Posts Tagged ‘price’

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Should we stretch for a mortgage?

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/10/property-mortgage-renting-self-employed

Q We are renting?a house, having sold our flat in December 2008. We have about £70,000 in the bank and would like to buy again. My partner has a permanent (and, we think, safe) job that he’s been in for 11 years. I have been self-employed on and off since 2006 (but I don’t have any ongoing accounts – I was claiming unemployment benefit for a couple of months in 2007 and have claimed state maternity allowance in the last two years, too) but I’m self-employed until the end of July 2009 (it will have been a job for one year).

I am looking to work again after this job ends (there is a chance it may continue, but nothing is definite). We have a toddler and would like another child relatively soon, but I’d also like to remain working.?

I earn a good income and we have lots of spare cash (I do save a bit), but when I’m not working?we can just about get by on my partner’s wages.?

I’m not sure whether to stick at the freelance work, or if I’d be best getting something permanent that will count towards a mortgage – but I know I’ll earn?less, possibly half my?freelance day.?

I guess my question is, how much should we stretch ourselves in terms of the mortgage? If we shop around for mortgage offers, then we will know our situation – I think it’s possible that my income could be taken into account (but it’s so uncertain). We are thinking about moving out of London to get a cheaper property. However, I am more likely to get work in London and I can’t see how we can both logistically commute with our small child (I don’t want to leave him too long). HW

A Being self-employed is not, in itself, a barrier to getting a mortgage but you do need to have at least two years’ evidence of income. This doesn’t necessarily need to be formal accounts, as lenders will happily take tax statements issued by HM Revenue & Customs as evidence. If you don’t have these, I would start to worry.

If you are self-employed and tax is not deducted from what you earn at source (which is unlikely), you are legally required to file a self-assessment tax return each year. If you haven’t been doing this, you face financial penalties and a big bill for unpaid tax.

But, assuming that you have been filing tax returns, you should also have tax statements which will provide the evidence of income that you will need to have your income taken into account when applying for a mortgage. So you don’t need to give up your freelance work just to get a mortgage.

As far as how much you should stretch yourselves, a lot depends on your future income. If you are planning to have another child, you need to take that into account when looking at the cost of mortgage repayments. And you also need to look carefully at the financial implications of moving out of London. Although you may be able to get a cheaper property, you have to factor in the cost of commuting – not to mention child care costs for the time you spend on your way to and from work.

  • Mortgages
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Mortgage protection could become mis-selling scandal

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/09/mortgage-insurance-warning

Don’t cut protection in face of rising unemployment, regulator tells insurers

City watchdog Lord Turner attacked insurers today for threatening to water down unemployment protection on mortgages, warning he would investigate any attempt to push through price rises due to the recession.

The chairman of the Financial Services Authority warned the industry it risked repeating the mistakes of past scandals such as the mis-selling of endowment mortgages.

Concern has grown that insurers plan to increase prices for customers with mortgage payment protection insurance and restrict the scope of policies to reduce payout costs, ahead of an expected surge in unemployment in the second half of the year.

He told an audience of insurance executives at a conference organised by the Association of British Insurers that the industry would provoke an angry response from customers, which the regulator would need to take seriously.

“Whilst it is natural for the industry to respond to changes in risk, this raises issues with both unfair contract terms, disclosure and our ‘treating customers fairly’ principles,” he said.

“How many consumers would have taken up this cover if they had known that at the very time they needed the protection the most, the price of it could significantly increase or the amount of cover decrease?

“This is an area where insurers must expect us to intervene to address poor consumer outcomes. And more than that they must think strategically about the impact of their actions on the sector’s reputation.”

The warning is understood to follow moves by the Post Office to raise prices on its mortgage protection policies that cover payments during periods of unemployment or after accidents and during long-term sickness. In April the Post Office gave 30 days notice that it also planned to reduce the level of cover from a maximum £2,500 a month to £1,500. Claimants will also have to wait for 90 days after stopping work before they receive any money. The delay was previously 30 days.

Turner said he was aware the number of people with the insurance had fallen in recent years. In 2005 there were 2.5m policies covering just over a fifth of the 11.6m mortgages in the UK. By 2007 MPPI policies had fallen to 1.2m and 700,000 in 2008.

He said: “While mortgage payment protection insurance has not previously been a major focus of our concerns, it may become one in an economic downturn. As the likelihood of unemployment-related claims increases, some insurers are responding by increasing premiums or reducing cover for existing policyholders.”

The FSA and the Competition Commission have spent the last four years investigating accusations of profiteering by lenders that sell payment protection insurance on loans and credit cards. Last year the commission ruled that selling practices were so bad that it banned the sale of the most profitable product until at least a fortnight after the purchase of a credit card or loan. The industry appealed, but was unsuccessful.

Turner said he would not hesitate to repeat the enforcement measures on insurers that contravened rules on the sale of mortgage payment protection.

He said: “The recent problems may have been primarily in the banking industry and that is where the most significant changes are needed, but in an era of heightened public expectations that the FSA will identify and prevent major problems from recurring, we need to reinforce our capability across all high impact firms.

“And we need to respond to people’s expectations that we will be more forceful in pursuing enforcement against reckless or abusive practices which cause customers harm.

“We certainly need to ensure that our responses are proportionate and are focused on what matters: that they are outcome focused. And we will also continue to look for market solutions where they are available, such as in addressing contract certainty and commission disclosure.”

  • Regulators
  • Insurance industry
  • Mortgages
  • Insurance
  • Payment protection insurance
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House prices buoyed by property shortage

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/09/rics-house-prices

A combination of rising buyer inquiries and a shortage of homes for sale is supporting house prices, Rics says

Increasing interest from new buyers plus a shortage of properties for sale is helping to stabilise house prices, according to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Rics’s members said buyer inquiries increased for the seventh month in a row in May, and at the fastest rate since 1999. Estate agents also saw a rise in sales, albeit from very depressed levels. The average number of properties sold over the past three months rose to 11.8, up from 10.6. Fewer surveyors also reported a fall in house prices.

At the same time new instructions have continued to fall: the average number of properties on estate agents’ books has dropped in the past month to 58.4 from 69.4, and by more than a third over the past year.

Rics said the lack of new supply coupled with the increase in activity is providing some support for house prices, but warned there could be further price falls to come. Spokesman Ian Perry said: “The housing market does appear to be close to bottoming out with activity picking up in a material way and prices at last stabilising.

“However, it is important to remember that the lack of supply has been as important in underpinning prices as the rise in demand. Moreover, with the economic backdrop still quite uncertain, unemployment set to continue increasing sharply and finance for first-time buyers still in short supply, there are a number of significant obstacles for the market to overcome over the coming months.”

The findings from Rics were supported by house price figures published today by the government’s communities department , which showed prices rose by 1.1% month-on-month in April, after dropping 1.3% in March. This means the year-on-year fall in house prices narrowed to 13% in April from 13.6% in March.

In London, the improving market is being driven by first-time buyers who have built up equity over the past two years, or who have been lent deposits by their parents, taking advantage of lower prices, according to estate agent Ludlow Thompson.

Director, Stephen Ludlow, said: “Sentiment has changed considerably – at the end of last year nobody could see a floor for prices. Whilst prices may not have reached the very bottom buyers are no longer worried that the market is still in meltdown mode.

“The pickup in demand in May was so sudden that it has been the lack of supply of properties actually on the market that caused the bounce in prices. We’ve had to move lettings staff on to sales to deal with the surge in activity.”

However, Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said he remained sceptical that house prices had bottomed out.

“It is not uncommon for there to be months of rising prices when house prices are still trending down. Most recently, the Halifax reported that house prices rose by 2% month-on-month in January but then fell sharply during February-April before rising again in May.

“Housing market activity is still very low by past norms and at a level consistent with falling house prices, and despite markedly rising buyer interest we believe that the pickup in actual house purchases is likely to be gradual and fitful for some time to come.”

  • House prices
  • Property
  • First-time buyers
  • Housing market
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House prices rise for second time in three months

Friday, May 29th, 2009

• House prices rose by 1.2% in May, Nationwide says
• Increase is a surprise to analysts who expected further falls

House prices rose by 1.2% in May, reducing the annual rate of price falls to 11.3%, Nationwide building society said today.

The lender’s latest monthly snapshot of the market showed the average price of a UK property now stands at £154,016, up from £151,861 at the end of last month.

The rise, which is the second in three months and more than offsets April’s 0.3% drop, will come as a surprise to analysts who, according to Reuters, had been predicting a 0.9% fall over the month.

The three-monthly figures, which are a better indication of market trends, still showed a fall, although at 0.5% this was smaller than the 3% drop recorded in April and the lowest fall since January last year.

However, the lender said it was too early to say if the market had turned and the upwards movement in prices could be a result of a lack of supply.

Nationwide’s chief economist, Martin Gahbauer, said: “During the downturn of the early 1990s there were many months during which prices rose, only to fall back down again in subsequent periods.

“In the current downturn the combination of rapidly rising unemployment and tight access to credit implies that the last of the price declines has probably not been seen yet.”

Gahbauer said figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed that after a year of oversupply of properties the balance had recently stabilised.

“Although it remains at a very low level by historical standards and continues to point to further house price declines, the [supply-demand] ratio has recently stabilised somewhat and this probably explains some of the improvement in price trends over the last few months.”

Low stock levels

A number of factors have been behind a fall in available properties in recent months. Would-be sellers have been deterred by falling prices and some have opted to let their homes rather than accepting what they see as too low a price, while others have decided to delay a sale and stay put.

Meanwhile, construction work has all but ground to a halt with the number of homes being built falling to record lows.

Gahbauer said it was unclear how long stock levels would remain low. “Potential sellers of existing homes who had previously delayed the listing of their property may not be able to wait indefinitely, particularly if they have seen a loss of income due to the deteriorating labour market situation,” he said.

“The recent widely reported increases in new buyer enquires may also encourage more of these reluctant sellers to test the market in the coming months.”

Added to this, the large number of “reluctant landlords” who had entered the rental market had pushed down rents making letting a less attractive option for anyone who wanted to move. “If the supply of homes on to the market does increase, the recent moderation in the pace of house price falls may not be sustained,” Gahbauer said.

Sales remain low

Since the start of the year, estate agents and surveyors have been reporting an increase in demand from would-be buyers, although figures for mortgage approvals show sales remain low.

Despite moves in the mortgage market, which have seen some lenders increase the maximum they are willing to lend, brokers say first-time buyers are still struggling to raise finance to buy a home and as a result any “green shoots” in the housing market are likely to remain stunted.

Michael White, chief executive of online mortgage broker Email Mortgages.com, said he was surprised by Nationwide’s figures and “would still counsel caution” about any sustained improvement in house prices.

He said: “Recent figures issued by both the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the British Bankers’ Association showed particularly weak lending levels and lenders continue to show little appetite to lend, particularly at 90% loan-to-value levels and above.

“Until this can be rectified many would-be purchasers will remain locked out of the market.”

Figures from Neilsen and comScore showed traffic to property websites was also down 8% in April, suggesting buyer interest remains low.

  • House prices
  • Property
  • Housing market
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Ten of the best … ways to garden on a budget

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

You don’t have to dig deep to be a successful gardener. Jill Papworth looks at how you can have a splash of colour without splashing out a small fortune

Ideas for gardening on a budget will be in full bloom at this week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. But for those who can’t afford a ticket, here’s a selection of money saving tips.

1. Get free advice

There’s no need to splash out on expensive gardening manuals – there are many places to get good advice for nothing. If you’re a novice who doesn’t know your perennials from your hardy annuals you can find out the basics from experts such as the Royal Horticultural Society, the BBC, Gardenadvice.co.uk and Which?. If you’re keen to try your hand at growing your own fruit and veg, for example, the RHS has masses of information to get you started. There’s also a wealth of gardening books at your local library.

2. Grow from seeds

It is far cheaper to grow plants from seed and you’ve still got time to sow annuals for summer colour. While you’re at it, says head of the Chelsea RHS advisory team Guy Barter, sow bienniel seeds such as foxgloves, hollyhocks and sweet williams which will flower and give you good value next year. Search out cheap seeds – check out the 22,000-plus offers currently on eBay, for example, and see what’s on offer at discount retailers such as Aldi, Lidl and Wilkinson, all of which sell low-cost gardening supplies. Lidl, for example, is selling a wide variety of seeds available at 28p to 47p per packet.

3. Take cuttings

“Most tender plants such as fuschia, marguerites and pelargoniums, for example, strike easily from cuttings,” Barter says. “As well as straightforward scrounging, consider trading some of your annual and bienniel seedlings for cuttings from friends’ tender plants.”

Barter’s top tip for propagating many shrubs and climbers is to layer them. Here you bend a shoot down to ground level and, after lightly wounding it by twisting the stem, bury it in soil held in place with two U-shaped wire pins made from an old clothes hanger. It should root by autumn when you can detach the shoot and plant it out – the larger the shoot you use, the bigger the plant you’ll get from one cutting.

4. Swap seeds

You will normally only need to sow a pinch or two of seeds from a packet, so save the rest for next year sealed in a foil sachet kept in a dry place – alternatively, go halves with fellow gardening friends. Or swap your unwanted seeds for some you do fancy for the price of a stamp at online community Seedy People.

5. Plan for next year

Rather than shelling out on new bulbs for next year, encourage any spent bulbs in your garden to produce decent flowers in future years by removing their seed heads, leaving their foliage undisturbed and feeding and watering them now.

6. Get equipment second-hand

Look out for second-hand garden tools and furniture. Next time you make a trip to your local recycling centre, for example, check out dumped, unwanted items – often on offer for a few pounds. I recently picked up some sturdy garden shears, a grass rake and small wooden bench for just £15.

Join and keep an eye on what’s up for grabs free of charge through your local Freecycle group, where members post emails with items they want to give away or items wanted. Available free in my area recently were pond plants, two sets of garden chairs and plant pots. Similarly, take a look at the classifieds and freebies on offer in your area on Gumtree. Among the offerings available were plant troughs and paving slabs going free, plus a lawnmower at £10 and a large wooden table with six chairs and parasol for £120.

If you have a local tenants or residents group, see if they have a tool hire or swap scheme and, if not, suggest one.

7. Go to discount stores

Again, look out for tools and garden accessories on offer at your local supermarket, often at much cheaper prices than at garden centres. And if you do want a particular product, compare online prices and/or hold out for end-of-season sales and reductions.

8. Make your own compost

If you’ve got the patience, make your own compost rather than paying for it. You’ll find a complete guide to making compost plus links to your local composting scheme and low-cost, subsidised bins in your area on the government-funded Recycle Now website.

The perfect recipe for compost is a 50/50 mix of “greens” (tea bags, filter paper, grass cuttings, vegetable and fruit peelings, old flowers, nettles, young annual weeds) and “browns” (cardboard, egg boxes, scrunched up paper, fallen leaves, sawdust, twigs, bark and shredded branches), added at regular intervals.

9. Make your own weedkiller

You can make your own weedkiller and plant food mixture – follow the instructions from the Vinegar Institute. To kill weeds, spray them with white distilled vinegar full strength, reapplying on any new growth until the plants die. To make a plant nutrient liquid, mix vinegar and water in a ratio of 1:8, then combine with a separate solution of sugar and water in a mixture of 1:8.

10. Go from green to grey

Finally, the ultimate money saving tip for a credit crunch garden comes from Confused.com: “Concrete. The solution to all your gardening problems.”

  • Saving money
  • Consumer affairs
  • Gardens
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Railcard users hit by 50% fare increase

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

• 2.2m passengers are affected by the increases
• Government says price rises are within guidelines

Passengers who use railcards to buy discounted off-peak tickets have reacted with fury after it emerged that train companies increased the cost of using and buying railcards last Sunday.

The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc), which runs the railcard system, admitted today that the cost of using Young Persons’, Friends and Family, and Network railcards had risen by up to 50% for passengers who use their cards during the week. It also said it had increased the cost of buying the cards substantially.

The unannounced changes came in to force last weekend. However, the first that most passengers knew about it was the appearance of boards announcing the new fares at station ticket offices on Monday morning.

Around 2.2m rail passengers use railcards, which mostly give a 33% discount on off-peak train fares. The changes mean students and other young people using a railcard, which costs £26 a year, will see their minimum fare rise from £8 to £12.

Members of the armed services face the same increase in the minimum fare on their HM Forces railcard. Pensioners, meanwhile, are being forced to pay 8% more for their railcard.

The minimum cost of using a Network card, which offers discounts on journeys in London and the south-east, has risen by nearly a third from £10 to £13. Meanwhile, the card itself now costs £25 a year – a 25% increase on last year’s price.

Atoc’s move was described by furious passengers as the latest “assault” on fares. In January, unregulated fares rose by an average of 6%, and there were further price hike on some routes in April. The railcard increase is the third this year.

Out of touch

Critics of the rail industry said the move showed how out of touch the train companies are with the real economy. Inflation figures from the Office for National Statistics today showed the CPI index had fallen to 2.3%, while on Monday it emerged that a third of all UK workers are facing a pay freeze this year.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said: “Passengers will be disappointed that they are being hit with yet another price rise on the train, when they are struggling in the current economic climate. We are seeing other industries showing restraint and reducing costs and it is a shame that train companies can’t follow suit.”

A spokesman for Atoc defended the increases. “Railcards continue to be very popular and represent great value for money. The changes we have introduced will mean some customers will benefit. In some cases these prices haven’t been increased for a decade or more and most customers won’t be affected by the minimum charge increases.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “Like regulated fares, railcard price rises are capped by the government; this is the first increase in two years and is within agreed existing guidelines.”

Meanwhile, the House of Commons public accounts committee said yesterday it was “unacceptable” that low-cost rail fares are only easily available to people with internet access. It also warned the government’s plans to introduce an additional 1,300 carriages into service by 2014 looked “over-optimistic”.

  • Consumer affairs
  • Family finances
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Rare 1957 Ferrari racing car sells for record £8m

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Given the emetic effect that 1980s-style acts of conspicuous consumption tend to have on the public in these dark economic days, it is not entirely surprising that the gentleman or lady who treated themselves to a black Ferrari over the weekend chose to remain anonymous.

Some, after all, might find the idea of spending £8m on a car – and thereby setting a world record for the most expensive automobile ever sold at auction – a little de trop.

The car in question, a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, was described, correctly as it transpired, as “one of the most alluring” racing Ferraris.

Its bright red nose, huge headlights and sweeping black lines obviously beguiled the buyer, who may have decided to keep quiet because they still have some explaining to do at home.

The auction, which took place on Sunday at Ferrari’s factory and test circuit at Maranello in northern Italy, certainly lived up to its name: Ferrari Leggenda e Passione.

Although the hammer price was £7.2m, the 10% buyer’s premium helped push the total into the record books. RM auctions, which organised the event with Sotheby’s, said the price was nearly £1.8m more than the previous highest amount paid for a car at auction. The last record was set at the same event last year.

“The historical significance of this car attracted a bidding war as collectors from around the world – both in the room and on the telephone – competed to secure one of the most alluring … Ferrari racing cars,” said Max Girardo, RM Europe managing director.

The mystery buyer now has one of only 22 of the “pontoon fender” model. The two-seater Testa Rossa took part in 19 international championship races from 1958 to 1961, winning 10 of them.

Despite the coup, however, not every lot in the auction sold. A 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 racing car failed to make its reserve, despite attracting a bid of £6.4m, and the 1956 Maserati 250F which Stirling Moss drove to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix listened in vain for a hammer fall even after bids of more than £1.3m were offered.

  • Motoring
  • Motoring
  • Motor sport
  • Ferrari
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Every household may get smart meter for gas and electricity

Monday, May 11th, 2009

• New meters to track real-time energy usage
• Consumer groups voice doubts on who will pay

Every home in the UK must be fitted with a “smart meter” by 2020 to reduce energy use and pave the way for a low-carbon “smart grid” under plans unveiled by the government today.

The new meters will send information on real-time electricity and gas use in households and small businesses direct to utility companies, eliminating the need for customers to stay at home for meter readings or receive overestimated bills. However, consumers are likely to pick up some of the costs of the compulsory nationwide scheme.

The government estimates that putting smart meters in the UK’s 26m homes could save customers and energy companies £2.5bn-£3.6bn over the next 20 years, but says it will cost more than double this to buy and install the equipment.

Launching a consultation process, the Department of Energy and Climate Change claimed the scheme would be the world’s biggest smart meter project.

“The meters most of us have in our homes were designed for a different age, before climate change,” said Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary. “Now we need to get smarter with our energy … so it’s important we design a system that brings best value to everyone involved.”

Energy companies welcomed the switch, which will reduce their running costs by making meter readers obsolete and eliminating time spent on dealing with estimated bills. Consumers and small business owners could benefit from ­savings achieved through increased awareness of energy use. Studies have shown smart meters encourage homeowners to cut energy use by 3% to 15%, although experts warn the technology requires consumer education and is not an “install and forget” energy-efficiency measure such as loft insulation.

Consumer groups warned that homeowners should not have to shoulder heavy costs for the new meters. Replacing today’s meters by the end of 2020 is expected to cost £8.11bn under the government’s preferred plan, with utility companies paying upfront but able to pass on the charge.

“Bill payers have been suffering for many years from ever-increasing bills, so I hope the cost of the scheme – up to £340 for every household – won’t wholly be put at their feet,” said Scott Byrom, utilities manager at Moneysupermarket.com.

The Energy Retail Association, which represents the major electricity and gas firms, said smart meters would be “cost-neutral” to customers because savings to members would partly fund them.

Smart meters will play a key role in helping the government meet its greenhouse gas reduction target of at least 34% by 2020. The meters make it easier for householders to sell wind and solar power they generate back to the grid, and they allow suppliers to offer cheaper electricity at times of low demand and increase the price when demand is high.

Ultimately, smart meters will allow the electricity used by domestic appliances to be “dynamically” managed. This would mean switching off refrigerators for a few minutes at times of high demand, or using plugged-in electric vehicles to store power. A government report last year suggested such “demand management” technology could save 2m tonnes of CO2 a year.

Environmental campaigners and opposition politicians warned that the 2020 timetable was not fast enough. The shadow energy and climate change secretary, Greg Clark, said: “In other countries around the world, smart meters are being rolled out now. Ten years [to install] a technology that’s already available seems very leisurely considering the urgency of climate change.” However, consultants Ernst & Young noted that even fitting 2.6m homes with meters every year until 2020 was “challenging”.

Three plans are under consideration for the roll-out from 2012. The first involves utilities taking on all responsibilities, including supply and installation, plus data management. The second – the government’s preferred model – makes energy suppliers responsible for meters, but with a new third-party body handling energy data. A third scenario envisages setting up a new organisation to oversee the meters and data management.

Smart meter trials are under way around the UK through energy companies including British Gas and npower. Smaller suppliers such as First Utility already supply smart meters as standard.

  • Energy
  • Energy efficiency
  • Carbon emissions
  • Carbon footprints
  • Climate change
  • Energy bills
  • Energy
  • Ed Miliband
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T-Mobile pushes right buttons with BlackBerry offer

Friday, May 1st, 2009

The handset of choice for business people now comes at a price that is sure to prove popular in the wider market

The fiercely addictive BlackBerry – aka the “CrackBerry” – has become the mobile of choice for those wanting to access email on the go, and has been priced at a level that has put off all but the most dedicated.

However, if you have always secretly hankered after one, but couldn’t justify the expense, T-Mobile has this week come to your aid. Since yesterday, the mobile network operator has been offering the BlackBerry Pearl for a one-off £179.99. Included in that price are all the emails you can send and receive for the next 12 months, plus unlimited internet access.

It means that, for the first time, users can join the ranks of BlackBerry owners such as Barack Obama without having to commit to an onerous monthly payment.

BlackBerrys have largely been the preserve of those who are, or whose company is, prepared to typically spend £50 a month to keep them in constant contact with their emails.

But faced with the growing threat from rivals, including the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry has decided it needs to appeal more to the mainstream consumer market.

For those of you who have seen fellow travellers maniacally punching their BlackBerrys but have been just too embarrassed to ask what they are doing, the handsets allow users access to their work or personal email (or both), almost as if they were sitting in front of their computer.

While plenty of other phones now offer email access, the BlackBerry is still considered the top handset for email access alone. Last year Orange slashed the cost of operating a BlackBerry. Now T-Mobile has gone a step further, making them affordable for most mobile users.

T-Mobile allows users to pay the one-off fee, and use the phone on a pay-as-you-go basis. After paying £179.99 for the phone, all email and internet access will be free for a year. Users will have to pay for any calls on the normal pay-as-you-go tariff – 20p per minute for the first two minutes each day then 10p/min for all other calls that day. Texts are charged at 10p.

T-Mobile says anyone could top up the phone with a small sum then simply use it to access their email for the year – without ever making a call.

At the end of the 12 months, people will have to pay another fee to retain the “free” access. This charge has not been fixed but is likely to be in the order of £100. Alternatively, at the end of the year, there’s nothing to stop you taking your BlackBerry and switching it to another deal, or rival provider.

It should be noted the phone you get is not the top-of the-range BlackBerry handset. The Pearl 8110 smartphone comes in silver, has a 2-megapixel camera, in-built GPS (so you’ll never get lost), and a 3.5mm earphone jack for listening to music on the move.

It also comes with preloaded quick-links to certain websites including Facebook, MySpace and Flick. Note, however, it does not have a full-sized Qwerty keyboard.

Crucially, it costs less than half the price of the pay-as-you-go iPhone that is offered by O2 – this, admittedly, has lots of other applications and features, but for email is arguably less effective.

Before you sign up, you should check out Orange’s rival pay-as-you-go offering. It will sell you its BlackBerry for £155, which includes £10 of calls. Again, you get unlimited email and web access; however you need to pay the mobile phone company £5 a month for continued “unlimited” access. Call charges are 15p/min on its basic Racoon tariff.

Alternatively, plenty of phone companies will provide you with a free BlackBerry if you are prepared to sign a 12- or 18-month contract from £30 a month, although these do include a calls and/or text allowance.

Also, be aware that while there are plenty of users who love their BlackBerrys, some have grown to hate them, unable to control their need to constantly see whether they have been contacted. They have not been dubbed the CrackBerry for nothing, but at least the pay-as-you-go deal gives you a chance to try them without signing an expensive contract.

Lap up free web surfing with BT’s plug-in dongle

Do you use your laptop away from home and want to access the internet on the cheap? Then you might want to consider BT’s £50 dongle.

A dongle is a small plug-in for your computer that allows laptop users to access the internet via the mobile phone network. This week BT said anyone on its broadband package, which costs £15.65 a month, can pay a one-off £50 for its dongle, then surf the web for free from almost anywhere in the UK.

In certain areas it will give internet access at speeds of up to 7.2Mb and works on the 3G network, which covers 80% of the UK.

The dongle is £50 if you are on BT broadband option 1 and 2, or £9.99 if you are on the higher download option 3 (which costs £24.46 a month). Downloads are limited to 1GB a month, equal to roughly 300 e-mails, 400 minutes of websurfing, 48 photos, or 144 songs. John Petter, managing director of BT’s consumer division, said: “You can use mobile broadband on the train, in the coffee shop or in the park for all the things you go online for – to look at emails or check the football results.”

Rival mobile phone company 3, which has traditionally offered the cheapest dongles, charges £48 plus £10 a month for 1Gb of downloads, although the purchase fee is waived if you sign an 18-month contract.

New BT customers also have to sign an 18-month contract but pay nothing to use the dongle, thereby saving £120 a year.

The BT dongle, however, only works with Windows operating systems – a version for Apple Mac users is on the way. Meanwhile, BT Total Broadband customers already have free access to the BT FON network, 150,000 BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK and Ireland. Customers will also soon benefit from BT’s takeover of Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 650 Starbucks cafes in the UK and Ireland.

  • Internet, phones & broadband
  • BlackBerry
  • Mobile phones
  • Consumer affairs
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Three Tips for Profiting with PLR Products

Friday, May 1st, 2009

PLR products offer a great way for people to quickly and easily make money online. They often come as a package complete with sales letters and images. Upon acquiring PLR products, it would then be up to you to determine how best you can make money out of them. Below are a few tips you could use to ensure massive profits with PLR products.

1) Sell Them as They Are

Because most PLR products are already packaged with sales letters and images, you can effortlessly make money online out of them by selling them they way you purchased them. All you would need to do is publish all available materials on your website and you can begin selling.

2) Use Them as Incentives

Offering PLR products for free is a great way to increase the value of another product you have on offer. This works especially well with membership sites where people are more likely to sign up if there are bonuses involved. Before you do this, make sure that you have the right to do so by reading through the terms provided by the publisher you purchased the products from. As long as you have master resell rights over the products, you can essentially do whatever you want with them. That means you can give them away for free in order to augment the sales of your own online business.

3) Create Your Own Package

Among the very best ways to make massive profits with PLR products is to collect a good number of related products and sell them as a package. This will allow you to charge a higher price and make much more money compared to what you can gain if you sold them individually.

These are just three of the most popular ways to quickly and easily make money online using PLR products. PLR products can be used in many more ways to make money online and it is up to you to determine what will work best for your online business.

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