The Financial Blog

Sainsbury’s Bank has revamped their credit card offering with a good bundle of benefits.

The card rewards include up to 4 Nectar points per £1 you spend at a Sainsbury’s store. Be careful to remember that you must pay with your Sainsbury’s credit card, earning you 2 Nectar points, AND hand over your Nectar card to earn an additional 2 Nectar points.

If you shop anywhere else unfortunately the offer is only 1 Nectar point per £5 you spend, which isn’t so good. Typical APR is 15.9%, variable.

Not only are the Nectar point bonuses available but the card offers a very respectable 0% APR on all Sainsbury’s shopping for the first 12 months, 0% for the first 3 months on all other shopping, plus 0% on balance transfers for the first 10 months (a 3% handle fee applies).

You could easily combine your Christmas pressie shop with your Christmas dinner shop all for 0% until the New Year. Click here for more information and to apply for the Sainsbury’s Bank credit card…

American Express has today announced 5% cashback, for the first 3 months, on their Platinum credit card to make it the best cashback card in the UK.

The 5% offer is available for the first £4,000 spent. If you spend the £4,000 limit within the first 3 months you can then earn cashback at 1% up to £10,000 and then 1.5% cashback on ALL annual spending over £10,000. Typical APR is 18.9% variable and there is NO annual fee.

This deal tops the Capital One offer we mentioned just last week, so if you apply early you could have your card in time for your Christmas shopping. Cashback is paid annually on the card anniversary date.

Tom Allder, Vice President UK Lending, American Express, said: “We’ve been offering Cashback for coming up to ten years and January 2008 sees the 5th anniversary of the launch of Platinum Credit Card. We remain committed to rewarding Cardmembers on an on-going basis for their spending with us and, with this new package, we are re-affirming our number one position as the UK’s best cashback provider and we continue to offer an unbeatable deal for customers who value a money back reward on their plastic expenditure.”

Click here to apply online for the American Express Platinum cashback credit card…

Alliance and Leicester has launched a market leading current account for the over 50’s offering 7% pa/Gross AER.

The new Premier 50 current account also combines other attractive benefits such as worldwide annual travel insurance, a linked savings account offering 6% AER, also health benefits including cash towards outpatients consultations and access to a 24 hour ‘Health at Hand’ telephone helpline. However the account does charge a monthly fee of £10…

Travel and leisure time are top of the agenda for the over 50’s, in fact one in eight people over 55 take more than five holidays per year. Capable travel insurance policies can be hard to find and are sometimes expensive for the over 65 year old’s. The Premier 50’s worldwide annual travel insurance covers customers up to the age of 79;

• Earn 7.00% AER (fixed until 31.01.09) on balances up to £2,500
• 0.10% (variable) on balances over £2,500 0% EAR typical overdraft for the first 12 months. Then, if the overdraft is used, 50p per day fee up to £5 per month. Maximum overdraft limit of £2,500 applies

The only current account on the market exclusively for the over 50s, Premier 50 the benefits;

• Relax with worldwide annual multi-trip Travel Insurance up to the age of 79
• Peace of mind with exclusive Health Benefits up to the age of 79
• Beat fraudsters with Identity Protection and Alert Less worry if your debit, credit or store cards get lost or stolen with Card Care

Also;

• An exclusive linked PlusSaver account paying 6.00% AER (variable) on balances up to £50,000
• 24 hour servicing via Internet, Telephone and Mobile Banking
• There’s also access to any Alliance & Leicester branch - Pay in and withdraw money at over 12,000 Post Office® counters across the UK - Access to the Alliance & Leicester MoneyBack Rewards Credit Card (subject to status)
• It’s easy to switch from your existing bank with our Premier Switching Service
• Earn money every time you recommend a friend for a Premier current account

To find out more information call 0845 300 2887 or go to www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/currentaccounts

A quarterly study conducted by The AA asks 2500 UK drivers about their car buying habits.

Brits buying brand new cars in the next 12 months prefer petrol engines (46%) compared to diesel (28%). However people buying used cars lean towards a diesel option (33%) compared to petrol (28%).

Mark Huggins, Managing Director of AA Personal Finance says: “Diesel seems to be king in the second hand market. The swing to petrol for 57 plate cars could create a future supply issue in the second hand market and so used diesel cars may hold their value for longer.

“But when buying a new car it’s important to consider not just its cost, but also how you will be using it. If you’re making frequent long journeys for example, a diesel could save you money with its greater fuel efficiency over long distances. Whilst diesel cars might cost more up front, getting a good deal on your finances could mean you are able to afford a car that will hold its value for longer as well as cutting your fuel bill.”

Getting the best deal on car finance is always a must. There are still competitive unsecured personal loans on offer in the UK today; here are some of the best;

Halifax 6.6% Typical APR, No repayment for the first 3 months. Apply here to apply online.Bank of Scotland 6.6% Typical APR. Loans available from £7K to £13K & no repayments for the first 3 months. Click here now…

Alliance & Leicester 6.8% Typical APR. Apply online now and have a decision within the hour! Click here for a quick decision today!

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said banks are charging far too much for retailers to process credit card, debt card and store card transactions, compared to cash. Whenever a card transaction takes place retailers pay a charge in the region of £0.17 for every £20.00. Charges on cash come to £0.04 for every £20.00.

Kevin Hawkins, a director of the BRC has commented accused banks of fueling the consumer switch from cash to cards in order to increase their profits. He said “Banks have long abused their position by imposing much higher charges on retailers for processing card payments than cash, clearly the banks have spotted that replacing cash with cards would mean a further boost to their profits.”

A recent survey from the BRC shows cash is still used for 32% of all money spent in shops.

You might be glad to hear the use of cheques has almost disappeared completely, no more waiting in a queue while someone, searches for their cheque book, finds a pen, gets the pen to work, asks the cashier ‘how much was that?’ & ‘who’s it made payable to?’ as you hope they don’t rip the cheque in half as they rush to remove it from the book!

From a consumer point of view it’s not surprising that card transactions are on the up, with a small clan of zero percent purchase credit cards to choose from. Maybe Mr Hawkins is correct in his comments, but for the savvy consumer; surely they must take advantage of the banks zero per cent credit card offers? Forget the ‘credit crunch’, most people right now are too busy thinking ‘Christmas Crunch, how much it will cost me this year?’

If you’re worrying how much Christmas will hit you for this time take a look or apply now for one of  these fantastic credit cards;

Balance transfers and Christmas shopping!

Barclaycard Flexi-Rate - 0% for 10 months on balance transfers AND purchases for 10 months - 2.5% Balance Transfer Fee. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Click here to apply now…

Barclaycard Life of Balance Special – 5.9% on balances transferred, for the life of the balance AND 0% on purchases for 10 months. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Apply here now…

So if you have a balance to transfer you can take advantage of the zero percent interest rate whilst still shopping for your Christmas goodies at zero percent, giving you until August 2008 to clear the Christmas Chruch…

Cashback credit cards this Christmas!

Barclaycard Cashback - 2% on supermarket and petrol purchases, 0.5% Cashback on all other purchases. 0% interest on balance transfers for 12 months from the date your account is opened – 2.5% Balance Transfer Fee. 14.9% Typical APR (variable). Apply here now…

Capital One Cashback – 4% on ALL purchases in the first 3 months & then 1% Cashback on all purchases after the first 3 months.15.9% Typical APR (variable). Click here to apply now… If you always clear your balance and use your credit card simply as a cash replacement, then Cashback cards are probably the best way to reward your spending. Happy Xmas shopping!

The statistics bods at Chiltern Debt Management have released news that apparently men have on average 20% more debt than their female counterparts.

So if you’re male and seeking to become debt free it’s likely to take nearly two years more to clear everything.

While this may seem a damning indictment against men who shamelessly lend cash they can simply never repay, perhaps there is some reason behind this after all.

National Savings and Investments say that 20% of households have their key financial decisions made by men… hmmm… that number sounds familiar… could it be that more men are taking out debt management plans and absorbing their female companions debts at the same time, since they are the ones making the “key financial decisions”?

Following on from our story about the housing market slump, I’ve picked up on news that new build apartments are already starting to fall in value, some by as much as £85,000!

Big price slumps have happened in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham over the last year and a half. The BBC programme The Truth About Property covers the story in more detail tonight, BBC2 at 8pm.

Aspect 14 is a city centre development in Leeds, one owner has lost the £85,000 as mentioned above. Other owners are seeing the value of their apartments fall around £58,000 in the last 2 and a half years.

City Island an apartment development in Leeds has seen flats sold for £50,000 less than they were purchased for.

In Birmingham The Royal Arch apartments, prices have fallen and one owner has reportedly lost £50,000.

The Blaintryre apartments in Manchester have seen a dip of £40,000 in prices along with the Deansgate Quay area. Is it simply a matter of time before we see house prices follow suit?

Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member and all round house pricing guru Kate Barker has spoken out about the current state of the UK housing market. 

While the UK housing market was deemed to be holding up well even though there is a global credit crunch affecting everything currently, the higher interest rates and lower house price rises are putting the buy-to-let markets at risk.

She said: “A potential source of weakness could be the buy-to-let market, given a combination of higher interest rates, little change in rents and possibly reduced expectations of price appreciation, a decline in this demand, even if existing buy-to-let owners do not decide to sell, could well dampen the market.”

As well as this Ms Barker commented that although house prices are above reasonable estimates which leaves them vulnerable to a major change that since there is no sharp rise in unemployment or decline in consumer confidence a major crash is unlikely.

So the takeaways for this analysis are that a major crash isn’t coming any time soon, however buy to let investors whould be wary and ensure they have the best possible mortgage rates to protect themselves from any dampening of the market.

Yet more fun statistics have come out of the Halifax (how big is the team they have for this? Surely an example of how the banks often have more money than sense) this time pointing out that if you are applying for a personal loan, you are likely to do it on your Monday lunchtime.

This is compared with Saturdays and Sundays, with consumers three times more likely to apply on a Monday. 

On top of this we apparently tend to do our online banking in work as well rather than use our internet time at home to organise our finances. That is, unless you are one of a growing number of night owls who are logging on after midnight. Quite whether those that login after midnight are doing so just before flying out of the window to bite a few necks is unclear.

The one vaguely useful piece of information came in the form of a quote from Neil Chandler, head of Halifax unsecured personal loans and no doubt head distributor of random research. He says “With an online application typically taking less than 10 minutes to complete, many customers prefer managing their finances online.”

Definitely right - I’d much rather complete an online application in a few minutes than traipse down to the bank on my lunch hour and navigate the queues of old ladies looking to cash in their penny jar!

I guess we’ll see whether or not this research leads to anybody taking out a Halifax personal loan or not, but if it does then by next week we should know the most likely colour of your underwear when paying off your credit card in full.

I was browsing through my feed reader and adding blogs that I thought looked good last night and I stumbled across Make love not debt, which is an excellent blog about one couple’s fight out of debt and into the black - it’s very inspirational and if this sounds like you, you should definitely get over there and start reading their backstory. Anyway I digress…

I spotted this story on there about credit card roulette, and I have to say it does not sound like my idea of fun! Picture the scene:

You head out to a nice (read: expensive) restaurant with some friends, you enjoy your meals and a few bottles of wine and when it comes to the end of the meal you ask for the bill. At this point, instead of turning to whichever person who managed to get his GCSE in maths to divide out the total you all throw your credit cards into a hat. One by one they are picked from the hat and whoever’s card is left in foots the bill!

I know, doesn’t sound like the kind of game that would be very popular - however the Chicago Tribune says that this game is actually played by willing competitors and actually has some quotes from some of the poor saps!

Let’s hope this is one thing that doesn’t make it across the water!