MoneyJunkie

Private Education good for the poor?

2005-09-18T13:11:00.000+01:00

A very interesting post over at the Adam Smith blog talks about the increasing numbers of children from poorer background attending private schools.

Debt consolidation and its risks

2005-09-08T10:30:00.000+01:00

There's an interesting post at Finance Forums regarding debt consolidtation loans and their risks/benefits.

The major problem with these sort of loans is that that take what was previously a simple unsecured loan, and turn it into something much more serious - a loan secured against your house.

Raising cash to start a new business

2005-08-23T09:14:00.000+01:00

There's a great post over at Finance Forums that will be useful to anyone trying to raise some money to start a business here in the UK.

Unfortunately, it's no-where near as easy as in other countries (eg the US) to raise money for a new venture, but it's certainly possible.

Thinking of paying off the mortgage?

2005-08-16T07:32:00.000+01:00

There's a superb thread over at Finance Forums discussing whether it's better to get an interest-only portion of a mortgage when moving house, given that the poster will be looking to downsize again in 20 years.

With an ageing population, I'd expect these sort of issues to arise more and more in the future.

What's a company worth?

2005-08-08T18:57:00.000+01:00

Ever thought about buying or selling a business, but not sure how much it would be worth?

As much as someone is prepared to pay is of course the smart-arses annoyingly correct answer, but there is also an interesting discussion here about the numerous ways of calculating it.

Card fraud, and poor customer service

2005-08-07T10:47:00.000+01:00

There's an interesting discussion here about an author whose card details were stolen and had thousands of pounds of fraudulent transactions made against her account. Worst of all, when she reported this to the bank, they essentially accused her of lying!

Obsessed with house prices? Me?

2005-08-05T19:15:00.000+01:00

No, of course not.

Well, maybe just a bit.

Anyway, watch this and laugh.

Exactly what will the IR calculate for you?

2005-08-03T18:59:00.000+01:00

Here's a question I've often wondered about, but never got my form in on time to actually qualify for: The IR (or HMRC, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to give them their new name) say they will calculate your tax for you if you complete your tax return before September 30th. But what exactly do they do?

All is revealed..

Nectar cards become increasingly less useful

2005-08-02T20:53:00.000+01:00

Last week Barclaycard announced they were dropping the Nectar points available with their card.
Today, Vodafone have announced they too are dropping them.

It would seem that loyalty cards are increasingly out of fashion, a far cry from the days of the late '90s when every store seemingly had its own loyalty card scheme.

More on house prices

2005-07-31T09:32:00.000+01:00

To further add weight to yesterday's post that house prices are set to rise again, see this post at the Adam Smith Institute blog.

Essentailly, it makes the point that with SIPPS to allow property to be included in pension portfolios house prices are likely to rise in price again. There's also some dicussion of the issue here.

House prices now on the up again?

2005-07-30T09:35:00.000+01:00

Just to counteract this earlier post which suggested that house prices were on the slide, one survey is showing house prices as having risen through July.

Personally, I suspect that the national trend is down, although there will obviously be pockets were this is not the case.

Got a dormant bank account?

2005-07-24T07:32:00.000+01:00

Gordon Brown is apparently to introduce new legislation under which money from dormant accounts goes to the government. A dormant account is defined as one where the owner has been uncontactable for more than three years. This is expected to raise £4bn for the government.

At present this money is generally taken by the banks themselves, so this seems like a pretty reasonably idea. After the three year period of dormancy, it is still possible to recover the money if you can prove it was yours. No details have yet been announced, so it is not known what level of interest would be given (if any) were this to be the case.

Debenhams loose landmark VAT case

2005-07-19T17:55:00.000+01:00

As reported here, here and here, Debenhams have lost their landmark VAT case.

Essentially, what was happening was this: a number of retailers (Debenhams included) have set up their own banks to process credit card transactions - you may have noticed words to the effect 'I understand that 2.5% of the purchase price will be paid to $Shop Banking'. Under EU law, banking transactions are exempt from VAT, hence retailers pay VAT on only 97.5% of the cost of the goods. This ruling means that the courts believe this does not count as a banking transaction, and thus VAT must be paid.

What does this mean for consumers? Well, possibly slightly higher prices, but I suspect that competition will mean that any price rises that do occur are extremely minimal. What it will do is enable smaller shopkeepers to compete (slightly) more fairly.

Watch those credit card due dates!

2005-07-18T22:39:00.000+01:00

Have you got a standing order paying your credit card every month?

If so, watch out for credit cards changing payment dates on you.

It would seem that some credit card companies (rather unethically in my opinion) are changing due dates by a day or two every month - presumably to try and catch out the unwary. If you've been charged any extra fees on your credit card recently, make sure you have a thorough read over your statement.

Breakups can be messy for your finances too

2005-07-17T13:02:00.000+01:00

Got a joint account with your ex? Make sure you close that joint account ASAP, otherwise things can get expensive, as this post shows!

Luckily for this guy, his ex only stung him for Â£300. Remember that a joint account means you are both equally responsible for paying the full amount of any overdraft, regardless of who actually took the money out.

House prices on the slide?

2005-07-16T09:53:00.000+01:00

Everyone always loves to chat about house prices - the home owners always willing them up, non-home owners hoping for a crash.

There have been a number of reports claiming house prices are falling. Once interesting post I read recently suggested (albeit using only a sample size of one) that house prices are below 2001 levels.

Whilst I think this has to be taken with a rather large dose of salt, it's interesting to note that there are concrete examples of houses being 'worth' less that they were. Of course, falling house prices aren't necessarily a bad thing, as this article by Evan Davies explains.

A salient tale for those thinking of forming a Limited Company

2005-07-15T19:25:00.000+01:00

In many circumstances, it is better to form a Limited company rather than be self-employed. However, there is much to be careful of when taking this course of action, as this post at Finance Forums shows. The poster in question has, unfortunately, appointed the formation agents to be his Company Secretary - and as a result is having problems and expense trying to get things done.

Whilst forming a Limited company is certainaly not without its benefits, there are many pitfalls to be wary of.

First post!

2005-07-14T12:30:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the newly created MoneyJunkie blog. Here I hope to give you an insight into the wonderful world of finance, (well, the wonderful country of UK finance at least :)).

For a start, take a look at this discussion about buying a house with your parent's money, or at least the tax implications of it (you'll have to work out how to convince them to pay for it yourself!).