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A damning report by the OFT says that many debt management companies are exploting their customers in the UK.

According to the Telegraph:  More than half of debt management companies face being closed down. They highlighted: the most common concerns included companies failing to disclose a fee – suggesting the service is free when it is not – and the poor advice provided by advisers.

According to the BBC: Some debt management firms are posing as charities and are aiming to make money from vulnerable people, the Office of Fair Trading has found. The regulator has ordered 129 firms to clean up their act within three months or face losing their licences.

The Independent reports:  The OFT will say that it is planning to update its guidelines “to take explicit account of new and emerging unfair business practices”. Ray Watso

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I’ve written previously how we enjoy garage sales and hunting for bargains. A crucial part of getting deals is knowing how to haggle or negotiate. It is a skill worth honing because in essence many financial transactions require some type of negotiation. Over the years we’ve haggled prices on cars, homes, and medical bills to name just a few. Right now on the American Express site “Currency“, I share some tips for saving money on your rent. Basically it comes down to this: The more skilled you are at haggling, the better you will fare at getting price reductions.

My husband grew up in a family of farmers and learned the basics early – never pay full price and always haggle. It seems like nearly every purchase was negotiated and bargained for – farm equipment from the local tractor store, milk from an uncle’s dairy farm, vegetables from the farmer’s market. Whatever it was

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Dividend Dollar asked recently what type of filing system I use to keep tracking of tax deductions. I have blogged on record keeping before when preparing your taxes. My essential point was that you do not have to unleash your inner librarian to be a good record keeper; planned chaos is ok as long as all your records of a certain type (credit card statements, bank statements etc.) are all kept in the same place and not all mixed into one.

I wanted to add a few addendum from my previous post.

Don’t rely on shoving everything in your wallet. Besides making your wallet unwieldy wide and heavy, many credit card slips are now printed on that slimy paper where the ink rubs off quickly. I noticed emptying out my wallet of old receipts that, in some cases, I could not longer even read the amount paid anymore on those slips.

Buy a letter tray with at least 3 trays (this is a slightly more organized filing system than my previous post) We started doing this at work since we were misplacing bills and/or receipts which often happens when you have a lot of people in an office and a lot of vendors. W

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Considering bankruptcy could be a good idea, but your individual situation and the way you go about filing for bankruptcy will determine if bankruptcy is the smart move for you.

1. Remember that bankruptcy can stay on your credit report for as long as ten years (a minimum of seven). This means that you will have less access to credit, high interest rates to pay when you do get credit, and you may lose out on certain housing and employment opportunities.

2. You may be able to pursue other options, such as debt settlement, mortgage refinancing, debt consolidation, foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, short sale, etc. Talk to an a licensed credit counselor to get a better idea of the options available to you, their consequences, and their costs.

3. Don’t forget, as you consider your options, that most retirement accounts are excluded from bankruptcy proceedings. A

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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has clamped down on a number of websites that have been selling European health insurance cards, called EHIC cards. These cards, now a key part of health insurance for travellers, are given free by the NHS, for UK residents needing access to free or cheap state healthcare when in the European Union .

Despite the cards being available for free from the NHS, four separate websites have been told to stop charging up to GBP10 for the cards, without making it clear that they were not official sites.

Although OFT said that the sites could offer a ‘review and forwarding’ service, it did deem that the sites were misleading customers. Of the websites involved in the scam, three have now signed an agreement that they will not continue to deceive their customers, while the fourth has been suspended.

Heather Clayton, senior director of the Consumer Group at OFT, commented “While it is not unlawful to charge money for a reviewing and forwarding service, traders must be clear about the product or service they are offering, and not trick consumers into parting with money for services they don’t want. P Read full post…

Diligent management of the assets of a business organization can make a big difference in their rates of profit. significant check on all tangible and intangible assets of a company ensures that no leakage of funds in the organization and all assets are fully utilized. Ineffective management of resources and incorrect information about the objects in a commercial establishment can lead to a drain of finance and, in turn affect business performance.

Recognizing the importance of the results of any asset management company has led to new strategies advanced in this area of business. While business is at home, including issues of cost management, capital budgeting, cost accounting, planning and financial reporting and many other similar topics. Asset management is a significant percentage of the problems of managing an organization. Read full post…

Credit card debt is a luxury many people take on, only to find that it hurts them financially. Having credit cards can entice you to spend more, make decisions to make purchases easier (i.e. not requiring thought), and allow you to live outside your means – at least until the statement comes or you reach your credit limit. However, you can escape credit card debt (and live a happier life as a result):

1. EMERGENCY FUND: Start by developing an emergency fund; it is simply too easy for your well-laid intentions of never using your credit card again to be brushed aside in the event of an emergency. By building an emergency fund (ideally one equal to six months’ salary), you can be confident that you have the money to handle any of life’s surprises, no matter how big, without resorting to “plastic.” Besides, how nice would it be to know you “have it covered,” regardless what “it” is.

2. FREEZE YOUR CREDI

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IdeaPaint co-founder Jeff Avallon insisted his product has a real “wow factor” and that was supported by our experts, who felt the coating that turns any surface into a dry-erase whiteboard had great consumer upside.

The original concept for IdeaPaint was hatched nearly a decade ago by Avallon’s Babson College classmate John Goscha, who grew frustrated with the limitations of writing on large sheets of paper taped to walls in his dormitory (see original story here). Five years later, after a lengthy testing period and more than a few flops, a sellable product emerged and IdeaPaint was launched in 2008.

“It didn’t take us five years to develop a working product; it took us five years to develop a safe product,” said Avallon, who came onboard with co-founder Morgen Newman in 2006, shortly after Goscha – who has since left the company – had been told by a paint test lab his concept was impossible.

“We weren’t the only people to think of this idea, we were just the only people to commercialize it and make it marketable,” confessed Avallon, who added it had to compare with the “gold standard” of dry-erase surfaces, which is the porcelain-on-steel- whiteboards that are prevalent in most universities. “There are lots of compla

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