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…

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 Having already withdrawn the cheapest […]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…

Read the small print or get conned

We all do it.  Tick the box stating that we have read and agree the terms and conditions before placing an order.   Mostly we get away with it, but in the last week or so I have come across several dodgy contracts produced to make extra money for the business at the expense of the customer. The first example was a hotel in South London that a relative booked for two nights.  He paid the £126 cost, but did not actually end up using the room or even visiting it.  A good deal for the hotel you might think. […]

Read More…

Unfair contract traps to be outlawed

Hidden traps in consumer contracts that cause us to pay out far more than we expect  and for longer are to be outlawed in next week’s Budget according to Government pre-briefing. But don’t hold your breathe it is likely to take years for businesses that have spent decades devising new ways to con us to reform. They will kick and scream and be in denial about what they have been doing and legislation will probably take longer than Brexit  so prepare for an avalanche of unfair tricks to part us from our money in the meantime. We will have to […]

Read More…

Claim compensation for rail delays

Claim now and claim often for delays on trains.  Too many commuters and other passengers are letting the rail companies get away with running late trains without claiming what they can.   The companies still do not make it easy but money is available for delays of 15 minutes. The companies are saving £100m a year because travelers do not claim what they can.  With fares up 2.3% this year the compensation can help.   Southern Rail claims it is running a normal service from today, even though ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, and the RMT union is still banning overtime. Southern […]

Read More…

Socially irresponsible loan ad banned

Fans of Grand Designs, the Channel 4 television programme, know that those home builders with more expensive taste than their budgets warrant end the programme with the sorry confession that they have maxed out their credit cards to pay for the build.   In the worst cases they have to sell their new home or take on extra work to pay off the debt mountain. It is not what anyone on that programme or involved in more modest home improvements should set out to do. Not that you would guess it from an advertisement on the ‘home make over channel’ back […]

Read More…

Blue Monday – good news about the most financially depressing day of the year

Blue Monday is coming up and so named because December’s pay cheque is often paid a day or two earlier and then January is a five week month, with many of us not seeing another pay cheque reach our bank account for another couple of weeks. When we worked out which day was Blue Monday we felt it fell on January 26. But the growing concensus is that it will actually fall on Monday, January 19. Sheeesh! You wouldn’t think people would be so keen to get there sooner, would yah? Why so blue, Monday? Credit card bills have landed […]

Read More…

Credit card repayments seem to be down? It’s all an illusion…

February has arrived and the bleakest financial month (January) is behind us. But we still need to be very careful when using and paying off on credit card. The payments required by the card company may appear to be getting smaller even though our spending has not. This is because card companies have been sneakily reducing the minimum amount they require customers to pay each month. The minimum credit card repayment used to average 2.15% of the amount outstanding. This now they are down to 1.53%, according to figures from the TotallyMoney comparison website. This is not good news. While […]

Read More…