Essential Finance Information

By Alison Steed
MyMoneyDiva.com

Internet banking users have reached the highest level yet in the UK, with 22m banking online to deal with their current accounts, according to data from the Payments Council, yet online bankers could be losing a staggering £439m a year in transactions that go astray because of a lack of protection.

More than half of the 41.5m internet users are now banking online as a main way of dealing with their current account. Most of us using online banking services do so simply to check statements and balances, but increasingly we are also carrying out transactions online too.

While convenient, if you make a mistake with an online transaction then you could struggle to get your money back as there is no current legislation in this specific area which can protect you.

If you enter just one wrong digit in the bank account number of the transfer beneficiary you could be in for a serious problem. As much as £439m could have been “lost” to Britons alone in this way, and the Financial Ombudsman cannot even be called upon to help.

You may well never see that hard-earned cash again if it goes into the account of a stranger. An accidental transfer of £2,000 into the wrong account put one unfortunate bank worker in this very position last year.

If a mistaken transfer is being processed already, the person who made the error must first contact their bank who can then only request that the receiving bank contacts the beneficiary of the funds to ask that they be returned.

But the current law only allows the bank to “request” that a mistaken transfer be refunded. If the receiving bank chooses to deny permission or to ignore the request entirely, there is nothing your bank can do.

To add insult to injury, it’s very difficult for the person who made the errant transaction to take legal action against the receiving account holder to recover the money, as the Data Protection Act prohibits the bank from revealing customer details.

In turn this makes it impossible to chase any individual for the money as you wouldn’t know who to take court action against. Legally you could ask a judge to rule that the banks give up personal details so that you could take action against an individual, but this would cost you more money. Having already lost money through the original error, this is hardly the ideal option for getting it back.

As the law stands, a person could legitimately ’steal’ your money and it would not be regarded as theft as it appeared in their account though no action of their own.

While you would hope that most people would do the right thing and give that money back, there is no guarantee – and having some extra cash appear out of nowhere while many people are struggling to make ends meet, is something that is likely to be hard to pass up.

We are working on trying to build a case for the law to be changed to offer more protection to online banking users, but for now, there are five top tips on what you can do to try to protect yourself:

1. Be sure to check the details you have entered closely. You may want to ask someone else in the house to check with you.

2. Take extra care when selecting a recipient via a drop-down menu - this is a favourite option on online banking sites and it is not difficult to click on the wrong name.

3. Get in touch with the bank immediately if you realise you have made a mistake - even if this means an out-of-hour email. If you let the bank know quickly enough they may be able to stop the payment from leaving your account.

4. Consider using telephone banking or going into a branch of your bank if you have a large amount of money to transfer - using online banking for large amounts is risky. You will at least have some comeback then if the bank teller inputs the wrong details. It may be that online banking is a better option for you, but if this is the case extra care should be taken. Many banks will have a limit on how much can be transferred in one day in any case - usually this is around £10,000.

5. For larger sums, consider doing a series of smaller transactions to avoid losing a lot of money if something does go wrong.

MyMoneyDiva.com would like to hear from anyone who has had problems along these lines. Please go to www.mymoneydiva.com/community and tell us about what happened.

Alison Steed is the editor of the personal finance website for women MyMoneyDiva.com.

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When cash is needed in a flash, fast loans are the quickest solution—and it’s fast and easy!  Cold cash can be received in as fast as an hour, mostly.  As long as the application is filled out during business hours, the needed money can be received in an hour.Quick loan approvals are because of certain factors.Be reminded that these cash loans have terms that vary from one lending merchant to the next.  At any time, a particular lender can turn down a loan application; it has the right to do so.  On the part of the borrower, he or she must have a sound understanding of what kind of loan is offered and its terms and conditions because, ultimately, the loan is something one has to repay.

Longer loan payments have additional fees. That’s the top reason why it’s a good idea to repay the loan as soon as possible. People must know if they are able to repay their loans on the set due date.  The borrower usually has the next payday as the time to repay the loan.  The loan repayment can be extended but more interest charges may be added, depending on the terms of the lending company.

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Where To Begin

Your first step is to get something to write on or go on your computer and look for a good program to use. You have to make categories so that you will know what to spend your money. None of the categories should be named miscellaneous in your budget. One of the categories should have rent, house payments, or another living expense. A category labeled utilities should contain things such as water, cable, electricity, etc. If you have kids then you should have a category for them. Restaurants and groceries should be in two different categories under food. You and your spouse will need two different categories if you can afford them. There should be a category for personal items like toilet paper and soap and even a category for car stuff. These should show you where your money is going every month.

Second Thing

Put aside a amount of money for your bills that you won’t touch. Phone bills and rent might be listed in this category. If the rates are unchangeable then it will help your budget a lot. This will show you how much money goes into each category of your budget. You should then place the amount you normally would spend in a month into each category. For a month you should live and carefully record your spending to find out what you normally spend on things. How much you spend on things may surprise you.

The Last Thing

In the end what matters is that your income can cover your budget. Funds may need to be cut down for this. At the end of each month there should be some extra money to put into savings. It is hard, but you must stick out a budget. If you decide you want to go to a really expensive restaurant but don’t have the money in the budget then you can’t go. It can be really hard to discipline yourself into not having everything you want but will be worth it in the end.

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There are few exceptions to the fact that many struggle through college. Everything seemed impossible to be paid. my tuition, books, rent, electric, and other bills had to be worked out and paid. I thought I might go hungry after having to pay for all that. I needed to go through and budget as little money as possible to each category. My family needed a new program that I found and used. I learned so many new things through this. The expenses were somehow paid for by my small amount of income. This program is still beneficial and used often in my family.

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Six months ago, my employer started to lay off people.  In fact, I was in the first batch that was let go even if I had put in a number of years with the company.  To date, I haven’t been lucky finding a job.  The unemployment check I receive each week is not enough to keep my family’s life  comfortable Discount Coupons

I couldn’t afford to lose some luxuries like the telephone and the internet service.  A few times every week, I go to the public library to check my emails.  I also make some updates on my resume and tailor it to the ads I’ve read about.  As I print off my resume, I also print my latest coupons from SaveGroceryCoupons.com, a website that had helped me put food on the table for my family in the last few months. 

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The library doesn’t allow prolong use of the computres so I don’t have much time to browse unimportant sites when I’m surfing.  I appreciate SaveGroceryCoupons.com’s website a lot.  The site is so well-organized and easy to use.  My favorite section of the site is where you click on “Featured Coupons” and it shows you your options. 

The coupons on SaveGroceryCoupons.com presents brand name products, a feature that is so important to me.  I have tested the groceries from other discount stores wherein you have to pay for the use of the cart and buy your own grocery bags.  The groceries have strange brand names and I wouldn’t sacrifice quality for my family.  Coupons

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