MoneyBasics

Now we are all obsessed with credit and how it has been crunched, sites like MoneyBasics might find themselves more popular than ever. If, like us, you have no idea how to handle money and plan your financial future, then MoneyBasics is here to help you out.

The site is a partnership between Credit Action, Consumer Credit Counselling Service and GE Money and offers ‘simple, clear, independent information about money.' The site is very nicely designed and easy to find your way around. In Resources, you'll find a variety of tools to help you with credit card repayments and mortgages. Life Events offers financial advice for occasions such as buying a car, setting up a home and starting a family. Other channels are devoted to Budgeting & Banking, Borrowing and Saving. The Case Studies section is useful as its tales of people unlucky in love, losing their jobs and becoming addicted to shopping are ones we can all relate to.

The advice MoneyBasics offers is straightforward. However, it is not particularly detailed (although a variety of links to other sites are provided.) It seems to us that the site is best used to remind yourself of things you have to do; MoneyBasics is a checklist of common sense ideas, designed to make sure you don't do something with your money that you will later regret. It makes you aware of the options available to you in specific circumstances and provides a very useful service.