Top 10 financial deals for the summer

It's easy to spend too much money in the summer. Who wants to count the pennies when you're taking a well-earned break in the sun?

Trouble is, if you let rip and spend too much, it's then all the harder to find enough cash to enjoy the Christmas season.

So we thought we'd look at some of the most popular financial deals on our website to help you make the most of your money this summer. We'll also highlight some new products that look set to be a big hit with our users.

So let's look at some of the best financial deals:

1. Sainsbury's Bank Standard Nectar Cardholder loan
If you need to borrow money to finance your holiday, we have some good news. A price war has broken out in the personal loan market.

Sainsbury's fired the latest salvo in this war last week when it cut the rates on its Standard Nectar Cardholder loan. It now offers a market-leading 5.8% rate on £10,000 loans for three years. If you want to borrow for five years, you'll have to pay a slightly higher 5.9% rate.

The Sainsbury's loan has been very popular with our readers in recent weeks - and that popularity looks set to continue following the rate cut.

2. Derbyshire Building Society personal loan
The other top loan comes from Derbyshire Building Society. The society is also offering a 5.9% rate on five-year personal loans.

• Compare more personal loans

3. Life insurance
If there's at one least person out there who would suffer financially were you to die, then you should seriously consider life insurance. And if you're in that category and you don't have any insurance, you should crack on and buy some as soon as possible.

That's because life insurance premiums are set to rise over the next few months. The main reason is the EU's ruling on gender pricing. Basically, women can currently buy life insurance more cheaply than men because women are expected to live longer.

But the EU's ruling means that life insurance companies will have to start charging the same price for men and women from December onwards. So life insurance will become more expensive for women. And men probably won't get a price cut because admin costs will rise.

There are also three other regulatory changes in the pipeline that will push up premiums, so it makes sense to buy life insurance now.

4. Barclaycard 22-month Platinum Visa
If you've got a big debt on your credit card, it's a good idea to transfer that debt to a 0% balance transfer card if you possibly can. Then you won't have to pay any interest on the debt and all your repayments can go towards paying off the debt not on interest payments.

The Barclaycard Platinum Visa is a great balance transfer credit card. If you transfer your debt to this card you won't have to pay any interest for 22 months, although you will have to pay a 2.9% transfer fee. After the 22 month period, the 'revert to' rate is 17.9%.

5. Halifax 20-month MasterCard
A lot of our users have also gone for the Halifax 20-month MasterCard as their balance transfer option in recent months. The 0% period isn't quite as long as the aforementioned Barclaycard and the transfer fee is marginally higher at 3%, but the 'revert to' rate is lower at 16.9%.

• Take a look at other 0% credit card deals

6. First direct 1st account
Many people stay with the same current account for 20 years or longer, but if you switched current account, you could pick up a £100 cash reward. You could do this by switching to the first direct 1st Account.

First direct has won several awards for customer service over the years and we've had plenty of positive feedback from our users. That said, you need to pay in at least £1,500 into the account every month or you'll have to pay a £10 monthly fee for the account.

7. Santander 123 current account
The Santander 123 account is another popular option. You'll get up to 3% cashback on some of your spending, and you can earn 3% interest on balances between £3,000 and £20,000.

However, you will have to pay a £2 monthly fee.

8. ING Direct Savings Account
If you're looking for a high-paying instant access account, the ING Direct Savings Account could be just the ticket. It's paying a 3.24% interest rate and it also has a 2.69% bonus that is fixed for a year.

That means that the rate will almost certainly be cut by 2.69% in 12 months' time which doesn't sound good, but the bonus also has an advantage. It means that there's a 2.69% floor on the interest rate. In other words, you know that you'll definitely be paid at least 2.69% interest for the first year you have the account.

9. Coventry Building Society Telephone Saver account
If you go for Coventry Building Society's new Telephone Saver account, you'll get an even higher rate at 3.25%. It's the top-paying instant access account on the market right now.

However, the 12-month bonus is much lower at 1.25%. So Coventry could, if it wished, cut the interest rate much more aggressively than anything ING Direct could do on its account.

10. Switch your gas and electricity
It might seem strange to switch your gas and electricity supplier in the summer when you're not paying for any heating.

But it makes sense to be on a cheap tariff right from the very first day you switch the heating on, so why not shop around now and sign up to a low one-year fixed-rate tariff now?

So there you have it, 10 great financial deals for the summer!

• Compare 0% credit cards
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