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Recent Guides
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- Published 12/03/2010 00:00:00 in Money and Savings
We recently ran an ISA surgery inviting you, our readers, to send us your ISA questions and confusions. Confused.com got together with Fair Investment, the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA) and the Buildings Societies Association to help clear up some of your most common queries and misunderstandings. So without any further ado, here they are...
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- Published 01/03/2010 00:00:00 in Money and Life Insurance
Smoking is bad for your health – and your wealth. The UK government levies a large amount of tax to put people off this potentially lethal habit. But you may not know that because of the health dangers of tobacco, it has a serious impact on the cost of life insurance too.
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- Published 02/02/2010 00:00:00 in Money and Life Insurance
Those considering a joint life insurance policy are often married, or co-habiting, couples with dependants they want to protect should they die, or suffer a critical illness.
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- Published 15/01/2010 00:00:00 in Money and Life Insurance
One of the biggest fears for many people is not being able to pay the mortgage - or meet other financial commitments - if they are made redundant or unable to work due to illness or accident.
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- Published 04/01/2010 00:00:00 in Money and Life Insurance
Buying life insurance can help ensure your loved ones are financially secure should the worst happen. But once you’ve bought life cover, it’s important to not just put your policy documents in a drawer and forget about them - make sure your cover is kept up to date.
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- Published 30/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Credit Cards
Should you really be using that credit card? Confused.com looks at the benefits of paying with plastic for that much needed break…
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- Published 22/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Sooner or later the time will arrive for you to wave goodbye to your parents, flatmates, housemates, cellmates (hey, why not?), landlords etc. and venture forth into the responsible world of mortgages and home ownership.
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- Published 22/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
If you’re about to take a nose around that 7-bed mansion right next door to Wayne and Coleen Rooney, hold your horses! Before you even begin house hunting you first need to know just how much money you can afford to borrow – in short, will your mortgage buy a boxy bedsit or a baroque palace?
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- Published 11/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Similar to offset mortgages, this option lets you combine your finances (e.g. mortgage, credit cards, store cards, bank account, loans) into a single account with the mortgage lender.
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- Published 11/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Originally from Australia, offset mortgages arrived here in the late 1990s with the key benefit of allowing you to offset any savings against a mortgage.
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- Published 11/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Flexible (sometimes called ‘lifestyle’) mortgages let you make extra repayments when you’re flush with cash, and allow partial payments, or even payment holidays, when you’re a little skint.
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- Published 10/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Yet another type of variable rate mortgage, tracker rates move up or down in direct relation to The Bank of England Base Rate rather than a lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR).
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- Published 09/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
The primary attraction of fixed rate mortgage deals is that they offer a guaranteed set monthly repayment for a specified period of time, regardless of changes in the lender’s SVR.
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- Published 09/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
This is a type of variable rate mortgage that gives borrowers a discount on the lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) for a specified length of time.
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- Published 09/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
This is a type of variable rate mortgage (i.e. it will rise and fall in line with your lender’s SVR) that puts a ceiling (or cap) on your mortgage interest rate. This means that the rate is guaranteed never to rise above a certain level for a specified period, though it can still go down, triggering a reduction in monthly repayments.
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- Published 09/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
A lender’s standard variable interest rate is typically set at about 2% above the Bank of England Base Rate (BOEBR), and tends to rise in fall as the BOEBR rises or falls. This means that the monthly amount you repay can go up or down depending on how your lender reacts to economic conditions, such as changes in the base rate.
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- Published 08/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
Now you’ve decided on how you want to pay – repayment interest-only – it’s time to narrow the field still further by deciding on a mortgage rate option.
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- Published 08/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
A Pension Plan is a type of investment fund that you pay into on a monthly basis, and aims to cover the mortgage capital (the amount of the original loan) at the end of the term. Pension Plan payments are made as well as the monthly interest-only mortgage payments made directly to the lender.
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- Published 08/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
After your lender has approved the mortgage, and your solicitor has completed all the required searches, it’s time for both buyer and seller to exchange contracts.
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- Published 08/12/2009 00:00:00 in Money and Mortgages
An ISA (Individual Savings Account) is a type of investment fund that you pay into on a monthly basis, and aims to cover the mortgage capital (the amount of the original loan) at the end of the term.