Last Thursday, campaigners got a huge leap closer to a permanent reduction in bank charges for UK citizens. In The High Court, judgement was passed which says that the Consumer Contract Regulations do apply to bank charges and that fairness does, indeed, count. Banks have made millions every year by imposing punitive charges on people at the time they can least afford them.

This judgement is hugely important and clears the way for the Office of Fair Trading to decide that the charges levied by the banks are unfair. They then have to reach agreement with the banks. If they can’t agree, then it’s back to court. The banks stand to lose huge amounts as claims can go back 6 years. Continue reading »

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Sometimes negotiating fees can feel a bit like David vs. Goliath. This week, I realised we were paying too much for some professional services and more than we could reasonably afford for our accountants. They are great and give us valuable advice, but this hasn’t been our best year. I had to question my dentist’s unfathomable quote and I have also been drafted in by one of my friends to deal with an outrageous bank on her behalf. On each negotiation I did, I was successful. I even exceeded my own expectations on a couple of occasions.

Although I enjoy negotiating, I don’t always get such good results. So I thought I would look carefully at what I’ve been doing. What is making the difference and how can that be of help to others? What I found was that I was taking the exact same steps I normally did. I wasn’t doing anything differently, but I was certainly being different… Continue reading »

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