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Archive for April, 2007

Finding A Credit Card Offer

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

Selecting a new credit card can often be confusing and overwhelming with the number of offers and deals that are currently available on the market.  Borrowing money in any form is a serious matter and because it can be a bit confusing or intimidating, you may often end up choosing the wrong card and then later regret your decision after all the interest fees and charges have hit you.  To avoid the mistake of choosing the wrong type of credit card, there are a few things that you should consider before applying for a new card.

Before you start your search for a credit card, you will first want to ask yourself why you will need a new credit card.  Your reasons could be that you want a card with lower interest rates than your current cards, another reason could be that you want to transfer a balance on a card to one that offers a 0% introductory rate.  Once you have determined the reason for your new card, you can then narrow down your search on the type of card you want.  By searching on credit card comparison websites, you will be able to select the type of card you wish to find and the site will pull a list of several credit card companies that have offers on what you are looking for.  For example, if you are searching for a 0% introductory interest rate the site will post a list of cards starting from the best offer.

When you are searching for a card, you will want to keep in mind the reason you are applying for a new card, as well as other benefits that you want to gain from the card.  By keeping focused during your search, you will be able to find a card that is right for you and that you will not regret applying for.

Posted in Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Credit Card, Financial products, interest rates, UK Finance, Zero percent cards | No Comments »

Unfair bank charge refunds going ahead

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

At last banks and building societies are being forced to admit that their charges are unfair.

For a while now headlines have been full of stories of people fleeced by their banks for going overdrawn by tiny amounts. Banks have made a killing in recent years by charging what they now agree to be excessive amounts for overdraft breaches. Many customers have found charge after charge piled onto their accounts before they even realised leaving them unable to clear the vast sums accruing.

The Alliance & Leicester are one building society who have now agreed to fix a reasonable charge for bouncing cheques. Following a recent BBC report claiming that charges should amount to no more than £4.50, the building society has agreed to refund the difference to their customers between their old rate of £25 per bounced cheque and the new sum.

But whilst some of the poorest and financially careless customers may be cheering that their charges will be refunded, experts are expecting a new wave of charges to take place of the old ones.

“People may be seeing a return of their charges for unauthorised overdrafts or bounced cheques, but this is not the end of the matter,” says Abbi Rouse of loan brokers, Interfinancial Limited.

“Banks have been used to gaining revenue from those customers unfortunate to go overdrawn or careless with their finances.  Now all customers will be seeing extra charges on their accounts as banks try to claw back profits.”

Customers across the board can now expect to see higher charges for personal loans, insurance, banking and other financial services warns Rouse.

At the end of the day, the customer may be right, but the banks will always win.

Posted in Bank charges, Banking, Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Debt management, Financial news, Personal loans, UK Finance | No Comments »

How Consolidating Your Bills Can Help You Lower Your Monthly Payments

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

If you find that it has become harder for you to keep track of your monthly expenses, or begin to realise that your expenses are exceeding your income, you will want to take immediate action to fix your financial problems.  One way of regaining control of your expenses and paying off your debt is through a consolidating loan.  There are many benefits and ways that a consolidation loan can help you with your finances.

A consolidation loan works by taking out one loan that will then be used to pay off all your current expenses and turn it into one monthly payment.  This can help relieve the stress of having to worry about when bills are due; instead you will only have to focus on one monthly repayment.  By writing down all the current balances on your credit cards and debts and writing down the interest rates, you will be able to know just how much you will have to borrow and how low the rate will have to be on the loan in order for it to be beneficial and help you reduce the total amount of repayments towards debts.

The benefits of a consolidation loan include the fact that you will have the ease of only having to pay off one debt, instead of three, four or more.  If you search around and do your homework you will also be able to benefit from an overall lower monthly expense, and with the extra savings you can place it either in a savings account or towards to consolidation loan to pay off your debt quicker.

Posted in Borrowing, Consumer Credit, Consumer debt, Debt Consolidation, Debt management, Financial products, interest rates, Personal debt, Personal loans, Secured loans, UK Finance, Unsecured loans | No Comments »

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