Posts in the Finance category
Norwich Union (Aviva) were supposed to be paying out £1bn to their policyholders. But they have cancelled the plan, due to the falling value of their investments. Last year, a million of their policyholders were promised a £1,000 average payout. And now, they're not getting it.
The eligible policyholders will have to wait several months before they hear of any new offers that the company will give them.
I don't see the point in dreaming about stuff you can't have, such as winning the jackpot on the lottery, or marrying a millionnaire. But apparently, a lot of us do. For four hours a day apparently!
Half of the people asked said that they daydreamed at work, about stuff like winning the lottery, owning a bigger house or a fast car and also travelling the world.
There's no harm in daydreaming about things like travel and cars and things - because they can be achieved. But winning the lottery? That'll never happen!
We have been urged to reduce our outgoings, just in case of any unwanted events which may happen because of the credit crunch. It's been predicted that some businesses may ask their employees to take a pay cut in order to maintain their job security - this inevitably means that there will be less money coming into the home - so, if you reduce your outgoings now, or at least try to, you won't have to struggle so much just in case the pay cuts affect you.
Setting monthly budgets could also be a good idea - I know I do that, and it helps enormously.
Some employment benefits are tax free:
However, some benefits are taxable, including the company car, as well as:
Normally, if you earn over £8500 a yearm you will have to pay tax on any benefits you receive. So, what's the cash equivalent of the company car?
This is based on the list price of the car including any accessoriesm its carbon dioxide emissions and the type of fuel it uses. This tax year, the taxable benefit is 15% of the list price for cars with CO2 emissions of 135g/km or less. This charge increases by 1% for each additional full 5g/km up to a max charge of 35% for emissions of 235g/km or more. If the car uses diesel, there's a 3% supplement on top. For example, a petrol car is worth £21000 with emissions of 185g/km. The benefits % will increase to 25%, making the taxable benefit £5250. This means that if you are a basic rate taxpayer, your company car would cost you £1050, or £87.50 a month, this year. A higher rate taxpayer would have to pay £175 a month at 40% tax.
And, don't forget, if the employer pays for fuel for private use, this is also taxable. try this if you want to calculate your tax for your company car.
Are you fed up with paying for your music? I know you can download it for free nowadays, but if you don't fancy risking breaking the law what options have you got? There's iTunes (and all those sort of pricey download sites) or you can wander into HMV and buy an actual CD.
I might be well behind the times, but I've just discovered Jango.com. It's a free internet radio station that seems to have loads of songs and actually learns what type of thing you like as you use it. If you don't already know about it, go check it out, it's awesome.
No more paying for music for me!
Thousands of homes which are eligible for the Warm Front scheme, which contributes to the cost of carrying out energy saving methods on homes, have had to withdraw from the scheme. Why? because they can't afford the additional costs. 11,020 homes which qualify for the grants, have had to retract their application, as they can't afford it - thats 10% of the 110,000 households which are eligible.
The Warm Front scheme was introduced in 2001, to try and help with funding for vulnerable people such as the elderly and low-income families. The scheme contributes to the cost of installing energy saving measures - paying the first £2,700 (or £4000 for those with oil heating), leaving householders with the rest of the bill. Despite the increase in cost of the labour and materials, these contributions haven't changed - if the funds were increased, more people may be able to fork out for the rest of the bill. If not? Thousands of people will be left in the cold.
Apparently it’s more common than I would have thought for students to produce fraudulent student grant claims in an attempt to get more money. It seems that the Student Loans Company are now clamping down on this, as they believe that thousands of pounds are being lost through fraudulent claims, each year.
They are to carry out spot checks in 11 areas of England to try and figure out just how big the problem is.
At the moment, students with an annual family income of under £25,000 can claim grants of up to £2,825 a year. The upper limit for family income has also been cut, from £60,000pa to £50,020pa, due to a shortfall in student funding.
Rumours are growing regarding Gordon Brown and the UK government issuing tax cuts to many UK taxpayers, to the value of at least £15billion. Can the UK really afford this though?
There is already the concern that UK debt is getting out of control, as government debt is now nearing £600bn. Surely, adding to this will only make the situation worse? The value will already take decades to pay back.
Gordon seems to be taking risks with the economy - the outcome is yet to be seen.
Food bills are predicted to be higher this year, as an increasing budget will go on food and groceries over the festive season - and not because people are buying more, but because inflation will add to their budgets.
People are being more picky about what they spend their money on - the main prioritiy being the basics.
According to some research, UK consumers will spend over £80bn with retailers in the last quarter of the year, with 38% of shoppers' spending over Christmas being for food and groceries. The sale of electrical goods is also ecpected to rise by 4.6%, to £8.3bn.
The amount of bullying which occurs in the workplace could increase due to the credit crunch. According to research, job insecurity could lead to more bullying.
It is also feared that people will be less likely to complain about bullying, because of concerns they could lose their job.
Apparently methods of workplace bullying vary between genders. Men are more verbal - bullying via shouting and swearing, as well as finger pointing and pushing in some cases. Women are more subtle, such as excluding people.
The Ulster Bank believes that Northern Ireland will be hit the hardest in the recession, in comparison to the rest of the UK.
The bank predicts Northern Ireland employment could peak at 50,000 next year and has said that the NI economy is particularly exposed to the economic downturn in the housing and retail sectors. Their economists also belive that Northern Ireland have been exposed to a much more rapid downturn in their economy in comparison to the rest of the UK, and believe they will be hit harder as the recession looms.
The new James Bond film was released to the general public on Friday 31st October, and has broken box office records in its opening weekend in the UK, by taking £15.5m in 3 days.
Quantum of Solace took a further £14.2m in France and Sweden and has beat the previous record of £14.9m, held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Individuals choosing to spend on private healthcare have seen the first significant fall since the mid 1990s. Figures show that in the last year, UK spending on non-cosmetic surgery such as knees, and hips, fell by nearly £30m, to £345m.
Experts say it is probably due to the economic downturn and the shortening NHS waiting lists.
The concept of going green is all well and good - I for one would love to contribute to making our environment a better place. But is today really the time?
People are struggling, left, right and centre to cope through this economic downturn, and the government are still introducing expensive schemes, testing such things as green cars, on the streets of the UK. The average UK citizen is struggling to run their existing car, let alone taking on the added cost of a green one - despite the long term savings.
Active job-seekers have been warned to be careful when sending their CVs to employer's websites or online recruitment agencies, because somebody may steal them.
An experiment involving a fake website lured 107 people into sending in their CVs, full of personal information which could have easily led to identity theft. 61 of these CVs contained enough info to apply for a credit card.
The fake website placed an advert for a job as an office manager, in a national newspaper and encouraged applicants to send in their CV to their website. A quick search of the website would have shown the operation to be fake, but 107 people did as the advert asked.
The most common pieces of information found, which could have been used in identify fraud, were the full address and name and also a date of birth. One application included a passport number and NI number (Why?). The most useful items for criminals, which should be left out of online CVs, are date of birth, marital status and place of birth according to iProfile. I personally don't understand why someone would put their marital status and place of birth on the CV in the first place.
This is despite their misleading ad which had to be withdrawn due to its nature.
Reader's Digest has crowned Virgin Media as Britains most trusted ISP in their survey, 'Britain's Most Trusted Brand'. The study also found O2 to be the most trusted mobile netwrok provider.
It is the speed of the boradband that caused controversy though - a recent advert was withdrawn due to false claims.
Meanwhile, the ISP have joined forces with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to warn consumers against illegally downloading music. They have sent letters to its customers regarding illegal file sharing.
Even though Ebay have reported profits of £286m in the 3rd quarter, they have warned that a slowing economy will hurt its business. Hard-up consumers are already reducing their online purchases and this is bound to affect the auction site during their usually strong xmas period.
Another sign that retailers are expecting a hrad time of it in the coming months, Amazon have cut its postage costs in the UK - consumers now have to spend £5 to qualify for free delivery, rather than £15 - that means that UK customers can get over 90% of Amazon products, delivered for free! Get in!
Rail passengers in England and Wales are to face more overcrowding and higher fares until the network is expanded.
According to the National Audit Office, government control of the railways has delivered better value for taxpayers, but future pressure on capacity could reverse any benefits. They said that 1,300 new train carriages have been ordered to try and tackle passenger growth, but will not be on the tracks until 2014
They have also reported that most regulated fares, such as the saver and season tickets, had risen by 1% above the RPI inflation. Non-regulated fares had also increased, by 6-7%, with some as much as 20% in 2007.
A survey published in July suggested only 40% of rail passengers felt they got value for money - however, 80% of the 25,000 people asked were satisfied with the quality of their journey - 2% up on the previous year.
Newcastle Building Society has found that there has been a 21% increase in sales of equity release plans compared to a year ago. Drawdown schemes also seem to be popular due to their flexible nature.
The amount of time between a customer enquiring about the equity release policy and actually completing the deal has reduced by 35% over the past year, reported to be due to customers becoming more informed about the benefits of such a deal.
The sector seems to be surviving the credit crunch, and in some cases, even observing growth.
There appear to be several reasons for completing equity release deals, including home improvements and holidays.
As the price of oil has fallen again to $80 a barrel, we seem to be set to see a drop in petrol prices.
It seems as though the worldwide recession will continue to see demand for oil fall in the short to medium term. It looks as though the UK will see petrol back to below £1 a litre in the short term.
Norwich Union have annoucned that they are to be the latest insurance provider to introduce a postcode lottery for pensioners. Although they claim that 70% of the population will remain on the same pension or see a rise in their income, 30% will be worse off. They have announced that they will pay out smaller pensions to those who live in more affluent areas because they are expected to live longer.
But premiums will remain unchanged for those paying into their pension scheme before retirement - only when they retire will the insurance companies check their postcode against their affluent areas UK map and decide what will happen to their pensions. Is this fair?
Councils throughout the UK are paying more in compensation to drivers than they are fixing the roads. Last year, councils spent £52.3m repairing our roads, whilst also spending £53m for compensation claims from drivers who allegedly suffered damage to their cars due to the state of the roads...
The average pothold costs £56 to repaid, which equates to 966,429 potholes for the £53m which was paid out in compensation.
Surely an investment to speed up the repaid program would make sense?
They may well be, according to several financial experts. In a poll of 12 analysts, seven stated that they expected the MPC to lower the central rate when it meets in a couple of days.
Apparently there is a good chance that the move will be made, to avoid a more prolonged recession. Others believe that the MPC will hold tight, and maintain the rate at its current level.
Any change in rates will have an effect on the cost of borrowing, such as mortgages and credit card debt.
All landlords in England and Wales must now provide new tenants with a certificate showing the energy efficiency of their rented property. Rented properties must be examined and given an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which details the efficiency on a scale from A to G and is intended to allow potential tenants to consider energy efficiency and fuel costs.
A £200 repeatable fine can be given per property to landlords who refuse.
The Criteria:
The EPC and a recommendation report must be provided free of charge when:
An EPC does not have to be made available if:
An EPC is valid for 10 years and must be produced by an accredited energy assessor.
Barclaycard have received a massive fine, for the most serious and persistent case of silent calls ever seen by Ofcom.
They were fined £50,000 after Ofcom uncovered an extremely high number of silent calls had been made - typically occurring when call centres with automated systems dial more numbers than staff can handle. When customers answer their telephone, no agent is available to talk to them, resulting in silence on the line.
Ofcom have previously fined Abbey National, Complete Credit Management, Space Kitchens, Bracken Bay Kitchens, Carphone Warehouse and Toucan for breaches of rules on silent and abandoned calls and also say that if they weren't limited to £50,000, they would have fined Barclaycard more.
HSBC have had to axe 1,100 jobs worldwide and have blamed the current financial turmoil for the decision. Almost half the cuts will affect back-room jobs at its global banking and markets operation and will take place in the UK, and they aren't the only high street bank to cut jobs lately.
Many of the losses will be from HSBC HQ in Canary Wharf, London.
Many of the job-losses will be at the headquarters of HSBC's investment banking division, which are in London's Canary Wharf.
Parents who are on low incomes and who have not provided their children with computers and the Internet will receive vouchers to do so. The scheme is to attempt and tackle the 'digital divide' and will be available across the country in approximately a year. The scheme will cost £300m and will cover broadband access, software and if necessary, computers.
The Home Access package for families in receipt of income support or unemployment benefits will include:
But what about the costs that will be incurred after the initial provision?
The Liberal Democrats have backed plans to make cuts to income tax, for people on low to middle salaries. Their annual conference approved a document promising big reductions for struggling families at the next election.
This move is additional to an existing one, to cut income tax by 4p.
Employees are most interested in receiving good pay. A poll for the Trades Union Congress found that 98% value good pay above all other job perks. It also found that we rate our colleagues very highly considering what makes us happy at work - 90% of respondents said that this was an important factor when finding job satisfaction.
73% of those polled said that promotion opportunities kept them happy in their job.
46% complained of increasing workloads, 42% said pay hasn't kept up with living costs and 30% claimed promotion prospects were poor.
These offers seem to come around so quickly. Not like you will hear me complaining though.
It's that time again, where Tesco are offering 5p off every litre of petrol when you spend £50 instore. What's good as well is that you can also do your shopping online, and still get the voucher. Which, with the current food prices, shouldn't be too difficult to achieve. Offer ends 21 September. Until next time.
The National Consumer Council have been into all eight of the major chains of supermarkets, and found that over half of the promotions were for unhealthy food - thats double the figure in 2006.
They have said that this reflects how far supermarkets will go to attract customers during the credit crunch. They went into Asda, Co-op, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose in Sheffield, and assessed how much they were contributing to their customers healthy eating.
The number of promotions such as two for one deals, had risen to 4,300 - 17% up since their 2006 report. But only 12% of these deals were for fruit and veg. they also advise that 7% of a diet should be made up of fatty foods, compared to the 54% found.
Morrisons were deemed the worst offenders, with 63% of their promotions being on sugary or fatty foods. Sainsbury's came top overall.
These are always handy, and I've spotted another one. Handbag.com are offernig 2 for 1 vouchers for Zizzi. All you have to do is go to their site, print off the voucher, fill in the details, and hand it to the waiter when you go for your meal.
You get one voucher per main meal, giving you one main meal free. the other good thing about this promotion, is you aren't limited to one voucher per group - you can use as many as you need! It is valid until 10 September 2008, and you can use it Sundays to Thursdays.
Basically, just budget and live within your means. Easier said than done though.
JD Wetherspoons have said that food and drink deals have helped lure people through their doors, depsite the smoking ban which was enforced last year.
The group owns 700 pubs in the UK, and saw like-for-like sales rise 0.4% over the past 11 weeks. However, sales did fall 1% over the year.
The company also said that they were facing considerable rises in costs due to energy, fod, labour and taxes.
They estimate that they will face excise duty of £10m in 2008/09, £4m costs from hliday entitlement and £5m as a result of the minimum wage.
Sales were better than analysts had expected expected and shares rose 5% to 184.25pence in the morning trade.
So far this year, the group have opened a further 23 pubs across the UK.
In more than nine out of ten cases in some boroughs, those who fight their parking fines at a formal appeal, win.
A total of 9506 fines issued in Westminster were taken to an adjudicator in 6 months. The council lost more than 8900 of them.
It also lost 96% of appeals against fines for moving traffic offences, such as blocking the box junctions or flouting no right turn signs.
They have announced a redundancy programme which will result in the loss of 500 manufacturing jobs and 150 other jobs, across the UK.
The move is a result of a fall in orders, which has led to a 20% decrease in the production schedule for 2008.
Although Woolworths are shutting some of their London stores, there are some bargains going...
Like a Beko Widescreen LCD Television for only £149.99!
Thats a bargain!
I was one of the lucky ones. Having passed in 2002, I just missed out on the 'new improved' theory test. All I had to do was pass the basic test, and the driving test, and all was peachy. I was also lucky because my family helped me out with the lessons, and I also had access to a banger for once I had passed. If I was to take it now though, how much would it cost? Probably enough to mean I'd need to take out secured loans!
Thats a total, potential cost of £1,642, depending on whether you want to spend your money on a Pass Plus course, which isn't really worth it, and whether you need to buy the material to prepare with, (You could just see if somebody else has it, off whom you could borrow it). When I was learning, I didn't practice in a family car, so therefore, there was no need for adding me onto their insurance, and I think I got a copy of the highway code from a friend. I did kind of make up for these savings by needing a few more lessons though.
According to DirectGov, people who pass their driving tests have had, on average, 45 lessons of professional training and 22 hours of private practice.
Then, there's always the possibilty of you needing to take another test. Not everyone is lucky enough to pass first time. And, even once you have passed your test, there's still the small question of buying a car and insuring yourself on it - and in the current market, bagging a bargain is no easy feat, especially when fuel is so pricey! If you have to borrow money to buy your first car, search online to find thes best deals - you don't want your new skill to drive you into debt!
Pre-tax profits for the company have jumpred 25% to £56.6m, and they are putting it down to their 3-year plan to improve their turnover, which began last year.
Like-for-like sales for the UK and Northern Ireland were up by 11.4%, while their book chain, Waterstones, also saw a rise of 3.3%.
Their debt, which stood at £134m a year ago, is now down to £200,000, improving since the sale of their Japanese business and also their increased revenue.
Music sales rose despite the declining market, and DVD sales jumped 18%. But their forte can only lie with Video Games, with sales now accounting for 21%, compared with 14% a mere year ago.
The 'next generation' stores feature a social hub, entertainment websites and multi-player gaming zones. It seems, from the profits, that this new formula is working for them.
One in three Brits can't afford to put money into a savings account because they can't afford to. A survey 0f 6.381 people showed that half were not saving enough, as part of their retirement plan.
The survey was part of a report by Scottish Widows, who are also suggesting that people are becoming worried about how they will cope after they finish their career.
Almost 60% of those surveyed said that they would be unable to increase their savings over the next year - 40% felt better off five years ago. 51% of people set aside enough money to provide an dequate income during retirement.
Those who are paying enough into their retirement fund are most likely to be male, over 50, working in the public sector and earning between £30,000 and £50,000 a year. On the other hand, the least likely of people to save, were found most likely to be women, or people with children under five, self employed or have debt.
The research, conducted by YouGov, monitors people over 30 and who earn over £10,000 a year, found that there had been a 2% increase in people who are adequately saving.
Almost all sites online where you can purchase tickets for upcoming gigs and shows, will charge you a booking fee on top of the advertised price. Sites like Ticketmaster don't advertise the booking fee until you have searched for the tickets you like. Once you have moved to the confirm zone, and you are given a space in the queue, that's when they land you with the extra charges.
Which? found that some ticket companies ask for up to 30% of the price of the ticket. This can get to be pretty expensive when you are wanting good seats, or are off to see a once in a lifetime performance. Some agents don't even offer a refund if the show is cancelled.
Online booking is highly convenient nowadays. I know I use it, particularly for European festivals and non-local gigs. But I agree with 4 out of 5 people asked by Which? - booking fees are too expensive. At least sites like Seetickets.com tell you how much you will be paying after you have added the booking fees. For example, I'm off to see Bon Jovi in a couple of days. For a normal standing ticket at the Manchester show, prices go up by at least £5 after you have added the booking fee.
But at least this site tells you that before you commit to buying them. Just be careful over where you are buying your tickets from. Some agents are just greedy. Others are ok and charge a minimal amount.
And, it's not just the online sites that make you fork out extra for the tickets you want. Even buying them from the box office can cost you hidden extras, such as, if you want to pay on card, you sometimes get charged a card fee. Ouch.
They are on the rise. As consumers are finding it more and more difficult to make ends meet, particularly at the end of the month, the popularity of payday loans is rising fast. The volume of payday loans taken out has risen by more than 130% in 10 months according to the Times.
The aim of the loan is to provide a stop gap until the consumers pay cheque arrives, but, because they are appealing for this reason, the providers can slap on massive levels of interest. The loan is usually repaid within a few days, but this is still long enough to accrue a lot of interest.
For example, PayDayUK charges £25 for every £100 borrowed, so if a person borrowed £500, they would have to repay £625. To be eligible, applicants must earn over £750 a month.
The typical APR is 1,355%!! Ouch!
Leading insurance providers are now deeming the offence as serious as unsafe driving and could incur an extra 30% onto your normal premium. Companies such as Zurich, Alliance and Leicester and Churchill now ask drivers about whether they have a conviction for using their mobile phone, and consider this when calculating the insurance they offer.
The £30 fine for using your phone was boosted up to £60 in April, and since this increase, insurance providers have joined in on tackling the problem. Drivers also now receive 3 points on their licence.
The average premium is £682 a year, which means that motorists could be faced with up to £204 extra added on.
It's been illegal to use your phone while driving since December 2003; the number of drivers being caught is still on the rise. Almost 500 were fined every day in 2006. The government think that up to 300,000 drivers still use hand-held phones whilst driving. Hands-free are still acceptable, although they are also being argued to be distracting.
A new study has revealed that a staggering 5 million accidents happen at home each year. The research, by Tesco Personal Finance, found that Londoners are the most likely to have an accident.
Young children caused £136 million of damage each year.
Drinking excessively caused £95 million of damage.
Pets were the cause of £87 million.
One in ten accidents are caused by DIY mishaps, which cost £149 million to fix. The most common slip ups were damages to carpets, curtains and furniture, through accidental spills or suchlike.
The study also found that an alarming 29% of all Brits are without accidental damage cover, some have no home insurance at all.
Think it's definately worth covering your home and all that's in it!
Amidst the latest fuel strike, some petrol station owners have been greedy - one inparticular, in Exeter, thought it was wise to charge just under £2 a litre at his garage. The owner boosted the price of petrol and diesel to £1.99 a litre yesterday, but insists he isn't profiteering. Hmmm...
He claimed the decision to increase the price of his fuel was only temporary - a meer measure to deter motorists from panic buying. The average price of a litre of fuel is £1.18 for petrol and £1.30 for diesel, according to the AA. But, despite the owners suggestions, his actions have been deemed irresponsible by a price watchdog, suggesting that higher prices add to the panic.
OK, so the festival season has arrived, and if, like me, you are planning to go to one (or several), there's a couple of things that you definately need. One of these, a tent, is something that I have allowed to slip by me. We have a tent. A good tent. However, it has been sitting in the airing cupboard for the past 5 months after going camping up North in a terrential downpour. It's not been aired. It's not been cleaned. It's been festering. I dread to think what it smells like. I'm hoping I'm wrong, and that the tent is fine when I venture in to get it later, but if not, a new one is required, before tomorrow. So where can you get a last minute cheap, but decent, tent?
I've found a couple of good ones at Tesco and Argos, which cost around £20-25 for a 2/3 man dome tent. That's not too bad really. In the past I have had tents from Tesco, and even though I've only spent a few quid on them, it's been just as good as these spangly expensive ones you see pitched. So, I'm hoping they will come up trumps again if I need them.
It seems all the major network providers are continuing to compete with each other, this time with offers of unlimited texts. Orange have new packages available, for exiting and new customers to their service.
All named after animals, the packages vary. The new Pay As You Go packages are:
These animal packages broaden the range available, being added to the Pay Monthly animal packages that already exist: Dolphin, Racoon, Panther & Canary.
Back in April, the ruling against bank charges fell in the OFD's favour, meaning bank charges were deemed to be unlawful. On the 22 May 08, the banks were given the opportunity to appeal against the decision. There have been worries that if banks chose to appeal, which was highly likely, the court case would continue until 2009. However, it has been decided that the debate has to be resolved by the end of 2008. But, if the banks succeed in overturning the first ruling, the case would end in the bank's favour. Ugh.
The banks appeal is likely to be heard this autumn. It has been agreed that if a fair level of charges is not agreed to, the issue will go to High Court before Christmas for a ruling. Thats ages away!
As of Tuesday 27 May 2008, the ability to perform cash transfers over the telephone and internet will be enabled, speeding up the process of money transfers. Last year, the delays in transfers, of up to 4 days, made the banks a whopping £30m in interest. The new scheme will improve the speed of delivery, but will begin slow. Customers will be able to make one-off payments up to a maximum of £10,000, which will leave their bank and arrive at the destination bank the same day.
The scheme will extend to standing orders as of the 6 June 08. In 2007, there were 124million internet/telephone payments made, averaging £303. There were also 347million standing order payments made in 2007, expecting to rise to 422million in 10 years, at an average value of £321. To prevent flooding of the new system, banks will enter the scheme at different times.
The 13 banks included are Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Barclays, Citibank, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks, Co-Op, HBOS, HSBC, LLoyds, Nationwide, Northern Bank, Northern Rock and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
A website has been set up to allow people to check whether their bank has joined the scheme.
It seems that following the initial decision made back in April, the banks are likely to appeal against the ruling, and against the decision that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can scrutinise OD charges.
As of 21st May 2008, the appeal is "under active consideration" according to a banking source.
Its argued that an estimated £3.5 billion is raised by banks, each year, by charging customers for unauthorised overdrafts and reversal of direct debits etc.
But what is worse for those that are trying to reclaim the charges, is that if an appeal is granted, the case could be dragged out until next year. Which means more hanging around waiting to see if the money can be reclaimed. In some cases, mine included, the banks take up to £30 off customers who go over their agreed OD limit. Thats EVERY time you go over your limit. So if you havent checked your account for a while, you didn't realise how much money you didnt have, and you need to buy food or pay a bill, a maximum of £30 is taken off you every time you add to the OD. What I found with my bank as well, is that on top of some charges going out during the month, some accumulate until a specified date (usually towards the end of the month..), and this total charge is debited in one clean swoop. Sometimes this has been as much as £150, which, by the time they take it off me, I dont have, putting me past my limit again and eligible for more charges. Its on ongoing cycle, especially when in a bit of an employment drought and a recovering student. And Im not the only one who thinks this is getting ridiculous.
Now you tell me if that's fair.
Alliance & Leicester have the right idea, charging a maximum of £5 for unauthorised transactions. I would switch, except I dont think they would have me in my current situation.
On 1 May 2007, new regulations were introduced to protect the UK's storecard holders. In March 2006, the Competition Commission concluded that cardholders were being ripped off at least £55million a year, due to the interest rates, premiums and other charges store cards impose.
Since 1 May 2007, storecard issuers who charge APRs of more than 25% must:
It wasn't insisted that store card issuers should cut their interest rates.
The regulations don't seem to have done much since they were employed. Since last year, Argos, Debenhams, IKEA, and M&S Money have increased their APRs, the majority having remained at the same APR. Overall, the average APR charged has dropped a measley 0.7% from 25% in May 2007, to 24.3% today. Credit cards average at 16.5% - much cheaper.
They can be beneficial to sensible users though - interest free credit can be available for full payers, loyalty and reward schemes, discounts, promotions and special offers.
Just a few tips on how you can start reducing your carbon footprint. There's more here.
Names, addresses. national insurance numbers and bank account details can all been a means to steal somebody's identity - the prospect of this being a major cause of anxiety for millions of people, believing they can be the subject of fraud.
Despite the fact that identity theieves would have to hack the bank accounts by deciphering passwords, once the information is accessed, the thieves can then imitate the victim, apply for loans and clear out their savings. Identity theft is an ever present risk, particularly due to the rise in online banking and data being stored electronically. In comes Identity Theft Insurance.
In February 2006, BT launched their BT Identity Protection, a years cover being offered for £60. This includes:
Although BT are not promoting this product any longer, it is still available if the individual wants it.
But is this insurance worth buying? Yes, it provides the help someone may well need if they are subject to identity theft. But Which? claim it is poor value for money, who say that any monetary loss is covered in the Banking Code, although, the bank can technically charge the first £50. There is a lot of paperwork, but you still have to do it. You still have to do the legwork. All you have is someone on the other end of the phone, telling you to do it.
It could work out to be a lot of money for a service that isn't that great. The best thing to do, is buy a shredder.
I have a lot of issues with the existence of bank charges. Yes, theres a court case underway to try and prove them to be unlawful, which would give the common man the chance to reclaim his charges back, but that doesnt look like it will be solved for a long time yet.
So in the meantime, its interesting to find out just how much it costs the bank, if a cheque/direct debit bounces, and how that relates to the costs we, as consumers, are charged.
It has been found, that the cost of employing somebody to bounce that cheque, may be as little as £2, which is a massive deduction in comparison to what we get charged - approxiomatelly £25 - £30 per cheque. Bit ridiculous isn't it? But, as mentioned in the article, banks will have other overheads, which contribute to the costs of bouncing a cheque, including "...building, heating, lighting, stamps, stationery, telephones, computers etc...". They aren't really the account holders problem though are they? and we shouldnt be contributing to them by way of unnecessary bank charges.
It's worth learning about the costs of selling something through EBay, so below is a few of the main fees involved:
It's definately worth having a think, before you decide to use EBay. There are other options to sell your stuff, depending on the cost of it. It's worth knowing the fees though!
DSG International, who own Dixons and PC World, among others, have released a profit warning due to the report of falling sales in the high street stores. They announced that profits could fall by up to £50million after a poor holiday period.
Next, the high street clothing store, has also reported disppointing results over the Christmas period.
It seems the festive period wasn't so fruitful last year.
