Are you looking for a cheap and convenient way to manage your spending?

If so, cheap prepaid cards could be the perfect answer. Instead of generating a credit card balance, which you pay when your bill arrives, prepaid cards let you top up your card in advance. You can then spend whatever cash you have loaded on to your card.

If you are considering applying for a pre paid credit card then make sure you ask these three questions:

Can I use my pre paid credit card overseas?

One of the main advantages of prepaid cards is that they are idea for using on holiday. Instead of carrying large sums of foreign currency or traveller’s cheques, you can load up your pre paid credit card before you depart.  You can then withdraw local currency from an ATM as and when you need it.

Make sure that your card will work abroad if you are planning to use it overseas.

What options are there for topping up and managing the card?

If you have a busy life, it is important that your pre paid credit card is easy to manage. For example, it is worth finding a prepaid card which offers several different methods of top-up, including online, bank transfer, at a bank counter or by telephone.

It is also handy to have an online or telephone banking service linked to your prepaid cards so that you can easily keep track of your spending.

Are there any fees for taking out the pre paid credit card?

The fees for prepaid cards vary from company to company. Some charge an application fee while others make a charge when you use your pre paid credit card at an ATM.

Shop around, as there are many cheap prepaid credit cards on the market which offer a wide range of features and benefits without sizeable fees.

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Do you plan to make a late New Year’s Resolution?

According to a survey published in the Daily Telegraph in 2008, four in ten of us planned to make New Year’s Resolutions in 2009. And, among these, sixty per cent intended making a resolution relating to their finances, with 48 per cent planning to get out of debt or reduce the cost of their borrowings.

The New Year is a great time to finally organise your finances and to shop around for a better deal.

Spring clean your finances

It’s not unusual to start the New Year in debt. A recent survey from ING Direct found that the average cost of Christmas in Britain was £490 with the average person ending up £380 in debt after the festive season.

So, if you have credit cards, expensive unsecured loans or other hire purchase or finance, it is worth considering consolidating your debts and paying less interest.

Search for the lowest loan rates

Credit card interest can be as high as 15 to 20 per cent while many unsecured loans and hire purchase schemes also charge a high interest rate. However, there are dozens of unsecured loans on the market which charge low rates of interest, potentially saving you hundreds of pounds.

The best place to find the lowest loan rates is on the internet. Many websites allow you to compare personal loans in order to find the best deal for you.

Simplify your finances and reduce your money stress

Another great reason to consider consolidating your various unsecured debts into one personal loan is to simplify your finances. Rather than having lots of small debts, which you have to manage every month, you can simply take one larger loan and repay all of your other borrowings.

You will end up with one creditor, one direct debit and one loan. This will save you an awful lot of time compared to managing lots of small credit cards and unsecured loans.

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Can the UK lead Europe in terms of wireless broadband?

The Government certainly thinks so.

Last month, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that the government intends to provide universal access to 2 Mbps broadband by 2015. However, his plans to make the UK the best broadband network in Europe have been criticised by many leading figures in the industry.

Huge investment in wireless broadband

The Department of Culture, Media and Sports has set aside a budget of £830 million to achieve its goal of universal 2Mbps access, although it has called on private investment to upgrade the existing infrastructure.

However, Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group, said that limited government funding could put these plans in jeopardy. He commented: “How do you achieve that target whilst also entering a situation where there’s very constrained public spending?”

Mr Walker also added that unless the government throws ‘vast amounts’ at the problem, there is unlikely to be a resolution. According to figures compiled by broadband services advice and information website Broadband Expert, just five per cent of Brits believe that government plans for the best broadband network in Europe are achievable.

Compare broadband to find the best service in your area

In order to achieve the best broadband service for your geographical area, it is useful to head to an online comparison site. Here, you can compare the various broadband providers in your area, taking into account factors such as speed, reliability, download limits and cost.

If you plan to use the web often, you should compare broadband providers offering high speed web access and an unlimited download limit. If you are a casual user you may be able to save money by selecting a service with a lower download limit.

In addition, many wireless broadband providers will also offer savings if you ‘bundle’ other services, such as a subscription television package or your home telephone.

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Last month British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy raised their prices on gas and electric and, with the recent cold snap, people are starting to worry about their heating bills more than usual. If you haven’t recently, compare gas and electric rates to be sure you’re getting the lowest prices, but once you have that sorted, there are other things you can do to lower gas bills. Plugging up places in your house where heat is escaping is the best place to start.

According to The Independent, the typical home loses 15% of its heat through the floor – especially around gaps in skirting boards. Beading or mastic sealant can fix these problems right away and make a real difference. If you have a heat loss problem, but don’t quite know where it’s coming from, you can invest in a Thermal Leak Detector by Black & Decker for around £49 (or go in half-and-half with a neighbour on one).

Another common place to lose heat is through the flue on an unused fireplace. Make sure the flue is closed and add glass doors in front of the fireplace. You can also buy a chimney balloon, which inflates in your chimney to make it airtight. If you don’t have double glazing, be sure that you draw the curtains or shutters at dusk, which can be very effective against heat loss at night. Take care of these common problems and you can see a difference in your heating bills this winter.

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The UK government wants Brits to help the country spend its way out of the current recession, despite the recent 2.5% VAT increase and a still-gloomy unemployment picture. But the good news is that several of the big lenders have cut their rates on unsecured loans above £7,000. These lenders include HSBC, Barclays, Tesco Bank, Sainsbury’s, Santander and First Direct. Marks & Spencer Money introduced a new loan product at 7.5% APR. Currently, Sainsbury’s is offering the lowest rate: 7.4% APR for its existing Nectar Card customers.

The two downsides are:

1. The new cheap loans are reserved for existing customers only (except for Tesco Bank),

2. Lower rates are not available on smaller loans. This means anyone wanting to borrow smaller amounts, say £3,000, may see interest rates that approach 20% APR.

Average rates on £3,000 loans have gone up by just over 2 percentage points (to around 15.12%), while rates on £5,000 loans have gone up by 1.6 percentage points recently. This is one of the reasons credit cards can be an attractive option for smaller loans.

Cheap loans exist, but only for bigger amounts, and some experts believe that if consumer spending is to remain strong, then rate reductions need to occur on loans across the board.

The personal loan market has been hit hard by the recent credit crunch. Lenders are struggling to raise funds for lending, and unsecured loans are considered riskier. There has also been a fall in demand for personal loans as consumers turn their attention to paying off the debt they already have. In fact, personal loan advances by the major UK banks have dropped to around £1.1 billion per month, whereas five or six years ago those levels were more like £3 billion per month.

But even with lower numbers of personal loans being extended, loan apathy is costing borrowers significantly, particularly on loans of £5,000 or less. Research by Sainsbury’s Finance showed that more than half of borrowers simply went with their own bank when choosing a lender, with up to 39% neglecting to look elsewhere for a competitive rate quote. There are many deals out there and those who compare personal loans are the ones who will find them. The research found that it is the savvy (and internet-loving) 25 to 34 year olds who are most likely to shop around for quotes before signing for a loan.

As for what the Bank of England plans, most financial experts believe that they will raise rates only in the last quarter of 2011, and only slightly. With the increase in VAT, plus government budget cuts, most economists believe the Bank of England will leave rates alone for most of the year so as not to discourage any new economic growth.

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When you compare travel insurance you will find there are certain restrictions placed upon individuals when they buy their policies, more commonly known as ‘exclusions’. These restrictions are very common among the various providers.

Whether it is a single or a multi trip travel insurance policy, a few situations would preferably be avoided by providers. Here are a few examples of them:

Sometimes a person has a certain pre-existing medical condition which won’t be covered by travel insurance companies in the event of accident or illness arising from that condition while travelling abroad, for example cancer or HIV. The treatment for such a disease could be very costly and thus insurance companies could refuse to provide a plan simply because of the potential cost involved.

Travel companies also tend to exclude problems from pregnancy which arise while the woman is travelling abroad. This is because on certain occasions such problems could be quite expensive to deal with. It can be argued that not all pregnancies are that complicated but they are all high risk situations which providers are more than happy to avoid.

Providers also tend to look to refuse travel insurance to people who have a history of alcohol and violence as such people are likely to get drunk and cause trouble. Apart from that, terrorism and war limits insurance coverage as it is not predictable and could prove to be very costly. So, people looking to travel to regions affected by such events are likely to be refused travel insurance, especially if the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against travel to a country because it deems it too dangerous.

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One of the best ways to cut energy bills is to compare gas and electric, which is easy to do online. In fact, you can switch providers online too and start saving right away. Based on customer reviews, three of the best gas and electric providers in the UK are Scottish Hydro Electric, Telecom Plus, and Atlantic Electric and Gas.

Scottish Hydro Electric generally receives high marks for service in rural areas and for customer service. Customers say the service crews are prompt and polite, and the forestry teams that have to top trees under power lines are competent and polite to homeowners. The company also gets high marks for keeping customers informed about repair progress during power outages due to weather.

Telecom Plus has a cashback card program that is popular with customers, and they also get good reviews for customer service. The cashback card gives cashback on regular shopping at popular retailers, and is a favorite with customers. Customers who want to “pay as they go” with their energy bills find that phoning in their energy readings to the automated service is convenient and helps them keep on top of their expenses.

Atlantic Electric and Gas offers a loyalty refund for customers who pay on time for twelve months running, and they have a good reputation for customer service. The gas and electric rates are among the lowest, and overpayments by direct debit are paid back into customer accounts within two days.

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Cheap gas and electric is increasingly hard to find. Many of the major energy companies hiked their prices again before Christmas and so households face another set of increased bills.

So, to help you combat rising energy prices, here are three ways to reduce gas bills:

Shop around for a better gas deal

The simplest way for you to cut your energy costs is to compare gas and electric prices and find a more competitive supplier. It is easy to use an online service to compare the prices and tariffs from a range of energy providers in order to sort the expensive from the cheap gas and electric.

Turn your heating down by one degree

The BBC reported in 2009 that for every degree you turn your heating down, you will save about 10 per cent of your heating bill. In addition, if everyone in the UK turned their heating down by one degree, it would save £900 million worth of energy – enough energy each year to heat 1.8 million homes.

Make sure you understand how to work your thermostat and, to reduce your gas bills, turn the temperature down by one degree.  And, make sure that you turn off the radiators in rooms that you do not regularly use.

Shower, don’t bath

According to BBC data from 2008, in new houses, showers and baths account for around 45 per cent of the water used. And, a daily bath can use about 13,000 litres more water per year than a five-minute shower.

So, why not shower instead of taking a bath? You will use far less hot water, reducing your energy bill. And, by cutting a minute off your shower time, you could save about 3,300 litres of water a year – enough energy to heat water for 6,000 cups of coffee.

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These days, people are spoilt for choice and that’s why it’s so important to compare and save.

When it comes to picking a provider for broadband there are many considerations to look at. Price is something that is being considered more and more, especially as purse strings are tightened by the current economical climate. Broadband speed, customer service and consistency of bandwidth are just a few of the other features that definitely need considering when you compare broadband.

To help you narrow down your choices of broadband provider, here is the list of 5 of the best providers which have been rated considering many factors, including those mentioned above.

Virgin

Virgin provides one of the fastest broadband services in the UK. Its package of up to 50MB broadband with unlimited downloads at just £25 a month (with a Virgin phone line, or £35 without) certainly sounds mouthwatering for any internet user

Talk Talk

It is one of the more popular providers these days with excellent speed and packages. Talk Talk offer up to 24MB speed with unlimited downloads for £27.29 a month (including line rental). It is certainly good value for money. The company is also known for excellent customer care – another plus.

Plusnet

Plusnet provides up to 20MB broadband with a 10GB usage limit for just £6.49 per month and a £4.99 set-up fee. It has UK-based call centres and scores well on reliability, customer service and having clear and easy-to-understand bills.

Orange

Orange provides one of the cheapest unlimited packages with up to 20MB speed at £19.00 a month (including line rental). However, it still has a long way to go to overcome its rivals.

AOL

AOL is another rapidly growing provider due to its excellent customer service but its major drawback is that all its packages have restricted downloads.

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Whenever you’re in a car accident that causes any damage to a car or injures a person, you should report it to the police. This helps ensure that road safety is maintained, and helps you and the car insurance companies build up an official version of what happened. Informing the police helps protect innocent victims, and also helps the insurance companies cope with claims in the timeliest manner.

Sometimes car insurance companies ask for specific further information when you’re involved in an accident. They may want to know which station the responding police officer is assigned to so that you and they may follow the progress of the accident report more closely. Assuming nobody is injured, they may want you to take photographs and gather other information at the scene of the accident, such as names and addresses of witnesses, and notes about any pertinent weather conditions.

While it may seem like a hassle to contact the police for a minor “fender bender” accident, it’s a precaution that will help the insurance companies do their jobs as quickly as possible. Any car insurance comparison should include researching the insurance company’s reputation for handling claims and customer service. Savings on premiums mean little if you have to take time off work to straighten out a claims process.  It’s a good idea when you compare car insurance to check with the companies as to what the standard procedure is when you are involved in an accident as well.

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