Have you ever tried to answer such questions as – “How good am I with my money?”, “How good are we with money as a nation?”, “Why do such things matter?”

BBC’s Big Money Test will help you “discover your complex relationship with money”. It will also get you personalised video results from money saving expert Martin Lewis. The test takes only 20 minutes to complete. The test is designed as part of BBC’s Lab UK, a BBC website that lets users participate in groundbreaking scientific experiments. When you complete the Big Money Test, you would have therefore contributed to groundbreaking science. Best of all, you will get a clear picture that will help you make your money go further.

To help you on your way to managing finances better, here are Martin Lewis’ four simple money saving tips -

• use ‘piggybanking’ to pay for your big expenditures,
• make a budget and stick to it,
• make painless savings,
• make painful savings too!

Take the Big Money Test

One of the most informative sources for the latest directives on student loans in the UK is the UK Government portal on Student Finance. Note that the erstwhile Student Finance Direct is now called Student Finance England sfe.

Note also that you can reach other Student Finance Websites depending on your area (Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland)

The Student Loans Company (SLC), is a UK public sector establishment set up  to arrange loans and grants, to thousands of students every year, in colleges and universities located in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  Know all about SLC here. While at it, check out the intentionally created SLC’s repayment portal.

Have you been bombarded by TV commercials that advise you take a consolidation loan? That is, telling you to take out a single, new loan to pay off several existing debts. While this may be a good way of managing your finances, you should be careful – a consolidation loan need not be the right option always.

When should you consider a consolidation loan? Here are the pros and cons of taking such a loan.

On the plus side,

• you may be charged a lower interest rate
• you may need to pay lower monthly installments
• you will know in advance when the debt will be paid off
• you will need to make just a single monthly payment
• you need to deal with one lender
• you can ensure that you do not fall behind on payments

On the other hand, look at the possible disadvantages - risk of repossession of property if you default on a payment for a loan against the property,  more overall payment for a longer period, extra entry charges, some risk because you deal with a single lender, higher interest rate in the case of poor credit rating.

You will be glad to know that the deposit compensation limit in the UK has been raised from £50,000 to £85,000 per person, per authorised firm. What does this mean? Personal savings amounting to this figure is guaranteed by the Government, legally, in the unfortunate situation that a bank becomes insolvent or a building society or credit union reach and declare bankruptcy.

As a saver in the UK, your money is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The above change came into effect since January 2011. Also, such claims have to be processed within 20 days. For more details, visit the FSCS site (fscs.org.uk), especially for information on limitations of the scheme.

In September 2010, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading found out that as many as 129 debt management firms were masquerading as charities.

The companies have been guilty on several counts including using deceptive advertising and supplying useless advice to hapless clients. For instance, some firms have been attracting clients by announcing that they offered free services. Others have even been using names that sound or appear similar to well-known and reputed charitable or government establishments.  Yet others have assured the clients that the services of the advice sector are not genuine. Perhaps the worst victims were those whose debts were re-packaged as newer debt plans and who ended up paying even more service fees.

Sadly, in most cases, it turns out that the customers are not aware of the existence of independent ombudsmen who could have intervened and saved themselves further heartache.

Here are several sources for customers to seek the right advice -

• Online help from Citizen’s advice
• Debt Managers Standards Association (Demsa)
• Debt Resolution Forum
• Office of Fair Trade

How will you find out?

At ease – the BBC and the UK’s Financial Services Authority have come up with Financial Healthcheck, a tool to help you take control, and ultimately lead a financially healthy lifestyle, suited to your priorities.

Another way is the Debt Test, designed to help you to judge yourself on whether you need to worry about your borrowings. You will come away with tips and tools to avoid debt problems, and tackle debts in troubled times.

Let’s face it, money matters can be complicated for all of us. That’s why we created SimpleMoney.co.uk – a service designed to allow you to compare financial service products, to find the best deals and then to buy them online. We use the latest search engine technology, linked to literally thousands of leading suppliers. The service is provided free.