Wealth Finance

If you have never given much thought to how your credit card balance is paid off then you are not alone. It’s definitely worth knowing a bit about it, however, as how your outstanding balance is paid off can have an effect on how much you end up paying in the long term. Luckily for consumers, credit card issuers are now required to adhere to something called the positive payment hierarchy.

But what is this and how does it work? Essentially, the positive payment hierarchy exists to make sure that any credit card debt that is charged at a higher rate of interest than the rest of your balance is paid off first. The idea behind this is to help to limit the amount of interest that is paid on purchases.

For example, this often applies to balance transfer cards. If you transfer a balance from an old card to a new one, you will usually be able to pay off the transferred balance at a 0% rate of interest. H Read more…

Tens of thousands of British investors will be wary of any bullish noises coming from fund groups championing China.

With Chinese New Year celebrations about to start this week, several groups are encouraging investors to keep faith with China despite some dismal returns of late.

China has been the phenomenal growth story of the 21st century and investors who caught the bug early will have reaped handsome rewards. But as the story unfolded, more investors jumped on board hoping to make a quick mint from the world’s fastest-growing economy. However, growth has slowed and many investors will be cursing their move east.

Last year one of the most popular unit trusts, Jupiter China, had a torrid time, falling by 23pc, while investors who ploughed millions into Fidelity China Special Situations, managed by Anthony Bolton, have seen similar losses.

So what next?

Observers are split into two camps – those forecasting a soft landing and others who fear a major crash. B

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WASHINGTON – Despite efforts by some religious organizations to be exempt from its provisions, the Obama Administration announced Friday that employers must offer health benefits that provide coverage for contraceptive services without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible.

In issuing the final rule, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that it would grant non-profit religious organizations an extra year – until Oct. 1, 2013 – to comply with the new law. All other employers must have insurance plans that include these services by Oct. 1 this year.

“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in statement announcing the final rule. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”

The rule still exempts churches and other employers whose main purpose is the practice of religion and whose employees are of the same faith. But religious

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ClearView has launched a private label platform that incorporates life insurance products and wealth management.

Called LifeSolutions, the platform will offer a full suite of life insurance products including income protection, total and permanent disability (TPD) as well as business expenses cover.

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‘Sorry, you can’t have a mortgage.’ Those are not the words anyone cultivating a homebuying dream wants to hear, whether they are a first-time buyer or a family moving up the ladder.

And for a heady few years, they were not the words a bank or building society liked to say either – instead preferring lines such as: ‘would you like to borrow some more to cover arrangement fees, pay stamp duty, buy some carpets etc?’

Now, just four years after that great credit boom started to spectacularly unravel, and took world economy with it, we have the British arrival of prospective tougher new homeloan rules in the form of the Mortgage Market Review, and people will be hearing the dreaded ‘no’ a little bit more often.