How to save time and money on everything from TV to mortgages
Work smarter not harder to get your finances into good shape, says ANDREW HAGGER
WHAT are the two things people leading hectic lives wish they had more of? The familiar response would be time and money.
And thanks to technology and smart new innovative companies, that choice is getting more attainable. The trouble is, we don’t always know about the latest services that can help us to save time and money.
So we’ve checked out some of the latest apps and products to help you find better, cheaper and more convenient services in half the time.
Here are five that could make your life that bit easier...
PAY-AS-YOU-GO CAR INSURANCE
ONE of the newest car insurance providers, Cuvva (cuvva.com) offers a new ‘pay-as-you-go’ service. It estimates people who only drive once a week for less than an hour could save almost £280 per year.
Car insurance costs have soared by almost 11% in the last year and some experts predict it could break an average £1,000 next year.
Insurance industry data shows there are more than 820,000 UK motorists who drive one hour or less a week. Based on the average £847 annual insurance premium that equals £16 per hour.
Cuvva offers two types of insurance: short-term one-off from £7.80 an hour or from £16.20 a day, or a monthly subscription cover with a limited number of hours’ driving per month.
For example, a 40-year-old from Norwich with five years’ no claims bonus and medium-sized car would pay £141.40 a year (in monthly instalments less than £12) to drive up to 12 hours a month.
ONLINE MORTGAGE BROKERS
AGILE new financial technology providers have recognised mortgages are an area ripe for an overhaul.
With mortgage rates on the up since the recent base rate increase, many people on tracker and Standard Variable Rates (SVR) will be shopping for a better deal.
The average SVR is 4.67% and some lenders charge way over 5% (Kent Reliance 6.08%, Newcastle Building Society 5.99% and Leeds Building Society 5.69%). So there are big savings to be made now – at the click of a mouse and at a time to suit you.
The key providers in this booming new sector include Burrow (letsburrow.com), Trussle (trussle.com), Habito (habito.com) and Mortgage Gym (mortgagegym.com).
Using one of the new online mortgage brokers helps eliminate some elementary problems customers have faced up to now.
For example, if you look at a best buy table on a comparison website it may be ranked based on the interest rate alone without factoring the impact of the product fee. Also, you don’t know if it’s the best deal based on your specific set of circumstances.”
GET YOUR CREDIT SCORE DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX FOR FREE
RESEARCH from Amigo Loans revealed that many of us could be turned down unfairly for borrowing because more than one in three people who have checked their credit score have found errors on their file.
New providers now offer quicker access to credit score information and details on whether they feel you will be eligible to apply for credit cards.
TotallyMoney (totallymoney.com) and ClearScore (clearscore.com) both offer free services to help people to understand their credit record and track their score month by month.
Another useful tool that Totally Money provides is a ‘borrowing power’ report. This checks your credit report against all the credit cards in the market and tells you which ones you are most likely to be accepted for.
For example, it may suggest two or three cards that you have a 90% or 95% chance of being accepted for – it’s a helpful indicator because people who already have a less than perfect credit record are sometimes reluctant and scared to apply for new credit in case they are turned down and it impacts on their credit score.
FREESAT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO TV SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES
SUBSCRIPTION TV services don’t come cheap, with some bundles costing more than £70 a month. The tariffs are confusing, with many people not knowing what they are actually paying for. Recent analysis by Freesat found 98% of the most popular shows on Sky TV in 2016 were on free channels. This means the average paying customer could save more than £500 a year by switching to a free service. Free-to-air channels offer a great range of quality TV, and for viewers looking for surplus entertainment there are far cheaper options, such as subscribing to Netflix. Check out: Freesat (freesat. co.uk) and Freeview (freeview.co.uk).
A BANK THAT’S OPEN WHEN NEEDED
MANY of us have remained loyal to the same bank since we started our first job and have sometimes put up with expensive products, below-par service and inconvenient opening hours. A newish name, Metro Bank, has opened 52 branches across the UK since 2010 with hours from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, 8am to 6pm Saturdays and 11am to 5pm on a Sunday – very different from your average high street bank. Metro also offers safe deposit boxes, free coin counting machines and can print you a debit or credit card instantly in store. It’s not just service where Metro excels – its products are straightforward and competitively priced. Its agreed overdraft rate of a typical 15% is one of the cheapest around, and it advertises a low personal loan rate of 5.9% no matter how much you borrow. Also, customers can benefit from fee-free debit card transactions when you’re abroad in Europe.