Money Towers

There has been plenty of publicity over the King of Shaves ‘shaving bond’ over the past few weeks. But is it really worth investing in?

The shaving bond offers 6% interest with a ‘shave and save’ scheme in the form of a ‘Shaving Bond’. This is actually a form of corporate bond and if you choose to give the company money, you are actually investing in the King of Shaves company. Interest of 3% will be paid every 6 months and you will need to declare this interest to the taxman. The small print also states that anyone buying into the bond will not be able to release the bond until the three years are up, or ‘to obtain reliable information about the risks to which they are exposed.’  Read more... (308 words, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

According to a report just released by Scottish Widows, a quarter of women are not putting away any savings towards their retirement and just 47 percent of women are on track to have a ‘comfortable’ retirement.

Men fare slightly better with 59 percent of men saving the recommended 12 percent of income each month.

There are many factors why women can’t save more for their retirement with the most common reason being a large family. 25 percent who have three children or more said they were not saving any more for their retirement. Women over 50 also are unable to save with many reporting that the recession has made them less well off hence their inability to put money away in a savings account.  Read more... (257 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

A rare Royal Mint error has let hundreds of 20 pence coins be released into circulation without dates on them.

The 20p has recently been redesigned thanks to the unwritten rule that coin designs should change at least every 40 years to keep the coinage fresh. The new design sees the year date being moved from the tails side of the coin to the side with the Queen’s head.

However somewhere quality control slipped up and a ‘mule’ design was let into circulation. Accidentally, thousands of 20p coins were minted using the old version of the ‘heads’ side, leaving coins without dates printed on them.  Read more... (164 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

Officials have confirmed that Chancellor Alistair Darling is planning to extend to role of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) with the new Banking Act that will give them greater power to police banks and the financial system.

There have been question marks over whether the changes will see an overlap with the Bank of England’s responsibilities and therefore potentially cause a clash between the two watchdogs. However officials have said that the new Act will not limit or undermine the Bank of England’s current position.  Read more... (141 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

There are many people who have discovered that they have ordered goods or services and the company has subsequently gone bust leaving the consumer out of pocket. So what happens in these situations and will you get your money back?

For any company that has gone into administration, you will be classed as a creditor. However there are likely to be many others ahead of you in the queue so you are unlikely to see any money back from the company itself.  Read more... (267 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

In Russia and the Ukraine, devious criminals have discovered a way to get ATMs to print out a list of all the debit cards used recently in the machine, including start and expiry dates and the PIN associated with the card. This information can then be used to clone debit cards by the gangs.

Previously, the big ATM fraud was to use a fake ATM fascia. This fascia would contain a card reader to skim the card details, and a pinhole camera to capture the user’s PIN. Banks have invested heavily in anti-skimming technology and can now detect fake overlays and disable the ATM accordingly. In 2008, it is estimated by the European ATM Security Team (EAST) that ATM fraud grew by 11 percent to 484 million Euro.  Read more... (576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)