well to London. I would never have thought London was the highest poverty place.

43:12

S… Speaker 1 (7)

We heard with L.C. or Wind and City Mission where it's in, they've seen a lot of it at the moment and they're turning away people from going to a night cafe for food. They're turning people away every night because they're over full, you know?

43:35

S… Speaker 2 (7)

Yeah, definitely. And just, Paul, is there anything, any kind of changes that you'd want, and any kind of final comments, and then I promise to let you all go soon. What's going on here? Someone disappeared. Helen, yeah, you go for it. No, what of noise.

44:06

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Two food banks in my area are now closed. And we're on the brink of closing, you know. But we've managed to raise the funding to stay out in that over a six-week period. So we've managed to raise that money, you know. But I don't know what to say because there's a lot of bad things going on out there at the moment. I just don't know what to say, man. It's just bad all over, you know. Bad, bad, bad, bad. Just out there all over the country, man. You know, it's just bad, man. As bad as they're with poverty now, I mean,

44:44

S… Speaker 1 (7)

They were saying as well that they've got to turn people away because they've got a food place behind Waterway Station where people go in and there's 100 people goes there a night for food and there's 120 people turning up.

45:02

S… Speaker 2 (7)

It's the same people who go to the cafe every single night because they can't afford it. It's getting to the stage of London City Mission to say to people who's been gone for say six months, I'm sorry but you can't come in, you need to leave. They just say they don't like doing that because that's not what they're all about but they have to do something. Yeah, just the demand on the services, yeah. I'll tell you what I do know, there's a lot of restaurants that throw out a lot of food.

45:30

S… Speaker 2 (7)

at night which I couldn't actually feed people with because I used to work in catering and the amount of food we used to throw out at night because I fed a lot of people you know lots of people man and you see where I was in London I was at the babbican there was quite a few people there's one was and they were going into the Tesco's bins taking the stuff out of the bins yeah I was like wow

45:57

S… Speaker 1 (7)

definitely no and it is good that there are schemes like too good to go now that means that some people i love that one yeah it's a good one yeah people can people can access some some of the things kind of cheaper but but yeah there is so much demand on on the kind of support services vicky is there anything that you wanted to add and then and then we'll wrap up i don't think so

46:21

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Great. I think I've said too much. No, no, not at all. Not at all. No, because the whole point is that is I want to hear your experiences and your expertise. And so that is exactly what you've done. So you've done the right thing. So thank you all so, so much for your time. I really appreciated it. I'll hand over to you, Lydia. Thank you so much. Yeah, I was just going to say.

46:47

S… Speaker 1 (7)

I'm just offering it out if anyone would like to pray to close or if there's anything that anyone would like some prayer for. I would actually. I'll go after you. I do want to pray for my family in Dubai because it's quite bad over there. We're not seeing it all. We're not seeing all what's going on. They're living day and night with missiles all day and all night and they're not sleeping.

47:17

S… Speaker 1 (7)

Yeah.

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