Latest Features

Switch to a fixed rate mortgage?

With the base rate on hold for another month and some major lenders reducing their fixed rates, is now the time to switch to a fixed rate mortgage?...

Beware the boiler room

Cold called and offered a red hot share tip? Be very aware, it could turn out a lot hotter than expected. So hot, in fact, that the shares (and your money) vaporise in the intense heat of this boiler room trading scam....

Cash-strapped students-to-be opt to stay at home

More than one in four (27 per cent) young people starting university this year will have to live with their parents to save money, according to a new report from Lloyds TSB Student banking....

Tax year dates and changes - The deadline is coming..

Another tax deadline is approaching they seem to come round with remarkable regularity. This time it's July 31, which is the last date for making a payment on account for the tax you owe for the 2007...

Get a current account that beats the credit crunch

Despite the fact that there are some attractively priced current accounts on the market and we needlessly throw away £8.3 billion a year on bank charges and low interest rates, only around 6% of us ...

SIPPS The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When they were first introduced 18 years ago, Self-invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs for short) were, like Rolex watches, Porsches, school fees and private medical cover, the province of the very affl...

Sheltering from the storm

The credit crunch means an increasingly number of homeowners are worried about rising mortgage payments or not being able to afford to pay off their home loan. In fact earlier this year Financial Serv...

Bear market - should you sell or buy?

You may grizzle about the unfairness of it all but the economic outlook is pretty grim and the credit crunch and soaring living costs have combined to bring the word 'recession' into many people's liv...

Gone phishing? Keep your name safe

When it comes to personal safety, fear of having our identity stolen is now our top anxiety, according to research from American Express Insurance Services. The survey found that 43% of respondents fe...

Car insurance - a comprehensive guide

For the consumer seeking motor insurance, their biggest enemy is not the cheese-paring insurance companies that are keen to gather in the premiums but seemingly less than keen to fully support your cl...

How safe are your savings in the credit crunch?

It is a good time to save, provided you're confident your money will still be there when you want it back. Interest rates on savings accounts have never been better for years, albeit hedged with rest...

Taking charge of your protected rights' pension

Millions of pension savers who opted out of the state second pension in order to save in a private scheme will soon be allowed to unlock investments that have been trapped in poorly-paying funds and h...

Giving your cards a break

Holidaymakers should check charges before using their debit and credit cards abroad this summer as the cost of withdrawing cash and completing card transactions can vary dramatically. Debit cards B...

What's really happening to house prices

The slowdown in the UK housing market is a "grave cause for concern", according to Government Minister Harriet Harman. But is the situation really that bad? Do the facts and figures underwrite this ...

Credit crunch investing: Where to find safe havens for your savings

With house prices nose-diving, the bears running wild in the stock market and the banks, the pillars of the financial community, looking wobbly, many of us are wondering if there are any safe havens l...

Trapped in T5 - a travel insurance nightmare?

Just as the angst, political chicanery, duplicity and divisiveness of the abolition of the 10p tax band has been distilled into the phrase"the 10p", so the abject frustration of modern day air travel ...

Investment Commentary: July - New balls please!

Brian Tora is one of the City's most respected financial commentators. Previously he held the post of Investment Communications Director at Gerrard Investment Management Limited. He writes a regular m...

Mortgages - between a Rock and a hard place

Remortgaging, or moving your mortgage for a better deal, has become a nightmare rather than the surefire way of saving money that it was even just a few months ago. According to data analysts Moneyfac...

Going, going, gone?

It's now a buyer's market and nowhere more so than in the property auction rooms, where savvy investors are snapping up bargains at up to 30 per cent below estate agent prices. In the past, buyers in...

The right time to release equity?

Is now the time to take advantage of equity release? Interest rates for such schemes have remained relatively unaffected in a credit squeeze that has racked up the cost of traditional home loans.Exper...

How to finance home improvements

Despite the uncertainty in the housing market, 3.25 million of us plan to move home over the next year or so, according to research from Alliance & Leicester (A&L). While the number may be a b...

How to stop your money going up in smoke

Today (Tuesday, 1 July 2008) marks the first anniversary of the ban on smoking in public places in England and Wales - and smokers who quit this time last year can now cash in by re-broking their life...

With profits investments - zombies that won't die

Zombie funds, despite the name, are not some obscure archive of horror films. They are the investment world's living dead - funds that are still just alive, but closed to new business. They have no lo...

Rented accommodation repossessed? What are your rights

You've avoided the gyrations of the housing market by renting. You can afford the rent, feel that there's no stigma attached to renting (after all, it's the norm in the USA and most of the countries i...

Paying for your white wedding

Fathers worried about footing the bill for their daughter's big day; can breathe a sigh of relief - the tradition is fast becoming a thing of the past. These days, around 80% of couples pay for their ...