Contractor Financials

Amidst all the gloomy tales of mortgage funding drying up, HSBC caused a storm of interest recently with new market leading mortgages. 4 weeks on and the experience of many prospective borrowers has proved anything but a pleasant walk in the sun…. A blaze of free publicity surrounded the news that HSBC were bucking a …

Clare Monger explains, as lenders become less inclined to sweeten their best remortgage rates with free legal work we are pleased to launch a solicitor finder service. In many cases getting your own solicitor to do the legal work allows you to secure the best possible rate from the lender and our service is typically …

Contractors and freelancers enjoy employment flexibility and hopefully greater earnings capacity too but like all good things in life there can be a downside too. With that freedom also comes a danger that, with no big company employee benefits package to support you, every day that you take off work means a day without income. …

Even if by some miracle a commercial buyer had been found for Northern Rock, the message would have been the same…….. Abandon Ship! Through persuasion to go and disincentives to stay, the bank needs to encourage customers into remortgaging away so that it can shrink its liabilities. Existing borrowers are finding that the bank is …

Tony Harris writes – Alistair Darling announced a last minute delay in the clampdown on income sharing, with proposals now put off until 2009 to allow for further consultation. Contractors working via one-man ltd companies have routinely and legitimately split dividends with their Spouse to utilise two sets of nil and basic rate income tax …

After months of bad economic and taxation news it’s good to be able to focus on something that should boost the lot of any Contractor looking to minimise tax. New rules for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) come into effect from 6 April 2008 and there are positive developments to enhance what has become widely regarded …

Contractors may need to act quickly to get onto or move up the housing ladder. With recent turmoil in the mortgage market, we look at tightening lending criteria and how Contractors may need to act quickly if they are looking to get onto the housing ladder for the first time or are hoping to trade …

One option for business owners to ensure trading continuity is by purchasing the premises that they trade from. Commercial finance from a bank is one way to fund a purchase but it can be far more tax efficient and potentially lucrive to purchase the property themselves using their pensions. Commercial property has historically been a staple …

Despite the initial hopes of home owners, estate agents, mortgage advisers and housing industry experts that this ill-conceived added layer of cost and bureaucracy would be confined to the regulatory scrap heap, HIPs are sadly here to stay. HIPs were proposed when Labour first came to power. It was John Prescott (remember him) who stated …

Given the constant challenge of running a business, many company owners will dream of early retirement. Hard graft and grief should give way to the longest holiday of your life but instead of endless days on the golf course in a foreign land many business owners are forced to carry on working late into life, …