loose change

TSB rolls over with Tessas

TSB is offering investors in Tessas the chance to roll-over the maximum pounds 9,000 of capital into a new Tessa and use the accumulated income (which cannot be rolled over) to start a TSB Pep, where income and capital will remain tax-free. The minimum Pep investment will be pounds 500 but anyone who can combine a maximum pounds 9,000 Tessa and a pounds 6,000 Pep is offered a pounds 150 discount on charges.

For the first five months of 1996 Flemings and Save & Prosper are offering a five-year escalating-rate Tessa earning fixed rates, rising in steps from 6.5 per cent in year one to 9 per cent in year five. They will pay 7.5 per cent on existing Tessas transferred from other providers until they would have matured.

HSBC Investment Bank has raised the rate offered on its new Tessa for 1996 to 5 per cent a year, plus up to 30 per cent extra linked to the performance of the FT-SE 100- share index - a maximum return of 155 per cent on maturity equal to 9.16 per cent compound interest.

Flexible options from pension bonds

Albany Life has launched two new pension bonds: a five-year flexible pension bond, which allows clients to take early benefits without penalty, and a retirement income bond, designed for clients who have taken a lump sum from a pension scheme.

Cheshire Building Society is offering a new fixed-rate mortgage at 7.49 per cent, fixed until January 2001, with a pounds 300 cashback on 90 per cent loans to value (80 per cent for remortgages).

Free dealing for National

Grid shares

Yorkshire Building Society's stockbroking arm, YorkShare, is offering members commission-free dealing over the telephone for shareholders looking to sell or buy shares in the National Grid following next month's demerger. Lifetime membership costs pounds 5. Call 0800 736736 for details.

ShareLink, the execution-only stockbroker, is offering a free booklet, How to Select and Use Corporate Bonds for a Personal Equity Plan.

ShareLink offers a Premier Pep savings plan with contributions as little as pounds 30 a month. Charges are being reduced to pounds 30 a quarter plus VAT maximum and pounds 4 plus VAT minimum on single-company Peps.

Cheaper home insurance for the Home Counties

Hill House Hammond is reducing buildings insurance rates for properties in London and the Home Counties to pounds 1.54 per pounds 1,000 insured, which it claims will undercut the market by up to 50 per cent. It believes these areas were unfairly penalised due to storms and subsidence over the last decade.

Direct Line is offering all motorists with comprehensive motor policies with any insurer the chance to apply by phone for unsecured personal loans between pounds 1,000 and pounds 15,000 over one to five years at rates between 13.6 per cent and 17.7 per cent APR.