When you fight – learn a lesson from the super rich

Just picked up the morning paper and almost choked on my coffee. It looks like the tax man could have to pay the super rich Barclay brothers £1.2 billion over a VAT dispute going back… 40 years. It was the time this case has been rumbling on that really grabbed my attention. The brothers Barclay are not short of a bob or two. They own the Telegraph newspaper and the Ritz hotel, among other things. But they obviously have the determination of incensed rottweilers when it comes to protecting their cash. In fact the tax man had coughed up but […]

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Insurance quotes – making a crisis out of a crisis

It was an insurance company that coined the slogan ” We won’t make a drama out of a crisis”, and now the insurance companies seem determined to make the most out of a crisis. Everyone knows that several thousand homes were flooded over Christmas and the New Year period and that in the end it will be us, as household insurance customers, who will end up paying the bill. Just how quick the insurers have got round to making us pay has amazed even us. One money fighter who last week queried why her household insurance had increased from £274 […]

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Budget moves – watch out for fancy footwork

As well as the pension changes, the Budget also announced a new breed of tax-free Individual Savings Accounts, which will allow £15,000 in cash or shares, or a mix of the two, to be invested each year. They’ll be launched in July. Check that the charges on the investment ISAs do not outweigh the tax benefits. Remember there will be no tax to pay on gains up to £10,900 even outside an ISA wrapper. And if you want to play safe with a cash ISA remember that banks like to lure in savers with high rates for the first year […]

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Dear Mr.Osborne – just a couple of budget pointers

Dear Mr.Osborne, or may we call you George? We’re sure you’re up to your eyeballs giving your budget speech a few final tweaks before tomorrow and passing a duster over your red briefcase. But we just wanted to send this short note your way. (Please return the carrier pigeon. His name is Stallone and he likes Byron burger crumbs, by the way.) While changes to tobacco and booze taxes will grab headlines (if you change them),  we’re more interested in how you deliver what you have to say and who you really want to pay attention. The fact is that […]

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Supermarket snores – Morrisons’ loss is not our gain

So supermarket chain Morrisons has posted a £176 million loss but promises to turn things  around, including pumping money into savings on the shelves, according to reports on BBC breakfast television this morning. Here at Money Fight Club HQ we tend to take everything that supermarkets say with a pinch of salt (considerably in excess of the recommended daily limit). Supermarkets are not in the business of feeding our families but in the business of making money. Whatever they may say about savings, or online shopping, or convenience stores the only people who grow fat at senior managers and shareholders. […]

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So you want to make complaints about financial services? Yeah, right.

Financial services companies are still not dealing with customer complaints properly.  Just look at the figures for complaints about financial services. The majority of those brought to the Financial Ombudsman decided in favour of the customer in the second half of 2013. Okay, so banks have allocated more than £20 billion to compensate the victims for the outrageous mis-selling of payment protection insurance, but customers are still having to exhaust the banks’ own complaints procedure before they can take their complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Talk about making us jump through hoops! Financial services complaints Over the full […]

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Supermarket special offers. No more two-for-ones on sneaky please!

Supermarkets are as sneaky as they ever were and, in our opinion, getting worse. The good news is that you’re all getting sick and tired of it. The fake discounts and multi-buys that are more expensive than buying individual packs are finally catching up with them. A survey by Netmums for the Sunday Times found that 80% of customers want better regulation of supermarkets. At Money Fight Club we agree and say you need to go into supermarkets armed and prepared to be ambushed if you don’t keep your wits about you. A basic supermarket self defence weapon is the […]

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FCA credit regulation takeover

In a month’s time the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) will take over the regulation of credit deals for consumers ranging from the downright dodgy payday loans and doorstep lenders to the seemingly more respectable High Street banks and mortgage lenders with their tricks to confuse customers into paying more. FCA credit regulation The FCA has warned them all that it is going to take a tough approach to credit regulation and will clamp down on poor practice. It’s expected to ban misleading advertisements from the payday loan companies. But they are not the only culprits even though their interest rates […]

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