That aside, the auto-insurance industry these days has to keep on their toes because when one scam is nabbed in the bud another is sure to follow. When you think of how important auto-insurance is you’d have to be pretty game to try such a thing as you’d be blacklisted if you got caught. Many companies such as cheapestautoinsurance.net though offer reasonable enough rates so that drivers don’t have to dig too deep to insure their cars and thus worry about resorting to being dishonest to try and claim some money back. That said, I guess there will always be those who will try anything once…

Being able to qualify for SSDI means you will need to prove you cannot work and that your disability has had a major impact on your life. You will be assessed – be prepared for reams of paperwork and doctors reports – and when approved your benefits will be geared towards helping you bridge the gap between rehabilitation and going back to work for yourself.

If you are receiving these benefits at the time of your retirement they generally transfer to retirement benefits.

Phone and internet companies who fail to provide a service and then send a bill for it…

Banks and building societies who cannot perform a simple cash Isa transfer without losing your money…

Energy companies who cannot get your bill right and sometimes overcharge by hundreds of pounds…

Tax bills that confuse and an HMRC switchboard that appears constantly engaged…

Insurers who use every trick in the small print to try to avoid paying out on legitimate claims.

Our new years resolution for 2011…? TO COMPLAIN – WE WONT TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!

When you have a car that runs very well on diesel, never misses a beat and is a wonderful family car you feel lucky. I know people who have bought brand new cars in the past year and never seem to be away from the service dept. We love our ‘Iggy’ but the crunch is do we sell her and buy a UK standard vehicle – or – scrape together the money to import Iggy and make the adjustments needed to bring her into line with UK requirements…?

None of us want to see her go.

Account: this is a facility provided to you by a bank or building society which holds your money. A Current Account is an everyday account which allows money to be paid in or taken out and also helps to budget and manage your money. A Basic Account is a special kind of current account which usually does not permit you to overdraw on your balance. A Deposit Account is generally specifically for your savings.

AER: This stands for Annual Equivalent Rate. This shows what the interest rate would be if the interest on savings were paid and added to savings at the end of each year. Actually, interest is generally paid more often than annually. The AER is calculated in a standard way so you can compare interest rates directly with each other. In essence, the higher the AER the better the return is on your savings.

APR: Stands for Annual Percentage Rate and you will see these three letters everywhere that you see loans or finance being offered. This tells you the costs of a loan, taking into account the interest you pay, any other charges, and when the payments fall due. You can use the APR to compare the cost of one loan with another – for example a loan with an APR of 15% will be more expensive than one with an APR of 11%.

Arrears: This is a word that most of us have seen printed on a bill if we are all honest – it simply means money that you owe and did not pay by the due date.

ATM: self-explanatory really – Automated Teller Machine – those blasted things which run out of cash just as you reach the head of the queue.

Balance: The amount of funds you have in your account at any particular time or the amount you owe on your store or credit card. Always shown on your statement.

Bankruptcy: Bankruptcy is a court order that you can apply for if you are in debt. Once you have been made bankrupt an official called ‘an official receiver’ takes control of your money, property, assets, and deals with your creditors. It might sound great to have someone take over and deal with those pesky debt collectors and phone calls BUT bankruptcy is a move you should not consider unless you have exhausted all other avenues to resolve your situation. Once bankrupt you can forget about applying for any more credit for a very long time afterwards.

CCJ: Stands for County Court Judgement. This is an order made by a judge which decides a claim brought in the county court.

Credit Report: The information stored about you with a credit reference agency. It will include electoral roll information for your address, how you have handled your credit over the previous six years and a record of any credit checks made about you with that agency. Whenever you apply for a loan, store card, etc, a check will be made on your credit history and each check will be recorded also information saying if you were approved or declined. Having a run of ‘declines’ on your credit report looks very bad so refrain from applying for too many credit cards, etc, within a short space of time. If you are declined twice for something then there is reason – wait at least six months to a year before you go filling in any more applications. You have the right to see your credit report at any time and you may correct anything you think is wrong.

End of Part One.

This is where I have a problem with the excuse given to many diners, that they cannot have a glass of tap water due to ‘health and safety reasons’. Right, so you cannot have the tap water to drink…but them in the kitchen are using it to cook with.

In France a carafe of tap water is commonplace on your table and is even topped up – if you want speciality H2O you order fizzy mineral or still water and pay accordingly. Fair enough. Here in Northern Ireland, and as far as I have experienced in the Republic of Ireland, diners wont have a problem getting a glass of tap water however in England and Wales the law will be behind you if some restaurant manager or waiter/ress gets hoity-toity with you and refuses. Having run a hotel/restaurant myself I can understand that restaurant owners these days are anxious to make a profit and selling only meals makes that difficult – they depend on you buying drinks to reach that margin. Of course you would not sit and demand carafe after carafe of tap water, if you do why bother eating out at all, but after half a bottle of plonk – and pricey plonk at that – plain ordinary tap water should be available on request. Maybe if all restaurants and cafes simply provided a carafe of tap water on each table at the start of a meal it would avoid the difficult situation of the diner needing to request – it wont stop most people from buying alcohol or soft drink and seeing as restaurants need bums on seats now more than ever it makes for customer-friendly policy.

Better still, when reserving a table simply ask…and have a small bottle of water in your bag if they sound fussy.

Maybe this has slipped the minds of a few American executives – but this tragedy in India at the hands of American Gas giant Union Carbide rates as the worst industrial catastrophe of all time. While Obama calls for British heads to roll over the BP oil spill, let’s revisit a few facts that he might do well to consider…

11 people killed in accident on oil rig leased by British company BP, resulting in 4 presidential visits, a $1.6bn clean-up bill and the establishment of a $20bn compensation fund in 2 months.

15,000+ people killed in accident at Indian Bhopal plant owned by American company Union Carbide, resulting in O presidential visits, O clean-up bill and just $470m compensation in 25 years.

Now, shall we say Pot. Kettle. Black…?

In a way it is not fair but you can understand things from the insurance companies point of view. What surprises me is how much prices have gone up in the past 20 years but it always was pricey being young and a driver. His car has now become his number one priority and if anything it will teach him a few things about budgeting – so far I have not needed to say ‘I told you so’…

(BEVERLY, MA – EDITOR NEWSWIRE) – INVO Bioscience, Inc. (OTCBB: IVOB), a medical device company focused on treatment options for patients diagnosed with infertility, announced today the signing of an agreement with a South African distribution company Delfran Pharmaceuticals (http://www.delfran.co.za/). Delfran is a drug and medical device distribution company that is looking to bring the low cost INVO procedure into African nations, making infertility treatment affordable to the general public. CEO Katie Karloff stated, “The shortage of a cost effective treatment has left assistance for many couples simply out of reach. We believe that INVO Bioscience partnered with Delfran can bring an affordable infertility procedure to couples in many areas of Africa.”

Dr. Claude Ranoux, President and Chief Scientific Officer, traveled to Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa from February 7^th-17^th to perform distributor training.

Delfran Pharmaceuticals will have rights to distribute the INVOcell in the countries of South Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya and Angola. The INVOcell product does not need registration in the African nations outlined in the agreement. The governments offer very little financial support for IVF and the vast majority of cases done are paid for privately. Delfran will look to introduce the INVO procedure first into South Africa and then plans to expand INVO into the other territories of Sub-Saharan Africa.

INVO is also happy to announce the birth of the first INVO babies in Colombia. The babies were born on February 15, 2010 to a couple who had been treated at the CECOLFES Center for Fertility in Colombia.

The mother had developed three Grade 1 embryos in her previous IVF attempt without achieving pregnancy. Due to her previous infertility history, after undergoing INVO she was transferred 3 embryos and this resulted in the birth of triplets. These triplets are a multiple pregnancy that occurred during the 50 patient study performed by CECOLFES. The two baby boys, baby girl and mother are doing well and were home from the Pereira Colombia hospital within a few days. Dr. Elkin Lucena, Laboratory Director of CECOLFES, said, “This is the beginning of a new era in ART and the beginning of more births that we’re expecting from INVO in the following weeks.”

About INVO Bioscience

INVO Bioscience (IVOB) is a medical device company, headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, focused on creating simplified, lower cost treatment options for patients diagnosed with infertility. The company’s lead product, the INVOcell, is a novel medical device used in infertility treatment that enables egg fertilization and early embryo development in the woman’s vaginal cavity. The company was founded by Claude Ranoux, MD, a noted expert in the field of reproductive health, infertility and embryology. For more information, please visit www.invobioscience.com.

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategies, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, as well as statements that include words such as “anticipate,” “if,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “will,” and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include those set forth in our filings at www.sec.gov. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The homeowner then gets a cheaper conservatory or kitchen because VAT is not added to the bill, while the workman, in return, escapes paying income tax. Over one in five people (21 per cent admitted) have even eaten food in a supermarket or store without paying for it. Research shows so-called ‘victimless crimes’ and general acts of dishonesty are committed by half of all Britons at least once a fortnight. The dangerous game of inflating insurance claims, such as adding a set of golf clubs to a shed burglary, or telling a white lie to save on your premium, is also a frequent occurrence. British women also like buying an article of clothing, wearing it out then returning it the next day claiming it was ‘the wrong size’..yep, just keep those receipts!

The survey of 1,000 adults, carried out by esure home insurance found 38 per cent of us believe such acts are normal and 42 per cent think that obeying the rules and being honest all the time would put them at a disadvantage. More than one in ten of us, 14 per cent, think it is acceptable to do something widely perceived as morally wrong. Meanwhile another 11 per cent claim the recession has driven them to white-collar-crime.