Top Financial Stories

Is your Standard Variable Rate Mortgage rate on the rise?

Skipton Building Society recently used the small print in mortgage contracts to raise its Standard Variable Rate (SVR) from 3.5% to 4.95%, breaking a guarantee to its customers. 

But Skipton and other smaller building societies must have their reasons for risking losing customers, right?  We look at the reasons behind the SVR increases, and what you can do about it if your mortgage rate has become unmanageable.

Expert Financial Advice

Ten Steps To Being An Expert Haggler

Sue Hayward, Personal Finance Expert

Ten Steps To Being An Expert Haggler "In a world of sun, sand and sea most of us are happy to have a haggle with the locals to bag a bargain, so why once we're home in the high street do we shyly stump up the ticket price without trying to negotiate a better deal?   Here's how to talk to way to a discount every time..."

Consumers should have their say about the Banks

James Daley, Which? Money

Consumers should have their say about the Banks "Despite having caused the financial crisis and having been bailed out by obscene amounts of taxpayers' money, little seems to have changed. Bankers are still getting huge bonuses and customers still don't seem to be getting a good deal. But what can we do about it? Well, the first thing you can do is vote with your feet."

Approaching the Debt Dragons

Chris Tapp, Credit Action

Approaching the Debt Dragons "People react in all kinds of different ways to having a debt problem. Some people panic, some people carry on as if everything is fine, some people get angry and some people get very stressed. That almost everybody does however, is get very quiet."