Boiler room scams and energy companies who don’t return your cash – as bad as each other?

Two events in today’s news were, in some ways, so very different from each other and in others ways appallingly similar and showed off how badly people are treated when it comes to money matters. In the first event, police arrested over 100 people involved in so called boiler room scams. Their many thousands of victims were tricked into buying worthless shares by slick, slithery con artists with super smooth phone techniques. People have lost millions of pounds to this appalling crime. In a totally unrelated news story, the UK energy regulator, Ofgem, told the big six energy companies to […]

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Our banking standards submission

Money Fight Club has been through a few rounds with the High Street banks as they have invented new ways to part customers from their money over the years. The mis-selling of personal pensions, endowment mortgages, payment protection insurance and interest rate swaps have cost customers billions of pounds and damaged the reputation and the finances of the banks. Now the Banking Standards Review headed up by Sir Richard Lambert, former editor of the Financial Times, has proposed the setting up of an independent body to raise standards and to bring ethics into banking. It does not go far enough, […]

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Daily Express – simple ways to save cash

[av_two_third first] [av_image src=’http://moneyfightclub.fantata/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Express-Money-12.02.14-@-100-ppi.jpg’ attachment=” align=’center’ animation=’no-animation’ link=” target=’no’] [/av_two_third][av_one_third] [av_heading heading=’Feb 12, 2014′ tag=’h3′ color=” style=” padding=’10’] [av_textblock ] “Money if tight for most of us these days but sometimes we makes things worse by needlessly throwing away cash… There is plenty you can do to cut down on your food waste says Lindsay Cook, co-author of advice book Money Fight Club.” Harvey Jones, Daily Express [/av_textblock] [/av_one_third] […]

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The great big pensions rip off

We save in a pension fund for years and get a lousy deal on charges and investment performance and then we get to retirement age and get ripped off again. The Financial Conduct Authority has just caught up with one of the scams, which leaves up to 80% of pension savers worse off than they ought to be. The practice currently under scrutiny is the annuity market. When people come to pension age they are offered an annuity – a guaranteed pension for life based on the lump sum they have saved. Currently a 65 year old can expect to […]

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Brighton author fights the high street cowboys

“A Brighton author and a fellow former financial journalist have written a book to help consumers dodge dubious deals, save money and win compensation. Anne Caborn and Lindsay Cook have written Money Fight Club. Details of the book appear in the current issue of the Brighton and Hove Independent.” Brighton and Hove News […]

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Banking… standards?

The Banking Standards Review from Sir Richard Lambert proposes an independent body that will champion better banking standards. What’s not to like? But before anything can happen it has posed 19 questions on ethics, training, the assessment of a bank’s code of conduct, best practice, competence and much more. Sir Richard wants the body to raise standards of competence and conduct in banking but it is likely to fail abysmally if it becomes a “members organisation for bankers.” How can the markets and more importantly the customers begin to trust banks if their new body is little more than a […]

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Hit by bad weather rail failures? Compensation letter

Record numbers of train journeys have been delayed or cancelled due to floods and strong winds. The problems are getting worse, with more rail failures and more lines affected every day. Network Rail, which runs and maintains Britain’s rail tracks, has agreed a new five year plan to get the trains running on time. But, in the meantime, if you can’t travel it is important that you claim compensation from the rail company who should have got you where you needed to get to. As you might expect each one has a different system. Any other approach would make it […]

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Tired of high street rip offs? How to fight back

“Most of us would be on our guard if somebody sidled up to us in the pub and offered to sell us a brand new television cheap, or started selling frozen chickens out of the boot of their car. But when it comes to High Street names and people sitting behind desks in smart offices, we tend to take what they say at face value. Two women, sick of the way banks, supermarkets, energy and other companies operate have written a book on how to fight high street rip offs.” Brighton & Hove Independent […]

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NASMA – our advice on student travel

[av_one_half first] [av_image src=’http://moneyfightclub.fantata/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/NASMA-new.jpg’ attachment=’670′ align=’center’ animation=’no-animation’ link=” target=’no’] [/av_one_half][av_one_half] [av_heading heading=’Feb 5, 2014′ tag=’h3′ color=” style=” padding=’10’] [av_textblock ] “As student numbers increase so student accommodation can be less and less conveniently located, particularly after the first year at university, when people move out of halls and into private rented accommodation, much of it far flung as well as pricey…” Money Fight Club for the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA) Read the full article on the NASMA website [/av_textblock] [/av_one_half] […]

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