Resolved Question

The hypocrisy of mortgage lending in the UK?... any advice?

I am currently trying to get a 4/5 year fixed rate deal on a remortgage on £179,00 but I have been told by a mortgage broker that for an individual earning £30,000 I can only get £150,000 meaning that we cannot get a mortgage of more than £150,00 anyway. What are our options apart from staying with our existing lender which is a variable tracker mortgage in line with BOE interest rate movements. Are you in a similar situation. If so, I would like to hear from you. I am so stressed because I am worried rates will go up and we will be forced to take drastic measures for our family.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Tell you mortgage lender that you wish for your existing mortgage to be on a fixed rate asap. You need not remortgage just to do this.Talk to your mortgage lender if you have problems on your mortgage that is you right as a customer.

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Resolved Question

Premium bond or cash isa?

In this and the next few years, which is the better for up to £6000 per Year.

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I'm afraid I disagree - interest rates on ISA's are dreadful and just another way of the banks making more out of us at the moment - I advocate premium bonds - but spread them around in blocks - for the short term at least - chance to win without feeding greedy bankers. If rates start rising then put into an ISA other than that - put it under your bed until the banks get their acts together and start treating customers as their owners rather than leeches.

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• The maximum you can pay into an ISA per tax year is £3600 & that is obviously tax free! The amount will increase to £5100 form April or it already is £5100 if you are 50 years+. I don't know an awful lot about premium bonds but I have an ISA & it's a great way to save.
• ISA is by far your most profitable route.

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• Premium bond, don't think this is a good time to tie up cash in an isa as interest rate too low and about to go up.
• Isa with rates going up soon
• 6

Resolved Question

Retirement pension Would you be brave enough to opt for the income drawn known as SIPPS?

given the state of the stock market or would you play safe and buy an annuity with your pension fund? Applies to UK only.

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Great answer great wolf

16 hours ago

Sorry Greywolf....Ooops!

16 hours ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

SIPPS are only suitable if you are not dependent on them - you need to have enough income from elsewhere to pay the bills without any drawdown while the stock market is down. And there is a minimum worthwhile investment of between £150,000 and £200,000. You need to hold a SIPP for a minimum of 5 years to get anything out of it. Changing your mind would be expensive.

If you are deciding about your whole pension pot, a SIPP is probably unsuitable.

Watch out for pressure selling of SIPPs by your financial advisor. I know someone who got screwed that way.

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Resolved Question

British pounds £££ promise to pay bearer on demand - I demand to be paid - what happens next?

on British banknotes the is a guarentee which says "promise to pay bearer on demand" does this mean that if I took a five pound note to the bank then they would have to give me five pounds worth of gold - after all thats what the promise means they promise to pay you the amount of gold that the note is worth
would I have to take it to head office to be paid

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

My banknote doesn't mention gold - just 5 pounds.

The gold standard was suspended at the outbreak of the war in 1914 ... a variation on the gold standard was reintroduced in 1925, under which the currency was fixed to gold at its pre-war peg, although people were only able to exchange their currency for gold bullion, rather than for coins. This was abandoned on 21 September 1931
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pounds_ster…

I think you might be about 70 years too late to claim gold instead. Anyway, with current high gold prices, five pounds' worth wouldn't weigh down your pockets too much.

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• Technically yes, although these days we tend use coins instead of gold.

Resolved Question

Is pay pal safe? or a bad idea?

i was thinking about buying some clothes online with my remaining christmas money but found out you need paypal to order the clothes, i asked my parents if i could sign up my bank card with paypal but point blank refused because my cousins lost over £17,000 using paypal, is there anyway to convince them that it is safe?

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Paypal itself is generally safe, however you have to know what you are doing, know the rules, know when it is a genuine paypal communication & especially know when it is a phishing scam. This is nearly always where it goes wrong, it's fraudsters pretending to be paypal. Never click a link in an email from 'paypal' or supposedly from rather, (or any place you have account/password details) you should open your own new page each time & sign in that way. Otherwise you've likely just passed all your bank/card details straight to the fraudsters to do with what they will. Paypal will always address you by your name. The fake paypals probably wont, & the real one wont send you links to click & ask you to verify details or passwords or threaten to close your account if you don't act quickly.. the fakes will. Always log out of your accounts properly too, don't leave them 'open'.

When using sites that use paypal like ebay, you have to know their rules too & know the risks involved especially when selling.. & use your settings accordingly to prevent certain potential risky buyers.

Make sure your internet connection is secure too for making financial transactions, you never know who could pinch your card details from that (i.e if using wireless)

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• From your point of view as a buyer, paypal is safe. However, I have read many stories of sellers whose accounts were frozen and their money effectively "stolen" because they could not access it, and often there was no explanation offered, just their money kept by paypal. Is it any wonder they are making millions of profit?
  
  You could ask the sellers if they will accept any other form of payment - money orders, postal orders, bank drafts etc.
• PayPal is very safe to use for online transactions.
  PayPal offers a system where if you do not receive your item, or the seller will not give a refund for whatever reason, PayPal will sort it out for you and ensure that you get your money back.
  And only the PayPal user can transfer money to other accounts, there is no way to take money out of an account you do not own.
  
  Have a look on the PayPal website. It should tell you some useful information of how they keep your money safe.
  
  If your cousins lost a lot of money using PayPal, it was probably their own fault. I doubt PayPal would have caused them to lose that much money.

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• ouch! That's a pretty bad sum of loss money. Paypal for the most part is very much safe, it's just one needs to use it wisely and perhaps your cousin got a virus on their computer which made a hacker see what their card information was? Other than that paypal is highly safe. I have bought many things over the years but it's mostly been items i could not really find in my area or for cheaper. Personally, i would not ever use a card to purchase clothes over the interest unless it was a absolute 100% must (which is highly rare). Go to a regular store to buy your clothes and it's way better to use cash anyways.That's my advice. You don't want to get into the habit of using paypal for everything on the internet, i made that mistake years ago because i forgotten about certain purchases that didn't his my account yet n so forth but again...i wouldn't refuse your parents advice. If it was for a book you needed then yes i'm certain they may say ok to that but clothes? not really..go to a regular store for clothes
• PayPal is risky.. I almost lost $1000 on it a few months ago trying to sell something. The "buyer" had hacked into someone's account and used their money to pay me, and then things went south. PayPal took the money back from me (which I hadn't even received, so they took $1000 from my bank). It took almost a month to sort out.
  
  It's not the best way to pay online.
• Ive used it for years and never heard any bad reports till you said that. Personally id use it.
• well, my friend used pay pal and they totally got screwed and their money was stolen... so i'd say no.
• Until I read your question and answers i had never heard of anything bad
  
  Thanks for that

Resolved Question

How to save money...like a plan. Attempted to write one, is it any good?

I have a job in a supermarket but i just blow my whole wage as soon as it comes in on basically a load of s h i t e that i dont reallly need but think i do. then when i have no money left i use my £500 overdraft and when thats all gone i use my credit card. Next wages comes in. It pays off a bit of my overdraft, i take some out to pay off my credit card and the cycle begins again. I never actually reach above minus figures.
Student loan went in and i dropped out of uni so i have to pay it back but not till im earning a right amount (which im not at the moment) so i have plus £500 now.
I get paid end of the month.
How can I save money so i dont end up back in that cycle again, because if i dont make a plan for myself (im clueless) i probably will end up back there.

So, heres my attemptive plan money plan.
£360ish wages per month (once tax gets sorted, currently its like £280 or something because they are wrongly taxing me)
I need £70 for bus/metro pass (monthly one)
I dont pay board/rent.
I need money for going out (every friday night, 2 nights during a week (to the pub))
Money for cigarettes, £5.75 a pack give or take 30p. About 60-80 a week.
Makeup is also needed...and hairdye....and haircuts. so about £70 since i dnt need to replace all makeup every month. if i did i'd be too broke for even cigarettes.


I really dont know where the rest of my money goes. Pocket money to myself i guess for spending on the rest of the crap i dont need. How can i save...should i put money in a tin or something because seriously i cant keep it in my pocket or in my bank, i just spend it on anything and everything.

Additional Details

Clothes i dont even count in that because i dont know how much i spend on them i just impulse buy constantly. im also addicted to internet shopping for anything and everything using my credit card. must be about £200 a month though, easily.

Pub...i havent actually ever added up how much i spend in the pub.
approx...erm...oh god this is shocking to say but approx £40 a week in the pub...on a very good minimal week.

2 days ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I think it's more to do with financial management than planning to save, but both works lol

it's great that you put things in monthly terms; less hassle and more analysis:

Btw, if you can, get an annual bus pass - cheaper by £60 I think.
I don't think 60-80 cigarretes a week is helping your finances or your health. Self control is really an issue for you isn't it?

Wages: £360

Pass: £70

Cigarrettes: 20 a pack so you need 3-4 packs a week which makes it 12 -16 packs a month
that means you spend £69 - £92 a month

Make up is £70 a month

So far, you are looking at:

Wages: 360

Costs:
Pass: 70
Cigs: 92
Make-over: 70

What you have left: 128 (that is somewhat more than you spend on cigs, bravo)

Ideally you should be saving 20% but a minimum of 10%
In other words, £72 - £36 goes into the kitty
that leaves you with £50 - £92 to go out

If you do go out, you are realistically looking at £5 spending money (which is less than 2 pints, but a couple of drinks is fine), or £10 per week.
If you are serious about saving money, then either go out once a month (£40 per occassion) or cut back on your spending and go out twice a month.(£20 per occassion)

that is, if you don't spend it on the 'crap' you don't need.

With Nationwide, they pay 4.75% post tax on their 5 year e-bond and charges you if you take money out (tbh, a 2 year e-bond would probably be more worthwhile if the bank rate increases within that time). If it's really a bother, then invest the money in glits or something so you wouldn't get your hands on it.

Hope this helps

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Other Answers (3)

• DRINK MORE BEFORE YOU GO OUT TO SPEND LESS AT THE PUB, OR JUST GO OUT LESS.
  
  SMOKE LESS.
• Well - how much do you spend in the pub? There is a big gap between your income and the expenditure you listed - so the money is going nowhere.
  And I notice that you don't have any plan for spending on clothes, and they don't come cheap.
  Have you got a bike? Maybe you could cycle to work, if it's not too far as transport is expensive. But you'd have to think carefully about that as you may end up spending just as much on the bus/metro to go out as you do on the monthly pass now.
  
  You certainly need some discipline in your saving. So, maybe a jar would help. However, if you save loads of coins DON't then put them into one of those counting machines in the supermarket as they really rip you off. You should be able to pay coins into your bank account - or open a savings account which you can't access through a hole in the wall.
  
  Just a few ideas to help you.
• You have started to do the 'right thing' .. working out where the money is going is something that many people are too stupid to ever think of ..
  
  Having seen where it's going I'm sure you can immediately spot some area's where you are being less than clever ..
  
  Smoking is something that only rather silly people do these days .. . next time, instead of buying a packet of 20, why not set fire to a £5 note ???? It will be good fun, cheaper (by 75p) and less damaging to your health ..
  
  You may feel that you have to keep going because your 'peer group' (friends / hangers on) all smoke .. well, perhaps it's now time to leave them behind....
  
  People who run up debt are only slightly less silly than those who smoke .. so that should be your next target (no more Credit Card).... get a Debit Card, cut up the Credit Card (they work much the same, but a Debit Card deducts straight out of your bank account == and if there's no money the Card may 'bounce' - after the first time you get told at the till 'Sorry your Card has been Refused' you will learn not to overspend ..
  
  Once you have eliminated your CC debt, the next step is to eliminate your Bank Overdraft ... after you have paid it off, ask the Bank to reduce it to £100 .. and then to £0.
  
  
  Once your finances are on a sound basis you need to start thinking about your future ..
  
  Look around at work .. are there any OLD people working at the same job as you ????
  are they happy ??? do they look 'well off' ???
  how do you think you will like it, in 40 years time, if you are still working at the supermarket ???
  
  It's a pity you dropped out of Uni (this is a very good place to meet the sort of people who can help you in the future .. rather than the sort of smoking drunks who will only hold you back) .. it's going to be very difficult (but not impossible) to get promotion / better job without some qualifications = see if the Supermarket has some sort of Training Scheme you can get onto .. and perhaps you could take up Evening Classes ?

Resolved Question

Can I still get a mortgage?

Me and my partner are first time buyers, I have been in remission from Hodgkin's Lymphoma (Blood cancer) for roughly 3 months. I'm just planning my future for the time being but wanted to know what I can plan for. Insurance for myself (such as travel) has increased greatly since I was diagnosed but I wanted to know if it would be the same for mortgages? could I still get an affordable deal? or will banks be reluctant to give me a mortgage based on my medical past?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Your medical past is not questioned nor a past of a mortgage. I sure hope you are doing ok.

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