Consumers could save over £500 a year by switching to a more competitive deal on financial products like loans and insurance.
A study by MoneyExpert.com found that the average household could save an impressive £547 per year by switching to more competitive financial deals.
Almost half of this saving (£204 per year) could be from opting for a better interest rate in an unsecured loan, the study added.
What’s more, the research indicated that only 16 per cent of all households had managed to secure the best possible deal on five important financial products.
“With everyone coming under increasing financial pressure from rising bills it makes sense to find every possible way to cut costs,” commented Sean Gardner, the website’s chief executive.
“Typically, UK consumers are paying out £150 per year more than they need to. I’d urge people to spend just a few minutes online to review their finances.”
Recently, Rachel Lacey, editor of Moneywise personal finance magazine, suggested that consumers could think about using an unsecured personal loan to consolidate existing debts.
Over five million people in the UK do not know what should be covered by a standard holiday insurance policy, a new report has warned.
Research from MoneyExpert.com found that one in eight people have no idea what to expect in a standard travel insurance policy.
The company added that not knowing the details of insurance cover could mean holidaymakers lose out when they need to claim.
Consumers were unaware of such details as the amount of medical cover they are entitled to and whether they are insured or not if they lose their passport.
Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, explained: “With people travelling to increasingly exotic destinations and keen to do ever more adventurous activities while abroad, it’s a worry that many don’t understand what they’ll be covered for.
“Obviously a white water rafting holiday poses more of a risk than a beach holiday in Spain so it’s vital that people consider exactly what activities they’re going to be doing, and then choose their policy accordingly.”
Recently, the STA said that people needed to be aware that there is more risk involved with adventure holidays or long-haul trips, which meant that holiday insurance premiums would be higher for these people.
U.K. home values fell for a third month in January, the longest stretch of declines since 2000, and the housing market will cool further as demand from property investors wanes, Nationwide Building Society said.
Prices declined 0.1 percent from December, when they dropped 0.4 percent to 180,473 pounds ($359,000), Britain’s fourth- biggest mortgage lender, said today. From a year earlier, values rose 4.2 percent, the least in two years.
Home-loan approvals fell to the lowest in at least nine years last month as higher borrowing costs and a curb on lending helped drag out the worst housing slump for more than a decade. A slower market will go “hand in hand” with weaker consumer spending, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said last week.
The mortgage data “undoubtedly signals a continued cooling in annual house-price inflation,” Martin Gahbauer, a senior economist at Nationwide, said in a statement. “New demand from buy-to-let investors is likely to weaken in 2008.”
Consumers, already burdened with record 1.4 trillion pounds of debt, face higher costs for loans after banks around the globe posted at least $133 billion in losses from the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market.
Nationwide’s Gold Credit Card and FlexAccount have been awarded a five star rating by financial research company Defaqto.
Defaqto’s reports use a benchmarking process on features and costs to compare and rate products across financial institutions and they found Nationwide’s Gold Credit Card and FlexAccount to be in the top ten per cent of products.
The Gold Credit Card offers zero per cent on balance transfers for ten months and zero per cent on purchases for three months, as well as promising no annual fees and commission free card use abroad.
Unlike most other card providers Nationwide also uses a positive system of payments to ensure the most expensive debt is paid off first when a payment to the account is made.
The FlexAccount, Nationwide’s current account, has been awarded a five star rating for the last four years and provides a competitive rate of interest on deposits and overdrafts, in addition to providing access to e-savings for a high rate of interest.