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About: cliff-darcy

After 15 years as a suit on the 'dark side' of financial services, Cliff became a money writer in 2002. He loves helping people with their money, often appears on TV and radio, and is the author of The Financial Times Guide to Managing Your Money. He is married with two young children.

cliff@test.com

Tesco Moves into Mortgages

From this week, you can pick up something unusual from the tills at Tesco: a home loan. That’s because the UK’s largest supermarket chain has just launched a range of mortgages. Try a Tesco mortgage Through its Tesco Bank arm, Britain’s biggest grocer now offers home loans to borrowers with at least a 20% deposit…. Read more »

Beware of High-Cost Credit

Perhaps the biggest financial irony is that the people who would benefit most from cheap credit actually pay the highest rates of interest. In other words, if you can’t borrow from mainstream lenders, then you have to turn to lenders who charge ‘telephone-number’ rates of interest. Legal loan sharks For example, payday lenders lend small… Read more »

The Best Credit Cards to Take on Holiday

Your trips abroad will be a great deal cheaper and safer with the right credit card! After months of relentless rain, the sun is finally shining and Britain is drying out from the wettest early summer in more than a century. What’s more, with the school holidays now upon us, millions of Brits are jetting… Read more »

Grab a 0% Money Transfer Today!

Here’s how to inject new cash into your current account without paying any interest. If your current account is overdrawn with approval and you’re within your credit limit, then you will usually pay interest on this debt. Get back in the black While some bank accounts provide interest-free buffers to those going overdrawn, a larger overdraft… Read more »

What the Libor scandal means for you

Man in suit sitting with head in his hands

We reveal how the rate-rigging scandal involving Barclays has harmed British consumers. The past month has a nightmare for big British bank Barclays, its directors and shareholders. Badly behaved Barclays On Wednesday, 27 June, Barclays admitted that it had attempted to manipulate two key interest rates: Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate) and Euribor (the… Read more »

Should you take out private medical insurance?

doctor_and_patient_nhs

After social welfare (£207 billion in 2012/13), the National Health Service (NHS) is the UK government’s second-biggest expense. One huge bill In the 2012/13 tax year, total British healthcare spending is expected to reach £130 billion. This works out at a round £5,000 for each of the UK’s 26 million households. However, the big problem… Read more »

What’s happening to house prices and home loans?

There are roughly 26 million homes in the UK, of which about two-thirds (67%) are owner-occupied. Of these 17.5 million owner-occupied homes, around 11.3 million have mortgages secured on them. Total UK mortgage debt comes to £1,252 billion, which averages £111,000 per mortgaged home. With numbers this big, it’s not surprising that we Brits are… Read more »

What the crisis in Greece and Spain means for you … and your holidays

While the British economy limps along in a double-dip recession, things look much, much worse across the Channel in the euro zone. Pain in Spain The latest development in Spain is that the Spanish government has asked for a €100 billion (£80.5 billion) bailout from the ‘troika’ of the European Union (EU), European Central Bank… Read more »

6 things dads must teach kids about money

This Sunday, 17 June, is Father’s Day, so I can look forward to colourful cards from my son (11) and my daughter (eight). In return for the odd vivid drawing or card, my children get to hear the wisdom I’ve accrued in 44 years on this planet. Naturally, my wife and I share the job… Read more »

Why a stronger pound is good for you

In this new post-boom age of austerity, every penny is precious. That’s why it’s great news that the British pound is enjoying something of a comeback on the world’s currency exchanges. So far this year, the British pound has been the best performer among the world’s leading currencies, making good gains against both the US… Read more »