Personal Finance
The strange case of the unsold ISAs
Published: 04 February 2007
Outraged by your bill? Think before you jump on the council tax bandwagon
Published: 04 February 2007
High savings rates - with no strings
Published: 04 February 2007
The regular savings market is a crowded place at the moment, with a host of providers jostling to offer the best rate - currently going as high as 12.5 per cent.
Supercasinos: When a sure bet is despair
Published: 04 February 2007
Money News: Shoppers to be compensated in store-card cover crackdown
Published: 04 February 2007
Tens of thousands of shoppers could be in line for compensation after GE Capital Bank, the company behind the high-street store cards offered by retailers such as Debenhams and Topshop, was fined £610,000 for failing to sell payment protection insurance (PPI) properly.
Sam Dunn: Rise and fall of the personal debt market
Published: 04 February 2007
Ask Sindie: What's the best way to transmit money overseas?
Published: 04 February 2007
Questions Of Cash: Heat still on after cooling-off cancellation
Published: 03 February 2007
Q. I took out a Lloyds TSB graduate loan insurance policy, which turned out not to be worth the paper it was written on. I had an operation in April, the day before my job ended, and was signed-off for six weeks. I then found the policy did not cover me, as I had been on a two-year fixed-term contract that had not been renewed.
No Pain, No Gain: Sell half when the going's good for a risk-free ride
Published: 03 February 2007
The No Pain, No Gain portfolio has made further headway since my pre-Christmas update. The profit on the £200,000 investment now exceeds £110,000, with around half-a-dozen constituents scoring reasonable gains.
Isas to be simplified 12 months' early
Published: 03 February 2007
Individual savings accounts (Isas) will be simplified a year ahead of schedule, the Treasury has revealed. Ed Balls said a package of simp-lification measures, unveiled in the Pre-Budget Report in December, will take effect in April 2008, 12 months earlier than expected.
Secrets Of Success: Keep sight of the bigger bond picture
Published: 03 February 2007
For a reminder of how fickle and volatile market expectations can be, look no further than the changing expectations about the course of bond prices and bond yields this year. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, which was expected. It is the fifth month running that short-term US interest rates, the only ones that the Federal Reserve can control directly, have remained the same.
Wealth Check: 'My pension is set to fall short when I retire'
Published: 03 February 2007
Stephen Fitzgerald retired three years ago and expects his 62-year-old wife Linda will follow suit later this year. The couple are concerned about whether their retirement income will cover their outgoings once Linda stops work.
David Prosser: Actions speak louder for GE Money
Published: 03 February 2007
Can a leopard change its spots? GE Money, the UK financial services company owned by the giant US conglomerate General Electric, would like you to think so. For years, the company kept a low profile, but when it did make the headlines, it was almost always as the provider of hugely expensive store cards.
Private Investor: I tried to file my tax return - honest I did
Published: 03 February 2007
Not a great week. This year, for the first time in the past, say, five, I failed to file my tax return on time. By "on time" I mean the deadline that expired last Wednesday evening.
Put your debt nightmare to bed at last
Published: 03 February 2007
Rosie Millard: Thrifty Living
Published: 03 February 2007
Investing in Japan: Time to taste some eastern promise?
Published: 03 February 2007
The Week In Review: GE security venture a winner for Smiths
Published: 03 February 2007
Smiths Group shocked the City last month when it announced the sale of its aerospace division to General Electric for $4.8bn. It promised to return £2.1bn of the £2.5bn proceeds to its shareholders and said it was considering the creation of a joint venture that would combine its detection business with GE's homeland security operations.
Run for cover: Buy-to-let home insurance
Published: 31 January 2007
The with-profit wagon keeps on rolling along
Published: 28 January 2007
Fresh option for savers as fixed bonds hit 6 per cent
Published: 28 January 2007
Many savers are still waiting to see if their providers are going to increase their interest rates in line with this month's quarter-point base-rate rise to 5.25 per cent. A number of banks and building societies have been slow to respond.
Rebels claim Portman/Nationwide merger will be the end of mutuals
Published: 28 January 2007
It's the finance sector's own version of David and Goliath. A tiny internet-based lobby group, Portman Members Against the Takeover (PMAT), is campaigning to try to derail the merger of the Portman and Nationwide building societies.
Investors play safe and end up getting soaked
Published: 28 January 2007
Sam Dunn: Pension punch-up: back the underdog
Published: 28 January 2007
Some fights just seem to go on for ever. Last week, the protagonists in a battle over compensation for workers deprived of pension income through no fault of their own staggered from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and back towards the UK High Court.
Wealth Check: 'How can I put past errors right and repair my credit rating?'
Published: 28 January 2007
The problem: It's time to 'behave' but debts run deep
