“If no-one will fully repay £9,000 student tuition fees – how is the system sustainable?”
Tuition fees for many rise to £9,000 in 2012. This has left scores of parents and students scared of graduating with £50,000+ debts. But now, many people who’ve used our whizzy, new Student Finance Calculator, which shows peoples ACTUAL repayments, are asking a different question: "It looks like I won’t pay most of it back, so who’ll...
What a load of plonkers – Nature Valley gets sums wrong in its adverts
The following picture says it all. I’ve ranted before about the ridiculous mis-phrasing of numbers in the UK, (see my You cannot give 110% effort blog) but this takes the biscuit…(or granola bar). Thanks to @stephencgrant for the picture who sent it to my Twitter feed (via @lewiscook). For those who don’t see the problem. If you...
ING Direct pays 3.1% but you’re NOT protected like other UK savings
It’s back advertising on the TV. The giant Dutch bank uses the ‘sailor’s rubber ring’ image of safety and security to promote its savings – and at 3.1% it’s nearing the top of the best-buys. Yet what the advert doesn’t address is that in the event ING Direct got into trouble, it’s the Dutch state that’d need...
Puns, bad puns & worse puns – the first 10 Friday Facebook Funnies
Some regulars on my Facebook page look forward with glee to my weekly Friday Facebook Funny. It all started in May 2010 and quickly grew into a tradition, so much so if I don’t write one now, complaints come in thick and fast – gluttons for punishment all. The format’s always the same. 1. Make up or...
Students – lower earners deferring to 2012 could pay LESS
A’level results are out this week and usually many students consider fun gap years, or the option of postponing a year to get into the uni of their choice. Yet this year, for some this option’s filled with fear as that means they’ll face the new 2012 system in England with up to £9,000 annual tuition fees....
I’m not fit to be a UK citizen. Are you?
I’ve just taken the practice UK citizenship test online and scored 17 out of 24 (try yourself below), just under the 75% pass mark. I wanted to give it a try as I’m currently a referee for a good friend who is applying for a UK passport – she was telling me about the test, and passed...
Wholesale energy prices are DROPPING. Was/ is fixing wrong?
Four of the big six energy companies have announced price hikes to hit in the next two months, two more are expected to follow, yet the wholesale prices energy companies pay are dropping (see Wholesale rates at year low) – so is it worth locking in now if our prices may fall again? When wholesale prices are...
Tackling Treasury Minister Mark Hoban on bank charges, savings, mortgages & more
Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban is the man in charge of banking, saving and financial services for the government. I went for a one-on-one interview/ meet with him a couple of weeks ago armed with your questions on mortgages, pensions, savings, debt advice services and more. The full transcript is below – there’s lots of...
A ‘cut the baby in half’ decision – their life, but my choice
It felt a bit like being asked to be King Solomon of finance on Radio 5 Live today. A woman emailed in with a: ‘Pay off my debts? Or go on holiday?’ family dilemma and said they’d do whatever I told them… This was a big departure from my regular weekly 12pm Consumer Panel slot. It’s always...
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Recent Blogs
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How much the Govt expects you to give your children for university
16 July 2019
Update Note 25 May 2017: The ready reckoners below have been updated with the new 2017/2018 living loan amounts. Also since first writing this blog, and seeing the strength of feeling it attracted, I have written an open letter to the Uni Minister asking him to start telling people about this. Yet sadly received his no we won’t...
