'I inherited £70,000 after the sale of my late father's house, and I want to give some of it to my son as a deposit for a flat. But he's worried that his £24,000 income and financial problems as a student will harm his credit record and limit access to cheap mortgage deals. Should he stay at home with us and save even more, or leap into choppy financial waters?' HS, Surrey
Gordon Brown's decision to abolish the 10p rate of income tax will push more than 300,000 people below the poverty line, according to the Conservatives.
Homeowners have been promised a cut in interest rates when the inter-bank lending rate goes down after a Downing Street summit over the credit squeeze between the Chancellor and mortgage lenders.
Shoppers spent £5bn more in notes and coins last year, according to research that challenges the long-held view that Britain is becoming a cashless society.
Possibly the two most controversial financial products on sale in the UK are
payment protection insurance (PPI) and individual voluntary arrangements
(IVAs). PPI promises to cover the cost of a loan if the policyholder is off
work through illness or is made redundant. An IVA is a type of insolvency
where the struggling debtor comes to an agreement with his or her creditors
under which they have to repay a proportion of what they owe, sometimes as
little as a quarter.
One in four British motorists lie when applying for insurance, meaning their cover could be worthless, according to new research from the price comparison website insurance.co.uk.
We saw a prime example last week of a company putting a small saving ahead of its own reputation and refusing to play fair by its customers. The insurer Direct Line – along with Royal Bank of Scotland, Churchill and Tesco – announced that new policyholders who had taken out its travel insurance would not be covered while using Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport.
Holidaymakers face a steep rise in the cost of trips to countries in the eurozone this summer, as they suffer the consequences of the plummeting pound. However, holidays elsewhere in Europe and in the US should offer better value for money, according to a study by the Post Office.
At a time when the price of an average weekly shop is increasing and consumers are having to dig deeper into their pockets when they reach the checkout, getting the best value for money is more important than ever.
Travellers using Heathrow's Terminal 5 faced more confusion last week following announcements made by Direct Line, one of the UK's biggest insurance firms.
Budget airline easyJet has been found to have broken advertising rules by increasing fares after promoting a 25 per cent discount on its routes, a watchdog has said.
