Money and Budgeting

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Lasian_Alumni

Disabled people and their families face many extra costs, and these costs make it harder to have savings and increase the likelihood of falling into debt. We recently had a discussion about experiences of extra costs, and many of the comments showed an agreement with this.

The Money Advice Service offers free, impartial, confidential and unregulated information on Money and Budgeting. We use a lot of information from them on our main information page about money, and their information and tools could help you to manage your finances.

Budgeting and managing money

The budget planner is a useful tool that asks for information on your income and spending to show you a breakdown of your finances in which you can see where you spend the most. It will also offer personalised tips on how you can make the most of your money.

There is a specific page on budgeting on a low income. They offer tips on how to cut your costs on bills, holidays, and grocery shopping. There is also information about what to do if you find yourself having to borrow money due to an emergency, and what types of borrowing are less risky.

On the illness and disability page guidance is provided on topics you may find relevant, such as support with jobs or studying, adapting homes for accessibility, and buying disability aids. You can also look at this page to see benefits you might be entitled to and what they are for, or at our own benefits page for a useful calculator.

Homes and mortgages

Finding the right home is often more difficult when they also need to be suitable for the specific needs of different impairments. So, to help make the process a bit less complicated, they have provided guides on:

• Renting - this includes finding out how much rent you can afford, budgeting and sharing costs, plus help with rent arrears and problems with paying your rent;
• Buying a home - there are explanations and some calculation tools about important costs associated with buying a home. There are also some handy how-to guides and frequently asked questions lists;
• Explanations on the types of mortgages and processes associated with them, beginner's guide to mortgages, getting the right deal, and tips if you're struggling to pay.

Running a bank account

Another notable section on the website looks at managing bank accounts. To help decisions on what type of account you should open it explains how different bank accounts might suit your needs and preferences, assess which bank accounts are best for benefits payments, and give suggestions for useful comparison sites. There are also useful guides on online banking, avoiding scams and safe online shopping, and clear guides on how to run your account day-to-day.

Many different situations and stages in life have been considered with The Money Advice Service website also having categories for Debt and borrowing, Retirement, Family, Cars and travel, and Insurance. If there are any other topics you want guidance on or for different tools and calculators, you may find they have the useful information you need.

Do you have any money saving hints and tips to share? What else can we offer that would help you more with money issues? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

Topkitten

I have seen many places advertising credit and debt management, budgeting assistance and many other aids. I am sure some people need the help but I refuse to use them.

I worked in the computer industry for over 25 years and when I see or am told about "secure" sites I just laugh. Any online information is unsafe despite ALL the claims made about security. Don't get me started on phone security. To break airborne communications (128 bit encryption) takes around 4-5 seconds. Even cable connections are unsafe though. 256 bit and 512 bit encryption can be broken in 10 or 20 seconds respectively. This new idea of cards using proximity to transfer funds can be activated instantly by someone behind you or beside you in a queue without the cards ever leaving your purse, wallet or bag. Whilst I do have to use online payments at times I dread doing so. All my banking is done only on a cable connected PC using an individual random generator password system and NEVER just by using a password. If you have to use online payments a lot make sure you use a credit card. Credit companies will make much more effort to reclaim lost money than any bank will plus you can only lose you credit limit, not have your account cleaned out.

Years ago I bought items from a supplier of computer parts. One Friday they let an idiot programmer put an improperly tested version of the web service live. All weekend, when you did an account enquiry, instead of showing you your own purchases and orders it gave a complete list of all accounts, all cards attached, all passwords associated with the account and much more information held by the company..... all for anyone to read, copy, write down or whatever else they wanted to do with it. Secure site? I would roll on the floor laughing if I was still capable of such an action.

Be very careful what information you provide over the internet. If they want to help they should do it in your home where you can check who they are before you let them in.

TK