The Financial Blog

This is a very good offer so go get a quote as soon as possible - Tesco’s are offering a 50 per cent discount on home insurance, that’s  buildings AND contents insurance, for the first year’s premium of the policy. The offer is only available until 30th April, so hurry!

You need to be a new customer applying by phone or online and the quote you get will be valid for 90 days.

Head of Home Insurance at Tesco, Alan Burns, said: “This is one of the best offers currently available in the market. It is a considerable saving and worth your getting a quote even if your policy doesn’t expire in the next few months.”

To apply, log on to www.tescofinance.com or call 0845 300 66 00.

AND don’t forget to compare home insurance via a comparison web site BEFORE you go to TescoFinance for your 50 per cent discount quote. This way you’ll really know if Tesco is cheapest for you…

Bremner bird and fortune - their take on the credit crunch!

I was watching Channel 4 last night and saw John Bird and John Fortune’s take on the credit crunch I thought it was very funny and so I’ve dug out an example from Youtube, I couldn’t find the exact sketch from last night but you’ll get the idea. 

Something like this makes me think it’s probably not too far from the truth! Click on the video link below to see…

Each month, Swiftcover.com produces a factsheet with news, facts and figures, consumer advice and answers to common insurance questions.

This month: Dispelling common car insurance myths

Urban myth or mistaken truth?

How often do you hear a motorist say that they have been penalised for doing something that they thought was perfectly within the law? Or see them set off on a journey without really knowing whether they were insured?

To help, swiftcover.com has put together a Swift Guide to unravel some of the most common driving myths and misunderstandings:

Myth True or false?

“You can drive anyone else’s car if you are fully comp.”

True, but only if your car insurance gives you permission. You need to check the small print. And remember, when you are driving someone else’s car, you are only insured third-party – that means that your insurer will only pay out to other people, should
you hit someone.

“You’ll still get a payout if you are hit by an un-insured driver.”

Not exactly true. If you are fully comp, your insurer should pay out for the damage to your car, and will re-coup the money from the third party. If you are NOT comprehensively insured, you will need to re-coup all the money from the other driver. This can be done through the Motor Insurers Bureau but beware - this can often be lengthy, complex and expensive.

“I’m not responsible if people are not wearing seat-belts.”

Untrue. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure children are wearing seat-belts. Adults are responsible for themselves.

“Kids shouldn’t be in the front seat.”

Untrue. While there are no laws enforcing this, it is highly recommended that babies and children under 12 sit in the back, with suitable equipment for their size e.g. a baby seat, child seat or booster seat.

“My dog must be caged or tethered when travelling in the car.”

Untrue. The most important thing when transporting your pet is their comfort. It is an offence to transport an animal in any way which causes or is likely to cause injury or unnecessary suffering to that animal.
Claims Clinic

Q: If you have an accident that’s not your fault do you lose your no claims bonus?

Only if your insurance company ends up paying money out and not recovering their outlay will you lose your no claims bonus. After all it’s a “no claim”, not a “no blame” discount.

Fact bank: accidents March 2008

Top five car insurance claims by type:

• Single vehicle accident (12.6%)
• Third party hit insured in rear (12%)
• Insured hit third party in rear (8.7%)
• Insured parked, third party known (8.1%)
• Third party out of side road (5%)

Source: Swiftcover.com UK claims data

…stop press….stop press….stop press….

Last month, swiftcover.com launched a new insurance cover for just £14.99 a year, offering motorists the option to cover their in-car gadgets (like MP3 players, digital cameras and Sat Navs) when they buy car insurance. Click here to see the Gadget cover benefits. Our research found that despite the risks, 96 per cent of British motorists regularly leave gadgets in their cars, with one in three leaving them in full view on the seat or dashboard.

Click here to compare motor insurance policies make sure you search the market to find the best deal for your needs!

Commenting on the competitive fixed rate bonds available, Kevin Mountford, head of savings at price comparison site http://www.moneysupermarket.com, said:

“There’s a lot of noise in the fixed rate bond market with a wealth of launches and competitive rates topping 6.8 per cent AER - and we can only expect more to come.

“While the current rate environment and last week’s base rate cut would suggest customer pricing should start to come down, this has yet to be seen. This week Alliance & Leicester issued a fixed rate bond with a competitive 6.83 per cent AER. Kaupthing Edge and Icesave are still clinging to the top of the best buy table though, with 6.86 per cent, and Heritable Bank is close behind with its new offering of 6.80 per cent as of this weekend, indicating Icelandic banks are still dominating the savings market.

“Competition is as strong as ever as the inter-bank rate gap is getting bigger and bigger. Easy Access accounts have featured heavily of late, but those deposits can leave as quickly as they arrive. Fixed rate products, which command a level of consumer commitment and therefore limit providers’ exposure to risk, now have very strong one and two year rates.

“I would suggest anyone interested in these bonds moves quickly as no one can predict how long they might last.”

Sourced by Moneysupermarket.com 16.04.2008  

Alliance and Leicester has launched a new range of competitive Fixed Rate Bond savings accounts savings accounts. The features are;

• Interest payable monthly, or on maturity
• Minimum balance £1,000 (£2,500 for monthly interest)
• Maximum of £1,000,000
• Available to both new and existing customers, however the Bond will not be accepting transfers or cheques from other Alliance & Leicester accounts.

Interest rates are;

• 6 Month Fixed Rate Bond, paying 6.83% AER (6.72% gross)
• 1 Year Fixed Rate Bond, paying an interest rate of 6.50% pa gross/AER
• 2 Year Fixed Rate Bond, paying an interest rate of 6.30% pa gross/AER
• 3 Year Fixed Rate Bond, paying an interest rate of 6.05% pa gross/AER

These new Fixed Rate Bonds are available from all Alliance & Leicester branches, for sums of between £1,000 and £1,000,000.  These offers will only be available whilst funds last.  The 6 Month Fixed Rate Bond will mature on 1 November 2008, and the others will mature on 1 May 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Martin Leake, Savings Manager at Alliance & Leicester commented: “Fixed rate bonds provide security of capital and a guaranteed return, so you know exactly what you’re getting for your hard earned savings.  Our latest bond offers are a strictly limited opportunity to invest anything from £1,000 to £1,000,000, at some of the best rates of return on the market.”

Click here to compare savings accounts or if you want to apply for one of the Alliance and Leicester Fixed Rate Bond accounts then call 08000 68 66 99 to book an appointment.

New research from Moneyexpert.com reveals that people are using their cars less because of rising motor insurance costs, high petrol prices and maintenance costs.

In the research 25 per cent of the motorists said that they now use their car less because of these factors. It’s just getting too costly to run a car.

29 per cent of over 55 year olds say that they’ve travlled less by car in the last year because it costs too much now. Rising petrol prices was one of the biggest reasons for stopping using a car with 76 per cent of people, high motor insurance costs, 8 per cent of people gave this reason and 8 per cent of people said that high maintenance costs were behind them not using their car anymore.

Sean Gardner of MoneyExpert.com said: “Many people are finding their finances are being squeezed to the limit, and when that limit breaks something has to give. For some that means leaving the car in the drive and taking the bus or bicycle to work because driving has simply become too expensive.

“Petrol costs are high but the single biggest outlay a driver has to account for is their insurance premium. And as it’s illegal to drive without it the only way to minimise the damage is to shop ‘til you drop and get the best possible car insurance deal you can find.”

I think Sean Gardner is right, it is getting very expensive to just fill a car with petrol these days. A farily standard family car with a 55 litre tank will cost £55 to £59 to fill up now dependent on where you buy your petrol. A diesel car with the same size tank will cost you around £62 to fill.

For most people the simple task of driving to work every day can cost a staggering £200 - £250 per month, if they fill the tank once every week. That doesn’t take into account the cost of car insurance or road tax, MOT cost’s or general wear and tear/running costs. People are being priced off the roads and today a car will just drain your wallet and family finances.

If you’re struggling to keep up with rising motoring costs then do yourself a favour and Click Here to compare car insurance policies to find the cheapest car insurance quotes

There is also a petrol prices web site which gives you the cheapest petrol prices by station in your area. Make sure you take advantage by filling up at the cheapest petrol stations.

Gloomy gamblers have been backing a 20% fall in house prices before the end of year at odds of just 6/1, according to Ladbrokes.

The bookies responded to requests from pessimistic punters eager to cash in on the mortgage misery anticipated in the housing market.

And Ladbrokes have been rocked by the interest in a huge fall in the UK market.

David Williams of Ladbrokes said: “Punters who reckon their mortgages will fall through the floor seem to be trying to get some cash back at the bookies.

“We’ve offered a load of prices on a range of house price falls but the only popular bet is on mortgage Armageddon. If money talks, it’s going to be horribly bleak.”

South-west based punters appear to be the gloomiest of the lot with Ladbrokes reporting the biggest bets coming from two Bristol homeowners.

“It seems there’s no end to the doom and gloom but if prices do collapse canny punters will fill their boots at our expense” said Williams.

Ladbrokes bet:

House Prices in 2008

8/1 To rise
Evens To fall by up to 10%
5/6 To fall by 10% or more
6/1 To fall by 20% or more

If your set to remortgage in the near furture then Click Here to Compare Mortgages and get the best mortgage deal for your circumstances.

If you fancy a bet then Click Here to see the latest Ladbrokes mortgage betting odds!

Confused.com have announced that they’re delighted to welcome the addition of a number of insurers to its panel, including Churchill, Privilege, Tesco, Tesco Value and Virgin.

These new additions strengthen Confused.com’s position as the UK’s most comprehensive car insurance comparison site, they say, with the ability to provide customers with guaranteed, fully-underwritten quotes from nearly the entire insurance market.

Debra Williams, managing director, Confused.com, said: “Confused.com is committed to providing a first-class service and the advent of this deal enables us to provide customers with access to nearly the entire insurance market - something we’ve been striving for since day one!

“Price comparison websites offer one of the cheapest acquisition costs of any media and allow all insurers, regardless of size, to compete on a like-for-like basis; as more customers increasingly turn to the internet to buy insurance, they have become a channel the insurance industry can no longer afford to ignore.

“Competition in the price comparison sector is rife; these latest additions to our panel further strengthen our leadership position by widening the gap between us and our nearest competitor, and confirming us as the most comprehensive place on the internet to search for insurance.”

Insurance comparison site Gocompare.com has added five major car insurance brands - Churchill, Privilege, Lloyds TSB, Tesco, and Virgin - to its car insurance comparison service. Consumers can now compare over 60 car insurance brands at the www.Gocompare.com website.

Hayley Parsons, chief executive, Gocompare.com, said, “We are delighted to welcome the Churchill, Lloyds TSB, Privilege, Tesco, Tesco Value and Virgin products to the Gocompare.com website.  Our aim has always been to offer the customer the widest  possible coverage across the car insurance market and with the addition of these brands, we are now providing one of the most comprehensive online car insurance comparison services in the UK, enabling the customer to search over 60 motor insurance brands.

“Customers get a better deal when they can compare a wider selection of the market, interrogate the results thoroughly and see exactly what they are getting for their money. By focusing on giving consumers guaranteed quotes they can trust, and product information that they can use to filter and sort results, rather than just listing prices, we’ve created a service that insurance companies want to join and customers want to use.”

More than £218 million worth of food is wasted every week which equates to over £800 million worth of waste per month!

The average UK household throws away 6 per cent of food bought because we just don’t eat the items before their sell-by dates, this is all from new research conducted by Abbey.

So if we all shopped a bit more accurately, taking the time to shop for a specific weekly menu it would stop the over purchasing and then non-consuming of £218 million pounds worth of food per week. This equates to an average of £5.10 per UK household. Younger shoppers are even worse, throwing away 10 per cent of food shopping, on average £7.31 per week.

Director of Abbey Banking, Steve Shore, said:  “Despite our best intentions, it’s often difficult to estimate food consumption - but doing so helps prevent waste both in terms of food and money.  Saving an extra few pounds on the weekly shop can go a long way, especially when people are already feeling stretched.  If you put that away in a high interest account, such as Abbey’s 8% in credit account, you could put it towards something else.”

If you think about it, the £7 or £8 per week would easily make up for the extortionate fuel prices we’re seeing. I know the cost of filling up my car has certainly increased by at least £7 over the last 12 months…