Money Central - Times Online - WBLG

Can you profit from the $2 Pound?

TAKING advantage of the weak dollar by buying goods on American websites sounds like a great idea. The greenback has recently fallen to $2 to the pound, levels not seen for 15 years. The “buy one get one free” dollar looks like a great opportunity for web-savvy shoppers to pick up bargains in the States.

But is there any one out there who has successfully shopped on an American website – and saved money?

Banking blues

The backlash against the big banks is well underway. But the big guns are coming out now.  This week a judge ordered Lloyds TSB to pay the costs of a customer who reclaimed for overdraft charges on her account.  The Judge said the bank had wasted the courts time. 

Next week a young barrister will again tackle Natwest in court....

Pushing the frontiers out

An up and coming fund management group is set to go where other fund groups fear to tread when it launches a new investment trust next month.

Still just Talk Talk?

It’s been a year since Talk Talk taught the world once and for all that you rarely get something for nothing. With hindsight, its radical plans to offer free broadband to customers who took up its telephone service was simply a case of a company underestimating demand. The thousands of customers who suffered an endless wait for an internet connection would probably put it far less delicately. Twelve months on, however, you’d have thought the company would have cleared its backlog and cut connection times for new customers. If you did, you’d be wrong, as letters from our readers prove.

Chip and pin flawed

The banks seem to have everything their way sometimes.  The introduction of chip and pin cards, which banks claim cannot be cloned, has left some victims of fraud without any recourse to compensation because the liability for security lapses seems to have shifted. 

New high for mortgage lending, again

Despite three interest rate hikes since last August and a highly-inflated property market the UK appears to be still very much in favour of giving business to mortgage lenders – indeed the nationwide pastime of borrowing has reached a new high, yet again.

Poor service Plc

Do you ever inwardly seethe when you read of some company flying high on the stock market? Good luck to those daring entrepreneurs who spot a gap in the market, risk health, wealth and family to back their hunch and see their ship come in when their company floats. But sometimes you are painfully aware that the slick and expensively-crafted operation to sell a business to stock market investors does not match the underlying reality of rip-off prices and lamentable customer service.

A Sterling American

This week, the pound nosed through the $2 barrier. Never have I felt more torn between my two countries.

My home, if you can define that by where your family is, is the States. My adopted home - not to mention my birthplace - is England. I live and work here, earning money in pounds and, of course, staggering under Britain's ludicrously high prices.

Does the threat of another interest rate rise worry you?

Economists seem to think an interest rate rise next month is now an odds-on certainty. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that consumer price inflation rose by more than expected last month to 3.1 per cent, its highest level for a decade. The Bank of England must now write to the chancellor to explain why inflation is so far above its 2 per cent target and borrowers are being warned to brace themselves for higher mortgage payments.

Put your questions to the Revenue

We’re all used to being subjected to uncomfortable questioning by the taxman, but here’s your chance to turn the tables.

To coincide with the expected announcement of a tax amnesty for offshore savers (an unprecedented move in the UK) HM Revenue & Customs has agreed to an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times.

And we want to know the sort of questions you want answered.

To submit a question....

Multi-managers have their uses

Whether you love them or hate them, multi-manager funds can provide canny investors with a wealth of information

Questions to ask your hedge fund manager

So now it’s official - UK private investors will be able to put their cash into funds of hedge funds from early 2008.

Spare us the bank blather

Banks are experts at double talk – dressing up bad news in the most positive light. But sometimes the lengths they go to are so farcical that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

From bad to worse

A few nuggets of information regarding the state of

UK

pensions have emerged over the past few days.