Bank charges - claiming them back

Struggling for cash for Christmas and don't want to put your spending on credit cards again?

Well why not look at how you could find money you didn't know you had, in your finance agreements lying around at home for loans, credit cards, bank charges and possible tax reclaims, says MD of Moneybuddy, Fiona Howarth.

The current bank charges Court case which has featured regulary in the news, has determined that most bank charges over £12 are unfair and unlawful. However, the Court has not yet made it's final decision.

However, if you have been struggling financially over the last year, or anytime in the last 6 years, either in your business or personal finances, you are entitled to apply to have your bank charges refunded on a Financial Hardship basis. To meet the definition of "financial hardship" you just have to demonstrate that you have been charged more than £500 in bank charges in a 6 month period, be able to fill in an income and expenditure form (which Moneybuddy can help complete for you) and have a reason for the hardship.

Common reasons for financial hardship used in reclaiming back bank charges, are loss of a job, redundancy, illness, death of a partner or close family relative, relationship breakdown or divorce.

On average, the typical bank charges reclaim case amounts to £1,500 but £50,000 reclaims on business bank charges are not uncommon.

For more information on bank charges reclaim and other ways of finding money for Christmas, email Fiona@money-buddy.co.uk and ask for our free article on claiming back money you didn't know you could claim for.

Save £800 a year on your household bills

The nights are drawing in and our thoughts turn towards endless hours of darkness or higher energy bills.

You probably know you should be looking at changing your energy supplier to get the best deals...but it's all so confusing isn't it? Every year, you probably get less and less enthusiastic and more confused about the whole thing. How did paying for your gas and electric become so complicated?

Well, why not look at a different approach, one used by Utility Warehouse. One of the best utility companies you will never have heard of!

We are a FTSE 250 company traded on the London Stock Exchange, we have won numerous WHICH Awards for:

- Customer Service (UK only call centre, 15 secs call answering!)
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and we can potentially save you £800 a year on your phones/broadband/energy bills and on your home shopping bills.

We don't have long term fixed contracts, if you don't like us, you leave. But only 1.6% of our customers leave in any year due to our triple value guarantee on low pricing and our superb customer service centre.

So, sign up today for all your energy & home phone/broadband requirements, get our fabulous 5% cashback card (debit card) which gives you 5% back on all shopping you do at High Street stores for your regular shopping (Boots, Mothercare, Sainsburys, Thorntons)..

.....get £100 cashback and never have to hunt around on energy pricing again!

Happy shopping!

Fiona
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Why Moneybuddy?

Hi everyone,
this is my very first attempt at blogging....and now I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner. I am looking forward to writing often on one of the topics I love: money and helping people.

Just to give you a bit of background on how I got to setting up Moneybuddy.....Several years ago I was buying properties, now called Sale & Rentback. However, I found there were many people who really didn't need to sell their homes to pay off their debts. I found out that there were many ways to help people and I was gobsmacked by how little financial awareness many people today have, regardless of their age.

After buying expensive leads for properties to be sold below market value (known as BMV in the trade), I decided it wasn't for me. I wanted to help people more than I wanted to buy their properties from them.

So Moneybuddy in outline was formed in my mind, but not set up until June 2009.

At Moneybuddy, we only work with the best of category suppliers for our claims business, debt management products, equity release, pensions, mortgages, savings and investments. And these companies' customer service levels are fantastic. That's obviously how we get referrals.

The benefit of working with Moneybuddy, or companies like us, is that we have no particular product range to plug, we aren't IFAs and we don't take a holier than though approach. We simply review your situation, ask our suppliers for the best range of solutions and you choose.

Our simple aim is to improve your financial situation positively and pro-actively, not wait til you come to us with a problem or need a product desperately.

So if you want some practical, peer level help, particularly if you are a woman and dislike being talked down to by male IFAs, you will love our service.

Why not follow us and find out if we are for you!

Fiona
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