There are some things in life that are beyond our control – many of them are unpleasant. Festering dishes and blocked toilets aside, the minor disasters that can quickly turn into major upsets are usually those relating to money.
Lost or stolen gadgets are hard to replace on an income of £0, while trying to resolve difficulties with purchases made from unhelpful companies can prove extremely stressful.
For anyone whose finances are stretched it can pay to take a few precautionary measures to prevent monetary meltdown in the future. The most obvious of these is taking out adequate insurance to protect your most prized possessions.
Though many baulk at the idea of paying money to nefarious insurance companies for something they may never use, the reality is that students own increasingly expensive and portable items.
Recent research found that many students carried more than £1,000 worth of gadgets on them each day. These include laptops, tablet PCs, digital cameras, smartphones and MP3 players. Items left at home include an average £550 worth of clothes. In addition, one in five students have a musical instrument worth an average of £684, while many also take a bicycle and other pieces of sports equipment.
Students often mistakenly believe that their parents’ home insurance policies will provide cover for these items should they be lost, stolen or accidentally broken. The truth of this is usually only discovered after treasured items are lost, stolen or accidentally broken.
In deciding whether to insure, consider the relative safety of your accommodation – highly concentrated areas of student housing are often targets for robberies. If there’s a single item that you particularly care about, take out a policy that covers it.
Always think about your finances in the long-term to avoid the situation of an empty wallet and a looming rent-day. If it looks like things are going to be tight during a particular month, consider arranging for a temporary increase in your overdraft – though make sure this can be cleared through subsequent paid work or some other monetary input.
While credit cards aren’t the best idea for those who err on the side of spending irresponsibly, for the cautious student they provide a method of protecting their purchases. The Financial Ombudsman Service says that: “Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, customers who have a claim against a supplier for breach of contract or misrepresentation will generally have an equal claim against the card issuer.”
What this means in practice is that should anything be wrong with goods or services worth more than £100 bought using the credit card, the buyer is legally entitled to claim back their full cost from the credit card provider. Buyers may even make a claim for extra costs incurred as a result of the problem.
This is a guest article from Choose.net