Published: 8/7/2010
The Bank of Scotland has a fantastic opportunity for first time buyers saving a deposit for their first home – doubled up savings.
The way this works is that savers who regularly deposit money into a Bank of Scotland savings account, up to a maximum amount saved of GBP5,000, will have the balance matched by the home builder Persimmon. The one proviso is that this only happens if the savings are used as a deposit on a new house.
A spokesman from the housebuilder saw it as making a real difference for first time buyers, though they would still need a considerable amount saved elsewhere in order to make the 25 percent minimum deposit most mortgage providers require. The Bank of Scotland are also in favour of the scheme as they want to help home buyers as much as they can.
A new survey by Saga Insurance has found that the grown up children of elderly parents may well end up financing their parents long term care from what was their inheritance. As a company that works exclusively with the over 50’s Saga Insurance took the opportunity to discuss their plans and found that only 10 percent of people have actually discussed long term care for elderly parents. More worrying still perhaps is that nearly half of them fail to appreciate the actual costs, which are around GBP25 – 30,000 per year. The view of nearly 60 percent of those who discussed the matter with Saga Insurance is that any inheritance will be used to finance the long term care parents may need. A large part of this may be that, with all the other financial pressures on people, trying to put aside money for parental care is just not possible, at least for the majority of the population.
A new savings account has been introduced by Saga Insurance that tracks five of the main savings accounts available online to ensure it is always competitive. Called the Online Top 5 Tracker this new savings account follows the movements of the five top paying savings accounts based on the internet. The new Saga Insurance savings account offers instant access to money and no limit on the number of times customers access the account it is sure to be popular. The way the tracker account works is by taking the average interest rate offered by the top 5 and then paying a level of interest that is within a quarter of a percent of that average. This ensures Saga Insurance savings account customers are always receiving a rate of interest that is competitive, no matter how the top 5 may change.
The latest Tesco Finance report on green activity shows that 53 percent of homeowners were driven by the chance to save money when it came to assessing energy efficient improvements in their homes. Rising fuel costs have also driven around 54 percent of respondents to change aspects of their home to make them more eco friendly said Tesco Finance. Money is not the only driver though as some 56 percent of people said their concerns regarding the environment had influenced their decisions to some extent. With so many demands on consumers pockets now and seemingly getting worse by the day it is no surprise to see people seeking ways to save money said a Tesco Finance spokesperson. The fact that these changes can also help the environment is an additional benefit for everyone.
