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.
Free Money Skills Training [back to top]
(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’.
Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) [back to top]
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.
Credit Card accounts [back to top]
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.
Personal Accounts [back to top]
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.
