How cool. When moving into my flat I caught the end of a service charge period. In that period the roof was repaired and the charges amounted to just shy of £3000. Fortunately that cost wasn't my responsibility despite the charge coming up foir payment after I moved in, so the money was left out of the transfer when I got my mortgage and that money was set aside to pay the management company when the invoice came through.

Anyhow, I wrote the chqeue for this large sum out, I can see it in my chequebook stump, but somehow I didn't end up sending it. I received a letter from the management company on Saturday saying that they hadn't received payment. So I called up today and spoke to their credit control department.

The lady on the other end was fabulous. She told me that she understands that it's a huge payment and that it's difficult to pay in one lump sum and that she will happily spread the payment over 2 years for me. This is wonderful as I'll throw this three grand in a cash ISA and make some free money in the form of tax free interest. I love it when things go my way.