Finance on The Web

How to secure a NO CREDIT CHECK Loan in 24 Hours or less!!!

As the credit crunch starts to bite most unsecured and secured lenders are really tightening up on the criteria for offering loans. For people who have a bad credit history this means that they can find it very difficult to secure any kind of Loan.

There is one company in the UK that offers a Solution. They are called Logbook Loans. If you own your own car they will give you a loan secured against the value of your car. They do not have credit checks and the amount of loan they will offer you is purely based on the value of your car. They will Loan between £500-£50,000

If you meet the following criteria they will give you a loan. You can repay the loan early therefore reducing the APR % and the total amount you pay back. I would recommend this type of loan only for short term borrowing as if you let the Loan run for the whole term you will pay a huge amount of Interest. They will normally approve your Loan in 24 hours or the same day and they can even pay you on the same day as a cheque or as cash.

These are the criteria for a log book loan.

• Do you own your vehicle
• Is the vehicle clear or nearly clear of finance
  • There are no Personal credit checks
  • The loan is secured on your car
  • Borrow between £500-£50,000
  • You can apply instantly online
  • You will get your money in 24 hours or less

A bad credit rating is something that now affects more people than ever before. A Logbook Loan is an ideal solution for those consumers who have bad credit and are in need of a secured loan, bad credit loan or a payday loan. Having bad credit is something that can prove to be a real struggle, especially when someone is looking to borrow money for home improvements, holidays or any other purpose.

These Loans should only be used in emergencies but are very useful for getting through a difficult time. Remember you are using your car as security and if you default on the Loan you may loose your car.

Mortgage rates Reducing despite the Credit Crunch 

5 September, 2008

This article was taken from a specialist broker magazine and is quite telling on waht is happening in the Mortgage Market even though the Bank of England maintained rates at 5% yesterday.

According to research carried out by Moneyfacts, the average two-year fixed rate has dropped to 6.39%. This is roughly around the same level that was seen just before the credit crunch.

Moneyfacts Michelle Slade says that "a good indication of what is going on in the market is the average rate. As the top ten lenders make up over 77% of the market it is interesting to see what they are up to.

All the main lenders have cut their two year fixed rates since the peak of early July 2008, with the exception of Northern Rock which has put up its rate by 0.01%, as well as increasing its arrangement fee by £500. The biggest cut comes from the Halifax where the rate has gone from 7.27% to 5.99%, as of the start of this week. Although Halifax now offers one of the best rates it has a high arrangement fee relative to its competitors.

Bradford & Bingley and Cheltenham and Gloucester have also passed on significant cuts, but this has been offset slightly by an increase in their average fees

Michelle goes on to say that "the cost to lenders in obtaining the funds for mortgages on the money markets has dropped significantly in the last few months and we are now seeing some relief for borrowers who are looking for a new deal. The increase in borrowers monthly repayments should not be as much as it would have been had they remortgaged two months ago, which will hopefully mean more borrowers can afford to remain in their homes.

“I doubt we will see rates being cut to levels similar to when base rate was last at 5%, but we should hopefully see further cuts from the big lenders in the coming months. Only time will tell if we have finally turned a corner, but this is the most prolonged period of cuts we have seen since the credit crunch began.”

You can check out all the lenders current offers at

Top Tips on on how to change your Gas and Electricity supplier.

Follow these top tips to give you confidence to switch your gas and electricity supplier.
Before you begin, get together your last few energy bills, add up the amount you have spent or work out how many units you have used. If you don’t have these and you pay by direct debit work out your monthly payments and hence your yearly payments.

Tip 1 – make sure you look at summer and winter bills as they will be different.This will give you a balanced view of your yearly spend spread out over different seasons.

Tip 2 – If you do pay by monthly direct debit then make sure when you look at the pricing you tick the box saying you pay by direct debit as you will get even bigger savings by paying by direct debit.

Tip 3-  when looking at different suppliers you are obviously looking for a supplier with lower costs and the biggest savings but also look at the customer services as some Uk suppliers have much better customer service ratings than others, this may have an effect on who you choose as lousy customer services may be a problem if something goes wrong. You can look at these ratings at www.energywatch.org.uk
 
Tip 4- Are you looking for a Green energy product. Most suppliers have a green energy option. Some suppliers offer this at no extra cost and some charge a little extra. By taking the green option you can reduce your carbon footprint and help protect the environment.

Tip 5 – Consider an online managed account. Most of the UK suppliers have online managed accounts. This means you can submit meter readings online, get paperless billing and contact customer services via the internet. This again saves paperwork and you are in control of your meter readings.

Tip 6 – Try to steer clear of Pre payment meters. This is by far the most expensive way to pay for your energy and if you want to change the new supplier may want to change your meter. As said before the cheapest way to pay is by direct debit.

 
Tip 6 – When changing supplier be aware that you have a statutory cooling off period which is 7 days from the date of your application.If you are going to change supplier and you are going to pay by direct debit you will need your bank account details handy.

Tip 7 – when you have completed your registartion for your new supplier take meter readings so you can give these to your new supplier, make sure you pay any outstanding bills to your old supplier. If you have overpaid your current supplier you will get this money back.If you don’t clear any outstanding bills your new supplier will not be able to make the transfer.

Tip 8 – Always use more than one comparison site. They may have different deals on offer on each site. Having looked at all the sites out there the two reccomended are shown below as they cover 90% of the market.

Tip 9 – Ignore the win back teams who may call you if you switch unless they can beat the new supplier you have chosen ( sometimes it does happen). It does gaul me that if you switch supplier and a win back team offer you a better deal from your current supplier why were they not offering you the same deal before. Loyalty in this market counts for nothing as all the energy companies will never tell existing customers about any special deals for new customers.

Take a look at these two comparison sites and see if you can save money on your gas and electricity Bills.

Comparison site 1. This is Uswitch.com you will have seen them adverting heavily on the TV. They specilise in Gas ann Electricty and there system is very easy to use. They cover virtually all the suppliers out there depending on your postcode.

Comparison site 2 This is Moneysupermarket.com. Most people have seen them on TV and they are a well respected comparison site that although they do not specilise in the energy market they sometimes come up with better deals than Uswitch.

What is a Flexible Mortgage?
29 August, 2008

A recent survey has shown that more than one in ten mortgage holders (12%) plan to make overpayments on their mortgage over the next six months.

This survey shows that for most people their top financial priority still paying off their mortgage despite the tough economic conditions. There are still a samll amount of people who are planning on taking payment holidays (3%) and even fewer (1%) plan on underpaying on their Mortgage.

The survey also found that approximatley 1 in 10 people will looking to change their Mortgage within the next six months as they come off short term (2 years) fixed rates. This survey shows that a large percentage of people are interested in Flexible Mortgages.

So what is a flexible Mortgage?

Most lenders do not want the general public what a true flexible Mortgage is,as if used properly a flexible Mortgage can save years off your mortgage and save £1000’s in Interest payments.
You do not have to pay very much extra each month to make a huge difference in the overall amount you pay.

What you should be looking for from a Lender are the following criteria:

1) Does the lender allow overpayments? – usually there is no minimum but there is a maximum and the rule of thumb is you can overpay by 10% of the outstanding balance per year. Most people set up a standing order to overpay say £50 or £100 per month. You are in control as you can start and stop this overpayment whenever you want so you are not committed to this.

2) Does the lender allow underpayments? This can be very useful if you need to reduce your outgoings for what ever reason during your Mortgage term. Now you will have had to have made overpayments to use this facility and you will have had to have had a good payment track record for 6 months.

3) Does the Mortgage have a drawdown facilty? This is very important. When you overpay this is obvioulsy reducing the balance of your mortgage and therefore reducing the Interest element of the monthly payments. This builds up a pot of money that, if there is a draw down facility, you have access to at any time. This drawdown can be used for any purpose you wish and is a fantastic way of funding larger purchases such as new cars etc rather than getting expensive car or bank loans and as it has been paying off your Mortgage you will still be in front if you take it back out.

4) Does the Lender allow payment holidays? This is where you don’t pay anything off your mortgage on a monthly basis. The agreed missed payments are added to the mortgage and will increase the balance and mybe slightly stretch out the term. This facility can be extremely useful for times when your finances may be stretched to breaking point such as having a child or loosing your job. There is generally a maximum time you can take payment holidays and they have to be agreed by the Lender. They will look at your account and if you are upto date with all payments there wont be a problem. If you have overpaid even better as you will not be increasing your balance or increasing your term depending on how much you have overpaid.

There are only a limited number of Lenders who offer these types of Mortgages and they dont advertise them that much.

My favourite lender for this type of Mortgage is Nationwide. I have put many clients onto Nationwide as there flexible Mortgage is a great way of managing your money, reducing the term of your Mortgage and greatly reducing the amount of Interest you will pay.
Check out their deals here.

How is the Credit Crunch affecting us Brits? 

This is a light hearted post on how the credit crunch will affect us in good old Blighty. A friend of mine sent these across from Australia where she is laughing at us poor brits struggling with the credit crunch and our Lousy weather!!

Even if they are struggling financially like us in Aussie at least they can sit outside and lap up all that Sun!!

The New BT Economy Phone

 Chris Tarrants new Quiz show

 The Queen has had to take a second job.

 Jeremy Clarksons New Ferrari

 Still wouldn’t offer him a job!!

Virgin Rails new Economy class. No chance of getting to the Buffet car though.

House moves delayed by Government delay.
29 August, 2008

The Governments failure to to confirm the future of stamp duty is having a massive effect on people moving. A massive 83% of home movers are delaying or

postponing their moving date as a result of the recent Governments announcement that it may review Stamp duty.
Move.com said it asked its database on 11th August, just one week after it was leaked that the Chancellor was considering a move to suspend stamp duty in an effort to boost the flagging housing market, if the News had:

1)  Made no differnce to their plans
2)  Pushed back their moving date
3)  Postponed their move indefinitley

They asked over 1,500 movers and the response were:
1) 17% said that it made no difference to them
2) 20% said it had pushed back their moving date
3) 63% said they were postponing their move.

The stats from their site show that moving dates have gone from 37 days to 64 days, showing that the Governments refusal to confirm or deny the suspension is having a major impact on an already badly affected market.

The director of Moveme.com,Charles Wasdell said:

"It is plain to see the devastating effect the Government is having on the housing market, as it keeps tight lipped about the possibility of a stamp duty holiday. The Chancellor must either press ahead with the legislation immediately or confirm that there will be no stamp duty holiday, so the people who are buying property move ahead with their purchase.”

House prices continue to fall in August – should I fix a rate?
29 August, 2008

Acccording to the latest figures by the Nationwide the price of a typical house fell by a massive 1.9% in August. This equates to a 10.5% drop year on year, the building society said. The average home is now £19,000 cheaper at £164,654 compared with the same time last year.

The Nationwides cheif economist Fionnuala Earley said “The price of a typical house fell by 1.9% in August, bringing the annual fall into double digits for the first time since the fourth quarter of 1990. The price of a typical house fell by 10.5% over the last twelve months to £164,654. While the pace of monthly falls picked up during the month, the less volatile three month on three month measure, eased very slightly in August to 4.5% from 4.6% in July".

Reports form Estate agents are a little more encouraging and optimistic. The data suggests that there may some interest returning to the market. Agents are reporting an upswing in new buyers enquiries, maybe stimulated by recent falls in prices and the opportunities to negeotaite further price reductions.

However the increase in enquiries has not yet translated into sales which is not encouraging.

The level of borrowing is still clearly much lower year on year with some reports saying that mortgage lending is down by a massive 60% year on year.

Borrowers who are active are tending to go for longer term fixed rate deals instead of trackers even though the rates are slightly higher.

The inflation report for August was more dovish than Mays, even though inflation is at its highest level since 1992 and more than twice the Bank of England target. The Bank of Englands growth and infaltion forecasts have indicated that there may be room for rate cuts in the near future but this is by no means a foregone conclusion.

The market has reacted to this and as a consequence fixed rates have started to come down from their recent peaks. The expectation of a reduction in Bank of England rates may have little effect whilst the overall confidence in market conditions and particularly the housing market is still very low.

So what does this mean to you if you are looking for a Mortgage.
As rates and in particular longer term fixed rates start to come down it is worth while looking at fixing a rate for at least 5 years. As stated earlier you may pay a little more in relation to a tracker rate but my personal view is that fixing a longer term rate gives you peace of mind that you will not have any nasty shocks in the future.

Look at your affordabilty and lock in a good fixed rate, don’t worry about the possibilty of loosing out on a small reduction in rates as you are covering yourself for any possible increases in rates over the medium term.

Nationwide in my mind are one of the best lenders on the market. Their rates have always been and remain to be competative. Their fees are generally alot lower than other lenders and they conduct the process very well. Their lending policy is quite conseravtive and they tend to have lower LTVs than otehr lenders.

They don’t get involved in the sub prime market and like to lend to the better end of the market.

Have a look at their rates, you can apply online and they will give you a Decsision in Principle in a matter of minutes.They will tell you based on your affordability what they are prepared to lend you subject to the valuation of your property. They also offer FREE VALUATION and FREE LEGALS with low administration costs for fixed rates.

Take a look at their offerings here.  

What can I leave in a Will?

for a Will to be valid in England and Wales it must do two things.

1) Nominate an Executor

2) Leave a gift of Property.

Now in terms of writing your Will Property means any asset you own such as a Bank Account, Insurance Policy, Investment or a House. It is important to note that you can only leave property in your Will that you actually own. This may sound stupid but lets take your House foir example. If you own the house as a Joint Tenant no matter what you write in your Will the gift will fail as the house would automatically pass to the surviving tenant on your death. To clarify this most people when they buy a house with their spouse or partner will own the property as Joint tenants. This means that you both own 100% of the equitable interest in the property and therefore automatically passes to the surviving Joint tenant on death. I will cover the different ways of owning property in another post.

There are three main types of legacies in a Will.

1. Specific items – these physical items. They may have an intrinsic value or just sentimental value. So you may want to leave your Fender Statercaster guitar to your friend who was in a band with you. Women generally leave their jewelery to their daughters. Now to stipulate the actual gift or you can make it generic gift. i.e. You wouldn’t leave your Vauxhall Vectra to your son or daughter as in 20 years time you most probably wouldn’t own a Vauxhall Vectra. But what you could do is leave "Any car I own at the time of my Death" this means that you wouldn’t have to change your Will every time you changed your car.
2. Monetary gifts – these gifts can be a specific value of money i.e. I leave £10,000 to my sister Joan Smith or it could be a Percentage of your estate. i.e. I leave 5% of my estate to each of my grandchildren alive at my death. Also things such as Bank accounts and insurance policies can be left to specific people but you must include the actual bank account details and the Policy numbers to stop any confusion as to which bank account or Policy you meant.
3. Class Gifts – these gifts are that are split between people or classes of people. So you might want to leave a specific sum of money to all your grandchildren. This would be worded something like " I Leave £20,000 divided equally between all my grandchildren alive at my death" or as in the monetary gifts section you could say "I leave 10% of my estate divided equally between all my grandchildren alive at my death"

The first thing that comes out of your estate is your Funeral expense and Testamentayr expenses (probate fees), then any spefic or monetary gifts and what is left is genarlly the bulk of the estate or whats know as the RESIDUE. The residue is then left either to specific people in specific shares or left to a class of people either in specific shares or divided equally. i.e. "I leave the residue of my estate to all my children alive at the time of my death in eqaul shares"

The first thing to do is to make an asset register ( I.e. everything you own) and then decide who you are going to leave it to. There is lots more information to read here

What is Critical Illness

Critical illness insurance is an insurance based product that most people do not take out or are unaware of. Most people take out Life insurance at certain points in their Life. These are trigger point are usually buying a house or having children. They understand the need for this type of insurance as they want to protect their families should they die. Thats great but what happens if they get critically ill, recover and are unable to work again.

A classic example of this is having a heart attack. With improvements in medical science a vast majority of people who have have a heart attack now survive, which again is great news but can leave people and their families in a difficult position if they are then unable to work. This could mean that the major bread winners income has disappeared. The main issue is generally how do we now pay the Mortgage?

If they had Critical Illness Insurance, on diagnosis of a Critical Illness they would be paid out a lump sum. The policies are normally written on a reducing term basis in line with their outstanding Mortgage balance. So for example, if someone had a Mortgage of £100,000 over 25 years the policy would be written on a £100,000 pay out reducing over the 25 years term of the Mortgage as their Mortgage balance reduces.

I used to believe wrongly that Critical Illness was a waste of money. We had Life insurance, endowment policies and Income protection what else did we need? Then in Dec 2007 my wife was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The initial shock was devastating, we have a 2 year old son so our outlook on life changed overnight. Fortunately my wife has recovered and she will be fine but she now has to go back to work as we need her income to pay the mortgage. Her income protection will not pay out as she is technically fit to work. If we had taken our Financial advisers advice years ago we would have had Critical Illness cover and my wife’s policy would have paid out and wiped out our £93,000 mortgage. This would have dramatically changed our life as my wife would not have had to go back to work as our monthly outgoings would have dropped to a level where one wage would have been comfortable for us.

So what did I do?Straight away I got full Critical Illness cover for myself for the full amount of our outstanding Mortgage its obviously too late for my wife due to the Breast cancer. Now as I am a lot older than when our Financial adviser recommended the policy it has cost me a lot more and I am also a smoker so again the monthly premiums are more. My Premiums are £97 per month ( this also includes Life cover) and this covers our £93,000 mortgage. Note I have been a smoker so my premiums are quite high but I think its worth it.

Points to note.

When looking for critical Illness insurance always take advice from a Professional. The forms can be daunting as they ask a lot of questions. Be honest with the answers you give, the Insurance company will always look at your medical history if you make a claim and they will always be looking for a reason to not pay you out. If you have had a medical condition not matter how long ago make sure you declare this on the forms. Also if you smoke or have smoked or used tobacco products in the last 5 years say you are a smoker, your premiums will increase but you will be covered. Taking advice will also make sure that the Policy you take out is the most competitive on the market and the company that you are using has a good record on paying claims. All the major Insurance companies have a Critical Illness product so it can be a minefield thats why I recommend you talk to an adviser.

It can always be too late to get Critical Illness Insurance but never too early
 

How to choose an Executor 

When you are writing your Will one of the main things you need to consider is who will your Executors be. This is an important role with a lot of responsibility. Therefore who you should nominate as an executor needs some careful consideration. Remember the person or persons you nominate will be carrying out your wishes as you have directed in your Will but unfortuneatly you will not be around to check up on them.

In the previous post I explaned what their main roles and responsibilities are. In this post I am going to cover how you decide who your execuors should be.

You can nominate as many Executors as you want but only 4 can act. It is advisable to nominate at least 2 executors as two are required to sell land and houses. Most people nominate their spouse/partner and an other.

Firstly you should ask the people who you are going to nominate if they are actually willing to do the job. There is no point in nominating someone if when it comes to the time for them to act they refuse to do the job – they are not legally bound by your nomination. Below are the basic criteria you should be looking for.

1) Do you trust them? – this seems obvious but their role is to carry out your wishes as instructed in the Will. From a distribution point of view they are legally bound to do this properly as per the instructions. But for things like Funeral instructions they do not have to comply with your wishes.

2) How old are they? It is generally recommended that your nominated executors should be of a similar or younger age. This seems obvious but many people nominate their parents and years later when their parents have died they have not updated their Will and then there are no Executors nominated who are alive.

3) Where do they Live? It is unfair to nominate someone who lives abroad. Think about it. If they say live in Australia they may come back for the Funeral but would they want to stay around to sort out your estate, probably not.

4) Are they capabale of doing the job? As stated in the previous post there is quite a lot to do. although it is not rocket science if the nominated person cant fill in the forms or keep good records they will find it very difficult.

5) Willingness. We covered this in the information above.

6) Are they acceptable? Remember they will probably have to deal with the rest of the family, so do they get on with them. If not it will make the task more difficult.

For more information on writing your Will and appointing executors go here