Today I’m bringing you an infographic created by I Will, a firm of solicitors who specialize in will writing. I published their previous infographic, An Essential Guide to Writing Your Will, back in 2017.
The infographic below is all about what happens with a property when the owner dies. As the graphic says, when the house is in joint ownership (as is typically the case with a married couple) and the surviving partner wants to go on living there, it is usually just a matter of notifying the Land Registry and (if relevant) the mortgage-holder.
If the house was in sole ownership, though – e.g. after the second partner dies – as the graphic says, the situation is more complicated, and there are various important things the executor will need to take into account.
It’s quite a long graphic, so please take a little time to scroll down it, and I’ll see you at the other end!
Thanks again to I Will Solicitors (not an affiliate link) for permission to use their graphic.
The company specializes in Islamic wills, but offers numerous legal services to people of all faiths and none, including Probate, Lasting Power of Attorney, Deputyships, and more. They say, ‘The writing of Sharia-compliant Islamic Wills is our specialty, but we are by no means a “Muslim-only” legal services provider.’
As I have said before on Pounds and Sense, where wills are concerned I strongly recommend using a properly qualified solicitor (and even more so where property is involved). I have had several experiences within my own family where failing to do this has caused serious delays and problems. In my view it really isn’t worth trying to save a few pounds by using a cut-price ‘will-writing service’ or attempting to do it yourself, not to mention all the hassle this can entail.
If you have any comments or questions, as ever, please do post them below.
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A garden shed or cabin is a serious purchase. Erecting a building in your garden doesn’t come cheap after all, even if it is made of wood.
As it’s such an expensive buy, you’re going to want to make sure that the shed is going to be fit to serve you for many years to come. The ultimate way to waste money when buying a garden shed is to have to replace the thing after a year or two!
Some shed manufacturers make sheds that look just like their higher-end peers, only they have been built using every shortcut in the book. Some might feature inferior wood varieties, construction methods, glass, or delivery options. Spending a bit more up front and going with a quality supplier will ultimately save you the most money, since it will need minimal maintenance work or repairs over its lifespan. Remember, you’re buying something for years here, not simply a few months!
Unfortunately, there’s not really any getting around the fact that your new shed or cabin is going to cost a reasonable amount. Whilst there are loads of manufacturers that are happy to sell you a building for less than the average asking price, these are often shoddily constructed, and the likely result is an angry customer needing to replace their shed much sooner than they expected.
One possible way to relieve some of the sting from your wallet when buying from a quality manufacturer is to use a discount voucher. This will allow your money to go that little bit further and, ultimately, you’ll end up with a much more rugged and durable building. Remember the mantra: buy cheap, buy twice.
There are loads of different manufacturers around that all run different promotions throughout the year. You’ll find two such special offers– one for Waltons discounts here and one for Shed Store discounts here. Both of these companies offer exceptionally high-quality garden buildings and these promotions make their products a little easier on the pocket.
Save Money by Getting it Right First Time
As is often the case, the best way to save money on a new garden building is to spend a little more up front and go for the highest quality possible. Although it is perhaps counter-intuitive, higher quality sheds pay for themselves in a couple of ways. Firstly, a superior garden building is much more likely to protect whatever you store in it from the elements as well as would-be intruders. If you end up having your lawnmower nicked because you bought a cheap summer house or shed with a rubbish lock, did you really save any money?
Secondly, a higher quality shed will need much less spent on it in terms of either maintenance, repairs, or even replacement. The cost of a new shed is certainly going to be more than whatever you saved by buying the cheap one in the first place. Again, remember the mantra, buy cheap, buy twice.
With that in mind, here are some things to look out for to make sure you get the best shed possible first-time round:
Building materials – Is the wood used suitable for outdoor construction? Look for slow growing varieties and beware of manufacturers not displaying the type they use.
Treatment – Does the product come with a treatment included? Sheds coated in a protective treatment last MUCH longer.
Building techniques – How are components joined together? Look for tongue and groove here over square cut joints or shiplap cladding.
Door hangings – Are doors hung externally or rebated? Rebated doors are much more secure and offer far greater draft exclusion. Are hinges recessed?
Windows – Is the glass thick enough to offer protection? Is it even glass? Are they rebated?
Roof – Does the roof come with an adequate covering? Felting protects sheds from succumbing to the elements and isn’t always included in the asking price.
Delivery – Is delivery included or do the company charge extra for it? How are pieces delivered? Avoid companies unloading components to bigger sheds by hand.
Shop Around Before You Spend
It’s a really good idea to shop around, visit review websites, and read a load of customer reviews about different products. This will give you a good feel for what’s out there. It will also help you to determine if the shed you’re considering is priced highly versus the rest of the market or seems more in keeping with it. Check the different manufacturers’ specifications with the above bullet points in mind. Pay close attention to dimensions of components used. This is a common place for manufacturers to save a bit of money by offering something that isn’t really fit for purpose.
You can even pay a visit to most manufacturers’ showrooms. This allows you to see prospective sheds in action, so to speak. You can look at and touch the products themselves to determine whether the sheds on display have wobbly floors, ill-fitting doors, or other design imperfections.
It’s likely that the shed you were thinking of buying won’t be on display when you visit a particular showroom. Don’t let that put you off, though. You can still learn a lot about the manufacturer by looking at the other products they make. If the rest of their stuff seems exceptional, it would be very bad luck for you to pick the one rotten apple, after all.
By combining your own visits with internet research, you’ll be able to make a reasoned decision about your eventual purchase. It won’t feel quite so much like a stab in the dark and you’re much more likely to end up with a garden building that will last for years with minimal maintenance. Even if it costs an extra £200 up front, if it remains useful for five or more years longer than the cheaper alternative, you’re quids in really!
As always, if you have any questions or comments about this post, please do leave them below.
Today I have a guest post for you from my writing colleague S. Bee (her pen-name) on the subject of making money writing letters and fillers for popular magazines.
This is a money-making sideline I have a soft spot for, as many years ago I started my writing career doing exactly this. I remember, for example, having a series of letters published in The Sun newspaper, for which I received the not-exactly-princely-even-then sum of £2 each. I treasured those cheques when they arrived, though!
It’s good to know that this opportunity still exists, even in this digital age.
Over to S. Bee then…
When I began writing seriously in 2011, I focused on the fiction market for women’s magazines.
As I became more involved in it, I discovered that several of these short story writers had also enjoyed publishing success with letters in national magazines.
More importantly, they’d been paid a small fee for their efforts. If there was no fee, a prize was offered instead.
I thought, Why don’t I have a go at that? So I did, and eagerly began to send letters in.
My spirits were high. Surely I’d see my name and piece in print somewhere? But no. Sadly, I didn’t get anywhere at all!
After a few months, I felt ready to try again. However, this time I carried out research first. I studied the tone and style of the magazine I intended to submit to, and what type of letter was likely to be picked for publication, plus the subject of it. For example, I learned that positive feedback about a previous feature was very popular.
I kept my submission short and snappy – and my hard work paid off. I was absolutely thrilled to see my very first letter published in What’s On TV magazine. I was delighted to receive a payment of £10 for little more than a paragraph.
Since then, I’ve had lots of letters published in Woman’s Weekly, The People’s Friend, Yours, My Weekly, Web User, Vegetarian Living, Take a Break and Your Cat. And lots more in What’s on TV – I even made Star Letter status once! (I was paid £25, instead of their usual £10).
How do I find ideas for letters? It’s easy – you need to think of what could appeal to readers.
For Woman’s Weekly, I once wrote about the tests I undertook for breast cancer. I urged readers not to ignore any call-ups. (Thankfully, I was okay.)
I’ve also been featured with several opinion pieces for the ‘You’re Telling Us’ page in Take a Break magazine. The ‘You’re Telling Us’ question can be found on the TAB Facebook page. They request a photo of yourself and your age, too.
TAB also publish call-outs for a true-life reader experience type of feature in the magazine. I’ve had ‘A letter to your younger self’ piece published and a ‘Christmas cringes’ one too. These can pay more – up to £100.
The TAB letters page, ‘We’ve Got Mail’ currently pays £25 and £50 for the star letter. They like photos with the letter.
TAB also have call-outs in the mag for paid photo opportunities, e.g. pets or kids in a messy/awkward situation.
Some publications offer a prize to the star letter only.
I attempt it, and often I don’t win the prize, yet I’m still pleased to see my piece published.
I’ve won a small beauty prize for my star letter in the free TESCO magazine, and being selected for Your Cat‘s star letter scooped me a range of cat toys and biscuits. Your Cat will pay for true life cat tales, too.
Update: Tesco now only award a prize to the star letter in their mag – it’s a £50 Tesco voucher. That’s bound to help with the grocery bill!
My prize letters in a monthly writing magazine netted me a free one-year magazine subscription – twice! (a fantastic saving of around £160).
If you have a hobby, e.g. computers, gardening, cooking – pick a suitable magazine that accompanies it. For instance, my hubby is a very good cook and baker. He’s had several recipes published in Take a Break‘s My Favourite Recipe magazine. (He was awarded £25 per recipe.)
It’s not just letters. Some magazines also publish short poems.
I’ve had several poems published in the fortnightly Yours magazine, and a weekly, The People’s Friend. These magazines like rhyming, upbeat, reader-friendly material.
TPF award a small prize (I’m not sure, but it used to be a tea caddy and a packet of loose tea) if your poem is selected for publication in their letters page – however, they pay £15 per poem if you target your poems to their other publications, e.g. their fiction special, annual or fireside book. The magazine has different email addresses for these slots.
Yours pay £10 in gift vouchers per poem. The vouchers can be spent practically anywhere. They pay a £10 gift voucher for a normal published letter too.
Yours regularly publishes call-outs in the mag for specific reader’s memory/nostalgia experiences. They sometimes require photos to accompany the feature, so you’d need to scan these in and send them with your article [or of course send digital photos – Nick].
Don’t forget that fillers such as top tips, funny photos, a ‘pet of the week’ type of feature, puzzles, jokes, beauty queries, travel articles (think about what’s interesting about about your town/city – photos required) and ‘items to be valued’ pieces are high in demand, too.
I’ve had my childhood teddy valued in Real People magazine (I earned £25). My cat has been featured in My Weekly (another £25) and I’ve had beauty questions featured in Take a Break. (They pay £25 for this.)
I’ve also made it to the TAB letters page, with their ‘What a laugh!’ slot. I was £50 richer for just a few lines of text!
A writer friend of mine likes to create her own word puzzles (not necessarily crosswords) and she has these published regularly in Real People magazine. If published, the fee for this is either £30 or £50.
I’m not a gardener, but my writing friends who are have hit the jackpot with letters and hints in gardening magazines. Prizes and cash are up for grabs.
Although you won’t be able to earn a regular salary with letters and fillers, the odd £10 here and there soon adds up.
Bear in mind that no matter how many letters you submit, you won’t be chosen every week. Consider the fact that the editor or team will become familiar with your name. However, saying that, they do appreciate regular contributors – just don’t swamp them!
Publications are always looking for well-written, entertaining, intelligent letters that fit in well with the editorial style of the magazine.
Always be cheerful and polite, don’t waffle, and make sure you follow the magazine’s submission instructions. It’s all done via email now.
Your subject heading should be: ‘Letter for consideration’.
Work can be edited, changed or even added to – to me, this doesn’t matter as I want to be published and I want to be paid.
Some magazines let you know beforehand if your letter/filler/poem has been selected, and some don’t. If you submit material regularly, this means a weekly scan of the magazines in newsagents or the supermarket to check if your piece is in.
Some prizes arrive completely out of the blue. One Christmas, I won a prize of a large jigsaw puzzle, yet I hadn’t a clue who had sent it or what publication my letter was in. All I had was a snail mail letter saying ‘Congratulations!’ from the makers of the jigsaw, which didn’t really help.
Later, I realised I must have been awarded star letter in Down Your Way, a Yorkshire-based nostalgic magazine. I quickly emailed the Ed and he confirmed it. (Update: I’ve won this prize a second time with a piece about phone boxes.) As it was approaching Christmas, it came in very handy as a gift for a family member who loves jigsaws.
So, what’s stopping you from having a go?
If I can do it, so can you! Get writing and good luck!
S. Bee
Thank you to S. Bee for an interesting and inspiring article.
I would just add that you don’t need any special writing skills to win cash and prizes this way. It’s really just a matter of keeping your ear to the ground about current events and issues, and coming up with positive, upbeat angles on them.
S. Bee isn’t being paid for this article, but she asked me to mention a charity ebook she is promoting on behalf of the RSPCA (who receive all profits). It’s called Paws for Thought – 27 Tail Thumping Stories (see front cover, right). It’s for a great cause and only costs £2.99 from Amazon as a Kindle ebook. If you enjoy short stories – and especially if you love animals – why not check it out? 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do post them below.
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I recently spent a weekend at Lake Vyrnwy, a few miles over the border from Shropshire into Wales. I had wanted to visit the area since watching a TV programme a few months ago about the history of the lake.
Lake Vyrnwy is actually a man-made lake (or reservoir if you prefer). It was created to provide a water supply for Liverpool in the 19th century. It’s about 25 miles from Oswestry. I’ve embedded a Google Map below showing the area.
Table of Contents
My Hotel
I stayed at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa (pictured below), which is near the dam at the western end of the lake. I booked on the Booking.com website.
The hotel dates back to 1890 – it was originally built to accommodate senior managers and engineers on the construction project. Since then it has been extended several times, although as recently as the 1970s it was still owned by the water company (it’s now in private hands). The hotel doesn’t make as much of its interesting history as it could, in my opinion.
Anyway, I pushed the metaphorical boat out and booked a Premier Lake View Room via Booking.com. The view certainly didn’t disappoint, as the cover photo (taken from my balcony) indicates.
My room was on the top floor, up various flights of stairs. One thing to bear in mind if you plan to stay here is that there is no lift in the main hotel, though I was told there is one in the spa (which I didn’t go in, partly because you have to pay extra – see below).
My room was spacious and comfortable, with all the features you might expect from a four-star hotel, including tea and coffee-making equipment, flat-screen TV, refrigerator, walk-in shower, and so forth. There was also good free wifi in the room, and in the public areas of the hotel too (just as well, as there was no mobile phone signal!).
I had my breakfast and evening meals in the hotel. Breakfast was included in the fee I paid. Evening meals were extra, though to be honest there isn’t really anywhere else to eat in the vicinity (apart from a couple of cafes that aren’t open in the evening anyway).
A lot of people rave about the food at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. Personally I thought it was good but not exceptional. It was let down by little things, e.g. at breakfast on the first day the muffin with my Eggs Benedict was burnt. I went for the full Welsh breakfast the next day, and on my final day decided to chance the Eggs Benedict again. This time the muffin wasn’t burnt but dense and tasteless – I’m guessing it had come straight out of the freezer. I’ve had much better Eggs Benedicts at my local Wetherspoons. For the money I was paying I’d have expected better really.
You have two dining options at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel: the restaurant and ‘less formal’ brasserie. My top tip would be to stick to the restaurant and give the brasserie a miss. On my second night I tried it and found it crowded (it’s in a small room and the tables are pushed close together) and noisy. There were also young children running around apparently unsupervised. Okay, the brasserie might be a bit cheaper, but the main restaurant offers a much more relaxed, civilised dining experience, and much better views across the lake as well.
Financials
As Pounds and Sense is primarily a money blog, I should say a few words about this.
For my Premier Lake View Room (with single occupancy) I was charged £589 including VAT for three nights. Obviously I could have booked a cheaper room without the lake view, but in my opinion it would be a shame to stay at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and not have this.
Evening meals in the restaurant were charged at £27 for two courses or £35 for three (there were supplements for certain dishes such as sirloin steak). You do also get a complimentary ‘taster’ of fresh soup with home-made focaccia bread, which I enjoyed and recommend.
At the brasserie you order from an A La Carte menu, so the price depends on what you choose.
As mentioned earlier, the hotel also has a spa, for which you have to pay an extra £10 a day admission charge. The spa has a thermal suite, including a sauna, steam room, ice fountain, whirlpool, and tepidarium (no swimming pool though). It offers various treatments at extra cost, including massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and so on..
Activities
One thing I should mention before describing what I did is that when I visited – the weekend before Easter – it was bitterly cold. The temperatures typically didn’t rise above 4 or 5 degrees, and when you factor in the wind chill as well, it was probably around freezing. I was very glad I remembered to take my quilted winter coat, gloves, scarf and woolly hat!
First Day
On my first day I walked to the dam down the precipitous bridle path from the hotel (I asked the receptionists how many guests they lost on this – they laughed but didn’t reply).
The dam is undoubtedly impressive and leads to a small tourist area with a visitor centre; this is a good place to start your exploration. A short film plays constantly inside with alternating English and Welsh narration. It tells you about the history of the lake, and the various plants and animals that live around (and on) it today. Nature conservation is quite a major theme around the lake.
Also in the village is an RSPB shop and a bird hide that is well worth a visit (see picture below). There is also a friendly cafe called The Old Barn, and Artisans, a cafe and shop where you can also hire bicycles. I had planned to do this myself, but the very cold weather dissuaded me. I did see quite a few – admittedly much younger – people cycling around the lake, though.
A short distance away is a sculpture park, and I recommend this if you fancy an enjoyable walk that isn’t too taxing. The sculptures are all made of wood, and some are quite striking. This one is called Mother Earth, for example.
In the afternoon I walked the opposite way from the hotel to the Victorian Straining Tower (picture below). This Gothic-style building filters the lake water through mesh before it starts its journey to Liverpool. Unfortunately it’s not open to the public, but you can admire it from the road. It’s a pity there isn’t an explanation board, just a forbidding ‘Keep Out’ notice.
Second Day
On my second day I decided to drive around the lake, stopping at points of interest along the way. There is a good (if narrow) road all round the lake, about 12 miles in total.
I had picked up a leaflet from the hotel reception about walks in the area, and decided to do the two-mile round trip to Rhiwargor Falls. This walk starts near the east end of the lake at a convenient car park. Despite the cold I enjoyed this. I didn’t see another soul on foot the whole time, although I did come eye to eye with a few sheep…
The waterfall is pretty impressive, and I imagine if it has rained recently it is even more so. Here is a video I recorded.
On the way back I stopped at another bird hide on the side of the lake, but there wasn’t a lot to see. I spotted a Canada goose and three mandarin ducks and duly logged them on the whiteboard. I erased the previous recorded sighting of six pterodactyls, as I suspected this wasn’t entirely genuine.
In the afternoon I took a short walk from the hotel to visit a church I had noticed before. This turned out to be St Wddyn’s (pictured below).
St Wddyn’s was built in 1880 to replace the original church of that name that was flooded (along with the rest of the old village of Llanwddyn) when the lake was filled. It is a quiet, peaceful place with some beautiful stained glass windows. It is well worth a visit if you are staying at the hotel, as it’s barely 10 minutes’ walk away. Again, I didn’t see another living soul while I was there.
Closing Thoughts
So that was my visit to Lake Vyrnwy. I didn’t hang about on my last day, as it was still very cold, and the wind was getting up as well.
I thought the area was beautiful and unspoiled (if you can say that about a man-made reservoir) and the hotel itself very good despite my minor reservations.
It’s probably not a place to take young children as there wouldn’t be a great deal to occupy them. But if you enjoy beautiful scenery and (especially) if you like walking, running or cycling, it would make a great short break destination. The Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa is also a popular venue for people celebrating their honeymoon or anniversary, or wanting some serious pampering in the Spa. In view of the many steps and lack of lifts it’s probably not ideal if you’re physically infirm, though.
If you like the idea of visiting the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa, if you follow any of the links in this article you can get a £15 discount via the Booking.com website. This is credited to your card once you have completed your break. I will also receive £15 as a reward for introducing you 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions about Lake Vyrnwy or the hotel, please do post them below.
Note: You can get the £15 discount on Booking.com wherever you go on your next visit, be it Lake Vyrnwy or elsewhere. Just click on my link and follow the instructions!
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I was gifted this automatic tyre inflator from RING Automotive – a company specializing in this type of product – in exchange for publishing an honest review. So here are my thoughts about it.
The RING RTC1000 is not the first automatic tyre inflator I have ever used, but overall it is the best I have tried to date. It certainly beats the old foot-pump I used in bygone days, and is a lot more convenient (and probably more accurate) than the machines on garage forecourts. And once you’ve bought it, of course, it’s free to use!
The RING RTC1000 Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator is undoubtedly smart looking. I like the round, flat design, which makes it very stable.
It comes with a range of accessories, including adaptors for bicycle tyres, balls and other inflatables, and even a set of plastic gloves for keeping your hands clean. There are also some spare valve dust caps and a spare fuse. These are all useful, thoughtful additions, though it would be nice if there was a compartment somewhere within the device in which to keep them.
Using the RTC1000 is simple and intuitive. You plug it in to your car’s cigarette lighter socket (it was quite a tight fit in my Vauxhall Corsa) and turn on the ignition. You can then set the target pressure you want by turning the small dial under the display (see photo below).
If you prefer, you can change from the default PSI to Bars or kPA by pressing down the dial (see below). This will cycle through the pressure measurement options available.
Once you have attached the air hose to your tyre using the brass valve connector, the device then operates to inflate it to your target pressure. I found this quick and surprisingly quiet. I did, though, find that it stopped inflating just below the selected target figure. I would guess that this is a safety feature to allow for any possible margin of error in the measurement, but it is still a little frustrating. Of course, you can get around it by setting a target pressure slightly above what you actually want, but I don’t really see why you should have to do this.
On the plus side, the device has a small recessed area on top in which to put the valve dust cap while inflating the tyre. This avoids the scenario of putting a cap on the ground and having it roll away and vanish (we’ve all been there). There is also a built-in LED light, which is great if you need to check your tyre pressures in poor lighting conditions.
Another welcome feature is the long power lead, which winds up inside the unit. There is also a recess on the side in which the air hose fits, so everything is neatly out of the way when not in use. And it comes with a zipped grey carrying case as well.
Overall, I think the RING RTC1000 is a great piece of kit to have in your car, with some excellent features and accessories. It is also by a distance the most user-friendly tyre inflator I have tried. It is a pity about the minor niggles mentioned above, but they don’t seriously detract from the quality of the product. If you need an automatic tyre inflator that is quick and easy to use (and reasonably priced), it is well worth your consideration.
The RING RTC1000 Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator is available from all good motor accessory stores and online suppliers including Amazon.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this review, please do leave them below.
Disclosure: As stated above, this is a sponsored post. I was gifted a RING RTC1000 tyre inflator in exchange for publishing a review of it here. This has not affected my review in any way. All comments and opinions set out in this post are mine and mine alone.
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There are under five months left for consumers to reclaim Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). 29th August 2019 is the official cut-off date for all people to submit PPI claims to their banks. This date was chosen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to encourage those who have not yet made claims to do so.
Since the announcement of the deadline nearly two years ago, thousands of people have made successful PPI claims. With the deadline approaching, if you haven’t yet submitted a claim, you must act now before August.
Do You Have a PPI policy?
The first thing to establish is whether you had a PPI policy. Most PPI policies were sold in the 1990s alongside mortgages, loans and credit cards, but some successful cases date back to the 1980s. As a general rule, the older the policy, the harder it can be to prove you were mis-sold PPI.
You may remember being mis-sold a policy. If this is the case, you will need to find the old paperwork with evidence of this. If you can’t remember whether you had a policy, old statements and documents should be able to highlight if this is the case.
On the paperwork, PPI may be listed under a few different names. Here are just a selection of the other names for PPI (this list is not exhaustive):
Accident, Sickness and Unemployment (ASU)
Account cover
Loan protection
Payment cover
If you can’t remember whether you had a PPI policy or you can’t locate the paperwork, there are a couple of ways to find out. You can either contact the bank or lender and ask if they have a record of any PPI policies attached to your previous accounts, or you can use the services of a PPI claims company.
There is no guarantee that the bank will have a record of previous PPI policies, but if they do confirm a policy, you can then submit a PPI claim. Alternatively, a claims company can investigate any old accounts and seek to identify policies on your behalf.
Claim PPI before August
Once you find evidence of your PPI policy, it’s time to make a claim. Again, there are two different ways to submit a PPI claim. You can make a claim yourself by contacting the bank or lender that mis-sold you the policy or ask a reputable PPI claims company to do it for you.
Whether you submit a claim yourself or use a PPI claims company, you must explain how the policy was mis-sold to you. Here are just a few ways that policies were mis-sold to customers:
You were told it was compulsory with your credit card, loan or mortgage purchase
You weren’t told about the policy — it was added automatically and without your knowledge and consent
The terms and conditions were not explained — this includes not being asked about medical conditions and employment
You were promised a lower price if you bought the PPI policy
If any of these apply to you, you could be eligible for a refund. You may also be eligible for a refund if you were charged a high level of commission. Due to a landmark PPI case, individuals can claim PPI if a policy had over 50% commission and this was not disclosed — even if you knowingly bought a PPI policy. This is known as the Plevin rule and means thousands’ more people can make PPI claims.
Some banks allow you to claim PPI online by submitting a form (though you may need to also send evidence with your application). For others, you will need to write a letter and complete any relevant paperwork. Once the bank has acknowledged your claim, it should respond with an outcome within eight weeks. However, be aware that some cases can take longer, especially if they’re older or more complex.
The alternative option is to use the services of a PPI claims company. Some essential details will be required for them to act on your behalf, but they will handle all communication with the bank. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to deal with the process yourself, it can be beneficial using a claims company. Always check the fees involved and read the terms and conditions.
What if Your Claim Is Rejected?
If your claim is successful, you’ll receive notification from the bank and receive the payment shortly afterwards. If, however, the bank rejects your claim, but you think that the decision is wrong, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS will independently review your PPI case and either uphold the decision made by the bank or decide that you are due the PPI refund. It’s important to be aware that PPI claims at the FOS can take up to two years to be resolved due to a severe backlog.
Whether you remember having PPI or not, now is the time to check. In four months, you will no longer have the chance to reclaim PPI. Act now before it’s too late.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored guest post on behalf of Canary Claims.
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Today I’m sharing a sideline-earning opportunity that will give your brain cells a workout as well 🙂
Prolific Academic is a website that provides a platform for academic researchers across the world to conduct online studies of all types. And the best thing is that participants get paid for taking part.
Anyone is welcome to sign up, and you are then shown studies you are eligible for. They are typically in the fields of business, science, psychology, and social science. Payments range from a few pence to £5.00 or more. Obviously, the longer the study, the higher the payment tends to be.
I guess for most people the money will be the chief attraction, but the studies themselves are interesting and varied. One I did involved injecting virtual mice with a virtual chemical, and then using a virtual loupe (magnifying glass) to see which ones “expressed a gene” (or more prosaically changed colour). You then had to answer some questions about what conclusions you could draw from each experiment.
Another one I enjoyed involved reading a transcript of an unfair dismissal hearing (I assume an imaginary one). You then had to decide whether the complainant had indeed been unfairly dismissed, based on legal information provided. This one took me back to the long-ago days when I worked for a while in a Citizens Advice Bureau and represented several people at tribunals myself.
Payment is made via the online payment platform PayPal. There is a low withdrawal threshold of just £5. At one time if you wanted to withdraw less than £20 they charged a fee, but you can now withdraw any amount from £5 upwards free of charge. As a matter of interest, I have just reached £350 in total earnings from Prolific.
Prolific Academic is based in Oxford, England, but as far as I know anyone from anywhere in the world is welcome to join.
Top Tips for Making the Most of Prolific Academic
Here are a few top tips based on my experiences as a PA participant…
Select and copy your PA identity code at the start of the study. You can then simply paste it into the box at the end, to ensure you get paid.
Watch out for attention-checkers. Many studies include these to ensure that you read the instructions carefully. Typically, the instructions may tell you to answer a question in a certain way and ignore the other options.
Unlike consumer surveys, PA studies do generally require your undivided attention. Doing one while watching TV isn’t the best idea.
Studies fill up quickly, so check on the site regularly throughout the day. Sometimes you will receive an email notifying you of a new study for which you are eligible, but by no means always.
The box at the start tells you how long on average people take to complete a study (and how much this is as an hourly rate). This is important information, as you aren’t allowed to break off in the middle of a study and return to it later.
Sometimes when you log in you will be asked questions on subjects such as your health, hobbies, beliefs, and so on. Although you won’t be paid for these, it’s always worth taking a moment to answer them, as they may qualify you to participate in additional studies.
If you have any questions or comments about Prolific Academic, please do post them below.
Note: This is a fully updated version of my original article about Prolific Academic dated December 2016.
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Today I wanted to let you know about a free website where you can discover all the latest free offers, voucher codes and flash bargains.
Gratisfaction UK is updated daily, every day, with all the latest UK offers, contests and giveaways. The main menu at the top of the screen has five tabs titled Home, Freebies, Flash Bargains, Voucher Codes and Hot. These are pretty self-explanatory, but here is a screen capture of the Freebies section at the time of writing.
As you can see, items are added on an hourly basis. If a particular offer appeals to you, clicking on Get Freebie will take you to a web page where you can apply for the deal in question.
If you don’t want to miss anything, you can also sign up to a free daily email newsletter. Just enter your first name and email address in the box at the top left of the screen. You can, of course, cancel at any time if you decide it’s not for you.
There are lots of great freebies at Gratisfaction UK. Some that particularly caught my eye included a free McDonalds activity pack for kids (perfect with the Easter holidays fast approaching!), a competition to win one of 20 free jars of the new Marmite Peanut Butter, and another competition to win one of five luxury Belazu food hampers. Just be sure to check they are still open, as many of the offers are time-limited and may close suddenly or expire. You snooze, you lose, as the expression goes!
In summary, if you like saving money and getting freebies, do check out Gratisfaction UK – and if you like what you see, sign up for their free email newsletter as well.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Gratisfaction UK.
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I just realised that I have been paying well over the odds for another of my home insurance policies. This time it is my Home Emergency Cover.
To put you in the picture, soon after I moved into my current home with my now-deceased partner Jayne in March 1995, we decided to take out emergency plumbing and drainage insurance with a company called Homeserve.
We were strongly influenced at the time by a promotional leaflet enclosed with the water bill which indicated that if there was a problem with the water supply pipe from the mains, the water company wouldn’t be responsible and we could face a large bill to have it fixed.
Homeserve were offering a policy that would cover us in these circumstances and for other plumbing-related emergencies. Rightly or wrongly, we felt at the time it made sense to pay for this, especially as the company seemed to be endorsed by our water supply company (South Staffs Water).
We paid for the policy by quarterly direct debit and each year it rolled over, generally with a small increase. I looked after our household finances but never really thought much about this. The sums involved weren’t huge, and I assumed it was worth paying them for the peace of mind. As far as I can remember, we never actually made a claim on the policy.
Fast forward to 2019, and after taking stock of my buildings and contents insurance (and saving over £500 on it), I decided the time had come to put my home emergency cover under the microscope as well and see if there were any savings I could make. And again, there certainly were!
Doing the Sums
In December 2018 Homeserve said my insurance would be going up from £198 to £222 per year, working out as £55.50 per quarter (to be fair to Homeserve there was no extra charge for payment by instalments).
So I went online to see what alternatives there were for plumbing and drainage insurance. I did a search for home emergency cover providers on Top Cashback (a website that provides money back to people buying via merchants listed on the site – see this post for more details).
I could immediately see a few possibilities for saving money. Even allowing for the cashback on offer with TCB, though, the best deal I found was with another company called Home Emergency Assist. HEA offer a wide range of policies, some of which also include gas and electrics, pest removal, boiler servicing, and so on.
Obviously you have to be sure you are comparing like with like. With Homeserve I was on their Plumbing and Drainage Plus policy, which covered me for emergencies with the internal plumbing and external water supply pipes. There was a maximum limit of £4,000 per claim.
With HEA I could have bought water supply pipe and stop cock cover only, for a price (according to their website) from £1.49 a month or just under £18.00 a year. For a policy similar to Homeserve’s which also covered me for internal plumbing problems, I was quoted £42.57 a year. This is obviously a lot less than Homeserve’s price, and there was also a higher maximum limit of £5,000 per claim.
Admittedly Homeserve’s policy included zero excess, whereas the HEA quote mentioned had a £95 excess per claim. I was happy to accept that, but for the purposes of a fair comparison I checked their price for a policy with zero excess as well and this was £87.89 a year – still £134.11 cheaper than Homeserve quoted (and with a larger maximum claim limit).
So I cancelled my Homeserve policy, and (after a few more checks including reading their Trust Pilot reviews) have signed up with Home Emergency Assist instead. As I accepted the £95 excess, I shall be paying £42.57 a year, which as stated above is £179.43 less than I would have been charged by Homeserve.
I have, incidentally, nothing against Homeserve, but for me anyway their offer no longer represented value for money. Neither am I especially endorsing Home Emergency Assist. Although they offered the best price I could find for my needs, you might of course do even better by shopping around.
In any event, the real moral of this story (as I’ve said before) is not to let laziness and inertia ever stop you looking for better deals. Even with something as mundane and relatively cheap as home insurance, you may be as surprised as I was by how much money you can save.
You can search on Top Cashback for home insurance providers (all offering cashback) by clicking on this link (affiliate). If you aren’t already a member you will need to register to get cashback, but this is free and only takes a few moments.
As ever, if you have any comments or questions on this post, please do leave them below.
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Today I have another great giveaway to share with you. I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK Money Bloggers to put together a giveaway of not one, not two, but three Marks & Spencer Easter Hampers.
These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. They contain an assortment of Easter goodies, beautifully presented in a stylish dark brown hamper. The full contents are as follows:
Assam tea (25g/10 bags)
Caramel eggs (120g)
Simnel cake bar (400g)
Cheeky chicks (120g/pack of 6)
Mini luxury hot cross buns (325g/pack of 9)
Hide and seek egg hunt bag (135g)
British strawberry soft set jam (113g)
Chicky choccy speckled eggs (100g)
8 Easter biscuits (200g)
Bubbly bunny (23g) x 4
Presented in a dark-stained wicker hamper with brown faux-leather handle and straps
In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. If you need to know about any possible allergens in the contents, full information can be found on the M&S website.
Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂
This Easter, some of the UK Money Bloggers have come together to offer you the chance to win one of three M&S Easter hampers. Three lucky winners will win an Easter hamper delivered before Easter. Keep reading to find out how you can enter.
Table of Contents
Who are the bloggers behind the giveaway?
The UK Money Bloggers are a group of bloggers, podcasters, and influencers in the UK who are passionate about helping you to improve your finances. Whether you want to make more money, spend less, understand investing or pay off debts, we all contribute something unique to the community. Here’s who we are:
The giveaway is open until midnight on 14th April 2019, when the winners will be chosen.
The giveaway is open to UK residents only.
Winners will be contacted by email from hello@emmadrew.info
Should the Easter hampers be out of stock then a suitable replacement will be found.
How to enter
You can enter by completing as many of the Rafflecopter widget entry options below as you would like. You can also enter daily by tweeting from the Rafflecopter widget.
Comment with your best money saving tip to unlock more entry options.
