Debt is like quicksand. Someone can be happily walking along and the next thing they know they’re up to their elbows in gunk. The more they struggle, the more they get sucked in. In this situation Bear Grylls keeps a cool head, thinks out a plan of me...

How do you escape a sinking ship? You push the boat out. That seems to be a fair summary of what is currently happening. Many see bad debt rising and trouble on the way. It does look like we’re in for some nasty weather. This forecast is based on the fa...

Historically Edinburgh was once the capital of a British kingdom that served as a buffer state against the Pictish people north of Stirling. Later it was part of the nascent Kingdom of Northumbria. But today the thing that strikes a visitor from South of ...

Utility bills contain a lot of information and the format is not always as clear as it might be. Upon receipt of a new bill the first thing to check is the name and address. It would be a little over-generous to pay someone else’s bill. However in c...

When credit card users want to apply for a new card it is best not to approach several providers individually. This scatter gun approach will be noted on the credit record of the borrower in question. When this happens the lender is far more likely to rej...

In the first quarter of 2008 British Gas, the major gas supplier in the UK, increased prices to the tune of 15%. The company attributed these increases to rising wholesale costs that needed to be passed on to end users to maintain profit margins. Ce...

Due to the international monetary crisis, property owners look set to experience difficulties in sorting out a new deal when their existing fixed rate loans expire in the near future. The number of borrowers whose fixed rate deals run out in 2008 is recko...

The principle behind the offset mortgage is simple. Interest payments on savings contribute to reducing, or offsetting, the amount owing. Seven years ago there were only a handful of providers but the idea has taken root and there are now more than 40. M...

The discovery of oil and gas deposits in the North Sea was justly celebrated at the time. People’s lives were transformed as cheap energy made cold rooms in winter a memory for millions. Of course there were doubts: the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 sa...

The concept of life insurance was well developed in the eighteenth century with the establishment of The Society for Equitable Assurances (1762). Since that time the numbers of people who have tried to fiddle the insurance companies must be legion. Howeve...

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) believes government proposals to boost the country’s housing stock significantly are inherently flawed. Where southern England is intersected by major rivers, the surrounding land is prone to flooding. However...

The credit crunch might sound like a breakfast cereal but it is still proving pretty unpalatable to those looking to save money by transferring their card balance. There are currently just nine cards that offer a 0% deal lasting 10 months or more. A year ...

Darwin’s scientific curiosity took him to the Galapagos Islands. Walter Ralegh brought potatoes and tobacco back from the New World. Evidently, however, Britons have lost their sense of adventure: a recent study reveals that the 2.5 million travellers ...

Sometimes sands from the Sahara are carried by the winds so far out into the Atlantic that the skies over Lanzarote are given an almost unreal, rusty teint. Only rarely does this disrupt the caravan of charter flights that head for Lanzarote all year roun...

Memories of 2007 will be scarred for many by the terrible flooding that afflicted lowland river plains. People affected naturally look to their insurers to retrieve the situation financially in the aftermath of a flood, yet it has been well reported that ...