A recent investigation by a leading UK newspaper has revealed that banks are failing to tell borrowers whether they can get the cheapest loan and credit card rates or even how much they could borrow without undergoing a credit check that can leave a damaging foot print on their credit file.

Credit Cards and Loans

When you see an attractive interest rate in an advert for a loan or credit card it does not mean that everyone gets that rate, banks run various checks including rigorous credit checks to determine which rate each applicant gets. However, as not everyone gets the best rates, sometimes higher rates than advertised are offered to applicants.

When this happens, applicants are left with one of two options.

To take the rate offered, or to look elsewhere.

When consumers choose to shop around is where the problem lies, once the applicant goes elsewhere the new bank; will follow the same procedure as the original bank and will see on the credit file that the applicant applied to the first bank, when there are multiple applications made to banks and other lenders for credit, banks often take a poor view of this.

Which means the applicant is likely to be offered another higher rate time and time again.

Currently the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) best practice rules state that banks and lenders should provide applicants with a quotation without damaging their credit record.

Clare Stott, Director at National Money Helpline says:

To make sure that you get the OFT best practice when asking a bank for a loan quote make sure you ask for a “quotation search”

With the UK fast catching up with the American’s celebrating Halloween, now’s a great time to prepare for the Halloween parties of 2011. We’ve had our ghouls and goblins hunting for the best places to get everything from your witches’ outfits to your dangling skeletons!! Here’s our top 5…

• We found a great website for you to buy anything you could possibly need for Halloween, from your indoor decoration to Halloween awards for the best dressed party goer. Take a look at Silly Jokes.

• If you’re feeling arty, why not try and spook up your pumpkins using 12 free printable templates from the Readers Digest

• If you’re a wicked wizard in the kitchen then the BBC’s good food website have loads or recipes for you to get your fangs into!!

• Instead of your supermarket, why not give your local green grocer a try for this year’s pumpkins, then after carving it up, save the seeds for planting (preferably spring time) to see if you can grow your own for next year and use the insides for a delicious spicy pumpkin soup.

• Let’s face it, you can’t have a party without music – grab the Monster Halloween Hits album (67 tracks) for £9.49 on Amazon or £9.99 on iTunes, that’s a beastly bargain!!

Don’t forget to take a look at our other great savings posts on our savings blog.

I want, I want, I want…. does this sound familiar? Well we’ve had floods of emails asking for this year’s must have presents. The NMH team have turned hunter gatherers to find the top ten presents with the top ten prices. Good luck and happy shopping.

Christmas 2011 top 10 toys are:

1. Fijits – £52.89 at Amazon, delivered free in the UK

2. Vtech’s Kidizoom twist camera – £49.95 with free shipping from John Lewis

3. Fisher Price’s Sing-a-ma-jigs – £10.99 at Play.com with free delivery

4. Baby Annabell Doll – £33.70 with free shipping at John Lewis

5. Transformers 3 Optimus prime – £59.99 on Amazon with free delivery

6. Bob The Builder Construction Tower – £24.98 at Tesco.com including a £5.00 delivery cost

7. Bobit XT – £21.49 on Amazon with free delivery

8. Nerf N strike Night Finder – £6.19 at Play.com with free delivery

9. Lego City police Station – £62.69 at Amazon & Play.com with free delivery

10. Monopoly banking – £19.58 at Amazon including £5.13 for shipping

Remember parents, its only 86 sleeps till Christmas. So dont forget to start planning your spending for Christmas

Every effort is made to check the information in these articles for accuracy but we apologise for any errors or omissions that have been made unintentionally. Some offers may only be available in certain stores, and all offers are subject to availability.

I’m sorry to say the time has come to discuss the subject of Christmas… Already!! The year has flown by and it’s time to get serious about our Christmas spending habits. Last year, The UK’s average family Christmas spend was around £414, so here’s our top 5 tips to get you prepared for Xmas 2011!

1. Decide on a budget and stick to it (take a look at our budget planner here)- This is the most important point to remember, there’s always that special present that blows your budget out of the water; be strong, resist the temptation, otherwise you’ll spend the best part of 2012 paying for the Christmas of 2011!

2. Here’s the next most important tip to tie in with your budget… make a list and stick to it. If you know what you want and know where to get it, not only will this save you money, as you’ll have the opportunity to shop around it will save you bags of time – which can be spent in front of the fire with a hot drink.

3. Be shopper savvy!! Compare prices, whether it’s your groceries or the kids presents, make sure you jump on the comparison sites to see how much you can save.

4. Little and often – spread the cost of your Christmas by starting early. There are 13 weeks to Christmas 2011 and you’re better off starting early than being lumped with a hefty credit card bill in January 2012, you can then treat yourself in those January sales!!

5. REMEMBER DONT GO MAD, its Christmas shopping not panic buying!!

Are you still looking for ways to save for Christmas, take a look at our article entitled 7 Ways to make Christmas less expensive.

Last year turned out to be a further difficult year for many households in Leicester, with the city featuring highly in the league for personal insolvencies for the 2nd year running.

Official records show that last year 2338 people in Leicester took out some form of debt solution, either with an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), Bankruptcy or Debt Relief Order, an increase of 5.8% on 2009. Leicester featured 7th in the UK league table for the year, and showed the 4th largest increase within the top 20 towns/cities for insolvencies in the year.

Like much of the rest of the UK, Leicester continues to suffer from the difficult money problems being faced by families in the city as a result of the tough economic times we still endure, despite all the official comments in the Press that the recession is officially at an end. Unemployment figures in November 2010 stood at 5.3% which was slightly down on the previous year (7%), though male unemployment featured at 7.3% (Source: Office of National Statistics).

National Money Helpline has helped thousands of people deal with their money problems over the years, and continues to see that the principle causes of difficulty are:

· Redundancy

· Reduced working hours, or loss of overtime opportunities

· Divorce or family break up

· Loss of a partner’s contribution

· Sickness

A rise in redundancy was a consistent reason for money problems last year, but also featured was the reduction in opportunities to boost income from overtime and extra shifts, with many people reliant upon such opportunities to balance their household budget.

There has been much focus in the Press upon individuals who have over stretched their finances as if this was their fault, but National Money Helpline has found that most people have only taken on debts when they felt comfortable that they could afford the repayments. Whilst of course there are some who set out with the intention of avoiding repayments, the vast majority have only missed payments or made lower payments than originally agreed because of the changes in their financial circumstances, many of which were outside their own control.

Unfortunately the stress and family tensions stemming from life changing events are exacerbated by the pressures on finances and the need to change lifestyle, and we have seen many family break ups as a result of money problems.

Commenting on the Leicester insolvency figures, Clare Stott, director of National Money Helpline says:
‘Redundancy and divorce have a huge psychological impact upon individuals which is hard to handle at such a stressful time. There often seems to be an overpowering sense of failure linked to these events and the resulting effect on household finances simply adds to the stress. At times like this, people need to seek help from reputable experts and our team at National Money Helpline is just a phone call away.’

All indications suggest that 2011 will be another difficult year for Leicester, with further squeezing of family budgets and forecasts of higher unemployment, as businesses struggle with the same financial issues. We have seen already the impact of the VAT increase on fuel costs, and inevitably this will feed through to higher costs throughout as the year progresses. The substantial reductions in Public Spending and tax increase will further reduce household spending power markedly.

In such an environment, now is the time to review your own situation, and plan ahead to tackle money problems early. Our team of experts at National Money Helpline is ready to assist you to find the right debt solution for your circumstances, whatever these may be, from help with budgeting, assistance with finding the right utility provider for electricity, gas and phones, or putting arrangements in place to deal with debts.

Check out the views of our clients on our testimonials page.

Call us now on: 08448 247 260

Now all the schools are back after the summer holidays, the school uniforms, pens, pencils and rulers have all been bought, cash is running low, what do you put in your child’s lunch box?

The customer service team at National Money Helpline have been debating, what should you put in your child’s lunch box in the weeks to come? Especially considering healthy eating is not always your child’s first choice for lunch.

Tesco have put together an online lunch box tool in connection with information about healthy eating for children. With this in mind we have put together an example lunch box to show how a typical lunch time meal compares with a child’s GDA (Guidline Daily Amounts)

Using Tesco’s lunch box tool, we have included, 1 wholemeal roll, 1 20g serving of margarine, 3 slices of ham, 1 serving of lettuce,1 oat based biscuit and 1 fruit based drink.

What do you put in your child's lunch box?

We were most surprised that this seemingly healthy meal, has 70% of your childs daily allowance of sugar and 50% of salt. Let us know what you put in your childrens lunch box and how it compares to our example using the comments box below.

This week’s money saving tip comes in the form of an intelligent shopping website by the name of mysupermarket.co.uk. The team at National Money Helpline have taken to this website like a duck to water – not only will you save on average £18.00 per week but it may also help you save a pounds on the scales with its health checker – this unique tool compares your shopping basket and offers healthier alternatives.

The site gives you the option of shopping at Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Ocado. Whilst you’re shopping it continually compares the prices at each of the stores, offering the best buys, BOGOF’s & Bargains, then in 3 easy steps – Shop, compare, pay – your done and your almost guaranteed to have saved money.

Every effort is made to check the information in these articles for accuracy but we apologise for any errors or omissions that have been made unintentionally. Some offers may only be available in certain stores, and all offers are subject to availability.

ComRes recently conducted an online survey on behalf of the trade body R3, which found that nearly 50% of the nation believes debt and financial pressures played a part in the rioting and looting in London, Manchester & Birmingham.

The research also highlighted that almost 92% of those questioned blame financial institutions for easily accessible credit for the sense of entitlement seen by today’s youth, even though nearly 100% of those surveyed believe that the financial situation cannot be used as an excuse for breaking the law.

Clare Stott, Director at National Money Helpline says “we have personal experience in dealing with the consequences of the rise of personal debt in the last three or four years. Historically many seeking help with their debts have at some point lived beyond their means. People continue to live beyond their means but now it is increasingly because of the growing gap between household costs caused by rising prices, and incomes which are failing to keep up – always assuming that they have job stability – much of which is beyond their control. There is a big risk in today’s financial environment that the increase in personal insolvency in the UK is still set to rise.”

One of the more interesting facts to come from the ComRes survey is that younger people are more likely to agree that debt and personal financial pressures added to the riots in the UK. They are also more likely to feel that when finances at home are more unstable it is harder to stay within the law.

Clare Stott added, “Whilst it may be of no comfort now, those businesses affected by the riots may be pleased to hear the public’s condemnation of the activities of the minority. In many cases, the livelihoods of those business owners and staff rest upon a swift return to trading activity; let us hope that lenders extend a supportive hand during this traumatic time”.

The summer holidays are coming to and end, and every parent with children of school age are starting the hunt for the new school uniform, so to follow with our theme of money saving tips, we have put together a quick comparison of the supermarkets school uniform prices.

Where to buy your school uniform?:

Voucher Codes

Asda – Free delivery on orders when you spend more than £20.00 – enter code ‘school2′.

Tesco – £10.00 off when you spend over £40.00 – enter code ‘AW4C’.

Morrisons – Any two items of school uniform for £5.00 or £3 per item or pack.

Sainsbury – £10 off when you spend over £50.00 (Excluding groceries) – enter code ‘ YPYM-3JF9-L4L6′.

Download our back to school check list now.

Every effort is made to check the information in these articles for accuracy but we apologise for any errors or omissions that have been made unintentionally. Some offers may only be available in certain stores, and all offers are subject to availability.

Tesco ‘*’ = three pack of clothing not pairs.

The customer service team at National Money Helpline, have put together their third shopping basket of discounts, and Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) to help our readers and clients save some money on their weekly shopping

This week’s shopping list looks something like this:

To discover Asda vouchers and discounts take a look at Asda’s online magazine, there are currently £51.77 worth of savings online.

Every effort is made to check the information in these articles for accuracy but we apologise for any errors or omissions that have been made unintentionally. Some offers may only be available in certain stores, and all offers are subject to availability.