MY KINDLE BOOK ON FREE PROMO

The Kindle edition of my book “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” is now on free promo until Monday 26 May.
Here are the links:
(if you are in the UK): http://amzn.to/1jGTODU
(if you’re in the US, or anywhere else that doesn’t have its own Amazon site): http://amzn.to/1oHrgBa
To download it free during that period, you don’t even need a Kindle; just download one of Amazon’s free Kindle-reading apps: http://amzn.to/1iaeTGr

COMING SHORTLY: ‘BACK TO THE BLACK’ ON FREE PROMO

The Kindle edition of my book “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way” will be on free promo from Thurs 22 May to Mon 26 May inclusive.

To download it free during that period, you don’t even need a Kindle; just download Amazon’s “Kindle for PC” software (they have one for Apple devices too), which is also free, and you can download and read it on your computer or whatever.

When I say “whatever”, I include smartphones of course. I’d never try to read a book on my phone; but I once had a small part in Richard III and the actor  playing Richard (the fantastic Rob Benson) was almost word-perfect at the first rehearsal. How did he do that? He’d downloaded the WHOLE play onto his Blackberry and had spent the previous two months reading it everywhere he went. That’s how I know that some people do that stuff.

“JUMPING THE SHARK”: NEW REPORT CLAIMS CREDIT UNIONS CAN REPLACE PAYDAY LOAN FIRMS

Everyone’s heard of Wonga; but how many people know where their nearest credit union is?

“Jumping the Shark”, a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says ministers should provide a capital injection to support the credit union sector.

Published today, the document calls for a £450 million levy on the UK’s £180 billion consumer credit industry (“That’s 0.25%: doesn’t sound too draconian” – Ed.) to create a new generation of not-for-profit affordable lenders based on credit unions, with enough capital to compete with the established payday lenders.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby previously said he wanted to “compete Wonga out of business”, saying that the credit union sector should be expanded to provide an ethical and affordable alternative. And now the Church of Scotland has come out with the same message. According to Kate Devlin writing in the Herald Scotland today, ‘the Kirk’ supports the IPPR’s call for an expansion financed by a windfall levy.

[Credit Unions are much more widespread in Scotland, where 1 in 20 Scots are members of a credit union. Almost all Scots are currently eligible to join a credit union.]

These not-for-profit lenders could be partnered with church parishes, said the Church of Scotland. Alternatively they could be hosted in Post Office branches.

Providing UK credit unions with £450m of capital could help them support over one and a half million loans. The “new generation of lenders” should charge a maximum of 3% interest a month, or 42.6% APR, the IPPR recommends. This would allow customers to pay just £3 to borrow £100 for one month. A similar loan with Wonga, whose APR is 5853%, currently costs more than £30.

The IPPR also says the expanded network of affordable lenders should cap the ­maximum loan at £250 (the average size of current payday loans), limit customers to one loan at a time and stop lenders “rolling over” loans.

Mat Lawrence, IPPR Research Fellow, said of the recent economic good news: “A return to rising living standards will reduce households’ reliance on debt, but it will not eliminate their need for it. The payday lending industry has grown in large part because of a gap in the credit market that mainstream banks are unwilling to fill.

“Regulation can reduce the harm done by payday lenders but it alone cannot ensure that the public interest is properly served in the provision of affordable credit.

“Britain needs an initial capital injection to expand the provision of affordable credit. We need a strategy for spreading capital, building the assets of communities, and engaging citizens in forms of local democratic finance in which power and control resides with them, rather than with government agencies or unaccountable financial institutions.”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

To download a copy of “Jumping the Shark” – the report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), click HERE:

For the article from The Herald Scotland, click HERE:

To find a credit union near you, click HERE.

 

LBF RULES OK!

Last week I was at the London Book Fair: a first for me. Yes, it’s a trade fair and no, the trade publishers who make up the bulk of the exhibitors are not there to meet authors, but the growing importance of the self-publishing sector made it a worthwhile trip up to the capital.
My main porpoise, or maybe purpose (my spell-check seems to be malfunctioning today) was to support the Alliance of Independent Authors’ (ALLi’s) campaign “Opening Up To Indie Authors” and the launch of the book of the same name by Debbie Young and Dan Holloway. I’ve just joined ALLi and I feel sure this will be a worthwhile initiative.
As always, the best thing about going to trade fairs is the unplanned meetings. The ALLi launch was on the Kobo stand; so far my book has not been available on that platform but having met one or two of the really great Kobo people, especially Sean Foy their MD, I intend to change that very soon.
Having made that decision, something even better happened. I bumped into Richard Lalchan, who runs Creatives Hub and whom I’ve known for some time. He’s very switched on to self-publishing and his IT expertise far outstrips mine, so when he told me I needed to check out Ingram Spark, I listened. But Richard did more than tell me; he took me along to their stand and introduced me to the charming and most knowledgeable Robin Cutler.

Right now, my book “Back to the Black” is only available through Amazon (KDP and CreateSpace). Debbie Young has been urging me (in person and through her book “Sell Your Books”) to widen my e-distribution. So I was delighted to hear that through the Spark platform I can publish both in print and e-format, for one setup charge and with one seamless reporting system; and have the books available via Kobo as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble etc. Best of all, I’d have my books on Ingram’s list, of which I’d previously only dreamed.

We usually understand the phrase “one-stop shop” in terms of convenience for the consumer; if it’s as good as it sounds, it would seem that the Spark service could be a one-stop shop for the content producer. Maybe the answer to an author’s prayer.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For info about my book “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way”, go to the book’s website HERE.

Independent and self-published authors: if you’d like to find out about joining ALLi, click HERE.

 

SURPRISE SURPRISE: PAYDAY LENDERS HARASS BORROWERS

The FCA, in the person of its boss Martin Wheatley, has announced it will get tough with payday lenders. Not before time.

They quote an OFT report stating that 60% of complaints about payday lenders are about unfair collection practices; and the BBC talked of lenders phoning up to 16 times a day, sometimes to workplaces.

The OFT, currently responsible for this area, already had a fairly comprehensive code of practice about harassment of lenders but I don’t think it was policed. Finding a way to enforce that code could be a starting point for the FCA when it takes over responsibility in April.

I mentioned the code and the fact it was being ignored, and listed its provisions, in a blog post two or three years ago; it seems nothing has changed and the situation has got worse. There’s plenty for the FCA to go at!

http://getbacktotheblack.com/debt-collection-official-guidelines-ignored-2/

BUDGET SUPERMARKETS: THE SUCCESS STORY CONTINUES

Are you a thrifty shopper? If so, you probably know all about Lidl and Aldi already. If not, you need to get on board.

I knew these were places you could get German products that were either unavailable or very expensive in other stores. From my years of work travel to Scandinavia I have become a major fan of gravadlax; I could live on the stuff. Aldi and Lidl have it at silly prices, though Aldi call it something else: marinated salmon or similar, which is what it is. That’s “a rose by any other name” and it tastes as good; there’s probably a law that says you have to charge a lot if you call it gravadlax, because that’s a luxury item, surely?

And they have loads of budget booze, including very drinkable wine at good prices, as I discovered at Christmas.

Anyway, enough of the plug, already, because they don’t need it, according to the latest retail data. The Daily Telegraph (14 Feb) says that in the four weeks to February 2, the four big supermarkets lost market share. Sainsbury’s sales grew by just 0.1% compared to last year, while Asda fell 0.7%, Tesco 0.8% and Morrisons by a staggering 4%. At the same time, Aldi grew sales by 37.9% and Lidl by 16.4%. In just four weeks.

OK, Aldi has not yet achieved the dominance it has in Germany, its home market. According to latest market data, it controls 3.7% of the UK grocery market, compared to 30.2% for Tesco. So these budget supermarkets are still much smaller … but that shouldn’t bother us, provided there’s a store near enough to make the journey worthwhile.

Those two stores have another distinguishing feature; you might go in for a bottle of cheap wine and come out with an angle-grinder too. That’s because, in addition to all the food and drink products, they also have a random selection, frequently changing, of other stuff. That’s the story as told by the Irish pub singer Mick MacConnell: Ballad of Lidl and Aldi

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For the Daily Telegraph article, click HERE.

PAYDAY LOANS: “FACE OF MUSIC TV” LIFTS THE LID

Miquita Oliver? A week ago I’d never heard of her. Now I am a big fan, a supporter, an advocate.

Hers is not a name you would expect to see on a 70-year-old bloke’s blog. She’s in her late twenties and was formerly ‘the face of music TV’ on Channel 4.

At seventeen, Miquita was earning so much money she didn’t know how to handle it. She ended up bankrupt over an unpaid tax bill.

Now she’s a campaigner on the paydays loans issue. She’d not alone; many financial journalists have been consistently outspoken on the subject, as has the Archbishop of Canterbury. But the TV programme she fronted on Monday was the most powerful message I’ve seen about the insidious power of the now-substantial payday loan industry.

Why? Because she’s young and it’s her age-group that the companies target; because she’s a great communicator; because she’s had money troubles herself and displayed great empathy with those who were getting sucked into the vicious circle of debt. And because she went out and about interviewing lots of young people who were tempted by the loans as a way to instant parties; and showed us the moving stories of those who had been driven to attempted and actual suicide because of the ballooning debts. Impressive stuff.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

To watch the programme on the BBC’s iPlayer, click HERE.

(it’s available only until just before 10 pm on Tues 10 Dec)