Pound Notes (From The Northern Echo)

Pound Notes

11:37am Tuesday 1st December 2009

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■ EVEN though Premium Bond prizes were boosted to 1.5 per cent per annum from October 1, Andy Gadd at financial advisor Lighthouse Group says the holder of £30,000 worth of bonds can expect to win 15 prizes a year.

With 96 per cent of prizes amounting to just £25, that amounts for most people to an annual payout of £375, or 1.25 per cent. Is it worth it? Not from a pure investment perspective, reckons Mr Gadd.

“However, for those who understand the downsides and are willing to gamble, they are fine,” he says.

■ HOMEBUYERS who ended fixed-rate loan periods and switched to standard variable rate (SVR) are paying an average 4.7 per cent, says Hannah Mercedes-Skenfield at Moneysupermarket.com. She reckons lenders have steadily bumped up SVR rates because borrowers are too lazy to notice.

Anybody with at least 20 per cent equity in their home would get a better deal on a three-year fix, says Ms Mercedes- Skenfield.

■ WAIT for Chancellor Alistair Darling to chip back tax relief available on pension contributions, says Tom McPhail at financial advisor Hargreaves Lansdown. He advises any employees to pay a pension contribution for this year before December 9, because Mr Darling may well reduce the tax break to shrink the amount going into your retirement pot in his pre-Budget Report.

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