We have launched our new poll and this month we are interested in finding out how important your credit card is to you.

It’s a very simple poll, and all you need to do is answer the question ‘Could you live without your credit card’ by selecting ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and then clicking on the submit button.

Once you have submitted your vote, you will see the results so far and will see how your opinion fits in with our other readers’.

Click the link to tell us if you would find it more difficult to live without your credit card or not.

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NEW RELATED BLOG: 10/03/10 ‘Only 26 days left to use up 2009/10 ISA allowance ‘

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has just announced that the overall tax-free ISA allowance will be increased from £7,200 to £10,200, with the Cash ISA allowance element increasing to £5,100, from £3,600.

This will come into effect from October this year for those aged over 50 and from April next year for everybody else.

The Chancellor noted that over 18 million people have invested in ISAs since their launch and that the ISA limit has only been increased once since their introduction in 1999, which occurred in the last Budget.

He went on to note that the ten year anniversary of the ISA marks the ideal time to increase its limit once more, and highlighted that the current economic climate is having a huge impact on savers.

Related News articles: 03/09/09 ‘Change to ISA limit to boost savers‘

23/04/09 ‘Budget is ‘confusing for savings account users’‘

22/04/09 ’Chancellor raises limit on ISA savings accounts‘

Other related content: 02/06/09 ’Poll Analysis Special: Change in consumers’ ISA habits during credit crunch‘

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Easter has been and gone, but luckily we will get to enjoy another two bank holiday weekends in May.

Bank holiday weekends are great; they give you a chance to jump in the car and go on a trip to visit family and friends or you can even make the most of the weekend by going on a short-break. Most importantly of all, they give you a chance to relax and hopefully take your mind off the stresses of day-to-day life.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that the last thing anyone would want on these long weekends is a stressful event like not being able to afford to do anything, or the car breaking down on the motorway or even luggage getting lost or stolen in transit.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much that can be done to prevent these events and, if they are going to happen they will. However, there ARE things you can do to LESSEN the stress and inconvenience caused by events such as these.

Saving

First things first: if you are going to do anything on the bank holiday weekend, you are likely to need money to fund your activities. However, in the current climate, money may be in short supply and the hopes of doing something fun on the bank holiday weekend may be impossible because of lack of funds.

But if you start preparing now, for example by bringing lunch from home each day instead of buying it, you could have a nice amount of pocket money to spend on your long weekend.

For example, if you normally spend £5 a day on food and drinks while at work, and assume that it costs half as much as this to have the same but made at home, you could have £22.50 saved up for the bank holiday weekend. If both you and your partner did this, you would only need to pay an extra £8.70* on Monday 4th May to get you, your partner and two children into London Zoo for the day. All you’d need to complete the day is a nice homemade picnic.

Once you are in this savings habit, try and keep it up and open a savings account for this money – you never know, by this time next year you could have saved hundreds.

Breakdown cover

We’ve all either seen someone broken down at the side of the road, or, more unfortunately, been one of those people standing by their broken down cars looking thoroughly annoyed.

However, you can pretty much guarantee that those with breakdown cover will likely be a lot less stressed throughout the event, safe in the knowledge that they won’t have huge call out fees and towing costs to fork out after the vehicle has been taken to a garage or destination.

This is because the people with breakdown cover will have paid one reasonable annual fee for the cover and they know they won’t be hit with a surprise bill near the £200 mark, or maybe even more, depending on the circumstances.

Also, they will be safe in the knowledge that their emergency situation will be dealt with quickly because they will have hopefully purchased their cover from a reputable provider with years of experience in helping people whose cars have broken down.

Basic breakdown cover policies, which offer you emergency assistance at the roadside, start from as little as £25 per year, but for a bit more you can extend your cover to include breakdown assistance when travelling overseas or for a replacement vehicle to get you to your destination.

Travel Insurance

Unfortunately, things that can go wrong while holidaying abroad can also go wrong when holidaying in your home country – you may need to cancel your holiday altogether because of unexpected illness, thieves operate wherever you go and even inland flights can be delayed.

But, you can protect yourself against events like these by covering your trip with travel insurance, so at least if they do happen, you will be reassured by the fact that it all could’ve been a lot worse.
 

*London Zoo ticket prices correct at the time of publication. Family ticket will admit two adults and two children under 15 or one adult and three children under 15. Savings assume making your own lunch for £2.50 a day on working days falling on Mon-Fri from 21/04/09 to 01/05/09.

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The new tax year began on April 6 and, as a result, the amount of pay you take home after tax and National Insurance contributions will likely have changed.

Fortunately, we have just the tool for you to use to find out how these changes will have affected your net pay – the compareandsave.com Salary Calculator.

We have updated our Salary Calculator so that it uses the 2009/10 figures for tax and National Insurance contributions so if you use it from this point forward it will be accurate for the current tax year only.

However, please bear in mind that our calculator is based on the standard tax code 647L and standard National Insurance contributions and is calculated assuming earnings for a whole tax year (April to April).

If you have a different tax or National Insurance code (as a result of benefits such as health insurance, company cars etc);
INSERT INTO `module_blog_posts` VALUES or have only been earning your salary for part of the tax year then the figures shown will not be true to your circumstances.

Click the link to use our Salary Calculator
 

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You can now include Liverpool Victoria in your comparisons on our site when you look for car, home and travel insurance.

Liverpool Victoria Car Insurance comes with many great offers including up to 75% no claims discount and 10% discount for applying online. Plus, you can add optional extras to your policy, including a temporary replacement car service, cover for 180 days in EU countries and motor legal expenses cover at an additional cost.

If you choose Liverpool Victoria home insurance, you will get a 20% discount if you buy online, cover for £500 worth of money and credit cards when you are away from your home and automatic buildings cover up to £1,000,000.

Liverpool Victoria Travel insurance can provide you with single or annual policies which come with medical cover up to £10 million, cancellation cover up to £5,000 and cover for up to 10 people on one policy. Plus, you can add optional extras to your policy to cover you events such as winter sports and weddings.

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The credit crunch is hitting the UK hard and as a result Britons are having to cut back on more than just luxuries. The first thing to go is usually gym memberships, and then it is things such as pet insurance and the pets themselves.

There have been several stories in the news about how full animal rescue centres are because increasing numbers of Britons are struggling to make ends meet.

However, giving to charity needn’t be sacrificed thanks to Charity Credit Cards.

One of the great things about Charity Credit Cards is it costs you absolutely nothing to donate to the charity, all you need to do is use your credit card as usual and the credit card company gives a small percentage of your spend to the relevant charity.

Another plus is that whenever you get your credit card out, you will raise awareness of the charity because people will see the card and think of the charity.

On top of this, you usually get competitive 0% balance transfer and purchase offers (around 12 months 0% balance transfers and 3 months 0% on purchases) and typical APRs, so you needn’t sacrifice anything in the process of giving to charity.

Click the link to read more about Charity Credit Cards

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I have recently taken the plunge and decided to learn to drive because it was one of my New Year’s resolutions. Until now, I have always considered cars to be too scary to drive – riding along in control of over a ton of battering ram just didn’t appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved them if I’m in them as a passenger but the thought of coordinating my hands, feet and eyes, while being on the lookout for hazards, was too much.

However, I decided that it was time for me to get on the roads and a number of questions have arisen about learning to drive and car insurance requirements.

Can I buy my own car and insure it in my name if I only have a provisional driving licence?

Yes you can indeed buy a car insurance policy for a car registered in your name, even if you only have a provisional driving licence. However, you will not be allowed to drive the car without the supervision of a suitable individual (see question 5).

Will the person supervising me, when I am learning to drive in my own car, need to be named on my insurance policy for my car?

The answer to this question depends on a couple of factors – the age of the supervising driver and their own motor insurance policy.

The first thing to take into account is if the driver is less than 25 years of age or not.

If the driver is not 25 yet, then it is very likely that they will need to be named as a driver on your own car insurance policy. This is because the insurance policy held by the younger supervising driver, for their own car, will unlikely cover them when they drive other people’s cars – few insurers provide this to people aged less than 25 years of age and not all provide it to over 25s.

One thing to consider here, if you are over 25, is that adding someone aged less than 25 to your policy will likely push the cost of your policy up by a substantial amount (it pushed mine up by a ¼). The solution to this problem is to get added as a named driver on their insurance and learn to drive in their car.

The next thing to consider is what type of cover the supervising driver has.

If the supervising driver has a policy which allows them to drive other people’s cars with their express permission then there’s no need to add them as a named driver on your car’s insurance.

However, if the driver’s policy doesn’t include this cover, then they either need to get it added to their own motor insurance policy or be added as a named driver on your policy.

Why is it generally cheaper to get insurance with a provisional licence than with a full UK licence?

Generally speaking, you will oddly be classed as less of a risk when you are learning to drive than when you have just passed your test. This is because a learner driver must be supervised at all times when driving, and is likely to drive a lot less than someone who has just passed their test.

What do I need to be able to learn to drive in my own car?

You will need:

• A valid provisional UK driving licence
   
• Offical L plates, which must be displayed on the front and rear of your vehicle whenever you are driving
   
• Insurance to cover you in your own car
   
• A supervising driver who is over 21 and has had a valid full UK driving licence for three years AND is insured to drive your car (either as a named driver on your policy or through their own car’s insurance policy)

What do I need to have to learn to drive in someone else’s car?

You will need:

• A valid provisional UK driving licence
   
• Official L plates, which must be displayed on the front and rear of the vehicle whenever you are driving
   
• Insurance cover for the vehicle you plan to drive, as a named driver
   
• Permission to drive the car
   
• A supervising driver who is over 21 and has had a valid full UK driving licence for three years

What’s the quickest way to apply for my provisional licence?

I applied for my driving licence online on the Direct Gov website. I received my provisional licence about 5 days later. When I started my application I was under the impression that I would have to send off a photo before my application would be processed, but I simply entered in my passport number and, because the photo represented a true likeness, they used this picture for my licence.

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You can now apply for the Virgin Prepaid Pay As You Go Card and the Virgin Prepaid Monthly Card on compareandsave.com.

Both prepaid cards are ideal to use if you are travelling abroad because you won’t have to carry cash around with you, and they are also both protected by MasterCard.

They are also useful if you don’t want a credit card or if your credit rating isn’t good enough to get a credit card.

Plus, you don’t need a bank account to hold a prepaid card – you only need a valid UK address.

You will also be able to add up to 4 additional cardholders, which will make them perfect for birthdays, Christmas or for giving pocket money.

What’s more, you can track your Virgin Prepaid account online, you won’t receive statements in the post and so your personal details are less likely to get into the wrong hands and the cards come with Chip and PIN technology for added security.

The Virgin Prepaid cards can be used in any shop displaying the MasterCard sign.

Virgin Prepaid Pay As You Go Card

This card costs £9.95 to buy initially and is subject to fees and conditions, including a 2.95% transaction fee – 3.50% fee for transactions made abroad.

Virgin Prepaid Monthly Card

This card also costs £9.95 to buy initially and is subject to fees and conditions. However, because this is a monthly prepaid card, you pay a £4.75 monthly fee but only pay £1.50 for each cash withdrawal you make. You will also find that other transactional fees are cheaper too.

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The Barclaycard Goldfish Credit Card, which comes with a low typical APR of 9.9% (variable) on every purchase and balance transfer made, is now available on compareandsave.com.

Not only does the card have a low typical APR; it also comes with extra reward points (worth £30 in vouchers when you spend £100 a month for 3 months from the date you open your account), no balance transfer fee and unlimited reward points.

The reward scheme offers 1 reward point for every £1 you spend on the card plus for every balance transfer over £1,000 you make to the card, you will earn an extra 100 points.

What’s more, because this is a product offered by Barclaycard, you will benefit from an Identity Protection Service, which gives advice to help you protect yourself from identity theft, and you will receive emergency help when you are travelling abroad if you lose your card or if it’s stolen.

You will also benefit from online account management and can choose to be sent text alerts five days before your credit card bill date, which should help you avoid last payment fees.

Click the link for more information about the Barclaycard Goldfish Credit Card

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