More than a third of UK adults have admitted they are unable to convert different currencies into sterling when they go abroad and are overspending by a staggering £288 million a year on holiday as a result, a recent Post Office survey has revealed.

According to the report, 44% of holidaymakers don’t actually work out how much they are spending in sterling when they are abroad and 27% of people go over their budget on holiday.

One in five people prefer to go on holiday to places where they understand the currency, while 1.5 million holidaymakers actually avoid travelling to countries with unfamiliar currency, because they believe that working out how much everything costs will be difficult and stressful.

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Wimbledon season is here, and many of us will be getting out our own rackets for a spot of tennis. But easy does it… According to Halifax Home Insurance, claims for broken windows and other accidental glass breakages typically increase during the Wimbledon season. Last year the provider recorded a 34% rise in such claims between January and June.

David Rochester, head of underwriting for Halifax Home Insurance, said: “During the summer months we often notice an increase in claims for broken windows and other accidental breakages. We’d advise any budding Murrays and Sharapovas to take care when playing ball sports close to home, and check they are insured for accidental damage should a mishap occur.”

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For a limited time only, Direct Line is cutting the cost of its contents insurance by 50%, and offering an additional discount of up to 25% off home insurance when you order online.

The 25% discount applies to new customers. However, customers who already have a policy with Direct Line can benefit too, with discounts of 10% for customers with Direct Line car insurance, 5% for pet insurance and 10% for travel insurance.

Direct Line offers a choice of three different home insurance policies with varying levels of cover - Home Insurance, Home Insurance Plus and Platinum Home Insurance. However, both the contents and online discount (available both on contents only and combined buildings/contents insurance policies) apply only to new customers in their first policy year. Direct Line home insurance has been awarded a 5-star rating by Defaqto.

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The gap between asking and selling prices of properties is narrowing, according to research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Across the UK, homes sold at an average of 11% below the price advertised in the first three months to May. However, in some UK regions sellers have had to accept a 26% discount on the asking price of their home.

The RICS survey reveals that nearly 60% if surveyors believe that the gap between the asking and selling price of a home is narrowing. This makes a welcome change from last year, when the majority of surveyors reported that the difference between what homeowners hoped their property was worth and what buyers were prepared to pay was increasing.

A run of positive surveys in recent weeks, including reports of price rises from Nationwide and the Halifax, have given consumers cause for optimism. But despite an increase in sales, economists warn that the housing market will not recover quickly, with the likelihood of further price drops to come.

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British homeowners who lose their jobs during the current recession are to be offered some breathing space when it comes to meeting home insurance premiums.

Lloyds TSB is offering a helping hand to homeowners in financial difficulty by waiving home insurance premiums for up to six months for new customers who lose their jobs. Lloyds TSB is offering the deal to anyone who signs up for a Home Solutions policy at any of the group’s UK branches between 6th April and 6th June 2009, and who is made compulsorily redundant between purchasing the policy and the end of 2009. The offer also covers self-employed people who involuntary give up trading in the period.

The decision follows talks with the Home Office, the Association of British Insurers and leading insurance providers to find ways of helping policy holders in the current economic climate.

Recent research by Lloyds found that 60% of people were worried about their financial circumstances, while 26% believed they could lose their job in the next 12 months. 15% of those surveyed admitted stopping their home insurance policies mid-term, and a further 13% said they were unlikely to renew their home insurance at the end of the year.

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Many homeowners are cancelling their home insurance policies in an attempt to save money, in spite of growing fears about burglary, new research has found.

In a survey by Lloyds TSB, 15 percent of respondents admitted cancelling their cover mid-term over the last 12 months, whilst a further ten percent said that they would do so if their financial situation became untenable.

13 precent of those surveyed said that they were unlikely to renew their home insurance at the end of the year. Yet 65 percent of respondents believe that they are more likely to be burgled during the recession. Home Office statistics back this up, citing a 4 percent increase in home theft between September 2007 and September 2008.

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The number of people losing their homes rose 54% last year to a 12 year high of 40,000, while the number of hownowners behind on their repayments rose by a staggering 70%, figures released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show.

Though the number of repossessions was lower than the predicted 45,000, over 200,000 people were three or more months behind on repayments at the end of the year, compared with 127,500 at the end of 2007. The CML has forecast that some 500,000 people could be in arrears by the end of this year.

The CML said that the lower than expected number of repossessions indicated that lenders were trying hard to keep as many people in their homes as possible.

“The fact that there were fewer repossessions than expected, despite a worsening economy and rising unemployment, demonstrates that mortgage lenders are making strenuous efforts to ensure that repossession really is a last resort,” the association said.

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UK House prices rose by up to 1.9% in January after falling during every one of the previous eleven months, the Halifax reported. But despite January’s rise, house prices showed an overall fall of 17.2% .

The average house price reached £163,966 according to the figures, which are taken from mortgage approvals. In January 2008 the average house price as estimated by the Halifax was £197,243. The current average house price shows a 16.8% fall on that figure. However, lenders tend to compare the average price for the past three months with the same period last year, which would make the drop 17.2%.

But figures are uncertain. A survey published last week by the Nationwide building society suggested that house prices had in fact dropped by another 1.3% in January.

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The Office of Fair Trading has told 16 ’sale-and-rent-back’ firms that they must substantiate their advertising claims or face prosecution, amid suspicions that such firms may be misleading struggling homeowners desperate to avoid repossession.

The companies in question offer to buy houses, often at well below the market value, from people struggling to pay their mortgages, promising that the owners can carry on living there as tenants .

The OFT said that advertisements under investigation typically suggested that clients could stay in properties once they were sold for as long as they wished, paying rent at fait market rates. Customers were also told they could buy back the house at an agreed point in the futureif they came up with the requisite funds.

However, last year an OFT report found that these promises were not always met, and a number of tenants had been evicted from their houses very quickly.

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By installing smoke alarms which are connected to the mains in your home, you could reduce your chances of making a claim, according to the Royals Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

Generally, mains assisted smoke alarms are more reliable than battery powered ones, as batteries are liable to go flat, and it can tempting to take batteries out of smoke alarms to use in other appliances, after which people often forget to replace them.

A spokesperson for the organisation said, “Batteries can also run out, go flat and people forget to replace them. With the mains wired ones, obviously that is not a problem.”

Statistics from RoSPA reveal that smoke alarms failed to operate in 12 per cent of fires in 2006.
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