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 – […]
Britons Start Pension At 28 On Average
I’m often bemoaning the lack of thought that us Brits put into our retirement here on Money Watch, so I was surprised to learn that on average, we Brits start our pensions at the age of 28. Axa’s Global Retirement Scope study said the average worker in the US started saving for old age at […]
“No Win No Fee” Finds It Way To Bank Charges
I guess it was only a matter of time until someone would try to make money from the current trend to reclaim bank charges, but the process of reclaiming fees appears to be so simple, there’s probably no need for you to get a middleman involved. From BBC News: Hundreds of people each week are […]
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 […]
Have You Got A Dormant Bank Account?
Last year it was announced that money left in dormant bank accounts (accounts left idle for a number of years) would start to be distributed to charities. Halifax has said that it intends to try to reunite holders of dormant accounts holding more than £1,000 with their money in the near future, by advertising and […]
Nationwide Customers Pay 8p Each For Data Loss
This is kind of ironic – Nationwide customers will end up paying the £1million fine that the company got for the a loss of data back in August, stolen from an employees laptop. Because the Nationwide is a mutual building society, its customers own the company, rather than shareholders, so they’ll end up picking up […]
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 […]
Interest Rates Remain Stable
The Bank of England has decided to keep interest rates at the same level (5.25%) this month, after last month’s surprise decision to raise the rates. As I mentioned yesterday, many experts expert more rate rises before the summer, following the 3 previous 0.25% rises in the last 6 months. Those with variable rate interest […]
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 […]
Are You Prepared For Another Interest Rate Rise?
The Bank of England will announce the fate of interest rates again tomorrow, and there’s plenty of speculation that rates still have some chance of upward movement yet to go. Reuters surveyed 62 economists, of which just 5 thought that rates would rise this month, yet another 46 predicted rates to rise again before the […]