The Fizz! Blog

Some better fraudsters

Last night we got a slightly more convincing bogus email than the last couple of feeble attempts:

"Hi

I have tried calling but got no answer. Can you give me a call.

Thanks

Paul Worthing
07031952616"

Googling the phone number immediately revealed it to be a con, but it was at least convincing enough for us to check.  The moral of the story - if you're trying to scam British people then if you get your email written by someone who speaks English as a first language then that's a good start.

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On your bike

There were some inexplicable stories over the weekend about the scandal - using the word "scandal" in its little-known sense of "something that's completely above board" - of MP Hugh Bayley claiming 20p a mile from his employer (i.e. us) for miles ridden on his bicycle int he performance of his duties.  Any employer is allowed to make similar payments to their own employees.  The fact that it doesn't happen often may be partly down to the fact that employers choose not to, but mainly because most employees don't do business miles on their own bike (commuting to and from work doesn't count).  But if an MP does, why on earth shouldn't he claim for the 20p?  It's intended to a) compensate for the genuine costs of buying and maintaining a bike and b) encourage an eco-friendly method of transport.  The fact that he's an MP doesn't make any difference to that.  If you have employees who sometimes have to use their bikes for work, do the same for them.

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Interest rates held at 0.5%

The Bank of England held interest rates at 0.5% once more today.

Good news or bad news?  For us and our clients, more good than bad, probably.  We still have many clients benefitting from low rates on tracker mortgages.  Of course, we also have clients who are peeved at the minimal interest rates they're receiving on savings.  But, to be honest, since our clients tend to be pretty entrepreneurial for the most part, they're often keen to get their money to work harder for them.  So very often spare cash is being used for business activites or for investments with a slightly higher risk/reward profile rather than simply being put away on deposit for long periods of time.  So we really hear surprisingly few moans about low investment returns, on the whole.

How long the status quo will continue remains to be seen, but the markets seem certain that the rate won't stay at 0.5% throughout 2011.  So, even if you're benefitting from a low mortgage rate right now, it's time to make sure that your household budget will stand up to a higher monthly payment later in the year.  The BBC mortgage calculator is a nifty tool for seeing what the impact on you would be:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/mortgagecalculator.shtml

 www.fizzhq.com