There could be many reason why you want a loan. Whether its used for buying a car, fitting a new kitchen, or simply putting your debts into one manageable pot, personal loans are a hugely popular way to borrow. However it seems that everyone wants you to take out a loan with them! An with so many available it can be hard decide where to go, and yet, it’s pretty important to find the best prices and deals on bank loans: the UK recently entered a double dip recession and it’s crucial to entertain debt sensibly  irresponsible debt is part of the reason that the UK is faced with such a difficult period of economic stagnation. One fo the first steps to finding the best loan for you is to figure out how much you want to borrow. You can generally get up to £15,000 – but some lenders offer up to £25,000. Getting approved for a loan, even in these financially tough times, is far quicker than being approved for a mortgage. You can often get approval in principle over the phone, with the money available in just a few days. Loads of people wrongly assume they have to go to their bank for a loan. That’s not the case and rates vary, so shop around to find the best deal. Beware though, only those with the best credit histories will be accepted for the top deals and the rate advertised only has to be given to 51 per cent of borrowers. Before making a loan application, think about how much you can afford to repay each month and how long it will take to clear the debt. Also think about switching and shopping around to get a preferential rate. This one’s a fast growing trend. Banks can be so keen to secure your business as an account holder that they offer preferential loan rates to existing customers, as part of an overall package that’s designed to retain business and develop new business in the future. A certain amount of related information can be found online, but this option usually requires person-to-person communication to find out exactly what is on offer from an alternative provider. This traditional type of search can be time consuming but worthwhile.

Unemployment across the UK rose by 118,000 in the three months to November, to 2.68 million, the ONS said, in the latest sign that the UK slowed sharply in the autumn. A surprise increase in the number of people claiming jobless benefits in May overshadowed an overall drop in unemployment, as fears over Europe’s debt crisis intensified, official figures on the UK jobs market reveal. However, the fall in jobless figures can partly be explained by the high number of people working part-time in Britain, because they could not find full-time jobs. This statistic rose by 25,000 in the three months to April, to reach 1.41m.  The government’s claim that private sector jobs growth will help to compensate for cuts in the public sector was undermined by news that 67,000 jobs were lost in the public sector in the three months to September. If you’re out of work and hunting for a job, you’re not alone. At first, that may be kind of comforting, but it also means there’s plenty of competition. Look busy and do some volunteering freelancing or consulting work while you look for a new career. That’s often easier said than done. Looking for job can be a full-time job in itself. It’s also  a smart idea to look up information on the people who interview you, as well as other power players working for potential employers. Just remember – if you can Google them, they can Google you. Also try and make your CV stand out, by adding some color, borders and headers, but also try to keep it organised. Sometimes you just need to get back in the saddle and start working again – even if you feel like the job is beneath you. So try and lower your standards and put that dream job on hold until you have something to fall back on.  One of the worst things about being unemployed  is dealing with the rejection and the stress. But guess what? “How do you deal with rejection” and “How do you handle stress” are also common interview questions! Its not easy…but you can’t let yourself get depressed about your situation.

Watch out for scammers, as they are getting more and more creative. They’ll take an old con and give it a new twist. Some go high-tech, employing texting, cameras or software. Others embrace the old ways, using nothing but a voice and a telephone. Leaving working families wipped out and  left with nothing but bank balances in the red. Although credit card fraud is on the rise and credit card fraud on the Internet is rising even more dramatically; many Internet shoppers know that the reality is that it’s actually much safer to enter your credit card number on a secure online order form than it is to give your credit card to a waiter at a restaurant. Credit and charge card fraud costs cardholders and issuers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. While theft is the most obvious form of fraud, it can occur in other ways. For example, someone may use your card number without your knowledge.

Below are some usefull tips to help protect  from credit card fraud.

Things to do:

• Sign the back of your cards as soon as they arrive.
• Carry your cards separately from your wallet, in a zippered compartment,or another small pouch.
• Keep a record of your account details in a secure place.
• Watch your card carefully during the transaction, and get it back as quickly as possible.
• Void incorrect receipts.
• Save receipts.
• Open bills promptly and reconcile accounts monthly.
• Report any questionable charges.
• Notify your card company in advance of a change in address.

Things not to do:

• Lend your card to anyone.
• Leave cards and receipts lying around.
• Sign a blank receipt.
• Write your account number down anywhere that other can see.
• Give out your account number over the phone unless you’re making the call to a company you know is safe.

When considering whether to use a company’s services, it’s important to be able to check their history and reputation before you do so.  Fortunately, this is made easier by the online presence of the Companies House register, dedicated to storing company information in the UK.

All British limited companies are required to register annually with Companies House, making it an efficient way of searching by company name, address or registration number. For a small fee, there are further options including purchasing access to historical records such as accounts and company reports.  If you’re eager to find this information free of charge search for Companies House direct at Duedil and view full company accounts, director search, corporate structures and more.

Having these resources out there also gives registered businesses an incentive to keep accurate records and up-to-date information. In other words, the more company information there is available, the more trust will be placed with that company.  Companies House asks for specific details from each company; forms can be downloaded from the website on returns, change of address, change of personnel and shares to name just a few. This makes sure that searchers are getting as clear a picture as possible.

Further afield, European database EBR pools together company details from all the official registers in each country. This is particularly valuable when looking at unfamiliar businesses abroad and checking the accuracy of any claims a company may make. The RM group uses Companies House and other databases to give access to company documents from across the globe, offering access within the hour in some cases.  Recently, smart phones app have also become available for receiving such information on the go. There are also websites which search credit reports and individual data for those working in the financial or legal sectors.

Whether taking on a new business partner, investing shares or simply checking out the competition, it’s good to know there are tools out there to make company information easily accessible.

Loan sharks make profit from the sheer desperation of others. They rip off people by charging extortionate interest rates and they are criminals who can threaten and even use violence to get what they want. Victims of loan sharks are often forced to hand over personal identification, such as passports as a form of security for their loan.New research suggests that 265,000 people are in the dangerous situation of knowing a loan shark and being unable to raise £200 to cover the cost of Christmas or other essential things. It is a combination which puts them under particular threat. The figures comes from Policis, a research organisation which analyses illegal lending for the government.

Half of households using loan sharks are in the most deprived areas of the country, with particular loan shark hotspots including Scotland, the north of England and the West Midlands. Anyone lending money should have a consumer credit licence from the OFT. Licensed lenders have to comply with legal obligations in dealing with customers, including the use of proper paperwork and fair collection methods. But unlicensed loan sharks will often offer cash loans without paperwork, use benefit or bank cards as security, and threaten or use violence to get money.

However, don’t worry, if you’ve been foolish enough to do buisness with a loan shark, there’s a bit of a silver lining in the cloud you’re under. This is because a loan shark has no legal right to enforce the debt. He can’t go to court and get an order allowing him to seize your car, or house, or furniture. Nor can he go after your relatives assets, even though calls to frighten your parents who do have assets are common. If he can frighten your parents into paying your debt the loan shark will get his money. But he cannot force them to pay. Because an illegal contract cannot be enforced in the courts. So no matter how much the loan shark threatens that you are going lose everything you have, in fact, he is the one on the losing end of things.

It’s important to remember that life insurance isn’t really “insurance” in the dictionary sense. When you buy life insurance, you’re not “insuring” anything. No matter how much money you give them, you can’t keep from dying. No, life insurance is more about hedging your bets. While you’d prefer to live, if fate has an alternate plan then you can spend money now to help your family avoid multiple catastrophes later. Life insurance is designed to protect your family and other people who may depend on you for financial support. If you die and lose your income, the people that are dependent on your financial support will lose that income, so life insurance can help cover some or all of that loss depending on the policy you choose. But there are instances where life insurance can be beneficial even if you have no dependents, such as your desire to cover your own funeral expenses.

If you’ve got sufficient income, a risky enough likelihood of staying alive and enough dependents with little earning power among them, a term policy isn’t necessarily a poor way to spend your money. Just remember that investing is deferring spending in hopes of a financial gain. Insuring is spending now in hopes of avoiding financial loss. In that respect, the two activities are almost opposites. A large face-value life insurance policy – if you are not in good health – could cost hundreds of pounds a month. However, you can tailor the type and amount of insurance to your budget. Determine the amount of insurance you need to pay the bills for at least two years plus pay off your mortgage or any other debt. That should be your base coverage. Monthly insurance is more inexpensive than whole life and it gives you no-frills coverage for a set number of years. Having some life insurance is better than having no life insurance. You can increase your coverage in the future as your budget allows.

We have all seen the ads offering easy or instant credit repair. Maybe you have gotten spam in your email inbox promising to erase your bad credit, or even a text message. But can these companies really do what it says on the tin? Credit repair organisations are governed by a law known and this law requires any credit repair service to fulfill certain obligations to you. However, so of what they say can be faulse information, such as:

They can remove bad info from your credit record – What these companies will do is use  techniques to make your credit report appear clean long enough to collect money. They file disputes against the debts on your credit report. When the credit ref agency receives a dispute, it must contact the creditor and the creditor has 30 days to verify the debt. If the creditor doesn’t respond before the deadline the disputed item from your report. The credit repair company can then show you a cleaner credit report and collect their pay. However, if the negative information is accurate, the creditor will respond eventually and the information will be put back on your report again.

Some credit repair companies offer consumers a “piggybacking” opportunity.  Consumer A (good credit) adds Consumer B (bad credit) as an authorized user on Consumer A’s credit card account for a fee.  Consumer A maintains good credit, which is reflected in Consumer A’s and Consumer B’s credit reports.  (Consumer B is piggybacking on Consumer A’s good credit history.)  This is a dangerous and costly process as personal information is exchanged.  Credit reporting agencies are aware of these piggyback schemes and are no longer attributing Consumer A’s good credit to Consumer B’s credit report and score. Also some companies may tell you that they will deal with the creditors and all you have to do is send them regular payments. Supposedly, they will keep these payments in an escrow account to collect interest until there is enough in the account to cover the debt. Meanwhile, the credit repair company deducts regular administration fees from your account and your creditors are kept on hold.

If you are considering a credit repair service, remember there is nothing legally they can do to improve your credit that you cannot do by yourself.

We all hate them, yet some of us continue to pay £100′s each month for excess overdrafts, late fees, unpaid direct debits etc. The bigger the bank, the less your chances of satisfaction when something goes wrong or you are looking for help. A big bank simply doesn’t need your business enough to waste time trying to figure out how they messed up and made you pay for their mistake. It’s much easier to ignore you and lose you than if they were a smaller bank. If you are counting on flexibility and the ability to make contact with human beings who actually work inside the bank that made a mistake, then avoid the banking behemoths and stick with a regional bank.

Ultimately, your bank will simply consider you to be an account number, not an individual and any favours they may have extended in the past will certainly not occur again when they realise you are unable to meet your monthly payments. Remember all decisions regarding your account are made by head office rather than your local branch. When you open up a checking account, be sure to ask specific questions and get specific answers in regard to overdraft charges. Inquire about things like overdraft charging fee amounts, electronic monitoring of your checking account and notification from the bank if your account does become overdrawn and whether the bank offers the option of allowing you to deposit money to avoid bouncing a check. If the bank does offer the latter option, be sure to ask about deadlines.

If you regularly miss repayments and don’t talk to your lender about your circumstances, your bank could take you to court for non-payment and get a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against you. This will count against you if you apply for credit in any form for the next six years.

Many lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, have agreed with the government to give borrowers 30 days ‘breathing space’ to deal with their debts. You must seek advice from a free advice agency first. You then need to write to your creditors and ask them to hold action for 30 days under the breathing space commitment.

Identity thieves use low-tech methods (stealing your wallet or even eavesdropping at key moments) as well as sophisticated Internet scams to rob people of their sensitive personal data. How much information does someone really need to know in order to impersonate you to a 3rd-party? Your name? Birth date? Address? Armed with easily found information such as this, and maybe a couple other key pieces of information such as the high school you went to, your dog’s name or your mother’s maiden name, an individual might be able to access your existing accounts or establish new loans or credit in your name. While nothing can guarantee that you won’t become a victim of identity theft, you can minimize your risk, and minimize the damage if a problem develops, by making it more difficult for identity thieves to access your personal information.

When entering a PIN number or a credit card number in an ATM machine, at a phone booth, or even on a computer at work, be aware of who is nearby and make sure nobody is peering over your shoulder to make a note of the keys you’re pressing.

To make your mailbox a less attractive target for identity thieves, try to reduce the amount of unsolicited offers. Opt out of pre-approved credit card offers and remember to cancel mail delivery when you go on holiday. If you don’t, that mountain of mail makes a tempting target. Outgoing mail requires protection too. When you write a check and mail it to your credit card company, don’t include information that is complete enough for someone to use.

Shree documents (both paper and electronic) that contain personal or financial information before discarding them. This prevents dumpster diving and, in the online world, the ability for hackers to bypass information that has not been permanently deleted from your computer.

Place passwords on your credit card, bank, and phone accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your Social Security number or your phone number, a series of consecutive numbers, or a single word that would appear in a dictionary. Combinations of letters, numbers, and special characters make the strongest passwords. When opening new accounts, you may find that many businesses still ask for your mother’s maiden name. Find out if you can use a password instead.

Shared ownership is generally referred to by the Government as ‘homebuy’, but can also be called ‘part buy/ part rent’. Namely, you generally buy a percentage share of a property owned by a housing association and then pay rent on the remaining share that you do not own, hence: ‘part buy/ part rent’. It is possible to buy a small share initially, such as 25%, and gradually buy the remaining shares in the property in a process known as ‘staircasing’. Not all schemes work on this basis and there are a number of variations on the shared ownership theme, such as Open Market home buy, and other ‘shared equity’ schemes where no rent is payable.

If you are just starting to research shared ownership mortgages/ homebuy schemes, and have not yet been accepted by a housing association, then as your first port of call, you need to get yourself a shared ownership agent. They will then be able to tell you whether you qualify for a shared ownership scheme and take you through how to register for a shared ownership scheme in your area.

Once you have been accepted you have to take in consideration a few of the following – The size of deposit, if any, you are putting down – it is possible to buy 100% of a share and there are lenders out there who will consider this (but the lender will normally require your lease to have a special ‘mortgage protection clause). You also need to think about what share you are looking to buy in the property (e.g. 25%, 30%, 50%) and the rent you can afford to pay on the share you do not own (if any).

A few facts to remember when buying shared property are – Shared Ownership Mortgages make buying a home more affordable because you buy part and part rent your home, Homebuy refers to the Government’s range of Shared Ownership Schemes. And your local housing association manage shared ownership schemes in your area.