Mar 4 2009

Top Essential Cost Cutting Pointers

If you are urgently looking for some quick and easy ways to save some cash this year, then here are a few essential tips of simple money saving pointers that you might like to consider for your own finances.

Review Your Credit Card Balance
How much balance do you currently have outstanding on your credit cards? Are you paying the balance off fully each month or is there a balance rolling over each month? If the latter, then you are paying interest on your balance and this could be costing you a small annual fortune.

Of course, the most efficient response would be to pay the card off in full and to be incurring no monthly interest at all. But what if this is not possible? Well the next step is to review your card. Are you already on a low promotional balance, or are you paying standard credit card rates? Whichever, unless you are paying no interest then maybe it is time for you to review your credit card and see if you can move the balance over to a cheaper credit card.

Speak to your local bank and see what they have on offer and what the monthly cost would be if you transferred your balance over, not forgetting the cost of any balance transfer fees. Many credit cards are offering 0% balance transfers for 12 months or so at the moment. Even just moving the current balance over and paying the monthly minimum fee might be an answer in the short term, whilst you keep using your existing card and paying that off in full. Remember that some credit cards will allocate payments to balance transfers before purchases, so be careful if you also start spending on the card. Whilst you might not be paying interest on the balance transfer, you might be paying on purchases.

Review Your Borrowing
How much have you currently got borrowed in your mortgage and with the recent collapse in mortgage interest rates is your mortgage serving you as best it can? Have a quick word with a local free mortgage broker who can understand your personal financial circumstances and ask them to compare mortgage rates for you. Is the deal you are on the best available to you and what would it cost to move to something cheaper? It may be cheaper for you to stay put if you have high exit penalty charges, but if there aren’t penalty fee or they aren’t too great, then you might find you can save yourself a tidy sum by moving to another lender. When your mortgage advisor compares top mortgage rates for you, they should also be able to tell you how much it will cost to move.

That’s just two simple ideas to save you potentially hundreds per year. But if you want to save some money in the short term, then you can start saving straight away.

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