At the 30th anniversary of the Scarman report into the Brixton riots, Clegg said that Britain has made progress in terms of racial equality but denounced discrimination against ethnic communities in businesses and banking. In the war on race inequality economic opportunity is often overlooked, added Nick.

The politicians argued that banks are holding back people from breaking the “last frontier” of racial economic equality. “We know that 35% of individuals from black African origin say they want to start a business, but only 6% actually do. Are they having problems accessing the loans they need?” he asked. Past evidence showed that companies owned by black individuals are four-times more likely to have their loans outright denied than firms owned by white people. Bangladeshi, Pakistani, black Caribbean and black African owned businesses have also been subject to higher interest rates than white and Indian owned enterprises.

Clegg challenges the banks to show they are meeting their responsibility to ethnic minorities and will set up an inquiry into their practices. “Britain’s banks, bailed out by the British people, have just as much responsibility as everyone else, arguably more responsibility, to help Britain build a strong and dynamic economy. Unleashing black and ethnic minority talent is their duty too,” said the deputy prime minister.

The inquiry “will look at the barriers preventing black and ethnic minority groups from accessing loans”.

The loans of InstantLoansDirect.com charge 0% for the first eight days and then 50p a day for every £100 borrowed until the loan is repaid. A free loan sounds almost too good to be true and it probably is. Where is the catch?

Joanna Elson of Money Advice Trust explained the Guardian that InstantLoansDirect.com “will actually lose money if people take up its 0% offer and then make the repayment as scheduled. However, there is profit to be had in those cases where borrowers are unable to meet that repayment and so incur interest charges.”

Una Farrell, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) charity, agreed: “CCCS would warn anyone to approach this with extreme caution. This company’s business model is built on people rolling over the loan and incurring astronomical charges and interest.”

Giles Coutts, founder of InstantLoansDirect.com, denied this. The 50p a day for every £100 borrowed charge was “not that different from you taking me to Starbucks and buying me a coffee to thank me for lending you £100,” he said. “We’re hoping we can help consumers at a time when they might be struggling financially and that our 0% interest free short-term loan will be a quick and easy solution to their problem.”

Users of payday loans should be wary about such charitable approach. Coutts and his colleagues are not running a non-for-profit organization but a business. They are not lending money just for the sake of it and getting a coffee in return. They are looking to make profit. So it’s safe to assume that there might be hidden costs and horrendous late fees.

Potential borrowers should always make sure to understand all charges and fees before they take out a payday loan. It is important to keep in mind that nothing is for free. On QuickCashPayday and other traditional lenders you will always see all charges upfront and know what you will have to repay so you can make an informed decision.

1. Christmas Cards
It’s ok no to send Christmas cards this year if it’s not in your budget. Your friends and family will understand. But if you do want to send them consider buying postcards or write letters instead of Christmas cards. They are cheaper and cost less in postage stamps. You can also reuse your Christmas cards from last year by cutting them in half and sending the pretty side. It saves you money and is environmentally friendly.

2. Wrapping paper
You don’t have to spend a fortune on fancy wrapping paper. You can simply wrap small presents with pretty magazine pages. Used wrapping paper that is left over from the last birthday will do a great job, too. They work well for small presents where the previously folded lines won’t even show. If the wrapping paper has the wrong theme you can just turn them over and decorate the plain side yourself. Your children will love to create their own wrapping paper.

3. Present tags
You can make your own present tags by cutting small pieces of wrapping paper and folding them in half. Write the “to” and “from” on the inside of the paper and tape it to the wrapped present. This also works with any other scraps of paper.

4. Decorations
The Christmas feeling often comes with the right decoration but it doesn’t have to tear a hole in your wallet. Simply use nature to give your home the wintery touch. Pinecones and acorns are great decorations. The same goes for mistletoes and any conifer twigs.
You could also decorate the old-fashioned way. Make some popcorn and string them up all over your house. Add some cranberries in between the popcorn for some colour. If you can’t do without Christmas lights and other decorations, buy in the sales just before or shortly after the holidays. You will get them at a small fraction of what they originally cost.

5. Entertainment
Christmas is the time for family and friends. It’s nice to take your children out for a fun day but it doesn’t always have to be an expensive trip to the ice rink. Go for a walk around your town to check out the Christmas lights. Some houses are decorated spectacularly. If it’s too cold outside, stay at home, cosy up in the living room and tell family stories. Or create a new Christmas book where everyone contributes a chapter. Another great way of entertaining your family is with board games. If you don’t have many board games at home, maybe you can borrow some from your friends and neighbours. Your children will love to spend time with you!

So, what does this mean? The Bank of England (BoE) can control inflation and boost economic growth by regulating the interest rate. If the interest rate is low, the cost of living and of borrowing for businesses and individuals becomes cheaper. This encourages long-term investments such as buying a car or a house and stimulates economic growth. A low interest rate also decreases the value of the pound. As foreign investors will dump their pounds and invest in other currencies that offer a higher return, the exchange rate will drop to the detriment of the pound. A weak pound will make UK goods more attractive to foreign buyers and increases UK exports. It will also make foreign goods more expensive for UK citizens so they will buy British-made products instead boosting the local economy.

So why doesn’t the BoE keep interest rates low all of the time? While a low interest rate increases demand for UK products and increase wealth within the country it can eventually lead to inflation. If demand for a product exceeds supply, then the product price will go up. When inflation increases, economic growth slows down as high prices will make goods less attractive. Less demand will lead to less production and eventually to higher unemployment.

To keep inflation low the Bank has to raise interest rates. It attracts foreign investors who are looking for high-yield returns on their investment. This increases demand for pounds strengthening its value. A strong currency makes foreign goods more lucrative putting pressure on UK companies to compete with cheaper imported products. If they can’t compete, domestic economic growth will decrease and unemployment rates will rise.

Low and high interest rates have both advantages and disadvantages. That’s why they need to be adapted to ensure a stable economy. The BoE decided to keep the interest rates low to spur the domestic economy. However, the inflation rate raced to 5.2% in September compared to a level of 4.5 % in August (more than double than the Bank’s target of 2%). Next week, the Bank will present the new inflation rate for the last three months. The numbers are awaited impatiently by experts as they will determine the new fiscal policy of the Bank of England.

By the age of five kids should understand what coins are worth. They should be able to differentiate between coins and their value. By the age of nine, your child should be able to make and count change, read price tags and know how to earn a little extra money by selling lemonade or doing some additional work. Dan Kadlec of the Times suggests giving young children a weekly allowance of about half of their age in pounds that together with any birthday money they should keep in three separate jars – 60% for immediate spending, 30% for saving for a specific goal like a new game and 10% for charitable spending. Parents should let the kids spend their money anyway they want within those bounds. This will teach children the difference between short and long term goals and predispose them towards charity.

By the age of thirteen your offspring should understand how impulses and peer pressure can set back long-term goals. He should be able to research products, make price comparisons and chose the best value. The weekly allowance should now be transferred to a bank account with ATM card privileges. He should know how to make a deposit and keep track of the balance. Increase the allowance for clothing expenditure and let your kid choose on what to spend it. It’s important to not bail your kid out if he ran out of money and has to stay at home on a Saturday night for lack of cash. Teenagers should understand that money is not growing on trees.

By the age of eighteen your child should have a credit card in addition to the debit account. But make sure he understands everything about credits. Young adults are often appalled to learn that a £5,000 credit can take up to 20 years to pay off through minimal payments. It’s important that your kid knows how important it is to pay bills on time, understand late fees and interest expenses. If you still pay allowance, do it in bigger and less frequent chunks (once a month or every quarter) so he has to create and live with a budget. Keep reinforcing saving efforts by offering to match his long-term savings with £1 for every £2 he puts away.

By the age of 23 your child should know everything about money there is to know. He should understand the difference between stocks and bonds, the advantage of owning instead of renting and what kind of loans and expenses are tax-deductible. Your child should be an independent young adult now and have a healthy relationship to money. Otherwise, the most important thing you can do for your child at this age is to cut him off from financial support. That will force him to come to grips with issues he’ll be dealing with long after you’re gone. Besides, research shows that kids who get taken off their parents’ dole in a timely fashion, on average, pull in 20% more lifetime earnings.

David Cameron and other British officials have pressured German chancellor Angela Merkel to take more decisive measures to support the Euro such as printing more money. Merkel refuses to do so because, as the Daily Mail believes, she fears a hyperinflation like the one Germany experienced in the 1920s that paved the way for Adolf Hitler. Germany is afraid of the return of a fascist dictator, claims the newspaper. Apparently it hasn’t occurred to the Daily Mail that Merkel’s reluctance to print more money may have something to do with basic economics.

If you increase the money supply by simply printing more, the currency loses its value. The more money there is in circulation the less it is worth as it is not backed up by real value. In a simplified example, if an economy is worth £1 million and there are £1 million bills circulating, each bill is worth £1. If you increase the amount of bills to £2 million but the value of the economy remains at £1 million, then every bill is worth only £0.50. All of a sudden, my £1 bill is only worth half of its original value. But physical goods keep its actual value and markets will adapt the prices. A piece of bread that cost £1 before the increase in money supply will now cost £2. This is called hyperinflation.

Simply printing more money is not the answer to solve the current economic crisis. Germany’s decision to not increase the Euro supply is based on economic understanding and not on fear of Hitler’s return. The Daily Mail should do its homework in Economics 101 before it makes such nonsense claims.

To obtain a Payday loan, an application must first be filled out to determine if the applicant qualifies. Some of the qualifications to obtain a Payday loan in the UK includes the applicant ability to provide adequate proof of employment. The employment proof needs to be a valid pay check stub and there needs to be a way to corroborate with the employer that the applicant is still an employee of the company. The applicant also needs to have a legitimate bank account. This means the account has to have a positive balance and it has to be in the applicant name. Lastly, the applicant must be at least 18 years old.

Once the applicant is qualified for the Payday Loan, the Payday entity searches various lenders to match the applicants need with whichever lender can provide the necessary assistance. The Payday Loan entity acts as a highly referred spokesperson for the applicant. The company uses its vast amount of networking resources to research and call upon the lenders in its network. Once the match is made with a lender, the applicant and the lender discusses and completes the loan process. The loan process includes: repayment terms, interest, extensions and other options. Finally, if everything is agreed upon, the funds are transferred to the applicants bank account. The applicant can then use the funds for whatever they need to as agreed to in the lender agreement.

A lot of additional information was outlined in the survey. For instance, an increase in credit to small businesses was noted. Indeed, many banks have reported that lending to businesses, in general, increased during the last quarter. Interestingly enough, the demand for home loans and for credit cards has declined at the same time. There seems to be a type of lull going on that could end at any time – or continue for an indeterminate length of time. When viewed as a whole, the information is conflicting and confusing; when analysed separately, though, it paints a picture of slow but steady progress for the economy.

The Bank of England’s survey was released right around the time that the bank released its lending figures. Those figures captured people’s attention, too, since they revealed that net consumer debt has fallen. In other words, more people are paying off their unsecured debt than have in a very long time. The number of people who have been defaulting on their lines of credit has also gone down. While people continue to struggle – many on unemployment and many who are facing the repossessions of their homes – it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel could be in sight. Without a doubt, financial analysts will be looking at upcoming reports and surveys with a great deal of interest to see the direction in which things are headed.

Right now, energy companies can wait up to 65 days to alert consumers to energy price rises. This results in unpleasantly – and unexpectedly – high energy bills. The issue has been under debate for quite some time, but it finally looks like something is going to be done about it. Indeed, the Liberal Democrats first broached the topic back in January of 2010. At that time, Labour promised to reduce the delay to just 10 days. Now, Ofgem has come back with a demand for 30 days’ advance notice. Whether the change occurs or not, though, remains to be seen.

With advance notice about energy price rises, consumers will have more control over their energy consumption. It could make energy companies more accountable for the increases that they make. With consumers have a better chance to switch providers, prices could be kept more in check. Right now, the ability to switch before an increase simply doesn’t exist. By the time the change is made, consumers have been paying it for a while. By then, switching seems rather pointless. With advance warning, though, more people are likely to jump ship and shop around for better energy prices. This can only bring positive benefits about for today’s consumers, who are struggling badly enough with their other financial obligations. Starting in January, they may have more control.

The FAO publishes a monthly index of food prices, which is what was used to call the special meeting to order. The index bases its information on international commodities markets. Such markets revolve around future prices for commodities; therefore, the FAO’s monthly index does not reflect current prices for food. However, it can give glimpse as to what consumers can expect in the upcoming months. Prices for staple foods like sugar, oils, dairy and meats, have all been on the rise. Indeed, prices for staples were up by 26% this August when compared with the high for 2009. Analysts are concerned about the effect that these increasing prices will have.

Out of all of the staples being tracked on the index, dairy is increasing some of the sharpest increased. However, meat is experiencing its highest price index ever. This can be explained, to some degree, by the fact that the economies of many developing nations are picking up. When that happens, those who didn’t used to consume a lot of meat suddenly have the financial means with which to do so. This sharp increase in the demand for meat is largely to blame for its skyrocketing price. Beyond that, increased meat consumption means increased grain consumption, which prompts grains to rise in price, too. It is a vicious cycle whose consequences are largely unclear at this particular juncture. Economists will undoubtedly keep a close eye on the index coming up.