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August 2008 Archives

Charity Begins At Home

Posted by Samantha Castle on August 28, 2008 11:09 AM

HOUSEHOLD finances have been badly stretched in the past year as the cost of energy has increased by 17% and the cost of food by 12%*. And the credit crunch means that the cost of new mortgages has increased, there are fewer mortgages available to choose from, and they are more difficult to obtain. This is making life harder for the 1.4 million borrowers coming off cheaper, fixed-rate mortgages in 2008. But there are ways to help yourself and organisations to help you cope if you are struggling, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Citizens Advice and Shelter.
No matter the size of your financial problems there are steps you can take to tackle them to help struggling households get through the tough times.
If you are worried about your finances your first move should be to start talking: talk to your lender, talk to your partner, and talk to a free, independent debt adviser. The earlier you tell your lender, the more options available to solve the problem. Options that your lender may consider include: extending the term of the mortgage, changing the type of mortgage, deferring interest payments for a short period, and treating the arrears as part of the original debt.
There are many organisations which offer free and independent money advice such as Citizens Advice, Shelter, National Debtline, and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. Their debt advisers can assess your situation and devise the best course of action for you.
If you are coming to the end of a fixed-rate mortgage in the near future start planning ahead for higher repayments and researching the best deals in the market now.
Ignoring your debt problems will only make them worse. Positive action will help you find ways to solve them.
A mortgage is a priority debt as if you don't pay this you could lose your home. Debt advisers can help you plan your budget and pay your priority debts first.
If you can't afford your full mortgage repayments, you should talk to your lender and still pay what you can afford.
Don't ignore letters or telephone calls from your lender; if you are not sure what they mean ask your lender or a debt adviser. Open all mail that is addressed 'to the occupiers'; if you are a tenant this is how the mortgage lender will contact you if the landlord has a payment problem.
If you are struggling with mortgage repayments you may be tempted to send the keys to your lender or abandon your property. Don't do this without advice. You could still be responsible for the debt on the property and may be pursued for it years later.

Save money, save you hair!

Posted by Samantha Castle on August 13, 2008 9:05 PM

IT seems that the credit crunch is causing many people in the UK to lose their hair. As many other brands see sales fall as a result of the economy, one of the nation's popular natural hair recovery treatments has seen sales continue to rise.
Nourkrin, has been reported as the number one selling brand in the VMS category for the fifth month running according to Health Food Business Magazine and CLF Distribution.
Don't lose you hair too! It has also been reported this week that more people have changed their utility provider in the last two days than in the previous three months.
Since British Gas announced its 35% price increase on Wednesday, the froggybank.co.uk network has seen a massive increase in switchers.
For the first time ever utilities are the top selling category in the network.
And many shoppers are also getting a cash bonus to switch supplier, through these sites.
Scottish Power doubled its cash-back offering of up to £72 on Wednesday.
Other popular offers include up to £100 cash-back from NPower Business, plus cash from comparison sites Switch with Which and Energy Helpline.
It's estimated there are more than 20 million online shoppers in the UK who are yet to discover cash-back and get back up to 100% of the middleman's fee on all their online shopping.
And if you want to make the most of your cash-back payment- why not add it to your savings. Although according to financial experts British savers still seem to be suffering from a lack of knowledge about the effects of inflation and tax on their savings.
According to research from the National Savings and Investments, the government-backed savings and investments organisation, when it comes to choosing the right nest egg for their money, and despite the wide coverage of the credit crunch and its implications, people just aren't saving wisely.
Almost a third (31%) of people said that although they know what inflation is they don't understand how it affects their savings while almost one in ten (9%) said they don't know what inflation is at all. More than a quarter (28%) of people also had no idea how tax affects their savings.
People can keep up to date on the level of inflation by accessing the UK Statistics Authority data directly, from http://www.statistics.gov.uk.

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Penny Pincher in the August 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

July 2008 is the previous archive.September 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.