Swirling winds, rugged landscapes and hillsides covered in heather are epitomised as the symbols of Scottishness by Scotch whisky companies, but this image is predicted to have a detrimental effect on the industry over the next five years. The Dark Spirits report by market researchers Mintel has predicted that UK sales will drop 10% by [...]

Usually receiving emails from financial organisations are about as useful or welcome as a punch on the snout, however a recent one I received from Moneynetcould prove a worthwhile reminder.“There is nothing more annoying than being penalised by your credit card company for paying your bill a couple of days late but millions of card [...]

According to a recent Which? survey reported by the BBC, “Most people who try to reclaim bank account penalty charges get some money back”. The Which? survey found that 85% of consumers who demanded a refund were at least partly successful in their efforts to reclaim charges back from the bank. “Claiming back unfair bank [...]

In today’s world, credit and debit cards are increasingly becoming the main means for people to pay for goods and services. There are predictions that as soon as micro payments can be made using plastic, then cash will rapidly become a thing of the past.It seems that credit cards have come a long way since [...]

Those pesky credit card companies which are offering longer and longer interest free periods in order to attract new customers have started new methods to get back the money they lose due to rate tarts.  Some months ago most of the card companies started introducing a transfer fee of aroung 2% payable on the amount [...]

I received a letter a couple of days ago telling me that the APR on an old credit card which I still have but no longer use, was going to go up from an already high 17.9% up to a rediculous 24.9%. Given that it is easy to get a variety of cards with an [...]

At last the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is trying to tackle the problems that have been generated through a lack of consumer knowledge, particularly amongst the 18-40 age group, especially relating to savings, student loans, and debt matters. According to an FSA spokeman, “Today’s 18-40 year olds are faced with greater challenges than were faced [...]

Google recently released a long awaited offering of Google Finance. Yahoo and MSN have been offering similar services for some time. All the more similar due to at least one key ex-Yahoo! Finance member of staff, Katie Stanton, being involved with the new Google project. Building on the existing Google News and Google Blog Search, [...]

You know what it is like, post arrives from the bank. You open it up thinking it’s a statement, or important info regarding the account, only to find it is a wad of un-asked-for credit card cheques. Straight in the shredder. Two days later, post arrives from the bank. You open it up thinking it’s [...]