A number of providers are offering very high rates subject to a number of conditions. These may look like a good deal but be sure you fully understand them fully before signing up. HSBC are heavily advertising an 8% interest bank account which sounds great but if you look at it more closely it isn’t such a good offer. There is a monthly fee attached to the account, the special rate only applies for the first year and it only applies to balances of up to £1000. This may be good for some people but it definitely isn’t ideal to use as a savings account.

A couple of providers tend to always have a fairly good rates, these are Abbey and Alliance & Leicester. You should have a look at the whole market though before you pick your high interest savings account. A good place to start is Money Supermarket’s savings section where you can compare a big selection of different accounts and match them against the criteria that are important to you.

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The amount you can borrow without a credit check is often limited to less than £1000 but this varies between lenders. This type of loan is just what it sounds like, it allows you to get your hands on some money without having a credit check. They are similar in many ways to payday loans in that they are designed to help you out if you ever need to get money quickly to cover a more pressing debt or problem.

The rates are much higher than a secured loan and most other loan types. As you aren’t having a credit check then the lender is taking a bigger risk. Whenever there is a bigger risk for the lender there will be increased interest rates. The rates will vary depending on whether you are a home owner, the amount you want to borrow and your employment status.

This type of loan should only be used as a last resort as a secured loan with a full credit check will allow you to get a much better rate. The advantage of a no credit check loan is that it should still be available to you if you have a bad credit history including -

• County Court Judgments
• Individual Voluntary Arrangement
• Mortgage Arrears
• Missed Payments on Credit Cards

Many lenders specialise in this type of loan, one of these is Yes Loans who will try to find a loan for people knocked back by high street lenders. Another is Loan Site who again try to get fast loans for people who have struggled elsewhere. Remember though you should shop around if you do need a loan without a credit check as there are some companies out there who will take advantage of people in this type of difficult situation. You should only ever look at this type of loan when you have exhausted all other options or you need money very quickly.

In the UK the safest place to put your money is in an ISA. These offer tax free savings and you can put up to £3000 a year into a standard cash isa. The interest received will be higher than a normal savings account as you aren’t paying tax on it. Most ISAs also allow instant access to your cash although some don’t in exchange for a better interest rate. The most common type of ISA is a Cash ISA but there also Stock and Shares ISAs which offer greater returns over a longer period and allow you to invest a further £4000. When choosing an ISA be sure to check out a comparison site first to get the best rate. You will be able to put in your requirements, such as instant access, and it will show you the best rates. Some of the most popular tools are – Money Supermarket, Money Extra and Fool.

If you feel an ISA isn’t right for you or you have already filled it up for the year you may want to choose a savings account. These are also very safe and there are many different types available to suite everybody’s needs. If you can commit a certain amount each month there are a range of products that will offer you a much higher interest rate for a set period. The downside is that you have to be able to put in a set amount every month to get the high rate and the rate doesn’t last forever. This type is often called a Regular Saver.

If you are more of a risk taker you could look at Shares. There are different ways of doing this and the most risky is to go out yourself and pick some companies to buy shares in. This isn’t a popular option for many as you have to do all the work yourself to make sure you pick the right shares to buy. A good way for beginners to do this is to invest in a fund, which spreads the money across a large number of companies that have been picked for you.

Be sure to do you research first and check out comparisons for which ever option you choose.

A second but riskier way of making credit cards work for you is to transfer the balance of them to other cards. This is getting more and more difficult to do as the credit card companies are wise to this loop hole. The idea is to use a card for your day to day purchases and before you start getting charged interest transfer the balance. Many credit card providers offer 0% interest on balance transfers so you can leave the money in your account for longer before having to use it to pay of the balance without incurring interest. Be careful of transfer fees though as some providers now charge a one off percentage for transferring a balance to them, this is to prevent people taking advantage of the process described above.

Standard Variable
This is very much the basic mortgage which is based on the current base rate. They are often the most flexible and have no tie in period. Not many people choose this mortgage as it usually has the highest interest rate. They can be useful when you dont want to commit to a fixed term mortgage.

Tracker
The tracker mortgage offers an interest rate fixed at a certain percentage above or below the current base rate. Again these usually have no tie in period but are fixed for a certain amount of time before changing to the same rate as the standard variable.

Fixed Rate
A fixed rate mortgage is exactly as it sounds in that you are given a fixed rate for a certain period of time. With this type of mortgage you are usually tied in for the length of the fixed rate period. This means you have to pay a penalty if you want to pay the mortgage off. These are more popular when interest rates are fluctuating and you don’t want to be hit by higher payments if the base rate increases.