4g dumb phone - any recs?

[woody1]

I wonder if Trethowans are doing this on a no-win, no-fee basis? [joke]

Seriously though, this must be costing W28 a fortune. Trethowans may not be the most prestigious law firm out there but supposedly they're in the top 150, and they definitely won't come cheap.

Also, what's...

[woody1]

That's why, as eek says, you need to be careful how you respond.

OTOH, not responding at all (not disputing the debt) could be even more risky.

Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing exactly what these shysters are up to....

[woody1]

+1

I have a feeling they may be more "interested" in people who don't respond at all....

[woody1]

eek

I assume people need to dispute this alleged debt in writing (signed-for/guaranteed delivery)? That not responding would be a bad idea?

Don't know what needs to be in the letter. How much detail?

People could seek legal advice but I imagine that would take...

[woody1]

It's hard to believe that a reputable law firm, which Trethowans appear to be, would want to be associated with this grubby business....

[woody1]

Where we live the temperature rarely falls below zero but it's very windy, so the C/H churns through oil when the wind gets up. I did think that a simple setup might be to have a wind turbine powering electric heating of some form; the windier it gets, the more heat it pumps out. However it probably...

[woody1]

Except it says it's only 2G. There's even a Q&A confirming this. At least Argos are honest about this, which is more than can be said for other online sellers.

There is a later edition of the 105 which is 4G.

As I said above, I'm already having problems with 2G, and I suspect...

[woody1]

BTW, one thing to watch for, if you're buying online, is a lot of phones are advertised as 4G when they ain't.

For example, Nokia's 105 and 106 have several editions; many are advertised as 4G but only the later ones really are.

Similar goes for mobile broadband routers; there...

[woody1]

A 4G dumb phone. HMD (badged as Nokia) do a few eg. 110.

But maybe there are better makes?...

[woody1]

My 20-odd year old Nokia 6310 is still going strong, and on the original battery, but the giffgaff (O2) 2g network is starting to get a bit flaky eg. texts not always arriving promptly.

I've got a smartphone but it's much heavier and bulkier, and I don't want to lug that around every day....

[woody1]

Yep, sounds like aggressive tax avoidance to me.

Perhaps it's time to try your grievances out somewhere else? Mumsnet perhaps? I'm sure they'd love you.

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AI Overview

The "white space" (the "Any other information"...

[woody1]

I wonder if Armadillo advised their loan scheme clients not to follow WTT & LCAG, and instead settle to avoid the loan charge*.

If so, I can imagine McCann would be a very bitter pill to swallow, both for them and their clients.

*That wouldn't have been bad advice because...

[woody1]

Which begs an obvious question. Why on earth did some scheme promoters choose a type of trust which could be liable for IHT, when they could have chosen a different type, like other schemes, where this could never have arisen?

The scumbags behind these schemes have a lot to answer for...

[woody1]

In which case, please accept my apologies.

Doesn't the £325k nil-rate threshold apply?...

[woody1]

Another "very well informed" poster signing up this month, both of them seeming to explain away the actions of scheme promoters/trustees.

stillpestered, loanchargehurt

Any connection I wonder? One for our resident Detective Inspector WTFH perhaps?

[woody1]

Those are pretty serious allegations. Potentially unfounded. From an unknown person on the internet with who knows what agenda. I'm starting to think eek was right about you not being who/what you purport to be.

Anyway, I'm not going to lend any credence to this by keeping it going, so...

[woody1]

Surely HMRC couldn't have missed the same wording, in the white space, on hundreds (thousands?) of tax returns in lieu of declaring loans?

Were any of these people challenged about it by HMRC? If not then one can only assume that was a conscious decision on their part....

[woody1]

Yes but what, if anything, do YOU propose doing about any of this? Critiquing here isn't likely to change or achieve anything.

[woody1]

Your instincts are correct. Providing settlement details sounds innocuous enough but it has a familiar whiff about it. There are some real bad actors out there trying to extort loan repayments out of people.

Not sure what to advise but, as Jumper says, tread carefully....

[woody1]

Shame no one from LCAG is here to put their side.

On their website, they say they've got more than 3000 members. I wonder how many stand to benefit from McCann as it is? And how many have loans that are excluded?

Anyway, what are you going to do? Just hope something comes...