Cyber Monday 2014 poses a very real danger to your wallet

Cyber Monday 2014 is this Monday, December 1. It follows hard on the heels of Black Friday, is yet another American import and once again is about retailers netting profits rather than you netting a bargain. Pay attention. Just in the same way that Black Friday ‘bargains’ generate a shopping surge on the high street, so Cyber Monday tempts us to spend with an array of online bargains and deals. But if you get caught up in all the marketing hype how do you actually know you’re gettting a real bargain? And unlike phsyical sales in stores, it’s just so […]

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Why we’re still not out of the wood on pensions

When Gorgeous George announced our pension freedoms in the Budge, a lot of us thought great – we’ve got enough saved to pay off the rest of the mortgage and have a good holiday. But then reality cuts in – a pension’s for life and I may own by house but I can’t buy a sausage with a brick. Our guest blogger is Henry Tapper, founder of online pension resource, the Pension PlayPen. Henry has worked in pensions all his life and is now a Director of First Actuarial. Would you like to blog for us? To people who’ve done […]

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Smartening up your mortgage credit profile

It’s got even harder to get a mortgage because of changes brought it in under the Mortgage Market Review. So it’s worth making sure your mortgage credit profile is in the best possible shape. Lenders will want to take a close look at your spending and if you haven’t gone for a mortgage for a few years the added level of detail will come as a shock. Making sure bills are paid on time and being registered to vote are two of the basics but there is a lot more you can do, including checking there are no black marks […]

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Why supermarket price wars aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

Tesco has joined Morrrisons in tantalising supermarket shoppers with offers of price cuts. According to The Telegraph: Tesco has cut the cost of a cooked breakfast, with lower prices on eggs, bacon and tomatoes, saving families ‘£96 a year’. Hmmm… The Tesco salvo was in response to a similar promise to cut prices from Morrisons. Of course, it would be cynical to point out that both these generous offers were made on the back on dwindling profits. We’re all for basics such as bread and eggs costing less but we trust supermarkets about as far as you can throw a […]

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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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