They have been large drops in the shares of the banking, property and major companies, which have reflected the pressure of the credit crunch and unstable economic future.
As lenders look to be stricter with under writing policies a person could be labeled a high credit risk and adverse because of a minor financial error in their past.
Lending standards are tightening significantly, the tipping point is not yet at hand so far, credit worthy borrowers do have access to credit. But lending policy is reducing high loan to values, increasing credit checks and rejecting more high risk business.
Currently stricter credit controls for borrowers should reduce the pool of potential buyers liquidity and affordability factors may stop some customers from closing, while others may find it more difficult to sell their existing properties.
High borrowing levels and high house prices are now finally beginning to turn.
This has had an effect to banking shares, that have recently dropped sharply to reflex the current market. Banks are nervous about lending each other money and this has greatly effected some bank systems for example Northern Rock. Their system relied heavily on other banks borrowings
Late payments, arrears and defaults among adverse borrowers, who have poor credit or high levels of debt, are at a 10-year high in the US.
Lower house prices continued to affect many areas of the USA as defaults continued to rise across all mortgage product categories, including good clean borrowers with acceptable credit histories.
This is due to very bad lending where risk was too high but sidelined. Those customers now are struggling to refinance due to tighter controls and many are to be repossessed.
Also UK’s smaller businesses are potentially facing collapse as a result of the credit crunch, leading groups have warned, as lenders take back profit by charging the highest rate of interest on business loans since the late 1980s.
14 MarUK Credit Crisis
25 MayFinding auto insurance when you rent a vehicle
If you were building a time machine, you need only find a way of travelling back two years to find a land of plenty. Remembering how good it was almost brings tears to your eyes. Every week a bank, credit card company or finance company would mail you their latest offers. Cheap overdrafts, reduced interest with expanding credit limits or yet another way of converting that positive housing equity into cash for spending. There seemed no possibility of this coming to an end. Yet suddenly the price of gas was up to $4 and more a gallon. That proved just a passing straw in the wind. A month or so later came the bank failures, the credit crunch and a full recession with major problems of unemployment. Comfortable lives disappeared. Family budgets suddenly had to pay for debt reduction. Everyone was looking for ways to save money.
Lives must go on but the problem was how to stay mobile. During the good times, towns and cities had exploded. Gone where the high density housing developments close to workplaces. In their place came suburbs and then exurbs. People were organizing their lives around private transport and expecting to commute further and further to get anything done. What do you do when you find you cannot afford to replace your current vehicles but live too far away from work, schools and convenient shops? There is no private transport so, as a first response, you are looking at constantly patching up your old vehicles to keep them moving. But small repairs become major repairs, particularly if your mileage is high or you get into a traffic accident. You look around the neighborhood for carpools. This can work for routine journeys, but it ties you to other people’s timetables. That leaves renting.
If you decide to drive other people around and take payment, you need to check whether your existing policy covers you. The majority of insurers believe taking money makes you a taxi business and they want a higher premium. As with all insurance, use the online search engines to find affordable cover. But, in some parts of the US, it’s now economic to give up ownership. There are new rental systems allowing you to take a vehicle from a local pick-up point as and when you need it. Booking online, you only pay for the vehicle for the hours you use it. Economists have calculated the average yearly spend on car ownership is about $8,000. The average hourly rental rate is $15. That’s 533 hours a year in a rental car before you pay more than an owner. But here comes the warning. The rental car always comes with cheap auto insurance, but the companies are only interested in protecting their capital. You are usually asked to pay more to top up on cover against medical expenses for your own injuries. But even with this extra premium, it’s often significantly cheaper to rent as needed. Even better, you do not pick up from local offices where sales agents pitch extra options. Pick-ups and drop-offs are in local garages with no formalities. Check out what services are on offer in your area. If the cheap auto insurance terms are right, you will save to go down this road.
22 MayCar insurance when you live out in the exurbs
Urban sprawl never used to be an issue. Even though the latest development might be miles from where you work or the nearest shops, this was never a problem. Most families owned two vehicles. Some three or more. No-one walked. Everyone just jumped in the nearest vehicle and off they went without a second thought until the price of gas rocketed up. Now we have the credit crunch and a recession just bottoming out. Car ownership has become an expensive proposition. Too expensive for some who have been reborn as a one-car family to cut their losses. The first step in crisis management is to find out which of your vehicles is the cheapest make and model to insure. Now balance that against the likely costs of maintenance and repair over the next twelve months. And which will sell for the highest price? When you know which vehicle you are keeping, maximize the number of discounts on the policy, including bundling auto and home together with the same insurer. Except, one vehicle for a busy family may not be practical. What are the options?
Many families talk to their neighbors and work out a carpool. This is reasonably easy to organize for routine journeys. But there is one slight problem. If you are going to carry passengers, you should have insurance to pay their medical costs should they be injured in an accident. It is not safe to drive your neighbors around on the state’s minimum liability cover. Then we come to the always difficult question of sharing the costs of the gas. If the passengers always pay something towards the cost of the journey, many insurers treat this as a business arrangement and require the vehicle owner to take out a commercial policy as a taxi. Needless to say, this turns a friendly social service into an expensive excuse to argue with your neighbors over prices. Of course, you could all agree to lie about the arrangement. But the stories can change rapidly if everyone ends up in a hospital and big bills are presented.
The second option is the new rental plans which site vehicles for rent by the hour in local garages. You book what you want over the internet, travel to the garage for the pick-up and drop it off at the same garage when your time is up. The cost per hour on the standard plans are attractive and, assuming you do not want a vehicle more than an average of one hour every day, you will save money on car ownership. But you do need to look carefully at the insurance offered in the standard plans. Some have poor cover of medical expenses for you as the driver and passengers. Others do not include the loss of use charge if the vehicle is off the road being repaired. Always read the small print. Summing up, finding insurance for a single vehicle means getting multiple car insurance quotes and finding the one that works for you. If you are going to use your car to drive neighbors around, you also need to get car insurance quotes to cover the additional liabilities. If you use one of the new rental plans, consider paying extra for LDW which gives more comprehensive protection against loss.
26 NovHoliday Ideas To Beat The Credit Crunch
Holidays Ideas to beat the credit crunch
We are going to consider some holiday ideas to beat the credit crunch, because despite the economic gloom research (from Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance) reveals nearly 28 per cent of the adult population will book a holiday between Christmas and the end of February 2009. Even for those of us on a miniscule budget there are still ways to get away, but you have to be that bit more canny and flexible.
First principle is decide on a budget and stick to it. Get an overall budget that you want to spend by the time you’re back. There are so many ways to do travel: packages, all inclusive, no board, full board, separate flights and accommodation and types of holiday too many to mention in one place, that this is the only way to make some rational choices where cost is a driving factor. Once you have an overall budget then break it down, for example:
Flights (& airport taxes + supplements) or ferries Airport parking or transfers or airport hotel Accommodation Food & drink (don’t forget with the fall in Sterling these are going to be 25%-30% up on last year – take the upper figure as it may slide more) Recreation and trips (car hire) Souvenirs + duty free travel insurance (New clothes or other essential to buy before you go – sunscreen) Hidden charges and extras
This will help you compare radically different types of holidays and force you to think about the total cost of different options.
It is also worth point out: don’t assume there will be better bargains later. I haven’t heard any tour operator crowing about how well bookings are holding up in the current conditions. This may mean that sphincters are starting to twitch and they want to fill some places now to avoid a huge glut of unsold holidays later. They will also have taken out some capacity, and things could still be busy at peak times. So start hunting now there are plenty of bargains.
Holiday Bargain Ideas
There are obvious ways of saving money on going away – such as going for less time or downgrading - but why compromise when you can try and get a bargain. In these times haggling is the new black so bear in mind people will expect to negotiate and that makes it easier.
Therefore if you are booking accommodation – haggle. Go online get a price then try a phone call to the hotel. Even if they will not drop their rate will see if you can get an upgrade . they may chuck in breakfast or some other goodies. Ask about transfers to/from the airport?
Big Tip: from first hand experience. Don’t make the mistake of concentrating on only one element such as accommodation. We looked at loads of villas, found one we liked on an island we liked and booked it. Then we looked for flights – these were eye wateringingly expensive, even on a budget carrier. Especially true at peak times. It more than wiped out any saving we’d have from doing a package. The same goes in reverse, just because there are cheap flights don’t assume you can go and find cheap accommodation. However as a rule of thumb the price of flights goes up nearer to the time of the flight and the price of accommodation goes down, so if you are going to bet then book flights first!
Holiday ideas – Think laterally
Instead of going with a big operator – look out for villas or holiday cottages advertised locally – by the owner. The price to you is going to be lower where you are not paying for the profit margin and marketing of a big operator. Bear in mind however there are more risks – you will have to pay in cash and have much less comeback if anything is wrong. A friend got an excellent villa in Florida for his extended family from an ad in the local free magazine, just down the road from Disney and it all went without a hitch. Also look out for adverts on noticeboards or on the intranet at work.
Major crunch busting holiday ideas
With the pound plummeting and many more out of work or feeling vulnerable this could be an excellent time to find out the delights of staying in Britain and Ireland.
It could be a really good year to acquaint the kids with camping. Its adventurous and fun and the kids get into it really easily. We’ve already been out and bought a tent at the end of last season and some sleeping bags so we were able to get a really good bargain. The two kids are always talking about when are we going to go camping. With air mattresses to cushion the old bones you don’t need to suffer (too much). You can always start gently with a long weekend away.
This could be a chance to pass on all those camping skills you learnt in the scouts or guides. Even if you didn’t (learn any), The Adventure book for boys (and girls) is all the rage now.
If you have slightly older children another major crunch busting idea is cycling or walking holiday. Don’t laugh its not as daft as it seems. The Youth Hostel Association runs hundreds of establishment all over the country (250 locations in the UK alone) but especially in our National Parks (but also Cities). I thought that these were just for teenagers/youths, but that isn’t true. Anyone can join for a modest annual outlay (£22.95 will cover 2 adults and all children at the same address) and the accommodation is cheap, clean and generally everyone is very friendly. It is a great experience for kids. If you are forever moaning that your teenage kids never get out and do any exercise then don’t dismiss these they can be great family oriented holidays. Let the kids plan some of the outing and even navigate – a great way to learn these skills
If you still want to go abroad the International YHA has over 4000 establishments at exceptionally good value for money prices and your UK membership will cover you for these too.
Fix your holiday Outlay before you go.
One of the best ways of keeping to a budget is to know exactly what all you main outlays are going to be up front. Therefore from this point of view an all inclusive or full board holiday is a really good bet. This also removes the exchange rate risk from you and puts it with your tour operator. Generally speaking when booked as a package you will get a really good deal and it should be impossible to come near it by going out locally. It has the potential downside that hotel catering may not be as good as you would wish or that there aren’t enough restaurants on the complex, or sufficient variety in the menu. However, most hotels/operators will bend over backwards to please if you have specific requests and you will have saved so much that you could still go out to eat a couple of times.
Save money on Food/ dining
If you don’t go all inclusive or full board you can save money by not eating at a restaurant at lunchtime. Take a cheap pique-nique set (plastic plates and glasses don’t weigh much if you’re flying) and buy stuff from supermarkets . If you like a glass of wine it also means you can buy a bottle or two for the evening and have something handy to drink from.
You will find many more holiday ideas, for all pockets, for singles, couples and families on Findholidays4u . We have a mass of consumer information and tips about travel generally. Generate you own unique list of holiday ideas by entering your needs and requirements. You can also visit the blog and join the discussion.
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15 Nov10 Ways an 0800 Number Can Help Beat the Credit Crunch
In this time of economic uncertainty there is hardly a day that passes without a gloomy headline in the business media. Whether it’s a major company that has gone into administration or news about an organisation that has had to make staff cut-backs – it is clear that the UK (along with the rest of the world) is experiencing financial turbulence.
However, let’s focus on something positive.
There are small steps that businesses are taking to maximise the amount of telephone sales/enquiries they receive in order to help them through the ‘credit crunch’.
For example, according to research by the Institute of Direct Marketing, an organisation that uses 0800 telephone numbers can increase the amount of calls it receives by up to 185%.
So, a business with an 0800 number is highly likely to get more calls which could equal more sales and/or enquiries.
This is just one single way an 0800 telephone number can help businesses through these tough times.
Here are 9 more:
1. 0800 numbers (http://www.windsor-telecom.co.uk/0800-freephone-numbers.php) are non-geographic – meaning they are not location specific like regular landline numbers. Thus, companies can attract more business outside of their physical area as they won’t be judged on their location.
2. 0800 numbers allow callers to contact organisations, from a landline, at no cost to them – meaning that they are more likely to pick up the phone. This is likely to be the reason why it can increase response rates so dramatically (see above).
3. Given the choice, 63% of the public say that they would always call a freephone number first (Teleculture 2000).
4. The Henley Research Centre concluded that 68% of people feel that organisations which offer 0800 numbers care more about their callers.
5. 0800 numbers (http://www.windsor-telecom.co.uk/0800-freephone-numbers.php) like all non-geographic telephone numbers, enable organisations to instantly smarten up their telephone systems with online call management features – such as welcome messages and call divert.
6. Online call statistics systems allow managers/marketers to see the location of callers to their 0800 number, amount of missed calls and busy periods in order to help with marketing/customer services and planning staffing more effectively.
7. Businesses can control where they want to receive their calls (e.g. out of hours and in an emergency). Their 0800 number can be rerouted to any UK landline or mobile with call divert features (http://www.windsor-telecom.co.uk/call-divert.php).
8. 0800 numbers can be used with systems that send all voicemails as an audio file to a nominated email address – meaning that all important messages are received and can be stored and forwarded with ease if necessary.
9. All calls to 0800 numbers can be queued when combined with online call queuing systems. This enables companies to answer more calls and not miss out on potential business.
In all, it would seem that 0800 numbers offer more than just a free call (from a landline) and the reasons for their popularity is very apparent.
For people wishing to give their mobile callers a better deal, many are considering new 03 numbers, which are included in the free minutes offered by providers and cost the same to call as normal landline numbers.
Mark Guy is marketing and PR officer at Windsor Telecom.
For more information go to http://www.windsor-telecom.co.uk