As the UK continues to do its best to resist further financial gloominess, savers are being hit by the butchering of interest rates. Several banks and building societies are slashing saver rates, leaving very little in the way of attractive savings accounts.

Halifax has dropped one of its best fixed rate accounts, whilst dropping the eye-catching rates on many others. Saga has dropped its three-year fixed 4% account, as have The High Street bank and Monmouthshire Building Society.

The Close Brothers matching account is now the only one of its kind still available, according to This Is Money. However, this account would need £10,000 banked immediately to start it up.

Two-year fixed ISAs are also taking a hit, as the best-buy from BM Savings fell from 4.05% to 3.6%. Santander’s 4% is the best two-year fixed available, but with news announced that Moody’s credit agency has downgraded the rating of all Spanish-owned banks, including Santander UK, confidence has taken a tumble. Stock markets and savers alike are not responding well to the news.

As five-year fixed rate accounts receive similar treatment, savers will be scratching their heads wondering where they can get a truly rewarding return on their cash.

David Black, an expert an Defaqto, believes that savers can still find good deals, saying: “‘With the wholesale money market still a pale shadow of what it used to be there is a lot of competition among banks and building societies to attract savings and this can play in favour of savers.”

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Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to confront representatives of various car insurance providers, in an attempt to address the rocketing premiums faced by UK motorists.

Bloomberg reports that the PM will discuss the abundance of lawsuits, which has led many to adopt the term ‘compensation culture’. The nation’s plethora of weak claims for injury is having a direct effect on car insurance premiums, with companies claiming that the rise in compensation payouts has to be funded by price increases.

This has been considered more than a little dubious; many have highlighted the fact that car insurance companies receive payments directly from law firms, in exchange for the details of motorists who have been in an accident.

Bloomberg’s report states that the average cost of car insurance rose by 17% last year, to £410, whilst the average young male motorist pays out close to £3,000. The average young female driver pays out just over £1,500 and the Association of British Insurers has said that record claims for whiplash are adding almost £100 to each premium.

David Cameron is expected to pledge a reduction in whiplash claims, through requests for greater medical evidence, and lawyers’ fees for personal injury claims are expected to be forcibly decreased.

Drivers often fare better when they compare car insurance, and shop around for other key motoring services such as breakdown cover.

Image: The Guardian

A recent survey has revealed that UK motorists are struggling to such an extent that many drivers are choosing to dodge maintenance on their vehicles in order to keep costs manageable.

The findings, produced by Carrentals.co.uk, indicated that nearly a third of motorists plan to push back repairs and non-essential maintenance purely to save money. Having breakdown cover in place is a wise fail-safe, but call-outs can affect the following year’s premium in some cases.

The survey also found that 60% of drivers don’t find the time to regularly check their tyres, whilst 80% don’t check the brakes.

Following some basic car maintenance tips will help to keep your car in check without spending too much money. There are also some good winter driving tips to follow as we approach the cold season.

Gareth Robinson, managing director at Carrentals.co.uk, said: “While for many having a car is vital for their daily life, they are increasingly looking for ways to cut back the costs associated with driving, be that safe changes such as buying a more economical vehicle, or the more dangerous cuts in maintenance.”

“Safety has to be paramount, so we would ask anyone needing to save money to think carefully about where and how they cut their expenses.”

New research has shown that the North of England is seeing the worst of rising car insurance costs, although the increases appear to be slowing down.

The information, provided by the Confused.com/Towers Watson Car Insurance Price Index, showed that from June to September 2011, Oldham was found to have an average premium of £1,437, representing a rise of 27.9% from last year.

Bradford was found to experience similar figures, with an increase 27.5%, whilst Liverpool saw premiums go up by just under 27%.

The North is not alone, however, as motorists all around the UK continue to struggle with rising costs for vehicle cover. Scotland saw the lowest rises, but no single area in the UK benefited from a recorded decrease.

A key issue regarding the current car insurance costs is the marked difference from the rate of inflation; the UK as a whole has seen an average rise of car insurance premiums of 12.3%, whilst the Consumer Price Index is sitting at 4.5%, and this means that the rise in premiums is almost three times as high as UK inflation.

Motorists can at least take a positive from the research, as it showed a quarterly decrease of 1.6% between June and September. This represents the first quarterly decrease for over three years.

You can save money on your car insurance premium by shopping around online and comparing car insurance quotes.

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After seemingly endless rises in car insurance premiums, it has been reported that things are looking up for younger drivers.

Website Tiger.co.uk has announced findings from research based on thousands of car insurance quotes in the UK, noting a 5.5% drop for both male and female young drivers between July and September.

The month of September alone has, according to the research, seen around a 4% drop for young men, and a 1% drop for young women. However, it is worth remembering that the premiums rocketed in 2010, and the cost of car insurance is still sky-high, despite the welcome drop.

Drivers are encouraged to shop around and compare car insurance in order to find the best deal, and to look out for policy details and benefits, instead of simply seeking out the cheapest offer.

Image: L&LAutomotive

Next week will see car repair specialist Kwik-fit offering extra online discounts for car insurance policies.

Those looking for an improved car insurance quote may want to look at Kwik-fit, which has a strong focus on online discounting, and on Tuesday 30th August extra discounts will be added for one day only.

Kwik-fit car insurance is particularly popular for its competitive pricing, which includes a 20% discount when booked online, and other types of insurance are also available in conjunction with further deals and offers.

In order to get a quote you can visit the Kwik-fit insurance website, and fill in the details. Kwik-fit searches a range of insurers to find you a suitable deal, and different levels of policy are available.

The Kwik-fit website has also been kitted out with tools, information and an online magazine Extra Mile providing regular updates on subjects such as motoring safety and fuel cost cutting.

The rate of inflation is currently much higher than the interest rates offered on savings accounts, and this means that UK savers are losing out on billions.

MoneyHighStreet has reported that, according to information from accountants UHY hacker young, inflation wipes £36 billion off the cumulative value of UK consumer savings.

Specifically, UK savers on average get a dismal 1.6% return on the cash they put away, whilst the accounts that should see bigger and better savings, such as ISAs, are not much better, with an average of 2.57%.

With inflation hitting 5.2%, according to April’s Retail Price Index, £36 billion is lost from £1 trillion worth of UK savings. The Consumer Price Index has an alternative figure for inflation of 4.5%, but this still equates to £29.42 billion that is lost.

Savers are advised to choose wisely when looking for a place to store and save their cash, and the best solution is to compare savings accounts.

Barclaycard and Nationwide are tussling to provide the best 0% offer on credit card balance transfers, whilst other providers look to get in on the attractive market.

Nationwide has just released a new card that matches the 17 month 0% offer originally pitched exclusively by Barclaycard to its customers.

Whilst this was the longest length of time for such a rate available on the market, Barclaycard has upped the stakes by changing its offer to 18 months, and this taking the lead once more.

Balance transfers are a great way for customers to pay less interest on a borrowed sum of money. Any specific lender would rather that you owed them, instead of a competitor, so attractive offers are advertised as an incentive that will genuinely provide savings.

0% on your balance transfer will mean that you don’t pay anything extra on top of your standard repayments, whilst using a credit card to make direct purchases could lead to a rate of 25% APR or more.

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Research by Sainsbury’s Finance suggests that many ex-smokers are not taking full advantage of their healthier, smokeless lifestyle because they are not informing their life insurance providers.

According to the recent research, the average cost of a life insurance policy for a smoker is just shy of £210, whereas the average cost for a non-smoker is around £114; a huge difference of almost £100. It seems that, collectively, ex-smokers are paying £316million too much for life insurance, even though it would only take a short coversation with the insurer to instigate the savings.

For an insurer to class a policyholder as an ex-smoker, as opposed to someone in the process of quitting, then that individual must be free of nicotine-replacement products as well as cigarettes for a duration of at least one year.  The research found that 6.5 million ex-smokers with life insurance policies fit the aforementioned criteria, but 51% had not told their insurance providers.

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Research by moneysupermarket.com has revealed the UK hotspots for cheaper home insurance.

Lucky southerners living in sunny Bournemouth have the cheapest average premium of £103.98, which is £60 less than the national average.

York and Glasgow are the runners-up with an average of £109.22 and £110.73 respectively, closely followed by Tidworth, Nottingham and Leicester.

The data, based on a year’s worth of home insurance premiums quoted to over 2 million people, also shows that Greater London postcodes are the most expensive, but there are no surprises there.

The top 10 most expensive average premiums were all quoted in Greater London areas; Stanmore, in Harrow, topped the list with £286.50, closely followed by Golders Green with 280.59, and Dulwich with £279.07. This unenviable list also includes Mill Hill, Northwood and Edgware.

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