We needto boycott price rises

Almost everyone in the UK is trying to cut all household bills, while daily we hear of increases. Kitkat, Unilever and Primark are the latest of to say they have no choice but to put prices up again.  The ONS says that grocery prices are increasing by 6% year on year.  But we should not just accept the increases. It takes time to save money, but it is definitely worth it. Remember Tesco made £2.2 billion last year and predicts it will increase profits to £2.4 billion to £2.6 billion.   Sainsbury also doubled profits. Lidl and Aldi say they are […]

Read More…

Shop around for petrol

Wholesale petrol prices have fallen $30 a barrel since last month. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, cut fuel duty by 5p a litre on March 23 and a result VAT fell 1p per litre. But prices have stayed stubbornly high at most filling stations. We need to find out which stations are playing fair and reducing their prices and use them. The Competition and Markets Authority is trying to help by increasing competition. Since Morrisons was taken over last year by private equity some 1,200 petrol stations have been under the same ownership and are less likely to compete on prices. […]

Read More…

Giving access and power to bank customers

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 […]

Read More…

Time for banks to serve their customers

Banks are holding on to their money once again. Interest rates were raised by the Bank of England last month and the banks increased their variable interest mortgage rates within minutes but we tens of millions of savers are still waiting for some improvement in our interest rates. Meanwhile credit card interest rates are at their highest since 1998 and overdraft rates are almost uniformly at 40%. At the same time hundreds of thousands of leasehold flat owners are stranded unable to sell or re-mortgage because banks are too frightened to loan on properties that have cladding. The government has […]

Read More…

Getting ready to charge us more

The banks have started sending out letters. The first batch warned that credit card customers would have to pay more each month and in some cases that their credit limits were being reduced. Breach those and penalties have to be paid. Interest rates also average 24% even though bank base rates are still at 0.1%. Meanwhile latest letters warn that agreed overdrafts are to be reduced often by £1,000 or more. All this before the Bank of England has decided whether inflation currently 4.2% CPI and 6% RPI will be tamed by interest rate rises. Having already withdrawn the cheapest […]

Read More…

Don’t let banks put us in danger

When my bank left town I did not think too much about it as I use its Internet service. But now I realise it has put me and many others in danger. I need to transfer a large amount of money to a solicitor . Last time I did it the branch organised the process and charged £25. Now with “Friday Fraud” a growing thing where thieves hack into accounts and send messages changing bank account details to people about to complete on properties or needing to pay a builder we need our banks to protect us. Unfortunately that is […]

Read More…

Stay calm and shop

Empty shelves and Christmas shortages are worrying many shoppers as the supply chain crisis encompasses cleaning products, toys and chicken. It is not time to panic buy, but to plan ahead and settle for less. Shops have more to worry about than customers as container and delivery costs spiral, and their stock is delayed half way round the world, just as they were wanting to make up for the revenues they lost during lockdown. Shoppers have to be careful if they want to splash the cash with their contactless cards, which now have a limit per spend of £100. Keep […]

Read More…

Be careful who you book your holiday with

The pandemic caused thousands of flights to be cancelled and others to go ahead empty of passengers because the UK government banned holidays. Now is the time to remember which airlines and holiday firms were honourable when we could not travel during the travel restrictions. Only last week we were reminded by the Competition and Markets Authority who were not. The Competition and Markets Authority had been looking at the refusals to refund customers by Ryanair and British Airways and had reluctantly decided it could not force the airlines to refund passengers, who had missed out on their holidays last […]

Read More…

Take care with contactless, BNPL & crypto

There is lots of danger out there. Lindsay Cook warns of a new scam with contactless cards that allow fraudsters to take up to £1,000 from commuters who use their iPhone to pay at ticket barriers. Buy Now Pay Later is making so much money for the likes of Klarna and Clear Pay that the likes of Barclays Bank owner of the largest credit card company, Barclaycard is planning to disrupt this new payment method. Meanwhile the voices warning against investing in crypto currencies are growing louder. […]

Read More…