Building Community
on the Internet
Make Poverty History in Hillingdon
| Home | Gas and electricity | School Uniform | Credit | Credit Unions | Telephone | Keep your commission | Links |
Hints and Tips
Avoid spending money where you don’t have to:
If you are on a low income and have a key meter this is a very expensive way of paying for your electricity and gas. You can reduce the cost of electricity and gas by changing to monthly or quarterly payments.
If this is not possible then you can change your electricity provider to Equigas or Equipower (or both) http://www.ebico.co.uk/howtoapply.htm shows how you can apply for this. You end up paying the same for your electricity as people who pay by direct debit.
Or phone them on 0845 456 0170.
If you are on a low income you may be entitled to help with school uniform. Contact the Benefits Team in the Civic Centre - 01895 556000.
Credit
Generally speaking avoid store cards. These can be very expensive.
The APR rate on a card is the cost of borrowing each £100. So a rate of 29% means you could have to pay £29 on each £100 you borrow. So that cheap £20 item could become a not so cheap £25.80 item if you use a high interest store card.
Shop around for credit.
There are some very good deals on credit cards. If you aren’t keen on filling in forms go for a Credit Card with a long-term low rate rather than aiming to transfer your card every few months for the introductory offers. If you can’t be bothered to change you will be paying their normal, higher rate before you know it.
If you, or a member of your family, live or work in Hillingdon you can join Hillingdon Credit Union. All profits go back to members too, which is nice.
Phone 01895 250958 for further details.
If you are with BT and would like to reduce your phone bill you could join the Phone Co-op. You can even get yourself a new portable non geographic number that allows family members to phone you at BT local rate from anywhere in the country.
Check it out here
When you click on a link to go to a commercial site the person who owns the link probably gets a commission.
If you would like to get the commission for yourself join www.quidco.com. They have links to all sorts of sites but you get to keep the commission you earn. They keep the first £5 you earn each year but after that you can keep all of the rest. If you buy things on line you can earn some extra cash this way.