For many years now, the UK financial industry has been dominated by the mass of Independent Financial advisers. These are the people who show us where to put our money, when to cash it in and what to do with it. But are they really independent?
One of the main downsides to the internet revolution is the lack of personal contact with third parties whom you may be dealing with. While many would argue that this has it plus points (which it does), it has also opened up the internet - and most importantly customers - to fraudulent activity. Many internet frauds have been active for months before actually being noticed, and it takes even longer to alert customers and close the sites down.
While there have been many developments in the area of internet communication, few have the potential to have such an enormous impact as Skype - the prominent VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone service provider.
For those unaware of VoIP, this is a system which works over your existing internet connection allowing you to phone both fellow Skype users as well as traditional landline user. The system has been on the way for at least 20 years, although it is just recently that sufficient data transfer speeds became available (at affordable prices) and voice data quality improved. Technology has also been introduced which allows Skype users to enter the landline network and call landline members - this is done via a system of audio to digital switches which allow the data to be converted, sent via the internet, then converted back at the receiving end.
So how can Skype save you money?
While the UK continues to be one of the more buoyant internet markets in the world, with internet usage higher than even the likes of the US, you have to ask the question “Are you making the most of online finance?â€. The answer for many UK surfers is probably no, but why is this?
There are a few reasons why surfers may not be making full use of the internet superhighway, but some of the main ones appear to be :-
For many years we have seen consumers place great trust in the so called “Best Buy†tables in many of the financial magazines. While they do offer a summary of the best offers available at the time, many in the industry have great reservations. Do all companies have the same access to these lists? Maybe not….
Insiders in the industry claim that :-
It has recently been announced that the number of complaints from people who were potentially mis-sold State Pension opt out plans soared last year. Rising from 115 in 2005 to 954 in 2006, there is concern that many many more people may have been wrongly advised.
