Customers should enjoy ‘positive payments’ order

Nationwide is calling for credit card customers to enjoy a positive order of payments.

Research carried out by the group indicates that over two-thirds of consumers do not know which order their payments are allocated to their account.

Almost a fifth believe that the longest outstanding debt is paid off first, while over one in ten believe that that the highest interest items are paid off first.

Nationwide claims that less than a third of Britons know how their repayments are allocated; that is, with the lowest interest items being paid off first.

Although the group has welcomed government action which mean that from October next year all credit card providers will have to draw attention to the order of payments they use, it worries that the practice is not well understood by consumers.

Nationwide is calling upon the industry to make changes now and to treat their credit card customers fairly by adopting a positive approach to their order of payments.

Tags: britons, attention, interest, Electronic commerce, order, positive order, Financial services

Time is money

The majority of us are not putting enough time aside to work out our finances.

That is according to Axa, which found that one in three British adults refuse to pay any attention to their finances at all.

Of those who do spend time looking over their money, the majority allocate just five minutes each week to the process.

Despite these slightly worrying figures, Axa insists that all is not lost and says that by giving ourselves just 15 minutes each week to sort through our finances, we could each save thousands of pounds in reduced debt.

Based upon this period of time being set aside, Axa insists that as much as a quarter of personal debt can be reduced, while savings can increase by 40 per cent in just 12 months.

“There is a direct correlation between the amount of time people spend on their finances and how much they save,” said Steve Folkard of Axa.

“Our research shows that it’s not until people start to spend around an hour a month on planning and reviewing their money issues that they really see their savings pot grow – people who spend more than an hour saved an average £1,532 last year, compared to just £576 saved by people who don’t review their finances on a monthly basis at all.”

Axa offers advice to people such as simplifying your money into two columns (money in and money out), clearing debts before saving and looking at the situation positively.

Tags: attention, time is money, savings pot grow, amount of time, majority allocate, money issues, money, all."Axa offers advice

Brits ignorant of cancer risk

A survey by Cancer Research UK has highlighted that many British people are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to cancer.

The findings have led to a number of insurance industry figures calling for greater emphasis to be put on educating people about the disease and what they can do to prevent it.

The chances of developing cancer were put down to fate by a huge 27 per cent of people in Britain, with these respondents believing that lifestyle had little or no effect.

Aside from the obvious physical effects of cancer, those who are diagnosed are often left financially vulnerable during treatment if they do not have insurance as they may be prevented from working.

With this in mind, Virgin Cancer Cover was launched, and Scott Mowbray from Virgin Money says ignorance of the disease’s contributing factors can be very dangerous.

“The results of this survey are very alarming,” he said. “When we launched Virgin Cancer Cover last year we were criticised for drawing attention to the fact that one in six of us will get some form of cancer before the age of 70.

“However, it’s clear there’s still a frightening number of people burying their heads in the sand not only about their chances of getting cancer in their lifetime but also the steps they can personally take to reduce their risk of getting the disease and protect themselves against the financial burden of getting cancer.”

Cancer Research UK has launched the Reduce the Risk campaign, which is aimed at encouraging people to learn about the changes they can make to lead healthier lives and reduce the risk of developing cancer.

Tags: American Cancer Society, cancer cancer, Occupational safety and health, risk, attention, insurance industry, cancer risk, treatment