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By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer
Friday, 13 June 2008
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Money News Roundup
If you only do one thing with your money this week...
Why not listen to some salient advice from the Department of Health?
The department took this week to remind holidaymakers to renew important documents such as passports and European Health Insurance Cards well ahead of their break.
Every year the DoH sees a rush on their offices before the holiday season – 1.2 million even admit to missing a holiday altogether because of an out of date passport – and with 3m EHICs due to expire between September 2008 and March 2009 they are obviously expecting this year to be particularly bad.
The EHIC entitles UK residents to reduced cost or free healthcare in most of the EU and not having one can invalidate your travel insurance if often invalid without it.
Previous Money News Roundups
See our other recent Money News Roundups and other related news stories:
Money News Roundup (06 Jun 08)
Julia Kukiewicz glances back at this week's personal finance news, including how bikers are blocking roads around Manchester in protest at sky-high fuel prices and how NS&I is turning to more celebrities to endorse the saving scheme.
Money News Roundup (30 May 08)
A roundup of the week's personal finance news, Julia Kukiewicz discovers that energy providers are serial overchargers, and that 26-45 year olds are mostly likely to be victims of ID fraud.
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DON’T let Friday the thirteenth cast bad luck for your wallet this week. We tell you how to save £500 pounds a year at the pumps, how to negotiate Halifax’s 12% rate and how to stay financially safe on holiday.
Save £500 a year at the pumps
YES, you read that right - the answer to the world’s fuel crisis, not to mention those holes that seem to have appeared in our pockets, were answered by ‘What Car?’ magazine this week.
And it’s simple: just drive more slowly.
Although manufacturers suggest that the most efficient speed is between 50-60mph the study found it’s actually below 40- 20mph for most cars.
So, the average car driver traveling 10,000 miles in a year at 80mph would spend £518 more on fuel than if he had driven the same distance at 60mph.
And as if that isn’t enough reason for slowing down another study found that if all drivers observed the 70mph limit their vehicles would emit 3.7 million fewer tonnes of CO2 a year.
Alternatively, of course, you could take the bus.
Halifax’s 12% That Isn’t
ALSO making a grab for the headlines this week was Halifax’s amazing 12% savings rate – available from Monday.
But once again the claim wasn’t quite what it seemed, as many papers noted.
The account’s rate is actually 10% and the maximum monthly deposit limit £25-£500.
That means that if you put the maximum £6,000 into the account, at the end of the 12 months you will receive gross interest totaling £325 – just one month of which will be 10% of £6000.
You also can’t make any withdrawals before the year is up at the risk your interest rate plummeting to 4.36-4.45%.
So where’s the 12%? Well, if you have at least £5,000 in another Halifax savings account you’ll earn a further 2% interest – taking your annual possible interest to £390.
Traders Cotton On
MILLIONS of online shoppers have been left wondering if shopping online is safe this week as – yet again – hackers steal credit card details.
Clothing firm Cotton Traders confirmed that 38,000 customer’s details had been stolen in January.
The company claims that all affected customers had been contacted immediately and industry security experts bought in to solve the problem.
£290.5 million worth of fraudulent transactions involving phone, internet or mail order were made in 2007.
And Finally, if you only do one thing this week…
AND finally if you only do one thing this week why not listen to some salient advice from the Department of Health?
The department took this week to remind holidaymakers to renew important documents such as passports and European Health Insurance Cards well ahead of their break.
Every year the DoH sees a rush on their offices before the holiday season – 1.2 million even admit to missing a holiday altogether because of an out of date passport – and with 3m EHICs due to expire between September 2008 and March 2009 they are obviously expecting this year to be particularly bad.
The EHIC entitles UK residents to reduced cost or free healthcare in most of the EU and not having one can invalidate your travel insurance if often invalid without it.
You have been warned.
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