You may think competition among banks is good for consumers. After all, why else would we be offered low rates on loans, 0% credit cards and high-interest current accounts? But behind the cheap deals lie …
Don’t fall for the tricks of the card trade
Category: Personal Finance
How to avoid holiday currency charges
There’s only one thing more certain than sunshine if you holiday abroad: your holiday spending will cost you dear. Holiday currency exchange is a licence for banks to print money, says Dido Sandler in FT …
Beware the bogus brokers
It’s easy to scoff at people who fall for financial scams. Shouldn’t they have more sense? But the most common victims of so-called boiler-room scams are experienced investors, who typically lose £20,000 each to the …
Taxing matter of gongs for non-UK taxpayers
George Orwell claimed in the 1940s that he was struck by the “exceptional ugliness and vulgarity of the faces“ of those on the honours list. This year’s winners were criticised for a different reason – …
Why living in sin could cost you dear
The press is full of articles on the perils of living in sin – and they are making a financial rather than a moral judgement. There are more than two million cohabiting couples in England …
Going green can help sell your house
Geopolitics is not an area that the majority of householders have ever cared much about, but the impact of war in the Middle East and elsewhere on oil and gas prices has turned more of …
Card firms cut penalty charges – but there’s a catch
Good news: a number of credit card firms have cut their penalty charges. MBNA, for example, has cut the fine for customers who breach their credit limit, or who miss or make a late payment, …
Pensions A-Day is just around the corner. What should you do about it?
MoneyWeek invited five experts to dinner and asked for their thoughts on the likely outcome of the Government’s pensions ‘A-Day’, when a whole raft of changes to the ways we save are set to come …
Tories go on the attack over taxes
Better late than never. Last Saturday was Tax Freedom Day (TFD), the point in the year when UK earners have raked in enough money to pay off their tax burden and begin working for themselves. …
Network operators to slash roaming charges
The costs of using your mobile phone abroad are set to fall over the next 12 months as network operators submit to pressure from the European Union to slash roaming charges. The roaming charges levied …