Personal Finance guide

Recent events in the world economy have forced many people to take stock of their finances and realise just how reliant they are on credit. While mortgages, loans and credit cards may be grabbing all the headlines, it is important to remember that overdrafts can cause just as many problems.

And with people being advised to make sure the money they do have is working for them as well as it can, it could be that a customer should consider finding the best current account rate to be just as crucial as comparing the likes of credit cards.

Continue reading ‘Current accounts can be switched too’ »

Although it is mostly industry practice to charge a variable rate of interest on outstanding credit balances at a certain percentage rate above Prime Lending Rate, it is possible, these days, to obtain a fixed rate credit card. So, when would you want to apply for a fixed rate credit card over a variable rate credit card?

The answer to this may not actually sound as simply as you may think. Two factor need to be borne in mind: first, what is the Prime Lending Rate at the moment; and second, what are the chances of the percentage rate plus Prime Lending Rate going above the fixed rate?

Continue reading ‘Fixed Rate Vs. Variable Rate Credit Cards’ »

Starting from 1 January 2010 new VAT rates apply. Shifting from 15% in 2009 to 17.5% in 2010 is not as simple as it might look on the surface, so I am planning on the series of articles to help you deal with it.

HMRC has provided a detailed guide along with several PDF documents linked from the same webpage to help businesses that need to be particularly careful with the shift. These businesses include:

• Retailers
• Businesses that issue VAT invoices
• Businesses operating beyond midnight on 31 December 2009

For each of these categories HMRC provides a separate PDF document available online. There are also certain types of services that require special attention to the changing VAT rates. They include:

• Services you start before 1 January 2010 but finish afterwards
• Continuous supplies of services

Some brief explanations are given below.

Retailers

It seems obvious that you should use the 17.5% rate for all takings you receive on 1 January or after that date. But… here comes a but. Supposing a customers pays you after 1 January for something delivered (taken away) before that date. In this case, the 15% rate applies.

Continue reading ‘Don’t Forget the VAT’ »