Will REP, the Motor Trade Recruitment company cease trading?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by finance guy

Further to our article of 14th December 2011 in which we were able to bring you news of the Motor Trade Recruitment Specialists, REP who had been accused of miss-selling their franchise, we can now reveal more details, already in the public domain, which support the original claim.

We have been informed that one very dissatisfied franchisee who paid £5 K and more for the “privilege” of buying their Motor Trade Recruitment franchise package will meet the company in the Small Claims Court early in April this year.

That, as we have mentioned, is already in the public domain, but there are one or two things we believe which need to be addressed such as:-

1) Why, if this is a “virtual company” with no need for a terrestrial office, is their website down? The company site is http://www.repr.co.uk/  and has been “down” for up to a week. There are several good reasons for any website to be down for up to 24 hours, but a week? No technical or design problems we can think of takes a week to be resolved, and under the circumstances this appears as if they are shunning contact from the outside world.

2) Try to ring the company for any reason and you will find that your call goes straight to a mobile ‘phone – and it seems that the recipient of said ‘phone call does not reply.

3) We have seen a copy of their abbreviated accounts dated 31/03/2011 which do not make happy reading in anyone’s book. We quote from the abbreviated accounts for Designcourt Limited, Registered Number 07198552:-

“The Company is able to continue trading due to the support of its directors via undrawn directors loan accounts. On this basis the directors consider it appropriate to prepare financial statements on a going concern basis. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that would result from the withdrawal of this support.”

The same documents also states that a loan was made to the company by a Mr R.M.Barris who, according to the said accounts is now owed the sum of £18,508, so does this mean that if Mr Barris withdraws his considerale support the company will cease to trade, and if so, what will the disgruntled franchisee receive for his pains?

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Find me a gift for £2, she said!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by finance guy

We were still teenagers when my elder sister asked me to do her a favour one day when she was getting ready to go to a party and found that she had forgotten to get a present for her friend who was hosting the get together. “Find me a gift,” she said, “but don’t spend more than £2.”

To anyone reading this it must seem that my sister was/is a meany, but nothing is further from the truth because this occurred in 1965 and £2 was quite a substantial amount of money to spend on a small present.

How things have changed in that respect! When kids go to a birthday party these days they not only take a gift for the birthday boy or girl but they nearly always receive one in return! As parents we never could get out heads around that one.

Thankfully our kids have grown up and are 35 and 40 years old respectively, but I do know that if you have kids of your own these days you may damn nearly have to remortgage the house to buy presents and host a party!

 

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Have a rant – Part 1: Brussels + Immigrants

Posted on January 30, 2012 by finance guy

If you have been following the goings on with Brussels vs David Cameron then you may have been pleased to hear him telling off the unelected judges who rule on European Human Rights issues because they have some a definite bias towards seemingly anyone, illegal immigrants, criminals and any other low life tosspots who have a grudge against our country and who are really trying to make a great deal of money out of scurrilous issues with no outlay. But in their barely legal efforts to secure a ruling against the UK, and collect their payday bonus, they are aided by this aforesaid body of unelected judges.

If you feel as strongly about this as we do then please leave a printable comment and we will see it included in this blog, but please don’t just leave a one liner hoping for a link back because that just isn’t going to happen unless you leave something pertinent to the article, after all, this is a UK mortgage website really and not a political one.

Having said that last we noticed in the Press this morning that we should be giving more aid money to Somalia – that means the issue has already been decided and we will be giving more aid money to Somalia – which will promptly be seized by some warlords to buy munitions with which to kill other warlords and their rabble armies.

We are very much against this move because (in our opinion) nothing good ever came out of Somalia, and that includes all the workshy Somali immigrants we already have over here who take our benefits with open hands whilst at the same time dealing drugs. It may interest you to know that of all the ethnics we provide food, housing and benefits for in our fair land, the Somalis are the least likely to take up any “proper” work. Keep them in Africa where they belong!

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So many people still have no mortgage protection

Posted on January 27, 2012 by finance guy

It isn’t a topic which many people like except for insurance sales people perhaps, but when you contemplate the consequences  of becoming seriously ill for any length of time, or worse still, you or your money earning partner dies and you have no mortgage protection in place then where does that leave you?

Deep in it one would think. Deep in it without the necessary paddle with which to extricate oneself, and this sorry state could easily become even worse if you are unable to make your committed mortgage payments for any length of time. Looking at the worst scenario it is quite possible, or even probable that you could lose your home, and all that for the sake of a few pounds per week which could have been spent on mortgage insurance!

I know that when you are young (I was once) it is so easy to think that you are indestructible and that nothing serious will happen to you which could upset the financial applecart, and again, I thought that of myself years ago. A big, strong, fit chap who was at that time a 4th Dan Judo – what could life or anyone in particular throw at me that I couldn’t bat aside with ease?

How about a car smash? Yup, that brought me down to earth with a bang, after I got out of hospital that is. OK, I didn’t have a mortgage then, but neither was there any life insurance nor accident insurance in place, so yours truly was off work for many a week with no money coming in. That could have been and would have been so, so serious had I had a mortgage because there was no way I could have paid the installments for nigh on 6 months.

It is no skin off my nose if you don’t buy insurance to cover you and your partner in the event of being unable to pay your mortgage or remortgage installments but if you read this article and still don’t buy it then more fool you!

 

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Optimising our new website

Posted on January 27, 2012 by finance guy

Before we set up this site all sorts of people were offering all sorts of advice (I prefer to either pay for advice or ask for it from someone sensible, but I really, truly hate it being shoved down my throat) on all sorts of topics for which few of them were qualified to give an opinion. Having said that, there were some good ideas and one of them was to set up a mortgage broker directory; list companies on those pages and have them link back to one of our more important pages.

Good idea, thanks for that, and we have set it in motion already. Other than that we took advice from some experts in the finance business who suggested they are always in the market for leads for various things such as critical illness cover and life cover. Apparently both those two terms are “hot,” in their words.

The same company also put us straight on some other things such as what terms to optimise our home page for as prior to that I had gone for “UK mortgage” and was happy that after a short time the site had got to No 10 in the search engines for that term. It has since risen to No 6 but we found out later that only a few people search for that term.

So be it, I thought, and took more expert advice on the matter, and this time it made perfect sense to target search terms such as buy to let mortgage and remortgage. At least surfers are actually looking for those two!

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Should I take independent mortgage advice?

Posted on January 26, 2012 by finance guy

We do not impart financial advice as you may be aware, but still, the number of readers who mail in to us asking whether they need to employ a mortgage broker when looking to buy a new property and renew their mortgage is beyond belief. Because we are not governed in any way by the FSA we are not allowed to impart any advice, but I don’t think that we could possibly get into trouble if we answered their question by telling them to take professional advice like yesterday!

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense to use an impartial source when you are thinking of borrowing money because an independent mortgage broker for instance, will be able to show you a whole portfolio of mortgage products which are unavailable to the mortgage salesperson at your local branch.

Don’t think for a moment that we are knocking banks in any way, but you need to have the best deal available to you in this day and age and your bank is only going to put before you its own deals which do not normally allow you a deal of choice in the matter.

Do not be afraid to tell your bank that you have a better deal than they can offer; they will fully understand your position, and even though they won’t benefit from selling you a mortgage this time around they should be happy that you have gone about seeking one in a mature way and that you have taken professional independent mortgage advice.

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Have a whinge: Where does all your money go? Part 1

Posted on January 26, 2012 by finance guy

The latest news broadcast on UK TV last evening suggested that we are about to enter another recession, though there are some of us out here left wondering if we have groped our way out of the first one yet! The so called “experts” call this a Double Dip and it is seriously bad news for us as a country. Lots and lots of people who were just hoping the economy was getting straight so they could move house or buy a boat or whatever now see themselves staying put and applying for a remortgage to add an extra room onto their house instead.

So what do we who are affected by a double dip suggest our Government does about this pretty awful situation? Well, there are a few who think we don’t give enough in Foreign aid and recommend that this be increased because the poor in Africa and other third world countries are starving, but sadly, that situation won’t alter however much money you throw at them; it’s akin to casting pearls before swine, and it does no good for our economy.

We believe that the £10 billion or so we waste on Foreign Aid could be better used to help our economy back home, after all if we send it to Africa it will be seized by warlords to buy weapons which in turn will be used to blow each other to Hell and back. Poor countries can always afford to buy expensive weaponry whilst at the same time are unable to feed their own people.

We need to make our economy safe and sound before giving away the crown jewels, and this also applies to the very out of control immigration in the UK; why should we provide benefits and housing for an untold number of immigrants who have never paid a penny into our system? What right have they to sponge off us, especially at a time when we need that housing for more deserving people, and we certainly need to money we waste on them for other purposes.

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No wonder it’s called the Mortgage Maze

Posted on January 25, 2012 by finance guy

As one takes a gentle wander through the Mortgage Maze, and by that I mean having a look at the multi-various mortgage products on offer nowadays available to anyone daft enough to go it alone in this jungle, I was surprised that there are still people who do just that instead of employing the more or less free services of a qualified mortgage broker.

Well the word “free” is a misnomer because everything in this business comes with a cost, but in this case the broker deals with the lender and takes a fee from them, so in effect their costs are included in what you eventually repay the mortgage lender. That is really by the by so far as this article is concerned because we have just taken the first steps with our new website to set up a free mortgage broker directory, and we would like to list as many UK brokers as possible during the next few months.

A similar facility will be available to companies which offer mortgage advice to their clients in one way or another, but in reality those two groups may well include the same entities.

Our main efforts as we see them are to provide a shoe in for companies in the finance business who are seeking leads, and to that end we are, after some lengthy mistakes, really optimizing our home page for the remortgage and buy to let mortgage market.

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The cost of summer holidays is now well beyond the pale

Posted on January 25, 2012 by finance guy

We were all sat round the fire the other night in a family group discussing possible venues for our summer holidays in June. My wife and daughter had been out shopping that day and had collected a goodly supply of holiday brochures from any tourist operator shop they passed en route, and believe me when I say they must have cleared the shelves! That apart, I became sadder and sadder as I looked through the brochures that evening because they were all so expensive, and the thought struck me that it may be necessary to remortgage in order to afford a couple of weeks somewhere nice and warm!

Places I would very much like to visit are Sweden, Norway, in fact most of Scandinavia, but they are all astronomically expensive when you get there. Probably that has something to do with their high standard of living but I’m afraid that the combined costs of holiday and spending money for us all made things just a tad too much in a year when we are trying to tighten the belt a little.

Working on the LL Mortgages Directory has meant spending a great deal more time in the office trying to enhance all the pages, and especially the one for people seeking a mortgage quote. The mortgage business went down the pan some years ago as you are most probably aware, and mortgage brokers are really only seeking leads for such things as buy to let mortgages, remortgages, commercial mortgages and ones for the first time buyer – if any of those poor people still exist.

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What are they for?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by finance guy

One can be excused for wondering if the gurus in the large financial institutions or the egg heads who work for the treasury really know what is happening out in the real world. What are they there for exactly? We think it is just for the money. We don’t believe that many of them or even any of them give a deal of thought for England PLC when they broker yet another deal with Germany or France to sell off more of our vital services for which we, the users, will be made to pay dearly soon afterwards. Perhaps they will never have to apply for a remortgage like so many of us in the real world.

Have these same financial gurus any better idea of what will happen to the £GBP and the € Euro later this year, or do they make educated guesses just like we ordinary mortals? If the tone of this article appears to be a tad jaded to you then I apologise, but I for one am sick and tired of so called “experts” diddling around with the national finances and making a complete dog’s brekky of doing so whilst being paid a great deal of money.

So, you ladies and gentlemen who make mega bucks every month with a huge annual bonus on top, just spare a thought for the small people who actually pay for the running of this country, and by that I mean the businesses who employ staff and who are struggling against all the odds just to keep their heads above water, the people who want to expand their business by getting a commercial mortgage. Do I need to go on?

 

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