The consumer rights company Which? has accused credit card companies of using “ingenious methods” for creating new charges so that they can recoup some money after last year’s decision by the Office of Fair Trading to limit penalty fees to £12. To show just how “innovative” the credit card companies can be, Which? have highlighted […]
Tag: Featured
How Should We Pay For Banking?
There’s an interesting article and vote on the BBC site regarding how consumers should pay for banking services. As I mentioned in a recent post on bank charges, one of the consequences of bank charges being outlawed would be thatthe banks would try to recoup some of their money in different ways, most probably by […]
Test Your Personal Finance Knowledge
Last Saturday’s Telegraph newspaper included a personal finance quiz so that you could test your knowledge of some common finance issues. I was a little bit worried that I’d fail miserably, but thankfully I got 19/20, tripping up on question 13, about the amount of capital gains tax you are allowed each year (tax is […]
Devils Advocate: Why I Want Bank Charges Court Case To Fail
This is the first in a series of posts titled “Devils Advocate”, in which I look at a personal finance issue from a slightly different angle that I would normally. I thought it might be interesting to see whether it prompts any sort of debate. Best read with a pinch of salt. So, this reclaiming […]
Interest Rates: Now Highest For 6 Years
You’re probably aware that interest rates have risen once again, up 0.25% to 5.75%. This is the highest rates have been since March 2001. The graph below shows how rates have changed over the past 10 years: I think one of the key things to look at is the difference between the rates as they […]
How Should We Compare Credit Card Deals?
The Independent reports that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is going to start consulting with the credit card industry on how to make it easier for consumers to compare credit card deals. Following complaints by Which?, they’re going to try to come up with a way of taking all of the elements of a […]
Find Your “Energy Profile” Through Testing
Beware: this post might make me sound like a bit of a geek, and includes a fair bit of thinking out loud… In my day job, I run pay-per-click advertising campaigns – managing those ads you see at the top and right of the search engine results such as at Google. The key to getting […]
Should We Trust Price Comparison Websites?
UKMoneyPot notes that Direct Line has recently started an advertising campaign suggesting that consumers should not trust price comparison sites (such as moneysupermarket.com, confused.com etc) and should instead get quotes directly from themselves. The studies Direct Line conducted highlighted some interesting figures. Firstly, 35% of people believe comparison sites searched the whole of the market. […]
Interest Rates Rise Again
Interest rates have been put up again, rising a further 0.25% to 5.5%.
Cutting Out The Loan Middleman: Zopa
Simple Pound has a good write-up on how Zopa works which is worth a read.