Check you wallet carefully for £20 notes as the old style £20 note will no longer be considered legal tender as of June 30 meaning shops will no longer accept them and it is up to banks whether they are swapped for the newer notes or not.

From 1st July, £20 noted with the image of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, will be the only £20 notes considered legal tender. These notes were first put into circulation in March 2007.  Read more... (222 words, 1 image, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Cashback websites are fantastic ways of making money on things you were going to buy anyway. With little effort, you can get as much as 6 percent back on your purchases – and this is a large amount if you are spending on something like a holiday.

Cashback websites make their money by earning commissions on any sales by referred customers or by on-site advertising. Some websites, such as Quidco, will pass on 100% of the commission they make to you in return for a small annual fee (in Quidco’s case, they charge a £5 annual fee and this is taken off the first £5 cashback that you earn).  Read more... (416 words, 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

According to the latest research, millions of people who are set to retire in the next few years have unrealistic views of their pensions and are living in denial about their finances. Many still have hefty mortgages on their properties and have little or no savings.

Pension advisors are concerned that many people are looking to their properties to provide for their pension – however many people have large mortgages on their properties still and are also not looking to move in their retirement.  Read more... (212 words, 1 image, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Mortgage lenders have warned that there may be a shortage of credit in the coming months, leading to many first time buyers unable to secure mortgages.

The Council of Mortgage lenders has said that government schemes to keep mortgage lending afloat end in 2014, leaving a funding gap of £300 billion.

Before all the economic problems of the last few months, the gap between what the banks took in savings versus what they lent out was covered my the wholesale market in mortgage debt. However when the world financial markets were hit in 2007, the UK government was forced to plug this gap with the special liquidity scheme and credit guaranteed scheme.  Read more... (173 words, 1 image, estimated 42 secs reading time)

No-win no-fee lawyers are said to be the main cause of increasing car insurance premiums this year. Research shows that the average car insurance premium is set to rise 15 percent this year.

According to Consumer Intelligence, the average annual premium is £564.19, almost 20 percent higher than the same time last year – and is predicted to rise by 15 percent to £648.82 by January 2011.

There are two main factors contributing to the rise – the first are no-win no-fee solicitors whose ads on TV have seen many more people deciding to pursue personal injury claims after crashes, pushing up the amounts insurance companies have to pay out and therefore increasing premiums.  Read more... (143 words, 1 image, estimated 34 secs reading time)

With all the BA strike talk at the moment, if you’ve booked a flight and your airline goes on strike, what sort of comeback do you have?

If your flight is cancelled due to industrial action (aka a strike) EU regulations state that you should either be provided with an alternative flight to your destination or your plane ticket should be refunded in full within seven days of the cancellation.

If you have bought a flexible or refundable ticket, you can cancel the ticket ahead of the strike action and rebook your flight. If your plane ticket is non refundable, you should not cancel the ticket until strike action is fully confirmed as you will not receive a refund.  Read more... (327 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

It’s not the easiest time for small business owners – many are finding that customers are harder to come buy and those that are buying are bargaining hard. However it is still possible to grow your business in these difficult times. Here are 5 top tips to help you increase your business’ sales, turnover and profitability.

1. Free samples
Let your product speak for itself – send out free samples to your target demographic. If your product really is as good as you claim it is, sales should follow. The one caveat is that you should target your audience as much as possible to maximise sales – there’s no point sending out samples to uniterested parties as the sample will rarely convert to a sale.  Read more... (437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)