Photo by Matt Hawken
Smart Savings is able to provide the following FREE personal finance training and financial services. If you think we can help you, contact us.
Courses:
- Accredited Money Skills for Retail
- Accredited & non-accredited personal finance
- Financial Planning for Managers (in partnership with PCDT)
- Free Money Skills Training
- 'Give Yourself a Pay Rise' Workshop
Claims management:
Accredited Money Skills for Retail course
OVER 50? FREE Retail training - FREE City and Guilds Numeracy qualification
Would you like to work flexibly in a job that fits around your commitments? Retail could be the answer.
Smart Savings has new, fully-funded ‘Money Skills for Retail’ courses available for people who are considering a job in the retail sector, or want to enhance their existing retail skills.
WHAT DO YOU GET?
A FREE, 7-week course that has been designed with local retailers. You will learn about all aspects of retailing, meet inspirational people from the industry, receive on-the-job training through retail work placements, receive employment advice, and have the opportunity to gain a City and Guilds Numeracy qualification.
WHEN?
Starting on the 9th February, from 10.30am – 1.30pm over 7 Thursdays, AND
Starting on the 17th February, from 10.30am – 1.30pm over 7 Fridays.
WHERE?
Redruth Community Centre, Foundry Row, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 1AN; very close to bus stops and Redruth train station.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
This course is for anyone over 50 and unemployed.
HOW DO YOU BOOK?
Call Jane at Smart Savings on 01209 212579 / 07760 214254, or email info@smartsavings.org.uk
WHY IS THE COURSE FREE?
The first course is funded by Jobcentre Plus through Cornwall Works, and the second course is funded by the Community Grants programme which is supported by the European Social Fund and Skills Funding Agency, and managed by Cornwall Development Company.
Places on the courses are limited and offered on a first come, first served basis. Call now to reserve your place!
Accredited & non-accredited Money Skills Course
(Funded by the National Lottery and Community Grants Programme)
You may be struggling to get to grips with your finances, or you may just want to learn how you can make your money work harder for you. Smart Savings experienced team will provide simple financial coaching and walk you through the process to help you to gain control and understand your personal finances.
The course is designed for beginners and covers:
- Budgeting;
- How to increase your income;
- Saving money on bills;
- How to reduce your tax payments;
- Savings & Pensions;
- Loans and borrowing;
- Budgeting and Debt.
This course will also help you to brush up your numeracy skills and gain a nationally recognised Numeracy qualification.
If you are interested in taking part, please email us to secure your place on our next course. Spaces are always limited, and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, please book NOW to avoid disappointment.
Financial Planning for Managers (in partnership with PCDT)
This 4 day course will show you how to:
- recognise the different tools available to manage business finance.
- assess the profitability of your organisation.
- plan for the future to ensure sustainability.
- use formulae to establish the breakeven point.
- use financial management information as a tool for forward planning.
- work out staff statistics in order to measure and improve efficiency.
- devise SMART action plans.
- devise and monitor budgets and cash flow forecasts.
This course will also help you to brush up your numeracy skills and gain a nationally recognised Numeracy qualification.
To find out more or book your place, please contact PCDT at The Skills Centre on 01736 332772
Free Money Skills Training
(Funded by the National Lottery and Community Grants Programme)
Many people struggle to get to grips with their finances and it’s easy to run up debts, causing stress and difficulties. But don’t worry – Smart Savings will help you to regain control of your finances.
You don’t have to be good with figures, and there are no tests or studying, you just need to come along, and we can guarantee that you will learn something new!
The course covers areas such as:
• How to increase your income
• Saving money on bills & expenditure
• Managing your own money
• Banking and Savings
• Understand borrowing and using credit wisely
• How to reduce your current debt.
Our free ‘Money Skills’ course is delivered in small groups and one-to-one tutorials. All public transport and mileage claims will be reimbursed. The training will take place at Carn Brea Leisure Centre in Redruth, and we will even supply the tea and biscuits.
If you are interested in taking part, please email us to secure your place on the course. Spaces are limited, and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, please book NOW to avoid disappointment’.
'Give Yourself a Pay Rise' Workshop
In today’s tough economic climate, it’s not that easy to convince your employer to pay you more. Smart Savings workshop ‘Give Yourself a Pay Rise’ will show you how to maximise your income.
What will I get out of it?
This course is designed for complete beginners. We will share with you some easy ways to supplement your income. Some of our previous clients have saved £1000s!!
If you would like to know more about this workshop or book a place, please email info@smartsavings.org.uk or call 01209 212579.
Claims Management
Reclaim mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance
If you have taken out a loan, credit card or store card, you were probably sold an insurance alongside it known as PPI (Payment Protection Insurance). You need to urgently check if you have this insurance - you may be paying for it and are not aware of it!
PPI is a form of insurance that is sold to you in the event that you cannot make your repayments; for example, if you have an accident, sickness, or become unemployed. We believe that it is important to protect yourself in these unexpected circumstances but PPI may not be the best protection for you (PPI can be expensive; may have 'get out' clauses in the small-print; and mis-selling has been rife). If you feel you truly need this insurance in the current economic climate, we may be able to help you cancel your current expensive policy and help you source a standalone policy to save you money.
There are special rules that apply when this insurance was sold or mis-sold to you, and in many cases Banks and other financial institutions have not followed them, often mis-leading you, and this is where we may be able to help you reclaim these charges. Small-print ‘get out’ clauses can include pre-existing medical conditions; employed on a short contract; or are self-employed.
Here are just some examples of mis-selling PPI:
- You may have been convinced you needed to pay for this insurance;
- You were given the impression that you needed this insurance to be accepted, and it wasn't made clear that it was optional;
- The insurance was added to your debt without anyone asking you;
- A salesperson was very pushy and you felt you couldn’t say no;
- You were told you must buy the insurance policy from the same provider as the loan or credit card;
- You were self-employed but it wasn’t pointed out that you were not eligible for a payout if your business was wound up;
- You were unemployed and your policy didn’t include unemployment cover;
- You were retired and your policy didn’t cover it;
- You had a pre-existing medical condition and your policy didn’t cover it.
If you’ve arranged a loan, credit card or store card in the last six years, you may have been mis-sold this insurance and can make a claim for compensation and reclaim £1000s.
Lenders like Egg, Alliance & Leicester, and Capital One have already had huge fines and if one of these companies are your provider, you are very likely to have a claim.
The Office of Fair Trading stated in April 2006 that card companies shouldn't charge more than £12 for default charges. Smart Savings can reclaim the last six years worth of unfair penalty charges above £12 for all credit card accounts.
Smart Savings are experts in reclaiming clients' six years worth of unfair bank charges with interest.
Despite the Supreme Court’s judgement about bank charges, the Financial Ombudsman has said it will only look at the following cases:
- where people are either in financial hardship;
- where charges are disproportionate such as a £35 charge for going £1 overdrawn;
- or if your charges have snowballed (and you're trapped by charges on top of charges).
In order for these type of cases to be successful, you need to tell us your story about how the charges caused or worsened your financial situation.
