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Who is the worst payday lender? I’m not sure of the answer to that one myself but certainly the most honest seems to be Wonga. I have written a new book that will be launched soon in my Simple Guide series called APR – A Simple Guide.

Amongst many crooked activities revolving around the abuse of APR I talk about payday loans. I agree with a comment made in Credit Today when they suggest that instead of displaying a ‘representative APR’ in their adverts, payday lenders should display ‘lots’ and leave it at that for the usefulness it provides.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

I give an example in the book of a call made to a Payday lender who quoted a representative APR of, I believe 2,450%. However this is the rate if I borrowed money on the 1^st of the month and repaid it on the 31^st. After questioning a very nice chap on the phone before he hung up on me he gave me the amount of interest I would pay in cash terms if I had the loan for a complete month.

However, when I explained that it was less than a week to my payday, would they still charge the same fee that I would pay if I had the loan for a month, the answer was yes. When I explained that this reduction in time would seriously affect the APR the phone went dead. Everything about APR is a joke and is completely misused by those lending and misunderstood by those borrowing.

Recently Wonga, in an attempt to reflect more closely the borrowing of their customers, changed their worked example in their advertising by moving from £207 over 20 days (£47.20 in charges) to £150 over 18 days (£33.49 in charges). Nothing wrong with that you might think, if anything it is taking an honest approach to their lending, tell it as it is.

But unfortunately because of the ridiculous way that APR is calculated on short term loans it moved the APR from 4,214% to 5,853%. As a result the press had a field day, balloons went up, old people had sticks waved at them as they were identified as the old kindly people in the Wonga ad and brown, rather smelly stuff, was thrown at the office fan of many journalists as they fought to condemn Wonga.

The Daily Mail said, ‘Payday firm’s 1,600% rise leads to calls for tighter regulation.’ The Guardian also noted the rise with ‘Increase calls for a cap on the cost of short-term credit.’ In my book I’m calling for a massive change in the way that the world measures credit and this furore strengthens my resolve because APR is total nonsense.

Let me break this down for you without giving away my new approach to lending. Faced with a rise of 1,600% in the interest and charges that we would now be expected to pay, as illustrated by the Wonga example, you and I might throw a tantrum but what does it really mean?

What caused there to be hundreds of column inches to be written in the press about this massive rise in interest? If you take the first example from Wonga and break it down you will find that you will pay £207 over 20 days, or £1.14 per day per £100 in charges. In the second example you will pay £1.24 per day per £100 in charges. So this extra 1,600% amounts to ten pence per day per £100 that you borrow.

The massive reaction was over 10 pence per day per £100 borrowed. What a bloody nonsense – read my book when it comes out, you are in for some shocking revelations!

Oh and before you get the wrong impression I’m not a big fan of payday lending but if properly controlled with full disclosure there is a place for it for those struggling with their finances. Official statement over!

Related articles

• APR ‘confusing’ say payday lenders (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

OK here is today’s test, what is an STD. Nope – you’re wrong according to an article in the Antipodean periodical – The Australian. They ran an article that gave advice to their readers on how to reognise, avoid and treat disgusting STDs.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The piece was written by Larke Riemer (that’s a woman with a very strange name), director of women’s markets at Australian bank – Westpac. With the holiday season underway and the fears attached to drunken nights whilst enjoying the benefits of sun, sea and sex one may welcome a few words of cautionary wisdom from Larke (no I don’t know how to pronounce it either).

But the article was nothing of the sort, Ms Riemer, being a true banker, wasn’t talking about dodgy rashes in intimate places but something completely different, she called it Sexually Transmitted Debt.

She was referring to the unwanted burdens that people (mainly women) coming out of relationships can find themselves stuffed with. So the advice was not about the dangers of unprotected sex but more about unprotected debt, telling people to talk honestly to each other about money issues, make sure that you read everything that is financially committing before signing and don’t leave your name on utility bills before leaving.

I think I had better suppress any further comment before I dig a serious hole for myself. Goodbye.

For years I have campaigned for the inclusion of ‘personal finance’ into the National Curriculum. It is tragic to think that our youth are now expected to stay on at school till they are 18, an age when they can legally sign a contract, without the slightest knowledge as to how the finance systems work and how to manage their debt.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

They are seduced into taking out loans and HP for all sorts of goods from phones and computers to cars and even mortgages without fully understanding the commitment they are entering into and the consequences.

In my book Car Finance – A Simple Guide I have a whole section relating to ‘when things go wrong’. It shows you what your rights are and how to deal with debt, something that most lenders would prefer you didn’t know. But it is important that everyone knows, especially school leavers.

So I am delighted that personal finance has now been included in the new National Curriculum for England. This move means that financial education will be included in Mathematics and citizenship education lessons in all maintained secondary schools from September 2014.

This will make a huge difference to the future lives of millions of youngsters. The only downside is that it isn’t compulsory in all schools. Academies and free schools are not bound by the National Curriculum, we need to work on them to complete the circle and encompass all of our youth.

In my opinion financial health is as important to kids as physical health, both can destroy you if you don’t take good care of it.

Related articles

• ‘Money’ to be taught in schools – with lessons on state spending (telegraph.co.uk)

Call me old fashioned but I still find it amazing how easily individuals part with their personal details to companies they know nothing about. I write about this time and again and still people are dopey enough to part with every piece of information a crook needs to open a bank account in your name or take out a credit card.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

If I wanted details from a number of high net worth individuals I would offer a great car deal on say a BMW X5 or M3, either car for say £299 + VAT per month. Absolutely impossible to get to those figures. I would then set up a dummy web site and wait for the enquiries to flood in.

I would have a very believable person answering the phone explaining how the boss has committed to a number of cars in order to achieve the very low rates on offer, all we need to do is take a finance application from them and away we go.

I would ask for some proofs such as a copy of a driving licence and passport along with a few bills and for good measure a copy of the front and back of a credit card. Oh and by the way last 3 months bank statements wouldn’t go amiss when applying for credit!

It would be that simple as people are greedy, they want everything on the cheap and that is what the crooks rely upon. Oh and by the way the scenario I described isn’t far fetched, it actually happened!

This leads me to the latest figures released by fraud prevention service, CIFAS. In the first 5 months of this year nearly 60,000 people were victims of identity fraud. There were more than 46,000 cases of impersonation over the period where fraudsters used individual identities to open new accounts.

They also showed that more than 13,500 were victims of ‘takeover’ when an existing account is broken into and hijacked. Around 96,000 confirmed frauds were reported to CIFAS in the first 5 months of this year.

By the way the identity theft I referred to earlier was on BMW X5’s, the same company carried out the same fraud when advertising Vauxhall Astras at well under the market rate, so you don’t have to be a high net worth individual.

Related articles

• European Study Reveals ID Fraud To Be Rife In UK (misco.co.uk)

For years my blog, www.thebestcarfinanceblog.co.uk has remained at number 1 on Google. Search Car Finance Blog and you will find my blog at number 1 out of 342 million (as of today, 5th August 2013). This is no mean achievement but it must say something about the quality and quantity of information that I post.

Even after being off line for several months whilst recovering from a hip operation I still remained at number 1. My next target is to take my book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide to number 1 in the best selling finance book list on Amazon. So if you would like to help and gain some insight into car finance please click the link below to get yourself a copy. You can buy the book as a downloadable Kindle or an old fashioned paperback book. Best wishes Graham Hill

English: Google Logo officially released on May 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bits & Pieces: Boris has set up a task force in London to carry out road improvements. A budget of £30 million was announced by the task force when they unveiled their plans which included more 20mph zones, proposals to improve cycling routes plus more travel at off-peak times.

If you’re reading this Boris I don’t suppose you could bung a few quid in the direction of West Sussex in order to fill a few bloody potholes could you? I’ll take that as a no then!

According to Home Secretary, William Hague, foreign diplomats and embassies owe more than £68.6 million in unpaid parking fines, congestion charges and business rates. Apparently the biggest culprits are the Americans, with unpaid fines of £7.2 million. I have to say William – your debt collection is shit! If you need a hand I know a couple of gentlemen that know their way around a baseball bat if you get my drift.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Ever had a row with your neighbour? If you have it is most likely to have been about parking, as according to the AA (not the group who like a drink or two) fall outs between neighbours, in the majority of cases, are over parking.

In a third of all quarrels investigated they turned out to be over a blocked access or driveway or parking outside a neighbour’s home. For goodness sake sort your lives out! Good grief! Do you have a little receptacle in your car into which you drop your loose change for use when parking?

If you don’t, you should! It would seem that a staggering £1.3 billion is wasted every year by drivers who don’t have the correct money when they pay for parking at the pay and display ticket machines.

The study, carried out by Direct Line, found that drivers overpaid on average by £2.19 per week or £113 wasted each year. All for the sake of throwing your loose change in a pot in the car!

Department for Transport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An issue that gets talked about a lot without a lot of perceived action is driving whilst under the influence of drugs, both illegal and prescription. Yet again the Government has announced a crackdown (excuse the pun) on those driving whilst under the influence of drugs.

The new rules will make it easier for the police to prosecute and target eight drugs including cocaine and cannabis as well as some drugs used in medicines. However, in the case of the latter the levels will be set sufficiently high so that people using them legitimately won’t get caught.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The Department for Transport believes the likely increase in enforcement could see the number of annual casualties drop by 6%. The rules do not allow the police to pull over a driver for a random test, as they can do with drink driving, so the driver must have committed a traffic offence before he can be stopped and tested.

Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond, said ‘Drug driving ruins lives, so we are proposing a zero tolerance approach with those who drive under the influence of illegal drugs.’

Related articles

• Press release: Tackling the menace of drug driving (gov.uk)
• Drug-driving proposals unveiled (bbc.co.uk)
• One spliff and you’re off the road: crackdown on drug driving (standard.co.uk)

Rear-facing infant car seat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I sometimes agree with rules that come out from the EU as an imposition upon our legal system. I have to say not often but today is one of those very rare days. Being a dad myself and having spent a fortune on car seats over the early years of my kids lives and still feeling that the seats were not adequate I welcome the new rules to be known as i-Size.

The current rules called ECE R44/04 mean children that weigh over 9kg can be put in a forward facing seat. But by basing the decision on the weight of the child could mean that some parents put children in front facing seats to early, as young as 9 months old.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

This could lead to some serious neck and back injuries in the event of an accident. The new rules will make it mandatory to keep children in rear facing seats until the age of 15 months which will make it easier for parents to select the right seat.

The new regulations will also require the seats to be tested more rigorously and will now also include a side impact test to provide more protection for the baby’s head in the event of an accident.

Whilst the new rules will gradually be phased in the old seats built to the current regulations can be used till 2018 when the current rules will cease and be replaced by i-Size. Anything that makes our children and grand children safer in cars has my support.

Related articles

• Car Finance Experts Car Loan 4U comments on UK youngsters at risk with 50% of car seats improperly installed (prweb.com)
• Seat law to change (stuff.co.nz)

Car Radio (Photo credit: nedrichards)

You know when you are on your computer and you start searching for holidays then by the magic of technology every time you open a page or carry out a search for something else you suddenly see holiday ads flash in front of you on the screen?

Well the same is about to happen on your radio. Instead of hearing general ads during programmes you will start to hear targeted ads.

Known as Aha Radio they say that instead of you hearing an ad for We Buy Any Car.Com you could hear we’ll buy your car for £8,900 based on your car being a 2007 BMW 320d with 80,000 miles on the clock, which of course is your car.

The new radio is in fact an Internet platform that will be bundled into infotainment systems in new cars from Porsche, Mazda and Ford so far. Their aim is to target the customers as they do on the Internet rather than scattergun.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The ad breaks will be tailored based on the car you are driving, where you are going and where you are. For example it will detect that you are about to pass a branch of Starbucks and alert you to any deals going on at the time.

Safety experts might have something to say about this as it might prove to be a major distraction. A clever idea though. By Graham Hill Car Finance

English: 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car at the 2011 Washington Auto Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Google led the way in the US by gaining permission to test their driverless cars on public roads. We are now about to follow suit with the Government giving permission for driverless cars to be tested on public roads in the UK, preferably somewhere in the North as I live in the Sarf.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Researchers at Oxford University have been co-developing autonomous car tech with Nissan for some time and have already tested a prototype based on a Leaf (that’s their electric car not something hanging off a tree) on private roads and test tracks.

The announcement means that they will be able to carry out more extensive tests on quiet rural and suburban roads although to begin with they will have to test with a back-up driver as a safety precaution. By Graham Hill Car Finance

Related articles

• Report: UK to begin testing driverless cars in bid to ease congestion (autoblog.com)