Banks are in the process of closing hundreds more branches and blaming the pandemic for their decisions. HSBC is to close 69 more after 82 last year, but it says that they will all have a Post Office within 1.5 miles. TSB is in the process of closing 70, Lloyds 48 NatWest and Virgin Money many more. The loss of branches is damaging for people who rely on cash to keep within their tight budgets and for small businesses with takings to bank or business to discuss. And we still have more than a million adults who do not have […]
Category: Insurance
Motor insurance set to rise
Motor insurance is set to rise again after another Government announcement. The insurance industry has been given another excuse to increase premiums just months after the Chancellor announced another increase in the tax on insurance premiums adding around £25 to premiums. Now an average increase of £50 to £75 is on the way thanks to the new way that compensation for accident victims will be calculated. The insurance industry is rubbing its hands with glee and telling us how much more we will have to pay because compensation payments to those seriously injured will increase under a new formula […]
That’s a (home) improvement – getting the best out of your builders
Listen to our recent radio broadcast on this topic Spring is peak time for home improvements as we try to add space and value to our homes and we are increasingly eschewing DIY in favour of DIFM (Do It For Me). Around 40% of us would rather get in a professional. Retired people spend the most. Younger people are least likely to DIY. But while we are prepared for problems with planning authorities, financing and getting the entire family to agree on what colour to paint the walls, many of us fail to do enough prep when it comes to […]
Cut home insurance costs – in minutes
I’m worth £600 an hour My time became worth £597.84 per hour this week when I challenged the price that my home insurer was planning to charge for my contents and buildings insurance. The policy is due for renewal at the end of August. It would be renewed automatically (auto renewal). It’s not a bad thing to set up, just in case, say, you were away on holiday and forgot to get the policy renewed before departing, or had a family emergency and were distracted. Auto renewal means you are never without cover. Don’t wait for your insurer But you […]
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 […]