I’m taking on the EU Mortgage Credit Directive – it’s going to create many mortgage prisoners

Ensuring people can afford their mortgage is crucial.  Yet the EU Mortgage Credit Directive, which officially starts in March 2016 (but in practice much earlier), will see many being told they “can’t afford a cheaper mortgage”. This isn’t right, so MoneySavingExpert.com and I are going to make it a campaign priority. I’m not sure how much we...

Why you should ignore the “You can throw away bank statements after six years” rule

The conventional wisdom is you only need to keep bank, credit card and other personal finance documents for six years. This is because HMRC (the taxman) can only ask you to go back that far if you’re being investigated for tax purposes. However, I think the landscape has changed in recent years, and therefore everyone needs to...

Can you pass the election numbers test?

How good is your knowledge of the election?  I popped into Radio 2 yesterday to chat to Jeremy Vine about the sheer joy of election maths. I feel a certain frisson at the massive complications and bizarre nature of a first past the post general election. It’s a bit like Eurovision, some watch for the songs and...