Walletpop UK

Gonna get yourself evicted?

Jessica Bown — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST

Most people living in rented flats and houses realise that their landlord will kick them out sooner or later if they fall behind with rent payments.

Failing to pay your rent is not the only way you can get yourself evicted, though. Here, we examine the various misdemeanors you should avoid if you don't want to end up on a friend's sofa - or worse still, on the streets.

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Filed under: Property, House and Home, Budgeting & Planning

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Don't pay for stuff: the secrets to winning competitions

Gareth Rubin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST

Why work for a living when you can just win everything you need? Pretty much all the things you will ever need in life - and some you won't - are being given away by someone, somewhere.

You can win houses, cars, holidays, money, lawnmowers or even a year's supply of chocolate hob-nobs, so long as you know how to go about it. What's more, even if you don't want the prizes, you can always sell them for cold, hard cash on Ebay.

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Filed under: Competitions, Freebies and Bargains

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Smokers and the overweight benefit from special pensions

Gareth Rubin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST

If you smoke or are overweight, it's worth knowing that your unhealthy habits could help you net a much bigger retirement income.

Smokers and people with weight problems - shocked into action by plummeting pension annuity rates - are rushing to buy into specialist pension schemes designed for their requirements because they offer much better payouts. And you need to do the same to avoid missing out.

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Filed under: Retirement

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Open top grannies hit the highways

Jessica Bown — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST

While convertible cars might generally be associated with younger drivers, new figures reveal that women over the age of 50 are in fact most likely to be behind the wheel of a cabriolet.

Research conducted by AA Insurance indicates that women are a third more likely to drive 'topless' than men and it is those in their fifties who are most likely to choose a convertible car.

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Filed under: Insurance, Weird and Wonderful

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Improve your credit score in five easy steps

Jo Robinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST

If you are having trouble being approved for credit cards and other financial products, it's almost certainly because you have a poor credit score.

Happily, however, there are plenty of easy ways to improve your chances of being accepted for credit cards, loans and mortgages. So we've come up with five top tips for upping your credit score.

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Filed under: Credit Cards, Loans

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Kylie Minogue forced to slash sale price of London flat

Jessica Bown — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:00:00 EST

Despite their fame and enormous wealth, even A-list celebrities are not immune to the effects of the housing market slowdown.

And pop princess Kylie Minogue knows this only too well after having to slash the asking price of her luxury, four-bedroom London flat by more than £500,000.

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Filed under: Property, Entertainment

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Women bearing brunt of budget cuts

Press Association — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:00 EST

Women in London are paying twice as much as men for the Government's cuts in public spending, a new report claimed.

Research for London mayoral hopeful Ken Livingstone showed that women are more heavily affected by cuts in housing benefit and pension changes.

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Filed under: Taxes, Families, Budgeting & Planning

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Social lending - better for borrowers and savers

Jo Robinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:00:00 EST

The concept of social lending is not especially new, yet it's not something many of us know much about.

So if you've lost faith in the banks and their underhand ways then you need to sit up and pay attention. Online 'financial exchanges' like Zopa and Yes-Secure offer a real alternative for both borrowers and savers. What's more the rates of interest on these sites are consistently better than those offered by the banks.

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Filed under: Saving, Loans

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All cash machines to start stocking fivers

Jessica Bown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST

You will soon be able to withdraw just £5 from cash machines across the UK, thanks to plans for all banks and building societies to start dispensing the notes again.

Various consumer surveys have suggested that the ability to withdraw just a fiver, or amounts of say £25 or £45, would be popular with Britons keen to keep a lid on their post-recession spending.

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Beat the autumn blues with five fantastic end-of-summer bargains

Jo Robinson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST

September is upon us and the summer is all but over. The kids are back at school and all we've got to look forward to are shorter days and more expensive energy bills.

Depressing, isn't it? But don't despair! We've found five amazing bargains and freebies that will help you to forget all about that and put a summery smile back on your face.

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Filed under: Freebies and Bargains

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Student loan rates jump to 4.4% - should you pay back now or not?

Jo Robinson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST

With new interest rates now in effect, millions of graduates will now start paying interest charges on their student loans.

For those who took out a loan after 1998, the interest rate is now 1.5%. And if you still have a loan taken out before 1998, your interest rate is now 4.4%. So should you be pulling out all the stops to pay your student loan back now?

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Filed under: Loans

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£1 a minute at popular restaurants

Press Association — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST

Diners at some top restaurants are paying more than £1 a minute for the experience because of the trend of "table-turning", according to a survey.

About 15% of leading restaurants now ask diners to leave their table after a set time during peak hours to allow another party to eat, the report by lastminute.com found.

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Filed under: Food and Drink

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Third of indebted Britons consider suicide or self harm

Jessica Bown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST

The despair caused by being in debt makes 30% of Britons with severe financial difficulties consider self-harming, or even committing suicide, shocking new figures reveal.

Meanwhile, a quarter turn to alcohol or drugs to escape their problems, and around a fifth feel driven to illegal activities such as theft and even prostitution.

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Filed under: Financial Crisis, Families

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Leaving it late to book a break

Press Association — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST

Around 5% of holidaymakers booked their summer break this year just two weeks before departing, a survey shows.

The average cost of one-week, last-minute deals to Spain was £670 this year, the poll by Sainsbury's Credit Cards found.

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Filed under: Travel

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Smokers forced to lie to find rental accommodation

Jessica Bown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST

A third of smokers lie about their need to light up when seeking a home to rent, according to new research from flatshare website Easyroommate.

And with less than one in 10 landlords allowing tenants to smoke in their properties, it's not hard to see why.

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Filed under: Property, House and Home

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Four energy firms face mis-selling probe

Press Association — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:00:00 EST

Ofgem has launched an investigation into four energy companies amid concerns of mis-selling to consumers.

The energy regulator said it was prepared to take "strong action" if it found that npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy and EDF Energy were failing to comply with new obligations to prevent mis-selling.

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Filed under: House and Home, Families

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Charitable celebrities unveiled as author JK Rowling donates £10m

Jessica Bown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:00:00 EST

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has given £10 million to set up a multiple sclerosis research clinic - the single largest donation the author has ever given to a charitable cause.

But Rowling is not the only charitable celebrity. Here, we reveal the most generous famous faces of the last few years.

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Filed under: Entertainment, Weird and Wonderful

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Property prices 'continue to fall'

Press Association — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:00:00 EST

Property values fell by 0.9% during August, following a drop of 0.5% in July, the first time house prices have fallen for two consecutive months since February 2009, according to Nationwide.

Annual growth was also down, for the fourth month in a row, to 3.9%, the lowest year-on-year rise since November last year.

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Filed under: Property, House and Home

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Banks "write off" debts of £3.5bn as borrowing Brits hide financial woes

Jessica Bown — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST

Nearly seven in 10 Britons hide financial difficulties from their bank or building society - even if they experience a sudden money shock that dramatically changes their situation.

Meanwhile, 37% of adults take no action to adjust to their changed circumstances when they come under financial pressure. Perhaps that's why the latest figures from the Bank of England show that banks "wrote off" customer debts of about £40 million a day between April and June?

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Filed under: Financial Crisis, Families

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Avoid the pension pitfalls: Retirement experts' top 10 tips

Julia Kollewe — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST

The halcyon days of golden-plated final salary pension schemes for all are long gone, and with annuity rates at record lows and life expectancy increasing every year, planning for retirement has never been more important.

Perhaps we are getting wiser as well as older, though. More than a third of all searches for an independent financial adviser on unbiased.co.uk relate to personal retirement planning. Here, we air the views of some of its most sought-after pensions boffins.

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Filed under: Saving, Investing, Retirement

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