Wendy Knowler's Consumer Hacks: Debt review warning
Discover the benefits of lay-by shopping, how car polish can save your coastal appliances, and stay vigilant against debt review pitfalls. Here are this week’s Consumer Hacks from Wendy Knowler.
1. Just say no
A despicable abuse of the debt review process is happening on a wide scale - consumers are being tricked into going under debt review, despite the fact that they are not over-indebted - which is a key requirement to qualify for this legal means of getting out of debt. And then they face a massive, expensive battle to get out of debt review. So if someone calls you and starts promising that they can dramatically reduce your monthly repayments, please end the call immediately.
2. For the love of lay-by
Can’t get access to credit because you’re blacklisted or under debt review? Why not lay-by? Thanks to the CPA, it’s an incredibly consumer friendly way to buy. You choose an item and pay it off every month, with no interest added. Best of all, you can change your mind and cancel a lay-by at any time, and the store must refund what you’ve paid up to that point, minus just 1% of the retail price as a cancellation penalty.
3. Put car polish where?
One of the downsides of living at the coast is that our appliances are prone to rust, and rust - corrosion - is not covered by warranties. Margaret Hirsch of homeware retailer Hirsch’s has this advice: apply car polish to your metal appliances once a month. “They will always look good and will last twice as long.”
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Contact Wendy Knowler:
Get in touch with Wendy via her website or her Facebook page. Please note that Wendy is not able to personally respond to every email she receives. If she is able to take up your case, she will contact you directly. Here are other avenues for you to consider.