Banking with integrity
The biggest learning for me is how car hire insurance works!
This week I read Empire of Pain, about the Sackler family (and their company Purdue Pharma) who are responsible for the opioid epidemic in America. (If you’ve watched Dopesick on Disney+/Hulu or Painkiller on Netflix, you’ll know the story).
Millions of deaths and many more lives ruined by the systemic targeting of doctors by the company’s sales reps, with bogus claims that were backed by the FDA. No one has served any jail time for these crimes, because they are rich, can drown the opposition in billable hours and paperwork, and because systems protect people like these.
This is in the same week around 20 Barclays branches across the UK were vandalised by a pro-Palestine group. And festivals sponsored by Barclaycard are being pressured to drop their funding by Bands Boycott Barclays, with several having already pulled out. The bank has been singled out for ‘artwashing.’
Barclays’ CEO wrote about how this sort of action affects its employees’ livelihoods and safety. And one activist wrote an op-ed from jail about why she participated in an anti-bank campaign, this time against JP Morgan Chase, purportedly the world’s largest funder of fossil fuels.
I’m interested in how individuals who take action or try to fight these corporate entities fare. And how companies claim to be separate from those running them (after all, legally, they are separate ‘people’).
And how we, as regular people, just trying to pay our bills and enjoy life, might be able to take action in a way that affects change, in a world where our rights to take civic action are being threatened.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
1. Is it possible to bank ethically and smartly?
Kinda…
It’s all well and good putting your money somewhere that aligns with your values, but if it’s not delivering returns comparable with the market-leading products, it’s not doing you much good.
This is the challenge facing not just financial products, but all goods and services operating from an ethics first position. We need them to not only be ‘good’ but also good for us. Especially when everyone is feeling squeezed by the high cost of, well, everything.
The top three ethical options are outlined here.
It lends to organisations making a positive impact for people and the planet, and publishes details of each organisation on its website
Current account costs £3 a month
Doesn’t currently offer Apple/Google Pay but is hoping to do so by the end of the year
Has a policy to focus on “our planet, our people and our communities”. This means it doesn’t provide banking services to organisations that conflict with this
Current accounts start from £0 a month
If you have a current account you can also access its savings accounts, including one at 7% over 12 months, up to a maximum of £250 deposited a month (this means that you could make £210 on £3,000 over 12 months)
The building society is focused on reducing its carbon footprint - for example, it’s in the process of becoming gas-free by the end of 2030 – and is also helping customers make their homes more energy-efficient
If you have an existing Nationwide product, and you switch your current account to them, you can get £200 for switching
It also has a Fairer Share loyalty scheme. This year, the scheme is paying out £100 apiece to nearly 4 million members
2. How much does it cost to move house?
On average, in the UK, it’s £14,432.
This breaks down as:
Conveyancing (i.e. solicitors’ costs) - £2,129
Survey (separate to the mortgage provider’s survey - optional but usually worth doing for peace of mind) - £475
Removals (unless you have great friends/family) - £658
Stamp duty (the property purchase tax, which varies depending on where you are in the UK)1 - £6,922
Estate agent fees (on average 1.42% of the selling price including VAT) - £4,226
EPC (a certificate you need to provide when selling a property) - £62
It can be easy just to look at price tag on the property, but you need to make sure you’ve got enough to cover the additional costs.
And that excludes any furnishings or home improvements you’d like to make.
(Linked to this story, here’s a walkthrough of what to do when selling a property for the first time).
3. Should you get additional insurance when you rent a car on holiday?
You’ve come off an early morning budget airline flight. You’ve waited in line at the car hire kiosk for what feels like an eternity. When you finally get to the front, you’re presented with forms, and blurb, and you’re just desperate to get the keys and to the pool. And you’ll do pretty much anything to achieve that goal.
The tricky bit is when they ask (encourage) you to take out additional insurance, and you actually don’t know. But they probably know best! And you go for it, despite the tiny voice in your head suggesting that, perhaps, you’ve been grifted a little bit…
The answer is yes, you do want insurance, but probably not from the car rental company.
When you rent the car, a level of insurance is already included. But it does mean you would have to pay a high excess if something did happen.
So they sell you a car hire excess policy, to cover this excess.
Who knew!
There are two different types of policies covering car hire excess:
Super collision damage waiver (SCDW), sold by care hire firms
Excess reimbursement insurance (ERI), sold by insurers and car hire brokers
A recent study found that drivers booking a car for a week were charged £177 on average for cover bought from a car hire firm, but just £38 from a broker and £23 from an insurer.
You can find quotes via somewhere like Confused.com or Reduce My Excess.2
Other things!
MONEY
Taking out holiday insurance after you’ve booked your trip (but before you travel) could mean that you’re not covered
Driving with under-inflated tyres means you’re wasting money - replacing a tyre on average costs £85
OTHER
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After being derided for being on the lineup at rock festival Download, pop-guitar band Busted ended up drawing a massive crowd (have a look on TikTok/Instagram for clips)
Know someone who would enjoy this in their inbox on a Sunday morning?
In England and Northern Ireland, you pay on tax the amount above £250,000 (or £425,000 for first-time buyers).
In Scotland, the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax kicks in on properties worth more than £145,000 (£175,000 if you’re a first-time buyer).
In Wales, it’s a Land Transaction Tax on property values above £225,000.
These are both options that I came across when I did some research; they’re not recommended at all but might be a good starting point for your own search :)