Moneyblog

The average annual car insurance bill is expected to hit a record high of £800 this month, according to comparison website comparethemarket. The cost has increased by around £200 over the past two years thanks to factors including the soaring cost to the industry of dealing with whiplash claims. And from today, the government is forcing insurers to make bigger payouts for serious personal injury compensation to ensure they’re not eroded by inflation – a measure that is expected to add £15 on to all insurance policies. Yet despite the rapidly rising cost of car insurance, drivers are turning their backs on the easiest way to make significant savings by

Ah, home ownership. It’s the holy grail of living arrangements, isn’t it? No more nasty landlords and money-grabbing letting agents. Now you’re king or queen of the castle and you can install a hot tub in the garden, paint a Banksy-style mural on the wall, and finally get the canine friend you’ve always wanted. Or can you? If you buy a leasehold property you’re likely to find you’re bound by as many, if not more, rules than you were as a tenant. And if you think the rip-off fees stopped when you bought your home, think again: letting agents are mere amateurs compared to unscrupulous freeholders and the equally dodgy

There are three supermarkets in the small market town where I live. That’s three major chains serving just 14,000 people, not to mention another five within a four-mile radius. So when Sainsbury’s lodged planning permission to build a fourth outlet within spitting distance of the existing shops, local people had had enough. Objections were launched and Sainsbury’s withdrew its bid. Now I’m wondering if the people of my Northern town made a mistake. According to new research from Lloyds Bank, homes located close to a Sainsbury’s are likely to command around £26,000 more than other properties. Of course, that’s a national average and, given house prices in the North, homes

Imagine having an immaculate credit record and a secure income, only to be locked out of some of the most competitive mortgage deals. Some older borrowers have been facing just this scenario. ‘Many have felt excluded from the mortgage market, as the criteria have tightened and lenders have typically imposed a maximum age of 70 or 75 at the end of the mortgage term. But for older borrowers with good pension income, why shouldn’t they be able to take advantage of today’s super-low interest rates?’, asks David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages. ‘As more of us live and work for longer, it’s likely the need for mortgage borrowing will

It’s the modern malaise: online fraud. In a world where so many of our transactions happen over the internet, it’s little wonder that fraudsters have descended on the web in droves. The latest statistics paint a bleak picture. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 11.5 million incidents of crime relating to computer misuse and fraud offences in 2016. That’s cybercrime on an unprecedented level. Now new research suggests that more than one in ten Britons have had to cancel a credit or debit card in the past year due to online fraud. Comparethemarket.com says this reveals a worsening state of affairs, with the number of people cancelling cards

Little-known rules regarding ‘death-in-service’ payouts from workplace pension schemes could see grieving families hit by shock five-figure tax bills. That’s according to Royal London which says millions of employees are at risk of exceeding the pension lifetime allowance because of their death-in-service benefits. As a result, it’s calling for a change in the rules. Many company pension schemes offer workers’ families a lump sum ‘death-in-service’ payment of up to four times the employee’s annual salary if they die while employed by the firm. But a little-known caveat of this payment is that it can count against the £1 million lifetime allowance limit for tax-relieved pension contributions. For example, say you

Going through a loved one’s photos, books, music collection and possessions after they’ve passed away can be an emotional process. But with any luck, the deceased will have left a will detailing what should happen to smaller possessions such as childhood toys and their record collection, as well as major assets like property or investments. But not many people think about what will happen to their digital assets when they die. We live our lives online these days and future generations won’t remember a time when this wasn’t the case. As well as using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we also buy digital music and video

When the sun shineth…go shopping. That’s what we did in our droves during April, boosting retail sales by 4 per cent compared to the same month last year. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), anecdotal evidence from retailers suggests that good weather contributed to growth in sales, which increased by 2.3 per cent in the three months to April compared to a 1.4 per cent decline in the first quarter. And there’s the fact that Easter also fell in April this year, prompting sales of furniture, golf equipment and motorbike accessories. Analysts were cheered by the data, which was beyond their expectations, but said the real test lies ahead. Michael Baxter, economics commentator