titbits

Some titbits......

(Huh-huh-huh, I said "bits", huh-huh-huh, that was cool!)

I've changed my car insurance from Direct Line to Esure - they were at least £100 cheaper for my annual premium. I paid the lot in one go, therefore bypassing a lot of extra charges that these companies charge at their whim. Because I'm generally a stupid person, I never cottoned on to the fact that because I was paying them monthly, they charged me the annual premium as a credit agreement with 10% APR on top of that, plus a "administration" charge for paying monthly. All very legal, and all ethically and morally bankrupt. Which is how all these insurance firms should end up!

Secondly, and again because I have less brains than a chicken sandwich, I've finally ridden myself of the £19 per month I was paying for Personal Loan Protection insurance on top of my bank loan repayments. There's a whole industry in the U.K (and elsewhere) to sue banks over mis-selling PLPI, and I'm sure there's folk out there who have a case. But I knew I was taking the insurance out when I got this bank loan, and I would never try to make out otherwise.

Even when I was on the dole, I never used the insurance, which I doubt they'd have paid out anyway, so there was little use having it. Even so, I'm sorry to say I've paid a lot of money over the years that I shouldn't have. I'm embarrassed more than anything, so I'd rather brush it under the floorboards, spank my bottom, and get on with my life.

A word about my bank loan. It finishes next March. I will then, for the first time in many, many years, be a free man who doesn't owe anybody a penny. Some of this debt goes back to Irish times, and I'm particularly keen to see it end.