My Money, My Choice (New Charter Homes)

1MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015

Ways to pay your rent

MY MoneyMY ChoiceyoUr 12 month gUIdE on how

to makE thE moSt of yoUr fInancES

QUIZ: £100 sUpermarket voUchers of yoUr choIce to be won

RechaRgeable RepaiRskeeping youR home in tip-top condition

2nd Generation Furnishings

ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015

Help from New Charter

keep me

hanDy!

MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 20152

MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015 3

From the editor

With the festive season over, the new year can be a difficult time paying off bills. I hope the magazine will give you some handy hints and tips to make the most of your money.

It’d be good to keep this magazine handy so you know where to go for help. It’s full of information on services that can support you.

Don’t forget to enter the competition on page 15 - you could win £100 supermarket vouchers which will come in handy at this time of year.

I have included a list of handy contact details on the back, hope this helps.

Nora

Inside...

Welcome to Issue 1 of My Money My Choice.

MONEY ADVICE 4-5

SMARTERBUYS STORE 6

MY HOME FINANCE 7

CASH BOX CREDIT UNION 7

HOW TO PAY YOUR RENT 8-9

MiNT (Money Information Network Tameside) 9

RECHARGEABLE REPAIRS 10-11

FORMER TENANT ARREARS 11

2ND GENERATION FURNISHINGS 12-13

HOME CONTENTS INSURANCE 14

HOME CRISIS INSURANCE 14

WIN £100 SUPERMARKET VOUCHERS 15

USEFUL CONTACTS 16


Help from New Charter

• Budgeting

• Maximisingyourincome

• Prioritisingyourpayments/bills

• Dealingwith court action

The team also offers face-to-face support to:

• Drawupfinancialstatements to see what money you have available and what you owe

• Checkthatyou’reresponsible for any debts

• Helpyousortoutwhat to pay first

• Negotiatewithcompanies you owe money to

• Representyouinthe County Court

New Charter’s Debt Advice team offers free, independent, confidential and impartial advice and helps you to deal with your debts. They can help you find the best solutions for you and give you advice on:


Debt Advice team

5MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015 5MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015

Once you have registered for a home with New Charter, Keys to Your Door pre-tenancy support is available to help you manage your tenancy.

Visit the New Charter website for more information.

New Charter’s Welfare Benefits Advice team can help you answer any questions you have on benefits. You may need help filling out a benefit form or just need general advice on what benefits you might be entitled to. Why not give us a call.

Did you know...We have a number of Welfare Benefit

calculators to help you work out what you

may be entitled to and see how you would

be affected if your circumstances change.

Visit www.newcharterhomes.co.uk/pay-

your-rent/benefit-calculator

Benefits Advice team

Support before you move in

Smarterbuys offers a competitive price on household goods.

As the store is supported by New Charter, you know you’re dealing with a safe and reputable company.


Smarterbuys offers televisions, cookers, fridge-freezers and furniture, without you having to worry about high-cost borrowing options.

For more information, visit: www.gm.sbstore.org or call 0300 500 0975. You can also call into one of New Charter Hubs for help.

Payments are made over the phone or via a payment card or online over 104 weeks. You can also apply for affordable credit with a local Credit Union, with at least 25p of each payment deposited into a regular saving account.

If you can’t, or don’t want to pay for items online, simply print off a barcode and take it along to your nearest PayPoint or Post Office, and pay over the counter. You can also pay through Cash Box Credit Union if you’re saving with them.


My Home Finance offers safe, affordable loans. They can help you if you’re struggling to get a loan and feel you only have loan sharks or doorstep lenders to turn to.

Safe saving with Cash Box

With Cash Box, you can borrow money at low interest rates, open a savings account or save for next Christmas, holidays or anything else you need to put money away for.

You choose how much you save, weekly or monthly, and it can be

cash or a standing order from your bank account. You can borrow up to four times the amount of savings you have and repayment terms are flexible.

4,000 Tameside residents already use Cash Box.

Visit www.cashbox.org.uk call 0161 342 3266 or pop into the council offices on Wellington Road in Ashton.

Call My Home Finance on 01905 25805 or visit: www.myhomefinance.org.uk You can also call into any New Charter Hub.

Now that the festive season is over, next Christmas is probably far from your mind, but if you’re worried about your credit card bills arriving this month, why not plan ahead for Christmas 2015?

My Home Finance is a not-for-profit social enterprise. This means any profits are

put back into the business so that more people can benefit from the service.

They could help you access credit at a more affordable rate, open a bank account and save for the future. By building up a repayment history with them, you’ll be more able to use other financial services.

How to Pay Your Rent

You can pay your rent in a number of ways

Direct Debits are collected weekly on a Thursday or

on the 1st, 8th, 15th or 22nd of the month.

DIRECT DEBIT

Payments can be made at any Post Office or any PayPoint.

See how to get a new card below.

COUNTER PAYMENTS

A standing order should be set up at your bank.

STANDING ORDER

££

You can make Online Payments via BillPay a service provided by Santander. Full details of how to use the BillPay service can be found

at www.santanderbillpayment.co.uk

ONLINE PAYMENTS

Rent Payment Cards

You can apply for a card by calling in any New Charter Homes & Community Hub or apply online

at www.newcharter.co.uk under ‘Rent Payment and Money Advice’ then ‘Housing Swipe Card’.

Did you know...

Budgeting will help you plan how you

spend your money and see where

you may be able to make savings.

Complete this online at:

www.newcharterhomes.co.uk/

pay-your-rent/benefit-calculator



Payments can be made over the phone by debit or credit card, 24 hours a day,

7 days a week. Please call 0161 331 2224. You will need your 8-digit payment reference to use

this service

TELEPHONE PAYMENTS

Cheques should be made payable to New Charter Homes and sent to us or

handed in at a New Charter Homes & Community Hub.

You must write your name and address and your

payment reference on the back of the cheque.

VIA CHEQUE

Did you know...court costs have increased to £250 if you don’t pay your rent? Don’t get caught out.

MiNT can answer your money questions and give you the help you need.

The MiNT website has lots of information on with everything from bailiffs to benefits, which will help you to find your way around the ‘money maze’.

MiNT was set up by a number of local companies to help people access the right financial services, training and help people manage their money.

Why not get in touch and see how they could help you?

Are you struggling to make ends meet? Confused by all the adverts for loans? Keep getting bills and worrying how you’re going to pay them?

For further information visit www.mintameside.org.uk or email [email protected]

RechaRgeable RepaiRs

New Charter provides a repairs service and makes improvements to your homes where needed, but you have a responsibility to keep your home in good condition too.

Most of you treat your homes with a lot of care and respect, but sometimes damage is caused to properties or jobs that need doing are left and you must pay to put things right.

We understand that a reasonable amount of wear and tear can occur, but if you are responsible for any other damages, you will have to pay for the repairs to be done.

keeping youR home in tip-top condition

10 MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015

Visit www.newcharterhomes.co.uk/request-repair/rechargeable-repairs for more information.


If you still owe money for any reason on your property after you move out (for exampleifyouwerenotup to date with your rent when you left), you will be expectedtocontinuetomake payments until all the money you owe is paid off.

If you are trying to apply for another home with other landlords, it is likely you will be asked for a reference from a previous landlord. Any money you still owe on the tenancy will be taken into account and may affect your chances of being offered a property by another landlord.

Did you know...You won’t be able to bid on any New Charter property if you owe us money? Call today to arrange a payment plan.

Former Tenant Arrears

What if the repair is needed because of a crime?

Any criminal damages to your

property must be reported to

the police immediately by calling

101 (or 999 in an emergency).

The police will give you a crime

reference number relating to the

incident which you should provide

when you report the repair.

• Aninvoicewillbesenttoyouafter the work has been done

• Youhavesevendaystorespond and pay the full amount or agree to pay in instalments

• Ifyourespondintimeandkeep up your payments, you’ll get 20% off the total cost

• IfyoualreadyhaveHomeContents Insurance this might help you cover the cost. See page 14.

What happens if i’m charged for a repair?


Set up by three New Charter tenants, 2nd Generation Furnishings provides local people in need with second hand furniture for their homes.

Their key mission is to improve people’s lives, but by generating a small amount of income, they can also put more into the business and help more residents. By reusing old furniture, 2nd Generation is helping people in real hardship but also reducing landfill and fly-tipping in our communities too.

Tom, one of the founder members said: “We love what we do and believe people come first. We’d seen van loads of quality furniture and white goods going to landfill which we knew people could have benefited from instead. So we decided to take action.

“With support from New Charter, we’ve developed a strong partnership and help them by recycling furniture from properties that become empty. We also learnt business planning, health and

2nd Generation Furnishings

“We love what we do and believe people come first”


safety and communications skills to help us get set up.”

2nd Generation Furnishings is a registered charity and has a great team of volunteers and it couldn’t run without them.

The team has provided voluntary workexperiencetolocalresidents,some of whom have now got paid employment.

2nd Generation is open to the publicsixdaysaweek(closedSundays) for browsing and buying.

Did you know...Since March 2012, Tom and Ann’s team has helped over 2,400 families furnish their homes and saved over 58,000 tonnes of good quality furniture going to landfill.

Looking to get rid of any furniture or white goods? The team relies on donations from the public and would be grateful for any suitable items you have. They can even collect items from you, free of charge.

2ndgenerationfurnishings.co.uk astral house, Stamford drive, Stalybridge, Sk15 1QU tel: 0161 303 0083 www.2ndgenerationfurnishings.co.uk

14

New Charter’s Home Contents insurance is provided by Aviva and available to all New Charter tenants and leaseholders.

To join the scheme, you must have a clear rent account. The policy includes:

• Noexcess

• Small,easypayments

• Standardcover (fire, theft and flood)

• Optionalcoveragainstaccidental damage

• Youcanalsoincludeaccidental damage to fixtures and fittings within yourhomethatNewCharter has provided

home contents insuRance

How to join...To apply, download the application

form from www.newcharterhomes.co.uk/pay-your-

rent/home-contents-insurance Fill it out and sign it and drop it into one

of the New Charter Hubs.

➤ coveRs you up to a maximum claim limit of £3000

➤ costs just 50p peR Week (payable on youR Rent account)

➤ standaRd coveR (fiRe, theft and flood)

➤ Will not coveR accidental damage

➤ no excess➤ small, easy payments

NEW


INSURANCE

HOMECRISIS


O V E D M W C S G N I V A SA A C Q O V E U Q E H C Y TB D I R N E S T P N R U S HU Z V F E H K I Y A B G T ID B S I Y D B L H R L O I NG H S A C M I I E N G D F SE A H T A E O T L W F Y E UT E O A R S R I U J H B N RI N M R E E O E P N S W E AE D E B T R M S H C I S B NC A S R A P O C S N A O L CW R A F F I N A N C E G N EA M B E D F E K R O W F U LS E T N E M Y O L P M E N U

ADVICE BENEFITS BUDGET BUYS CASH CHEQUE CREDITUNION DEBT EMPLOYMENT FINANCE HOME INSURANCE LOAN MONEY MONEYCARE RENT SAVINGS SMARTER UTILITIES

Name:...............................................................................................

Address.............................................................................................

..........................................................................................................

............................................................Postcode:..............................

Telephone:.........................................................................................

WIN!£100

Gift Voucher

You must be a New Charter Homes tenant to enter

£100 SUPERMARkET VOUCHERS OF YOUR CHOICE!

find all 19 words listed for your chance to win.

Complete and return this page to the

Money Care Team, NewCharterHomes,

Cavendish 249, Ashton under Lyne, OL6 7AT by 31st March 2015

or drop into one of the NewCharterHubs.

16 MY Money MY Choice ISSUE 1 JanUary 2015

Useful Contacts

New Charter 0161 331 2000 [email protected] www.newcharter.co.uk

Hubs are located at:2HenriettaStreet,Ashton9 Albert Street, Denton12ClarendonStreet,Hyde63 Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge

Universal Credit information www.gov.uk 0345 600 0723

Tameside Housing Benefit www.tameside.gov.uk/benefits 0161 342 3708

Money Advice Service www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk 0800 500 5000

Homeswapper www.homeswapper.co.uk

Step Change Debt Charity www.stepchange.org 0800 138 1111

National Debtline www.nationaldebtline.org 0808 808 4000

Illegal Money Lending Team www.reportaloanshark@ stoploansharks.gov.uk 0300 555 222 (24-hour service)

United Utilities Trust Fund www.uutf.org.uk 0845 179 1791

Greater Manchester Energy Advice Service www.gmenergyadvice.co.uk 0800 009 3363

Food BanksFood banks provide emergency food parcels to people in need. Food banks have been set up in most areas of Tameside by organisations that support people in their local communities. All food banks have referrers who recognise when people are in need. PopintooneoftheNewCharterHubswhere the team can help you with your enquiry. Visit http://www.foodbanksintameside.org.uk/ for more information.

facebook.com/newcharterhomes

@NewCharterGroup

Resource Housing Reg. No. 2111

Documents

My Money, My Choice (New Charter Homes)