Bankruptcy Chapters

Expect to see a proliferation of high-income bonds – sadly not the safer savings bonds issued by banks and building societies but ‘direct bonds’: fundraising IOUs struck between companies and their customers.

British companies have dipped a toe in this area and they like what they see. Income-starved savers, after all, are happy to park their money in exchange for high rates of return – even if there is no compensation safety net. And for companies this route is often cheaper than more traditional ways of raising cash for expansion.

John Lewis has already raised money offering a 6.5 per cent return – but with 2 per cent of it paid in vouchers.

Tags: Bond

We use credit cards on a daily basis, but how much do we truly know about them? That’s probably not a question you’ve ever given much thought, and even so, you might find it hard to believe that such a small piece of plastic could carry many secrets or surprises. The truth, however, is that while we take the ubiquity of credit cards for granted, they have a rich and complicated history, and many facets of their usage and evolution do offer the kind of interesting tidbits that one could pull out at a cocktail party or game night (‘cause that’d really impress your friends, huh?).

So, without further ado, here are 6 of my favorite credit card nuggets:

1. You can redeem rewards miles for cosmetic surgery: Thai Airways intermittently offers a promotion that allows members of its Royal Orchid rewards program to redeem miles for medical tourism. Given the transferability of miles between related rewards programs, that means your Star Alliance-member credit card (e.g. the Uni

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Tags: Cards, Credit Cards

A dozen red roses, a box of chocolates, an expensive bottle of perfume, a weekend break away – the list of the more generic gifts to give the person you love at Valentine’s Day.

But these are bleak economic times. The eurozone crisis rumbles on, household bills are soaring and petrol prices at the forecourt (where the less prepared of us buy a last minute bunch of flowers) remain stubbornly high.

This means many might be cutting back on gifts for Valentine’s Day. But fear not, supermarket giant Asda has launched what can only be described as a ‘budget’ Valentine’s card. But costing seven pence, it could be argued to be a ‘budget budget budget’ Valentine’s card.

Tags: Valentine, Valentine Austerity

Ive never been a big fan of the explosion in money-saving vouchers and group-buying websites.

Strangely, it seems to have had no effect on Britains big business – profit margins, in fact, have been rising for the past three years.

Thats because rather than really squeezing better deals out of businesses, the higher costs for funding the vouchers are merely displaced, pushed on to those without internet access or the time to take advantage.

Time-strapped Britons pay for time-rich Britons.

Vouchers have also killed spontaneity – drop in to Pizza Express on a whim, without vouchers, and you effectively pay a surcharge – a rule that now applies to vast swathes of consumer life in the UK.

And even those who do play the game don’t always win, if they fail to spot which offers are nonsense, as Grouponperfectly demonstrated.

So just when I thought there was nothing more to dislike about money-saving vouchers, one of our contributors discovered this: .

Tags: Moneysaving Vouchers, Vouchers

We all know the old saying, “If it aint broke, don’t fix it.” Well, everyone except BP, which appears to have gotten this idiom backwards because they seem unable to stop breaking good things. First the Gulf of Mexico and now the BP Credit Card, which used to be one of the very best gas credit cards before changes to the offer effective March 3 turned it into one of the worst.

Of course, BP should not be alone in shouldering the blame, as Chase – the issuer of this once-great co-branded credit card – is also complicit in its downfall. Regardless of who exactly is to blame, what is now abundantly clear is that BP is losing a significant strategic advantage over its competition. The credit card bearing its name is no longer a draw, but is instead an example of everything that is wrong with corporate rewards programs.

What’s Changed

You see, the popularity of the BP Credit Card centered on two things: 1) its lucrative rewards structure and 2) its simplicity. It offered 10% cash back on BP gas, 4% on travel and dining, and 2% on everything else for the first 60 days after account opening. Thereafter,

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