How to save money in Spain

Traditionally a credit card was a necessary component of renting a car. Credit cards indicate that the potential driver is both credit worthy and a fair risk. However car rental businesses have needed to move with the times, which reflect an increased usage of debit cards and a decrease in credit card usage. It is perfectly viable to rent a car now without a credit card, though the process will typically take longer and involve more paperwork.

Increasingly people are moving away from credit card usage, whether through an inability to obtain credit or through choice. Accepting only credit cards limits the customer base of a car rentals business, particularly if their competitors accept debit cards or cash in lieu of credit. A survey conducted by Creditcards.com revealed that even car rental businesses which only reluctantly accept alternate forms of payment to credit cards will in fact do so.

Those who need to rent a car without a credit card should be prepared that most rental agencies will impose additional requirements before releasing the vehicle. Actually reserving the vehicle by debit card in advance is not a problem. Renters should make the car rental business aware at the time of booking that they will need to complete the transaction without a credit card.

Most car rental agencies will require a debit card if the renter is not using credit. A debit card needs to be linked to a bank account in most cases and should carry either the Visa or MasterCard logo. As pre-paid debit cards are not linked to bank accounts these are not a generally acceptable alternative.

Those renting a car with a debit card should have the necessary paperwork in place to complete the rental transaction, which may include three forms of identification, along with their auto insurance policy.

Renters using debit cards should also be prepared for a credit check to be carried out by some agencies. They should be aware this will be a hard credit inquiry which may well impact negatively on their current credit score. Additionally a hold may be placed on current bank account funds of $100 - $500 as a security deposit, until the vehicle is returned.

Different car rental companies and agencies have different requirements, which can be ascertained in advance of selecting a company by searching online. Many place restrictions on the under 25’s renting without a credit card, and often companies will not let those not using credit drive off in the flashiest cars. Rent–A– Wreck is amongst the least restrictive rental companies, offering vehicles to the under 25’s and to cash renters.

When renting a car abroad some companies do impose mandatory requirement for credit cards. However not all car rental agencies insist on credit cards abroad, and this can be ascertained through online checks in advance. Those who typically visit a country and stay in a vacation resort will often find that cash is a perfectly acceptable way of renting a car, providing that a passport and other documentation is produced.

The typical independent car rental agencies found in resorts will often impose far less restrictions, as in many cases are not used to accepting credit cards. Car rental agencies at airports tend to be larger companies or franchises rather than independent operators, so may require more stringent requirements than independent rental agencies.

As more people elect to use cash and debit cards rather than credit cards, renting a car becomes easier for those who don’t carry credit cards. The trend is likely to increase if car rental companies wish to remain competitive and expand their potential customer base.

It can be a wonderful dream to retire abroad and escape the misery of UK winters. With time on your hands the thought of a new life in the sun enjoying a relaxed life style can have great appeal, and each year thousands of people make the transition.  Selling up in the UK and buying or building a dream house abroad, sounds like a wonderful idea. The proceeds from the house sale can buy a property abroad, and investments and pension will fund the new life.

When choosing your favourite destination to settle in it would be wise to actually rent for a year first, to see that the area you have chosen is really for you, and to live through a foreign winter. Living in the area first gives you the opportunity to find the perfect home, or builder to work with, rather than buying in haste and repenting at leisure.

Property markets abroad can differ hugely to the UK and many can wait a long time to actually sell their new home abroad if they wish to make a move. If you live in an area it gives you the opportunity to make the most handy contacts and find the best deals, as often foreigners can end up paying over the odds for their property investments, whereas if you are perceived as being local you may well find a better price.

You should consider if you are prepared to make the effort to learn the language of your host country. Not only will it help you greatly to be able to communicate over simple things such as paying your bills and buying goods, it will help you to be accepted by the local community. Many prefer to simply live in an ex pat community and don’t attempt to learn the language; others just simply give up saying it is more difficult to learn as they get older.

The whole experience of living abroad will be greatly enhanced if you can communicate in the host country’s language, and it will be invaluable if you need to deal with medical emergencies. No one will expect you to be fluent but making the effort makes all the difference. Some ex pats that consider returning to the UK cite language difficulties as a problem.

You should consider how you envisage spending your time. If you aren’t used to spending all your time with your partner it may come as a bit of a shock, especially as you won’t have your family on hand. Consider how you would be able to follow different interests in your new country to avoid being stuck together endlessly like glue.

Think about the kind of activities the area will offer to fill some of the new leisure hours. Without suitable activities to engage the interest a fair number of ex-pats turn to drinking their days away in the sun on cheap booze. Whether it is gardening or golf, sailing or cooking classes, it is a good idea to have something you can enjoy.

These are just some of the many considerations to mull over when thinking about retiring abroad. Life won’t be a permanent vacation, but it can be a wonderful transition to make.

We all like to look after our money these days, and with low interest rates around for sometime to come, it could be a good idea to check out what you could do with foreign currency. Can you actually save money by investing in foreign currency? Also, could you save money by checking out currency exchange rate deals?

There are some very solid reasons why you should check out the world of foreign currency exchange. First of all, you could make some serious money by investing in different currencies. As we all know, there are optimum times to invest in foreign currency. Buying and selling foreign currency is another great way to make some money when you are retired, or working for that matter.

Save Money When Traveling

One of the reasons you should keep your own foreign currency storage cupboard, is to save money when traveling. These days we seem to travel around the world a lot more. For instance, you may be planning going on a longer cruise. As well all know, most cruise companies out there would like to be paid in US dollars. If you have the foresight to buy US dollars at the right time, that cruise can end up costing you a lot less money. Link a prepaid credit card to your US dollar account, and you may even save more money.

Investing Your Abroad

Some years ago we may only have been interested in investing in our own local stock market, or other forms of investment. That has changed now, and due to global financial flexibility, we may invest in other investment markets. If you have built up a good stock of a particular currency in your foreign currency storage cupboard, it could mean that a foreign investment, or offshore investment opportunity offers you better value for money. It may also make it easier for you to complete the transaction without having to worry about foreign currency spot exchange rates.

Of course foreign property investments and purchases are made easier with your own foreign currency storage cupboard. Once you spot a deal, you will immediate know by checking your foreign currency availability, if you can afford it or not. No more worrying about your potential investment going to another investor.

Yes, it is nice to have investment experience, but there is nothing like being prepared and ready to go when you spot an investment opportunity. That is exactly what you will achieve with your own foreign currency storage cupboard.

You may remember my previous post about my friend's villa being damaged in the Javea fires in Spain. It may not have been too badly damaged, but I have never known so much hastle. Are the insurance companies here to help or what? After having faithfully paid her insurance premium for many years, my friend thought that she was entitled to a bit of help from her insurance company.

Well, the inspector from the company turned up this morning together with one of his colleagues. He photographed all of the damage, and noted all of the details. After walking around the villa, he noticed that my friend's villa roof seemed rather new. Yes, she said, she did have the roof redone as it really needed some isolation so she could reduce her heating bills.

Of course, this led to the next thing. Why had she not told the insurance that she had improved her home, and upgraded the roof. At the time she did not think that she would need to do, but the inspector hastily replied that villa had been upgraded and was subsequently worth more. Was she actually paying the right level of premium for the villa? He needed to ivestigate before he took the claim further. Not daring to tell the inspector that the central heating heating system had been upgraded as well, my friend quickly explained that she thought that she had done the right thing. However, it seemed that he did not agree with her, and wanted to see all of the bills for the work to ensure the work met the legal standard. As a matter of fact, his company should have been allowed to inspect the work and approve to make sure that it met with their standards. Never mind that it does not say anything about this in the insurance policy.

She promised to supply the correct bills to the company, but just before the inspector left, he said one more thing. He would also need the police report for the villa fire. After all, we were talking about criminal damage and she should have taken out a denuncia with the police within 48 hours. Well, I am sure that there are a few people around Javea not considering denuncias at the moment. Who are they going to denounce, or is the insurance companies just after a crime number.

Surely, the inspector could see that the entire neighbourhood seemed to have been affected by the fire, and that the empty plot next door, had burned to a crisp. Who is going to follow that denuncia through? Come on, shape up and act like professionals in this time of crisis. 

Perhaps it is about time we started to look at supermarket shopping in a different way. Wouldn't it be great if we could save money and get healthier at the same time. Let's be honest, grocery shopping is not actually cheap, and if you don't have access to low cost supermarkets, the weekly shop can cost you a small fortune each week. But, there are many ways in which you can both save money on your grocery shopping and get healthier at the same time.

One of my top tips is to shop with a list and stick to it like glue. It is often the special offers in the supermarket which are not good for you. However, what were to happen if you took that list down to your local greeengrocer and butcher instead. That is what I did the other week, and to be honest, I keep on wondering if suprmarkets are just an addiction. We have fallen in love with browsing the nice aisles and picking up things that we do not need. After all, supermarkets love to tempt us with their "special offers". 

Sadly, many of those special offers are not really cheap and healthy. Many of them are packed with sugar and salt, and when you take a close look at many skincare ranges from supermarkets, you will find that they are packed with parabens which can be really bad for you. This week, I decided to change my shopping habits and went to my local greengrocer and butcher instead. You may not believe this, but I managed to save money in both them and I got some really good quality produce as well. Maybe we should support our local small stores more often. Needless to say, godo quality and fresher produce both mean better health. On top of that, I avoided those tempting sugary offers.

Planning your meals is another top tip. I always used to be in the habit of just browsing around to see what special offers were available. This time I planned my meals and that helped a lot. I was able to tell my local butcher exactly what I needed, and my greengrocer was more than helpful as well. Also, the quanitites in the shop were smaller and the fruit and vegetables therefore better quality. At the end of my shop, I worked out that I had saved about £8, and if I can do that every week, I will have an extra £416 after 52 weeks. 

I have also stopped paying with my card. Cash is king with me at the moment, and I seem to be much more conscious of the price of everything. At the back of your mind, you are always thinking about how much money is left in your wallet and if you are going to be able to pay for it. 

Once you have stocked up on your store cupboards staples, I think that this is an excellent way to shop. You may still want to use the supermarkets for things like washingpowder, but I am not sure that supermarkets always have the best prices. I know that we are all busy, but sometimes, it is may pay off to check out what your local stores have to offer. You avoid all of those temtping "unhealthy special offers", get a chance to buy fresher produce and sometimes even produce that has been produced locally. Also look out for loyalty schemes, I discovered my local butcher had his own customer loyalty scheme. All in all, it was a real eye opener. 

Cooking from scratch is not difficult, and there are many reasons why you should cook from scratch. Home cooking is often much healthier as you know exactly which ingredients go into a dish. When you buy ready made food from a super market you might also be buying a lot of extra ingredients which you don't really want. Ask yourself if you really want to pay for all of those E numbers, and other artificial ingredients such as monosodium glutamate. When you cook from scratch you don't need to worry about artificial ingredients. Another problem with ready made food is that it is very high in salt. Salt can cause high blood pressure but when you cook at home you can add a suitable amount of salt.

Food cooked from scratch also tastes much better. Scratch cooking with fresher ingredients means that the nutritional value of the food is retained. Ready made from the supermarket is normally low in vitamin B but fresh home cooked food retains the vitamin B. Also the food is only cooked once, ready made meals are normally already cooked once when you buy them in the supermarket and heated up at home. This means that even more of the nutritional value is destroyed, and water soluble vitamins such as B and C are lost. Both vitamin B and C are crucial for better health, and in today's modern world of ready made food many people suffer vitamin deficiencies. Home made food will also boost your health, and you will soon notice that you have more energy.

Another reason is of course taste. Cooking from scratch does not have to be complicated, and you can also use your favorite spices. If you have ever watch a cooking show on TV, you would have noticed that most famous chefs do not use a lot of complicated ingredients. Instead they focus on some good quality base ingredients complimented with two or three spices to make up a dish. Making food less complicated is an art in itself but there are some excellent cook books available. Once you get started you will notice how simple home cooking can be made. Try to find a couple of recipes that you really like the look of and experiment with difference ingredients. Excellent starter recipes are pasta and rice dishes as it is easy to add different ingredients and flavors.

You will also find that home cooking will save you money. Ready made food can be quite expensive to buy. Once you have stocked up on your base ingredients such as pasta, rice, potatoes and spices, you can look out for special offers in the supermarket. Vegetables are often on special offers but rather buying lots of one particular offer focus on buying little and often. You will be surprised at the difference in taste, and how much more enjoyable a meal becomes once you start adding more fresh ingredients to your cooking. Also look out for special offers on meat, and cheese. Meat is great to buy when it is on special offer as you can always freeze it, and get it out of the freezer when you need it. Cheese is another useful product to always have at hand. A cheese like mascarpone can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. It is excellent when making cheese cakes but it is also useful when it comes to making pasta sauces. A lot of people presume carbonara is a complicated pasta sauce to make but it can be made from mascarpone cheese, mushrooms and bacon.  You can also add mascarpone cheese to tuna bakes, or a peppercorn sauce for steak.

Perhaps the way to look at scratch cooking and home cooking is as an exciting opportunity to learn something new, and as an adventure. Who knows, you might even be the next super chef.

So, the fun and games have started when it comes to the Javea fires. My friend had her house damaged in the fires that broke out in Javea on September 4. It was tough on everybody concerned, and today my friend decided to call her insurance company which is a Spanish one. She has been with them since 2003, and you would have thought that a little bit of customer service would not have gone a miss.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the company promised to send an accessor out, but at the same time, they wanted to remind her that she may not get any compensation or help until the criminal case had gone through and compensation been paid to them. It sounds like the insurance company has decided that it already is a criminal matter without having investigated anything at all.

Even if it is a criminal matter, I doubt very much that the teens who are suspected to be behind the suspected arson attacks, have any public liability insurance or assets to cover the damage. Surely, the companies should take the claims on board and do their best to help their clients. 

I am not sure where the claimants stand legally, but I have the feeling that the insurance companies, must have some way of dealing with this problem. My friend panicked of course, and was soon on her way to her lawyer, so that he could read the agreement. 

Why does everything have to be so complicated in Spain, and why do they need to be so "brisk"? There is no need for this at all. It would be much better to say that "let me see how I can help you" and then take it step by step. After all, I know that we pay a lot of money for our insurance premiums here in Spain. It should not matter if you are trying to claim on your golf insurance after achieving that elusive hole in one, or your home insurance after the more serious circumstances of the Javea fires in Spain. At the end of the day, we are all customers of the insurance companies.

It is now some time ago since the UK voted to leave with EU in effect causing what has become known as Brexit. Watching the PM speak on the TV this morning, it was clear that she was not rushing to trigger Article 50 which is the agreement which allows a member to leave the EU. She seemed very determined, and it certainly sounds like Article 50 is not going to be triggered this year.

Many ex-pats feel that they have been left in limbo, and of course there are financial concerns as well. Most UK residents abroad are concerned about the value of the pound as it still at a very low rate. This affects the vast majority of pensioners living in Spain. It is of concern as it has slashed the value of both private and state pension incomes. Living in Spain is not getting any cheaper, and grocery prices have risen rather sharply in the last year.

Despite a lot of positive thinking from the UK government, there are still many dark clouds hanging over the value of the pound and the UK economy. The IMF has downgraded global financial growth forecasts, and there is real concern over global manufacturing output. After all, the UK is a major consumer economy, and if people do not have the confidence in the economy, they will spend less.

We seem to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place, and as any clear direction has not been forthcoming, many ex-pats feel that they are being left waiting for news one way or the other. If, you are transferring money from the UK on a regular basis to finance your life in Spain, it is now more important than ever to count the pennies or cents. Make sure that you are getting good quality financial advice, and use a currency transfer service which give you good value for money.

It might also be a good idea to look at saving some money as well. Getting in touch with a local financial adviser in Spain could be one way of doing that, and there are many good choices available. Try to cut back on your bills by shopping smart and making sure that you are getting the most of any deals which are available. Cutting everyday living expenses can help a lot. Life in Spain does not offer so many opportunities to do so, but once you start looking around, you will find that there are at least some opportunities out there.  

This week has not been the best in the history of Paypal. They have been experiencing technical issues all week, and I keep wondering if this means that they have been hacked. Paypal is probably the leading payment instrument online, and millions of people around the world use them. They process billions of dollars of transactions every year, and for your convenience, you only need a user name and password to log in.

Yes, it great to be able to sign up for Paypal, and buy stuff from thousands of websites such as Ebay. You can link your bank account and credit card, and if you work online, it is also the best way to receive payments. The balance on your Paypal account can be used to pay for purchases, and normally the Payal service is very quick and covenient. This week something went wrong and Paypal has not explained what happened. Perhaps if they were to do that, they would make their millions of users feel like valued customers instead. After all, we all pay them commission to use their services.

If you are a Paypal account holder, it could be a good idea to change your password every so often. Make sure that you do not use your Paypal password on any other websites and certainly do not link it you your email. Hacking email accounts can give hackers all sorts of information. 

Also, it could be a good idea to keep a separate email account for Paypal. That is what I do, and it allows me to monitor activity. Sometimes, you do get emails that look like them have come from Paypal, but in fact, they are from hackers. If you suspect any kind of that activity, you should report them to Paypal straight away. They normally respond quickly and at least you will know what is going. 

There are rumors that Paypal are planning to turn themselves into a major global bank, and financial player. That could very well be true and they are already offering a Paypal debit card that you can use in many countries around the world. Any payments are debited from your Paypal balance. So far, the system is working well. However, it makes me wonder what other products they are planning on launching.

As always, keep on eye on currency exchange rates and make sure that you do get the best deal. The commission can be high as well, so you need to watch that and monitor the exhange rates at the same time.

After all, there are other payment systems out there, and it could be woth checking out companies like Skrill. Remenber that many currency transfer companies can help you with prepaid debit cards. It could be worth contacting your local currency transfer or expat foreign exchange service as well. I swear by my prepaid debit cards when I travel, and I do not go anywhere without them.

Of course, you should keep on an eye on your money with all banks and online services. Make sure that you save money and geta  5 star service with your bank or FX provider. Don't be afraid to say no, it is your money at the end of the day.