Sort your budget out for 2010

Like many other people you may have experienced a great many difficulties in terms of your finances this year, and this is partly because many of us were not prepared for the onslaught of financial problems that were set to hit us, ranging from the recession and job losses through to increasingly difficult credit conditions. However, the last year should have taught most of us some valuable lessons in terms of finances, and one thing that many people will be planning to do for 2010 is try and sort out their finances. Read more

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RBS unveils huge losses

Banking giant, Royal Bank of Scotland, which also owns NatWest, has recently revealed huge losses of around £28 billion, which reflects the biggest loss in British commercial history. Read more

Tags: Banking, package, bailout packages, rbs, giant, confidence, history, prime minister

John Charcol unveils buy-to-let mortgage brace

Mortgage broker John Charcol has launched two new tracker mortgages for buy-to-let investors, with rental cover requirements which are “not too onerous”.

One of the John Charcol mortgages possesses a 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) rate and will track the Bank of England base rate at plus 0.74 per cent for the term.

No early repayment charges apply and rental cover of 100 per cent is also applicable to the deal.

The group’s other package has a maximum LTV rate of 85 per cent and is available to both new purchasers and remortgagers.

Its rate is set at the Bank of England base rate plus 0.39 per cent, with the fee for the package set at £999.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at the broker, said that with gross rental yields on many other packages seriously restricting choice, the two mortgages “have been designed with rental cover requirements that are not too onerous”.

He added: “For most buy-to-let investors the choice for the best value mortgage tracker is now primarily between taking out a cheaper two-year tracker, with a view to continuing to take up a new deal every two years, or securing the convenience of a lifetime tracker at a slighter higher rate.”

Tags: group, view, LTV, package, base, cent, Loan to value

Rental Car Insurance

More and more these days we are leaving the car at home and are picking up a rental when we arrive at our holiday destination. If this is exactly what you are planning on doing, and you have never rented a car before, then the following are a couple of hints you should keep in mind when arranging your rental car insurance: Read more

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