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How to survive the credit crunch – ten topical tips

Written by: Elizabeth Young

Article Overview: Ten useful contacts to help you reduce your costs during this period of financial uncertainty

How to survive the credit crunch – ten topical tips

1. Shop around on all your consumables. Don’t think that just because you did a price evaluation a couple of months ago that data is still valid! Visit mysupermarket.com to compare prices at the leading supermarkets and save money.

2. Experts expect gas and electricity costs to continue rising. Consider switching to a cheaper supplier, using one of the many switching sites such as theenergyshop.com.

3. The cost of petrol has risen enormously over the last year. If you register your details at petrolprices.com, it will tell you the cheapest petrol stations in your postcode area - and it is free. If you can, streamline all travel for work and cut out non-essential journeys. If you dismantle your roof rack, drive everywhere at 30mph and pump your tyres up properly, you will also save on fuel consumption. According to the RAC, motorists pay eight per cent more in fuel from having under-inflated tyres!

4. Look seriously at your printing costs. By refilling your laser printer cartridges instead of replacing each time you can save a large amount of money, typically around 50%. Visit www.tonertopup.co.uk to check out how much it will cost to refill your printer cartridge. Most laser printer cartridges can be refilled with their specific toner at least two or three times before other components wear out and for many laser printers, refilling is just a matter of removing a filler plug and pouring the powder in.

5. Look into your broadband costs. If you signed up with your broadband provider more than a year ago, you may be paying up to 50% more than you need. Check out deals at uswitch.com, a useful site which not only lists the prices of deals but also publishes customer satisfaction ratings.

6. When you are shopping on the Internet don’t forget that discount vouchers and promotional codes are available for lots of things. Try myvouchercodes.co.uk, sendmediscounts.co.uk or vouchercodes.com to access money-off codes that you can use online or in some cases print off and use in stores.

7. Every time you dial a number prefixed by 0870, 0871, 0844 or 0845, you're swelling the coffers of large companies such as British Gas, the DVLA, TV Licensing, Scottish Power and NatWest. Visit www.saynoto0870.com. This site lists well-known firms and their equivalent geographical numbers. For instance, if you have a licence enquiry, the DVLA wants you to ring 0870 2400009 - but you can call 01792 782341 and avoid the rip-off charges.

8. If you can, use Skype or another voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service to call abroad, rather than building up a huge phone bill. This is also great for UK calls. As for your mobile phone, don’t forget that Pay-as-you-go might be cheaper than a contract if you don't use your mobile all that much. When searching for a number, instead of ringing up directory inquiries use the free service 0800 1183733 or 0800 118FREE.

9. Make your savings work harder. Many accounts offer initial bonuses as part of their headline rate, so inevitably after six months or a year, you will find the rate you are earning is no longer attractive. Check your current rate and compare with what's available elsewhere on moneyfacts.co.uk.

10. Look into your council tax bill. In 1991 properties were given 'drive-by' valuations to assess which band they should be in: many ended up in the wrong band as a result, with some homeowners paying more than they should. Visit the 'Reclaim' section of moneysavingexpert.com to establish whether you are paying too much.

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Article Tags: amount of money, broadband provider, consumables, customer satisfaction ratings, discount vouchers, electricity costs, filler plug, fuel consumption, journeys, laser printer cartridges, laser printers, motorists, myvouchercodes, petrol stations, postcode area, price evaluation, printer cartridge, printing costs, roof rack, shopping on the internet



Related Forum Posts
Re: Corporate / Business Credit - It's funny you bring this topic up. I have a friend that works for a large Canadian bank and he is a financial analyst and advisor for several businesses. With the recent economic crunch, many of his clients are coming in and seeking lines of credit and loans to suffice their operating costs. He forecasts a lot of his clients will be asking for credit until the economy turns around. Many of the loan managers are declining applications because the business owners applying for these credits are actually stating in their application that they need it because they have been unable to deal with the recent crunch. Unfortunately, they at the bank do not look at this favorably. If they lend money, they want to know it will come back. If you report net losses for the last 6 months and expect them to lend money to you, it's going to be terribly difficult. I think that is why you are seeing a lot of businesses apply for credit, but not actually receive any assistance from the banks. The banks are also in crunch time and need to be mitigating their own risk as best they can.
Re: Ever been scammed... - [quote="David Castro":19sru6ia]Have you guys ever wondered why we get so many pre-approved credit cards on the mail?[/quote:19sru6ia] ??? Pre Approved credit cards? Hows does that work? In the UK its pretty hard to get anything on credit now with the credit crunch, was easy a few years back they would give you anything!
Re: Unsecured Lines of Credit - Hello, creditguru: Thanks for the recommendation. Here are two questions for you that will further help our forum members to make use of your suggestion: 1. How [u:p6n6npsx]does[/u:p6n6npsx] a business establish a strong business credit profile? (Especially small business and home business.) Please provide some tips or guidelines on how to do this effectively. 2. Commercial credit lines can be helpful to a business, but they do require responsible management on the part of the business owner. What tips, recommendations or cautions can you offer to business owners who are considering commercial lines of credit? Thanks. GT :-]
Re: home loan - Hello, It's hard to say whether or not a bank would be willing to give a loan with those credit scores. Typically in the past it would still be possible to get a loan, you would just end up with a higher interest rate. But with the turn the economy has taken and the extra restrictions lenders are imposing, I'd say your best chances of getting a loan in a year would be to continue working on increasing your credit score in the meantime. It's possibly to turn your credit score around in 6 months to a year, so I would suggest doing a search on "how to increase your credit score" and start putting some of the tips to use now. Best of luck to you! Stephanie Horne
Re: Ever been scammed... - a credit check runs for about $25 here too. Have you guys ever wondered why we get so many pre-approved credit cards on the mail? I've heard that car dealers sell your credit reports to those companies.


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