This discount is equivalent to 33.3% off their current standard year 3 premium, for new customers in year 1. If paying monthly the discount will be spread over 12 months.

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Tesco Home Insurance Offer

Metro Bank will be the first brand new bank on our high streets in 100 years and although the April opening date will not be met the company hopes to open by the end of June.

Metro intend to shakeup the world of high street banking. It plans to open from 8am to 8pm six days a week and from 11am to 4pm on Sundays. It will only close on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday.

Metro will only have branches in and around London, initially in central London. In fact one branch is to open in Cromwell Road at the offices of the failed BCCI.

Although there doesn’t currently appear to be a website, they’ll obviously have an online offering too.

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Metro Bank Delays Opening

Following a bet with a friend in the pub one evening James agreed to try and live without cash for a year. He blogs about his experiences though  first read about him in The Telegraph a couple of weeks ago. Do have a read and see where it’s hard to pay unless you have the physical cash.

I’m always trying to pay on credit or debit card myself – I started doing this when the zero percent deals where all the rage on both balance transfers and purchases. It made sense because with having an offset mortgage the money I didn’t pay back to the credit card company stayed in the offset account, reducing my debt each month and saving me interest charges.

There are some ways around paying for cash – you can buy (paying by credit card or standing order) pre-pay cards such as the Oyster card for low value purchases. And wave and pay cards should become more popular over the next couple of years.

I’ll still try and buy most things on credit card from a book of stamps to a £3 train ticket to 65p or so for a newspaper. But I end up still paying cash in of our countries most favourite locations - the pub!

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Cashless Society Experiment

According to research by the British Retail Consortium, we used notes and coins for around 56% of all payments during 2008, with cash used on 33% of occasions in shops.

Cash is still popular as a means of  budgetting of course – you’ll here many people say that they can manage their money better when they see what they actually have to spend.

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Cash Is Still Top Payment Method

This isn’t you’re everyday credit card and most of us will never become account holders. But for those that do, here’s some of the including perks:

1. Top seats at space related events, plus credit for any future space flight reservations (a la Virgin Galactic)
2. Private after-hours previews at top designer stores including Gucci and Armani.
3. Pick your own credit card limit. Spending sprees of more than £1m in a single transaction have been known.
4. Free cabin upgrades on cruises, plus a £1000 credit for the mini-bar.
5. Insurance cover of £25,000 for lost or damaged items bought on the Amex Black.
6. It’s actually made of platinum – so it’ll trigger the metal detectors at the airport
7. Concierge service to organise tickets, bookings, etc for you.
8. It’s delivered by security guard and is presented in a black, velvet lined box.
9. £1.75m life insurance cover.
10. A dedicated Amex Black phone line, giving you access to medical, legal and financial advice.

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Perks Of Amex Black Card

1887 The idea of a card used for purchases appears in Edward Eellamy’s novel Looking Backward

1920s Credit cards were used in the US to sell petrol to the increasing number of car owners

1951 Diners Club card was introduced, initially for use at just 28 Manhattan restaurants and nightclubs.

1958 Bank of America introduces a card that eventually becomes the Visa card.

1966 Fourteen US banks form the Interlink card payment processor – this eventually becomes Mastercard

1967 The first card outside the US is introduced – otherwise known as Barclaycard

1972 RBS, Natwest, Lloyds and Midland Bank cobime to issue the Access credit card.

1987 Debit cards become available as the Connect Visa Delta card is issued by Barclays.

1997 Cashback arrives courtesy of A&L

1999 Half of all UK adults hold at least one credit card

2003 Now it’s two credit card accounts per adult.

2004 Chip and Pin is rolled out

2006 Total number of credit cards in circulation drops for first time

2008 There’s a worldwide collapse in the banking system, partly due to the proliferation of toxic personal debt.

2009 As bank base rates fall to the lowest in decades, some credit card companies increase their typical APR % rates.

Source: The Telegraph.

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History Of The Credit Card

The Royal Mint recently confirmed the percentage of fake pound coins in circulation has increased from 2% to 2.5%. But it has been suggested that the testing equipment is not sophisticated enough and the real percentage could be as high as 5% – or one in 20 coins. A car parking company ran it’s own tests with a sample of 2000 pounds coins withdrawn from a bank and they found that 3-4% of those coins were counterfeit.

So, how can you tell if your pound coin is a potential fake? Try these two simple methods:

1. Look at the coins edge. The lettering on a counterfeit coin is often indistinct or in the wrong typeface.
2. Hold the coin so that the Queen’s head is upright and facing you. The pattern on the reverse side should also be upright.

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Fake Pound Coins: 1 in 20 Is Counterfeit

The price of a first class stamp rises from 36p to 39p – an increase of 3p or 9.2%

The price of a second class stamp rises from 27p to 30p – an increase of 3 or 9%

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Price Of Stamps Increases Today

But the ad has angered some musicians who have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority because Swiftcover does not insure musicians.

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Iggy Pop Advert Annoys Musicians

This years budget day has been set for April 22, 2009 – the latest date since 1945. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling (presumably still in the job!) is waiting until after the Easter parliamentary recess to give the little red briefcase it’s annual public airing.

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When Is The 2009 Budget