If you are in financial difficulties, a short term loan may not be the best way to solve your problems – it may mean that you end up getting into greater difficulties later on. Putting off the problem is not the same as solving the problem. There are numerous charitable organisations such as Community Money Advice who will give you free, no-obligation advice and you won’t need to pay them a penny for their help.

Apply online for a loan – Direct using our simple application form

Don’t assume that your monthly salary is in your account and available for you to draw on untill you’ve seen it’s there. If your payment usually goes in on the 27th of the month and is unexpectedly a day late you may find that any payments you have scheduled for that day will take you overdrawn or subject to unpaid item charges. If the payment is to pay off your credit card you’ll be faced with a double-whammy – extra credit card charges as well!

If you find yourself in this position then the most important thing is to take action early. Burying your head in the sand or putting the bills in the dustbin are not options. You need to face your problems head on.

There are numerous schemes and websites offering help with debt. Some are free, backed by charities, others involve fees. Make sure whichever adviser you get that you do so with your eyes wide open – investigate the costs and what exactly it is that they have to offer.

Of course anyone can set up a website and say that they are offering “debt advice” – in reality they may be offering little more than advertisements for loan companies who “consolidate” all your loans into one. Make sure that anyone you sign up with for help is registered with the Office of Fair Trading.

There are two initial steps to take. Firstly assess all your incomings and outgoings and budget your expenditure. Cut out all the non-essentials that you can. Secondly, with the help of your debt advisor sort out all unpaid bills – the amounts and who you owe them to. Your advisor can then send a letter to all your creditors explaining clearly your financial position and seeking to come to an arrangement with them.

Payday loans without credit check work by allowing the customer to borrow money against their next pay cheque usually from a direct lender, loan provider or other financial institution. Most people are eligible to receive a payday loan — as long as they are at least 18 years of age, have a job, and receive regular pay.

If you need to cover unexpected expenses, such as an emergency household repair a payday loan may be exactly what you need. Payday loans are only intended to be relatively small amounts and are only intended to relieve short-term financial difficulties The amount that you will be approved for is dependent on the amount of your salary. The higher the amount of your take-home pay, the more that you are likely to be eligible to borrow.

Always ensure that you research for the best method of borrowing for your circumstances and never borrow more than you can afford to pay back.

So this looked like a great deal – but of course things don’t run smoothly!

- I got a mountain of mail from Santander, as many as 8 different items of post in one day with account details, pass codes and all sorts
- Buried in very small print was the fact that I’d been allocated an overdraft of £0
- When I phoned up to enquire about this they automatically reset my internet banking passcode (even though we hadn’t even mentioned internet banking) so I couldn’t access my account online
- They said I could reapply to their brokers to get the old overdraft matched, but I’m still waiting to hear from them
- and finally and most exasperating – my old bank had a standing order to pay a monthly amount to my Santander Credit Card. When the new Santander Account sent the payment it was returned. A nonpayment would then mean I’d missed making my minimum payment for the month and thus accrue interest. I phones both the bank account department and the credit card department and they both told me it was the other one I needed to speak to as there was nothing they could do! Allegedly it’s all ok now and they say I won’t be charged interest and it was down to a system failure – we’ll see what next month’s statement says!

So not a good experience with santander so far!

Standard Life Shares have pretty well followed the fortunes of the wider footsie index, since their launch.

The low point for the shares was in early 2009 when the shares bottomed out at around 130p a share. The shares ended 2010 at around 216p, underperforming the wider index for the year. These figures are well off the highs that the shares earlier enjoyed in the mid-300′s.

If you own shares from the original flotation, you may be able to take advantage of Standard Life’s own share dealing scheme. Alternatively cheap share dealing is available from Halifax, Barclays and TD Waterhouse on an execution-only basis.
Sell Standard Life Shares

There a ppears to be the beginnings of a price war between some of the biggest lenders.

In the last two weeks, six major lenders have cut the rates on their unsecured personal loans, according to research from Moneynet. However, the reductions are only targeted at borrowers requiring larger loans. For smaller amounts a )% credit card may be abetter bet. Amongst those who have cut their rates recently are Barclays, Sainsburys and M&S.

Don’t assume that you’re on the best deal for your gas, phone electric and other utilities. Suppliers are always changing their tarrifs, so it’s definitely worth reviewing your energy suppliers. The company that offered the best deal a year ago may not provide the best deal now. A number of businesses such as u-switch will compare suppliers for you to choose the best deal. Many of these make commission from the suppliers.

Students are leaving uni with ever increasing levels of debt. However the good news is that a student loan is just about the cheapest type of loan you can get. As the rate of interest is pegged very closely to the rate of inflation, it is alomst effectively an interest free loan.

Current arrangements mean you don’t need to start paying back the student loan till the April after you finish your course, and then it’s only when your earnings reach £15,000 per annum. The amount of loan you can get varies but the maximum loan is £5175 for students with low family income, studying in London but not at home. For most people, since the loan is kept to the inflation rate, there is little point in repaying a student loan early. If you are likely to take out any further loans to finance a car or house, keep your student loan. Even if you are not, you might be better off investing the spare cash. you are likely to receive a better interest rate than the rate you are paying on your student loan. Student Loans are also available from many high street banks.