We have a housing crisis. Rents are high, job security is in doubt and wages are frozen or even falling. Families can’t afford to get on the housing ladder.

The rate of housing starts is actually falling, despite Government efforts to stimulate the construction sector. The Department for Communities and Local Government reported yesterday that public and private house builders started building just 24,100 new homes in the first three months ofthis year.

That was an ...

Tags: elderly care, gift with reservation, iht, pet

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General , Silver Saving

Several people said to me after the Headline Money Awards last Thursday night - and indeed Andrew Michael, the Headline Money editor, tweeted as much - that the one of the highlights of the evening was “the reaction of @CashQuestions to winning a trophy”.

I wish I could have seen it: a gobsmacked woman blundering in a daze between the closely packed tables in the Hilton hotel ballroom towards the platform to receive a prize. Even funnier was that she couldn’t remember which table ...

Tags: awards, headline money, social media

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General

The comments made by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond last week about families needing to take responsibility for their debts were distasteful in more ways than one.

Of course he’s right that no one forces people to borrow money and overextend their finances. But there was something rather revolting about one of the wealthiest Tory grandees in the Cabinet, who will clearly never share the day-to-day money worries of most British families, pontificating on the subject of domestic finance. ...

Tags: debt, liar loans, mortgage, philip hammond, responsible

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General , Property , Loans , Mortgages

Barclaycard’s new contactless PayTag scheme raises some interesting questions. For those you aren’t up to speed with what PayTag is, it’s a contactless payment scheme comprising a “sticker” that allows you to pay for items by waving it over a reader. The technology inside the sticker links it to your ordinary credit card, which gets charged for the item you have bought.

The sticker, which is around a third of the size of a credit card, can be affixed to a handy item that you carry ...

Tags: contactless, credit card, paytag, security

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Banking , Credit Cards

It seems that Capital One has finally come clean on what has been going on in the credit card market and spilled the beans about 0% deals, though it will come as no surprise to anyone with an ounce of common sense. It seems that the market is rife with card companies using “shameful practices” to maximise profits, according to Brian Cole, managing director of Capital One in the UK.

“[Balance transfer] customers think they’re going to progress in getting out of debt, and get some relief ...

Tags: balance transfer, credit cards, stoozing, zero per cent

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Loans , Credit Cards