Finally, we're interested in you. We want to research areas that you want to read about. Use our contact page to tell us what you think!
We don't offer financial advice. Plain and simple.
We're pretty sure that you'll find out more here than a trip down to your local insurance broker, bank or building society; but we cannot and are not trying to advise you. Cloudworks is about good journalism, not financial advice.
Very simply, you have to make your own decisions. We may think that something is a good buy, and we may share our opinion. By this we intend you to use our information to help you research what you want to do.
Before making any commitment, we always recommend you take qualified advice. This may involve making your own decision by researching websites of official organisations or companies, or taking Independent Financial Advice.
Where you are in doubt, please seek advice from a professional.
This is a really smart move.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't do your own research and find out about the options available. This is what Cloudworks is all about and we hope you find it useful.
At the moment, Cloudworks has to meet its hosting costs. These are largely paid for by the advertising from Google that you see on many pages. In the future, it may be possible for the site to afford a part time writer and researcher (in addition to its current volunteers!).
These advertisements are managed by Google based upon Google's understanding of what the page is about. You may or may not find them relevant. When you click an advertisement Cloudworks receives a small fee from Google (who in turn receives this from the advertiser).
View these advertisements as you would ads in a newspaper. They are intended to interest you, but we are certainly not endorsing them. We don't control who advertises, and we cannot vouch for the quality or integrity of any company placing them.
Some of the companies that we link to operate an introduction scheme, known as affiliation. If you decide to purchase their products and visit their website from the link we provide then they will pay Cloudworks an introduction fee. We use this to fund the site.
Affiliation does not guarantee any company special treatment here, nor does it cost you any more than if you were to visit the company directly.
If a company is offering an affiliation then we mark it like this with a small cross † so that you know.
I always appreciate it when people want to support us. We don't accept direct advertising so we are unable to offer any commercial opportunities over and above those outlined in our Company Funding statement above.
If you want to show some support, then consider sponsoring David (our editor) in running a 2006 marathon for the British Heart Foundation.
I'll be running at Edinburgh in 2006 and all sponsorship monies will be going to the British Heart Foundation for Scotland to help the fight against heart disease and to educate folks on how to look after their hearts.
If you want to offer support, then use the feedback facility to let me know. I'll be in contact with you to arrange your pledge and how you can forward your funds to the BHF after the event.
I had the idea for Cloudworks in early 2005.
The real credit has to go to my card company, MBNA. I was struggling to reduce the bill, and I noticed that the amount of interest charged was more than the minimum repayment. At the top of the bill was written:
"If you only make the minimum repayment, then it will take you longer to pay of your balance."
I can't let this sort of thing go. Very obviously, the balance was never going to be paid off, and their warning was wrong.
I rang them. They explained that if I understood compound interest then it would be clearer to me. As it happens I do understand it, and it changed nothing. Before long I was talking to someone in their marketing department who assured me that the balance would eventually be paid off if I kept making the minimum payments. (Again they were wrong.)
Then the conversation took an interesting turn. If I paid them £25 then they would reduce the interest from 24.9% to 22.9%. I told them to forget it and hung up. I made arrangements to have the debt cleared.
This encounter is a good example of how card companies and banks are allowed to trap people in debt. MBNA's headline rate is 15.9%. That's where I started. As the agreement progressed they slowly increased the rate to 24.9%. At this level the minimum repayment of 2% per month doesn't decrease the debt. Credit card companies are well aware of this.
Rather than get annoyed at them I decided to do something about it, and Cloudworks was born.
This is a place filled with attitude that challenges the establishment. I'm interested in cutting through the gimmicky and often misleading advertising and providing incisive interesting journalism that prints truth not fiction.
I received support from several friends and decided to launch the site.
Right now, it's very much something that is created in the spare time of a few busy people. So whilst we try and update daily, we don't always succeed. It's also the reason that we can't answer every email, although we do where we can. You can be assured that we read and appreciate every one of them.