Lenders have granted almost 1.2 million payment holidays on credit cards and personal loans since the Covid-19 outbreak began. Banks have also offered to waive interest on overdrafts of up to £500 for 27 million customers.

Anyone considering asking for a break should be aware that interest would still be charged on most credit cards and personal loans during payment holidays. So, your debt will grow.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumers’ association which has warned that regulators need to “work with firms to ensure that customers who take a payment holiday are not plunged into unnecessary financial distress once it ends”. 

Banks are increasing rates on credit cards despite the cuts to the Bank of England’s base rate. Average credit-card interest rates have risen from 24.8% in February to 25.2% at the time of writing.

This has always been an issue, with savers getting cuts almost instantly after a base-rate reduction while borrowers are less likely to benefit. One of the reasons that credit-card rates have risen in recent years is because they are helping to fund 0% introductory offers.

While new customers can often get a great interest-free offer, loyal customers pay over the odds to finance this generosity.

Additionally, Holidays could double in price once lockdown is lifted due to a raft of new safety measures imposed on hotels. When we are finally able to travel again, holiday accommodation will have to be at the top of its game when it comes to hygiene.

Firms could be forced to increase cleaning budgets, leave rooms vacant between guests and install expensive equipment to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Be prepared for a rather dramatic increase in costs. In some instances prices could even quadruple.

Enjoy The Finer Things In Lockdown

Fine dining has gone mobile. The coronavirus lockdown has closed down luxury restaurants, so Michelin-starred chefs have been scrabbling to sign up to upmarket versions of Deliver and Just Eat.

Zuma, the high-end Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge, Chinese fine-dining outlet Hakkasan and Mayfair’s Michelin-starred Hide are among the brands supplying Supper, a central London posh food delivery service.

Demand has jumped by 700% during lockdown; one family in Surrey sends a driver to collect dinners at £1,500 a go.

Nor need the lockdown deprive the rich of other pleasures. Vintage wine-tasting for your friends, car viewing or the odd Mykonos-themed beach party from Annabel’s are all options on Zoom.

Some people hired an in-house chef just before lockdown, while a Covid19 deep-clean squad to root the virus out from under the sofa is also an idea.

The boss of one cleaning group, which usually services industry but now sends people fully gloved and masked into houses, says some people are obviously not used to cleaning … they think it’s more complicated than it actually is.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SUNGLASSES DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

Once or twice a year I receive exceptional quality information and a few months ago one of these rare and very special documents landed on my desk.  

  It revealed an amazing system which is making its author an absolute fortune and a large sum of money was asked for in exchange for the information.  

   An agreement was reached whereby I could share the information with Streetwise customers, but first I insisted on ‘proving’ the system and so I asked 25 of my customers to test this for us.  

   The results have been nothing less than astonishing. Every single one of my 25 testers has reported fantastic success!  

   Consequently I signed the deal and now I am delighted to be able to share this information with you. Please do not pass this on to anyone else because this information truly is TOP SECRET. It is just for you and Streetwise’s best customers and no-one else. 

We authorised just 50 copies to be printed for our best customers only. At the time of writing we only have 16 copies left and one of these is waiting for you to claim it.

For full details CLICK HERE

…and you’ll discover why I am so excited about this incredible winning system and what’s going to happen next.

Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Recent Comments 

“Every Signal so far has been a winner, that is for the time I have been using it which is 21 race days. It is solid and when I place the bets this system throws at me I just place them and walk away for the day. You don’t get lot’s of bets, and they only take 5 minutes max to spot anytime after 9 in the morning.”

– D Lean 

“The program I bought in July is so very simple to run and is consistently proving to be a money spinner. I have never before found a system to equal this one.”

– C A Davies 

For full details visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/IS

A credit card can be a lifeline in these turbulent times. From helping you get refunds to providing you with interest-free debt, here’s how your flexible friend can help fix your finances.

Customers who are struggling to get their money back for travel, accommodation, events or anything else that has been cancelled may be able to get a refund from their credit-card provider. Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your credit-card provider is jointly liable if you don’t receive goods or a service that you paid for with your credit card.

The item has to have cost between £100 and £30,000, but you only need to have paid for part of it on your credit card to be protected for the whole amount. This can help if a company is refusing to give you a refund, or if they have gone bust. To make a claim contact your credit-card provider. 

If your income has dropped and you are worrying about making your card repayments, don’t panic. The Financial Conduct Authority has brought in emergency rules that mean lenders are expected to offer customers a payment freeze of up to three months.

This shouldn’t affect your credit rating. If you need to minimise the interest accruing on your debt, there are still some balance-transfer credit cards available with an interest-free deal.

TSB’s Platinum 30 Month Balance Transfer card has the longest interest-free period at two and a half years – but you’ll pay a 2.95% transfer fee. If you don’t need that long, then Santander offers 18 months at 0% on balance transfers with no fee at all.

Just remember to plan how to pay your debt off before the interest-free period ends. Anyone building up Air miles may worry about airlines going bust if the crisis drags on.

So if you earn loyalty points through credit cards with the intention of turning them into Air miles, such as Tesco Club card or American Express – you’re better off leaving any balance on the card for now: they can either be converted into Air miles later or used for other rewards. Air miles can’t be converted back, but Avios points can be used to buy alcohol instead.

However, this is expensive: it costs around two points per penny, compared with one per penny for flights. Virgin Flying Club points can be shifted into hotel reward schemes such as the IHG Rewards Club or the Hilton Honours, although again, unfortunately, the conversion rates are worse than for flights

Interest Rates Are Dwindling Quick

Santander is to cut the interest rate on its popular 123 current account from 1% to 0.6% from 3 August. The rate had been 1.5% until last month. In three months customers holding the full balance (£20,000) will have gone from earning up to £302 a year in interest to £120, but the bank will continue to charge… £5 a month.

What’s more, this month Nationwide cut the rate on its Flex Direct account from 5% to 2% on balances up to £1,500. The 2% rate is still the highest on a current account. But you only get it if you pay in £1,000 a month and it drops to 0.25% after a year.

The upshot? Stop trying to save and spend from the same account. The top easy access savings accounts from Investec, Marcus and RCI Bank pay 1.2%… with no monthly fee.

If you want cashback on your bills, Santander’s 123 light account offers the same cashback rates as its standard one but with a lower £1 fee and no interest. You can earn up to 3% cashback, capped at £15 a month. Taking that fee into account the most an account holder can earn is £168 a year.

Putting your money in some safe stocks would be a much better option.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL FRESHEN UP FRIDAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  It didn’t come as a surprise to me when 2 banks intervened and literally blocked their customers from hearing from me, even though everything I was saying is 100% legal.  

  That’s because I’ve been exposing how the banks constantly take advantage of the little guy. 

But now the tables have turned… 

  I doubled my money by legally intercepting unofficial bank messages. 

  But the best part is that banks can’t stop us from milking this over and over again!  

  And now I’m giving you the opportunity to copy me… 

  Just give me a few minutes of your time. 

I’ll explain all of this when you visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/code 

 Kind Regards, 

 Jim Hunt

For many small businesses, the key to getting through the Covid19 pandemic may be negotiating a sympathetic arrangement with the landlord or key suppliers. Are they prepared to offer rent or payment holidays during the height of the crisis to help you with short-term cash-flow pressures?

In practice, it will be in the interests of many landlords and suppliers to help rather than lose tenants and customers altogether. But to negotiate the right deal, you need to approach the situation carefully and sensitively. Start with a clear plan. What do you need from your landlord and for how long do you need this support?

Strike a balance between asking for all the help you will realistically need, going back later to ask for further forbearance may get a negative reaction, and pushing too hard. Landlords and suppliers will have their own pressures.

Talk to your landlord and suppliers as soon as you can, ideally before you miss any payments. The later you leave it, the weaker your negotiating position will be. Set out the benefits of offering your business help: where possible, remind landlords and suppliers of your good payment history and strong credit score and provide detail of your longer-term prospects.

Make the point that others in your sector – potentially alternative tenants and customers -will be in the same boat as you. Where you can pay at least something, offer to do so. This will often be better received than a request for a complete payments holiday. It also means the landlord or supplier will be better off with you than with no customer or tenant at all.

The Idle Opportunity

According to The Sunday Telegraph, Britons use their lawnmowers for an average of just four hours a year. They’re being kept pretty busy compared to power tools though, which are used for an average of 20 minutes throughout their entire lifespan!

There just has to be an opportunity lurking in these statistics. Wouldn’t people be far better off renting these things when they need them? And if you could create a service which made it really easy to get hold of them – perhaps dropping them off and then picking them up again – might that form the basis of a profitable business?

And might all these under-used lawnmowers and power tools be mobilised in your new business in some way – providing an income for their owner and a ready source of ‘rental stock’ for the business?

Something to think about perhaps.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  It didn’t come as a surprise to me when 2 banks intervened and literally blocked their customers from hearing from me, even though everything I was saying is 100% legal.  

  That’s because I’ve been exposing how the banks constantly take advantage of the little guy. 

But now the tables have turned… 

  I doubled my money by legally intercepting unofficial bank messages. 

  But the best part is that banks can’t stop us from milking this over and over again!  

  And now I’m giving you the opportunity to copy me… 

  Just give me a few minutes of your time. 

I’ll explain all of this when you visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/code 

 Kind Regards, 

 Jim Hunt

The government’s latest initiative for cash-strapped small businesses struggling to cope with Covid-19 pandemic has gone live and is likely to prove hugely popular.

The Bounce Back loans scheme, announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, aims to help tens of thousands of small businesses struggling to secure finance from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), which has been criticised as overly bureaucratic and too exclusive.

Administered by the British Business Bank and the same panel of more than 50 lenders participating in CBILS, the terms of the Bounce Back scheme really are exceptionally generous. Businesses can borrow up to £50,000 at a fixed interest rate of 2.5%, no matter which lender provides the advance (you don’t have to apply to your own bank).

The government guarantees the lender that it will stand behind the loan in full if the business defaults on repayments, which means lenders do not have to waste time conducting credit checks.

A simple standardised application form should also mean loans go through very quickly. Cash could be in companies’ accounts within days of their online applications. Bounce Back loans will be repayable over six years, though early repayments can be made without penalty.

There are no repayments to make in the first year and lenders are not allowed to ask for personal guarantees from the company’s directors. Importantly, while the scheme is aimed at the smallest businesses, the eligibility criteria set no maximum size constraints, whether by number of employees, turnover or balance sheet.

Borrowers simply have to certify they are UK-based, that they’ve been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, that they’re not currently in bankruptcy or liquidation and that they’re not making use of any other Covid-19-related government loan scheme.

The upshot is that for any business in need of less than £50,000 to see them through the Covid-19 crisis, the Bounce Back scheme is head and shoulders above any of the government’s other initiatives, including CBILS.

And even if you think you may need more than that in the end, Bounce Back is worth considering in the short term; it’s possible that you’ll be able to convert the loans into a CBILS facility later on. Equally, CBILS loans of less than £50,000 can now be converted into Bounce Back finance, which is likely to be a good option for most borrowers.

However, even if you don’t need finance to survive the crisis, don’t overlook this new scheme. The terms are so good that this could be a valuable opportunity to refinance other types of debt, expensive credit-card borrowing or bank loans, for example, or even to finance investment. This is legitimate under the terms of Bounce Back

Money Statistics

31 – The number of tonnes of gold belonging to Venezuela that is held in the Bank of England’s vaults, worth around £1.3bn at today’s prices. The government of President Maduro has asked for some of it to be sold, but the Bank has so far refused. Britain recognises Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

61 – The percentage of investors and business owners with investable assets or annual revenues of at least $1m who are waiting for stocks to fall by 5% to 20% before buying shares again.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL WORLD BARTENDER DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  It didn’t come as a surprise to me when 2 banks intervened and literally blocked their customers from hearing from me, even though everything I was saying is 100% legal.  

  That’s because I’ve been exposing how the banks constantly take advantage of the little guy. 

But now the tables have turned… 

  I doubled my money by legally intercepting unofficial bank messages. 

  But the best part is that banks can’t stop us from milking this over and over again!  

  And now I’m giving you the opportunity to copy me… 

  Just give me a few minutes of your time. 

I’ll explain all of this when you visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/code 

 Kind Regards, 

 Jim Hunt

It seems unlikely that you will be able to jet off for a summer holiday this year. However, if you had a trip booked from March onwards you may be struggling to cancel and get your money back. Many tour operators, airlines and accommodation providers… have tried to persuade customers to rearrange their trips or accept credit vouchers for future holidays instead of a cash refund.

You are entitled to a full refund from your tour operator or airline within 14 days of cancellation. But a study by consumers’ association Which? found that all 20 of the biggest travel firms, including TUI and British Airways, were missing the two-week deadline. If you are struggling then the Competition and Markets Authority would like you to get in touch with examples of bad practice.  

Mention this to the company failing to provide your refund. It could make all the difference. Remember too that the travel company isn’t your only route to a refund. If you paid for something with your credit card, you can also approach your card provider to give you your money back.

Under Section 75 of the Consumer Rights Act your credit card provider is jointly liable if you don’t get the service or goods you paid for. Section 75 covers purchases between £100 and £30,000. But you don’t have to have paid for the entire thing on your credit card. Even if you only put the deposit on your credit card you can still get the full cost back. To make a claim you can print off a template letter from Which? or MoneySavingExpert.

Fill it out with your details and send it off to your credit card company. You’ll have to prove that you couldn’t get a refund directly from the company as part of your claim, so try that route first. If you paid with your debit card you may be able to get your money back through your bank. Chargeback rules allow you to claim for goods or a service within 120 days of purchase.

To start a claim, contact your bank to dispute the transaction. The limitation is you can’t use Section 75 or Chargeback if you want money back for a holiday, trip or event that hasn’t been cancelled yet. If you are worrying about a summer holiday you’ll have to wait until the provider has cancelled it, and you’ve tried to get a refund from them, before you can fall back on your card protection.

Finally, remember your travel insurance. If you booked your trip before the coronavirus crisis and can’t go you may be able to claim on your insurance.

Shares We’re Buying

Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) a nearly 10-year-old Massachusetts-based biotech company, suddenly the talk of the scientific community after they announced last month positive indications from their early work on a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The stock has gone up by over 40%

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL MAKE MUSIC DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  It didn’t come as a surprise to me when 2 banks intervened and literally blocked their customers from hearing from me, even though everything I was saying is 100% legal.  

  That’s because I’ve been exposing how the banks constantly take advantage of the little guy. 

But now the tables have turned… 

  I doubled my money by legally intercepting unofficial bank messages. 

  But the best part is that banks can’t stop us from milking this over and over again!  

  And now I’m giving you the opportunity to copy me… 

  Just give me a few minutes of your time. 

I’ll explain all of this when you visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/code 

 Kind Regards, 

 Jim Hunt