Wednesday 26 October 2016
Tuesday 25 October 2016
Saturday 23 August 2014
7 things you should always get for free
1. IDENTITY THEFT INSURANCE
Identity theft has become big news, so there are plenty of firms hoping to cash in with identity theft insurance.
But you don’t need to pay for this. Specialist insurer CPP was fined £10.5 million in November 2012 after being found guilty of mis-selling policies after charging clients £90 a year for ID health checks, access to credit reports and a fraud expert.
Under the Consumer Credit Act and the Banking Code, you can claim back money from your bank orcredit card provider if you are the victim of identity theft without paying a penny. And you can easily access your credit report for £2 through the major credit agencies (Experian, Equifax and Call Credit).
2. EXTENDED WARRANTIES
Buy an electrical product and most companies will try to push an extended warranty on you. But these policies are costly - typically around 25% of the price of the product. There are also exclusions such as accidental damage to watch out for.
As you are already entitled to a refund if the product is faulty under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, and most products come with a year’s warranty, these policies tend to be a complete waste of money.
3. PAID-FOR CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Packaged accounts, which include standard current account facilities and extras such as breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance or travel insurance cost around £15 a month, but they don’t often save you money.
Banks claims these accounts will save you hundreds a year but this is based on mainly unnecessary costs. For instance, you can add your mobile phone to your home contents insurance for a small fee and an annual travel insurance policy costs from £29 with insureandgo.com.
4. PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE CLAIMS
Lots of firms cashed in on the payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal by offering to help victims put in their claims in return for a chunk of their compensation. For example, claims firm Gladstone Brookes deducts 25% of any money you receive in return for processing your claim.
With an average compensation payout of £2,750, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service, that means they are pocketing nearly £700 per claim. But the process is very simple and won’t affect the outcome, so make a claim yourself and save a fortune.
5. CHAPS PAYMENTS
CHAPS sterling payments allow you to transfer money instantly between banks within the UK for a charge of around £20. However, the Faster Payment system works almost as quickly and is free.
Sandra Quinn, spokesperson for the Payments Council, says: “All payments will be completed within two hours and the benefit of Faster Payments is it works all day everyday, whereas CHAPS is a business-day-only service.”
6. MOBILE PHONE INSURANCE
Losing your mobile phone can be annoying and costly. Mobile phone insurance can safeguard against this but it costs £7 a month on average and only tends to pay out if your phone is stolen or damaged.
It may also be completely unnecessary as your phone may be covered under your home insurance policy. If not, you can add an ‘all risks’ option to your policy for around £15 a year to include valuables taken outside of your home.
7. PREMIUM-RATE PHONE NUMBERS
Premium-rate phone numbers are expensive and can leave you with a huge monthly bill. Some landline providers will waive certain calls to these numbers but if you call them from your mobile, you’ll likely be charged even more.
Calls to '09' numbers are the most costly - prices can rocket to £2.04 per minute and minimum call durations usually apply - and lots of companies charge 35p a minute for calling numbers starting with '08'.
The website saynoto0870.com lists alternative local numbers you can use, which will be included in your call allowance. Many company websites also list a separate phone number to be used when calling abroad. These will start with +44 and will only charge you the local telephone rate.
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