Barclaycard has been reviewing the spending limits for many of their customers. They have also been rejecting more applications for new cards, in what could signal a crackdown on consumer credit. About half of all applications for new Barclaycards are now being rejected. Barclaycard have also seen a 17% fall in profits due to problems with bad debt.

A McDonalds customer in the West Midlands had an unpleasant surprise on finding a bolt in their sausage and egg McMuffin. The bolt had apparently come away from a kitchen grill and ended up in the food. McDonalds pleaded guilty to producing food that did not meet the required standards and were ordered to pay £3, 578 in costs.

PayPerPost are hosting an event called PostieCon on the 10th of November. It is basically a one of a kind blog conference in Las Vegas Nevada at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It has targeted sessions aimed at helping bloggers to market themselves, as well as how best to use the PayPerPost website to their advantage. The conference will have a host of experienced bloggers who are willing to share their knowledge with you. Topics will includes things issues such as how to build traffic, how to monetise your blog and how to build up readership.

Among the bloggers attending are Shirley Frazier who will talk about building your niche blog; David Ponce who will discuss turning visits into cash; Sherry Heyl who will talk about why you should live your life online and Paul Lewis who will do a session on connecting with advertisers. All of these talks sound like really useful stuff that should help anyone who has a blog make a success of it. The session I think would be of most interest to me is one by Jim Kukral on the secrets to long-term blog success. Registration for PostieCon is free but places are limited so if you want to go, you need to register your place soon. If you are one of the first 100 people to register you can also get into BlogWorld for free.

Unfortunately for me being in the United Kingdom it is a little far to go for the event. I wonder whether PayPerPost might make the main points of the conference sessions available online for people such as myself that are too far away to attend. It would be also be interesting to see if PayPerPost might think about arranging some United Kingdom or European PostieCon events for their international base of bloggers.

If you are trying to eat healthier food but feel you need a bit of help you might want to try mysupermarket.co.uk In addition to their price comparison service they have now launched a service that allows you see nutritional information about your shop including the calories and fat and salt content. It then asks you if you want to switch any of the foods that are high in calories for a lower calorie alternative. They claim that using the service could knock around 4,000 calories off a families consumption.

Tesco are to launch a comparison website called tescocompare.com. The website will allow users to compare insurance from a range of providers. Whilst initially geared towards car insurance, the website will also cover other financial services such as mortgages, homes loans and credit cards in the future.

There have been a number of incidents regarding Crocs shoes and escalators. The shoes which are known for their flexibility and grip can become caught in the teeth at the bottom or top of an escalator. In one incident mentioned in this article a young boy’s shoes became caught causing the name on his big toe to be nearly ripped off. The Washington Metro has even posted adverts warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. In Japan, the government warned consumers last week that it has received 39 reports of sandals mostly Crocs or similar products getting stuck in escalators from late August through early September. There have other reports from other countries of similar incidents most of which have involved young children. It might be better not to let your children wear their Crocs when using the escalator.

A new payment card has been launched that combines an Oyster travel card with a payment card. It is called the Barclaycard OnePulse and can be used to pay for items that cost less than £10 without the need to input a pin number. It can also be used for purchases over £10 but these transactions will require a number or a signature to be authorised.

A textiles company that supplied three high street chains has been accused of using slave labour. The company CMT makes garments for Topman, Next and George. They currently pay staff in their Bangladeshi factories only £70 a month for up to 70 hours work a week. In many cases workers were promised a good wage from a union official but actually received much less when they paid.

Lloyds TSB is the first high street bank to introduce plans to cut overdraft charges. The banks will introduce the new charges on the 2nd of November. They plan to cut the interest rates for unauthorised borrowing by a third as well as reducing the charges for going overdrawn. They will also reduce the charges for bounced cheques. Lloyds say they are reducing charges in response to customer feedback. They will still charge customer £15 a month for going overdrawn and then a daily rate of between £6 and £20 depending on the size of the overdraft. I think the fact that they are reducing charges is a positive step, it will be interesting to see if other high street banks follow suit.

Many things affect the cost of your insurance but the main reason you are paying more could be your post code. I was reading this article that suggests residents in South Norwood pay more than three times as much for building and contents insurance as someone who lives in Barnstaple. The website also provides a post code checker so you can see how the area in which you live affects what you pay. The results show you a typical annual premium for a house in your area, as well as where it ranks in the country. My breakdown was as follows:

Your postcode breakdown:  
•    Your league position: 1365 out of 1659
•    Your premium: £190.25
•    The national average is £169.45