What's hot and what's not?

In case you’ve missed all the other signs, a quick glance at the headlines of most national newspapers should make the penny hit home. Yes, it’s Christmas, a time for over-indulging and celebrating with your family. It is also a pretty slow time for news and therefore papers fill up white space with seasonal stories about albino robins and turkey shortages.

But when you turn to the personal finance sections the news keeps on coming – especially this year as firms continue to battle with the credit crunch. So, here’s my roundup of what’s hot and what’s not in the world of personal finance.

New Year Resolutions

I love New Year not because it’s an excuse to go out until the early hours but because it’s an opportunity to start afresh and make changes in my life. It’s psychological – I would never dream of writing down my ambitions for the other 364 days in the year, but on 31 December you can normally find me scribbling down various lofty goals on a scrap of paper that is invariably lost before the clock hits midnight.

Most years, at least one of my resolutions is financial – for example, last year I wanted to buy my own house (which, I’m glad to report, I did) and take out a pension (ditto).

But in 2008 my financial resolutions are going to be set a little lower, although I know they will make a massive different in the long term.

What's hot and what's not?

The first few weeks of January can be a slow for news but thanks to the ongoing credit crunch any bit of financial news is still worthy of dissection and intense scrutiny. So here is my review of what was hot and what was not this week.

Hot: Apple, for promising to bring the cost of its iTunes music downloads in the UK inline with the rest of Europe. Okay, so it took a European Commission investigation for it to reach this decision, but better late than never. Next step, please can we pay the same as the Americans?

Trendy banks don't do it for me

Having just spent most of my lunch break queuing in my local branch of Barclays, I noticed something that my peers probably realised a long time ago. Barclays got hip. Well, as hip as a bank can be which isn’t very. What I mean is that its marketing material seems to be more akin to that of a sixth-form college than a bank’s.

Shame on me for not noticing this change sooner. In fact, it was around two years ago that Barclays first decided to ‘funk-up’ its branches in an attempt to make them more appealing to customers. It did two things - firstly, it replaced the traditional pens-on-chain with blue biros that implore writers to not only use them but take them home.

Meat is off the menu

I haven’t been to many BBQs this August, mainly because of the miserable weather. But I wonder if there is another, more money-orientated, reason why so few of my friends have flung open their garden gates for charred bangers, soggy buns and undercooked chicken this summer?

House price stats don't tell the whole story

You can’t pick up a newspaper these days without coming across a headline about falling house prices. One week the figures come from the Land Registry, the next from the Bank of England and the next from a specific mortgage lender.

As a journalist, the latest housing market statistics are always good for a story especially at the moment when all eyes are on the housing market. But it does sometimes feel as though I’m drowning in a flood of different house price data that is often contradictory and rarely tells us what is really going on with house prices.

The fail-safe way to avoid bank charges

Last week Barclays grabbed some headlines by giving its current accounts something of an overhaul – changes included the introduction of ‘personal reserves’ for people that slip into the red, reduced overdraft fees and the abolition of in-credit interest on its standard current accounts.

Northern Rock deal smells fishy to me

Am I the only person with an uneasy feeling about the Northern Rock and Lloyds TSB tie-up?

Increased ISA allowance won’t help savers

Over the past few months, Moneywise has highlighted again and again the plight of savers hit, first of all, by the financial insecurity of the banking sector and then again by the historically-low Bank of England base rate.

Beware the 6% ‘shaving’ bond

When interest rates on savings accounts are as paltry as they currently have been, it’s little wonder that savers are hunting out the most competitive deals they can. Rate is king, after all.

Avoid unsolicited mobile phone calls

There are few things more annoying than unsolicited telephone calls, whether they’re from companies trying to sell you something or that old next-door neighbour you were thankful to wave goodbye to all those years ago.

But a new service from 118 800 is likely to make it even easier for strangers or old acquaintances to get in touch with you via your mobile phone.

Avoid this banking scam

A colleague of mine recently forwarded a scam email on to me purporting to be from Santander, the Spanish owner of Abbey and, more recently, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

How energy companies are trying to pull the wool over your eyes

What is it about us Brits that we’re loath to complain when things go wrong and would rather doubt ourselves than query the things we’re told? I have lost track of the number of times I’ve smiled politely and pronounced a meal delicious when really I could barely stomach the stuff on my plate.

Luxury is back on the menu

Apparently, indulgence is back at the checkouts. After months of buying economy tinned tomatoes and packets of lentils, shoppers are supposedly once again popping luxuries such as 
organic produce, ready-made meals and ground 
coffee into their trolleys.

Energy companies need to prove they aren't ripping us all off

Good news for energy companies: profits among the biggest players are up, thanks to 
plummeting wholesale costs.

Do we really need more banks?

A few years ago I was in the embarrassing situation of standing in a branch of HSBC, aruging with the cashier about withdrawing money, when it dawned on me that I didn't bank with HSBC at all, and was actually trying to use a Halifax card to make the transaction.

Bad service from Play.com has left my blood boiling...

I’ve just got off the phone to Play.com and my blood’s boiling. It’s the third time in two weeks that I’ve had to call to find out what’s happened to the delivery of a new laptop I bought in the sales.

Don't bank on better savings rates even when the base rate rises

Savers have repeatedly been referred to in the media as the “silent majority” who are the “real victims” of the credit crunch.