Interest rates have been put up again, rising a further 0.25% to 5.5%.
Category: Featured
Cutting Out The Loan Middleman: Zopa
Simple Pound has a good write-up on how Zopa works which is worth a read.
How Are We Affected By Interest Rate Changes?
Interest rates have been kept at 5.25% for this month, although there are still thoughts that rates will rise again in the next few months. But how do interest rate changes affect the average person? I’ll explain in very simple terms: When rates fall, there is less incentive for people to save their money – […]
Banks Succumbing To People Power, But…
Over the past few weeks a couple of stories have caught my eye which have shown the strength that people power can have on large corporations (and in this case I’m talking about banks and building societies). Firstly, it’s difficult to go a single day without hearing someone talking about reclaiming bank charges – it’s […]
Will Your Insurance Claim Be Paid?
The Scotsman has reported some astounding figures from a new survey which suggests that 1.6 million Brits have had insurance claims turned down in the past 5 years. The unpaid claims came on health, income protection and life insurance policies, and averaged out at over £26,000 per claim – a whopping total of just under […]
Want A Shorter Mortgage? Try Overpayments
According to MoneyExpert, mortgage experts Charcol recently encouraged mortgage-holders to try to overpay on their payments, in light of the fact that many lenders are no longer making early repayment charges. Indeed, if you’re in the lucky situation of being able to make overpayments to your mortgage, and are sure your lender doesn’t charge any […]
Personal Finance Forums
Online forums can be a great source of information – learning from people in similar positions, and being able to ask questions that are specific to yourself. It obviously pays to be a little bit careful with the information that is presented on forums, though. Although I don’t visit too many personal finance forums, my […]
Ignore “Backwards PIN” Nonsense
The ThisIsMoney blog has mentioned something that I was made aware of in an email a few weeks ago – a rumour that you can notify the police you’re being mugged by typing your PIN in backwards at a cash machine. Although these types of rumour are probably propogated by welling-meaning folk, this is of […]
New Year, New Finances: Credit Cards
If you’re like many families in the UK, you’re probably dreading seeing your latest credit card statement following Christmas and New Year. Much of the cost of presents, food, drink and parties is likely to have been whacked onto the “sod it” card, and much like yourself, that debt is now sitting around slowly getting […]
New Year, New Finances: Life Assurance
The is the second in a short series of posts looking at how you can simply sort out your finances for the New Year. Today we’re talking about life assurance. Firstly, if you do not have life insurance you should really consider if you need it. Do you have any dependents? What would happen to […]