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March 22, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Easiest Mortgage Broker UK: 4 Brokers Compared (2026)

Last updated: 13 October 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

For context: I have overpaid my own mortgage through Sprive since October 2021 and remortgaged from Nationwide to Halifax in June 2026, so the broker notes below sit on hands-on mortgage admin.

This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

Want the Better.co.uk voucher offer?

The £100 Amazon voucher offer from Better.co.uk featured below, and the steps to claim it, live on our refer-a-friend page.

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Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

CoolCuration is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide financial advice. The information below is for general informational purposes only. Always seek advice from an FCA-regulated broker or adviser before making mortgage decisions.

Trying to find the easiest mortgage broker in the UK? I used four different brokers for quotes on the same remortgage and compared them purely on how painless the process was. Spoiler: the rates that came back were almost identical. So if the deals are basically the same, the only thing that really matters is how much of your life gets eaten up by the process. That's even more true right now, as UK mortgage rates have climbed sharply following the Middle East conflict and lenders are repricing fast.

Here's how Habito, Better.co.uk, Sprive and Charles Cameron & Associates stacked up, ranked from smoothest to most old-school.

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Published by Stiv in Finance, Money, Money saving, Personal finance, Services
Tags: Better.co.uk, Charles Cameron, ease of use, first-time buyer, Habito, mortgage, mortgage broker, remortgage, Sprive
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March 21, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Monzo vs Chase UK: Which Bank Account Is Better? (2026)

Last updated: 22 August 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

After the bigger sign-up bonus?

Chase's refer-a-friend offer pays £50 when you join and deposit £1,000 within 30 days; our referral page walks you through it.

Claim the Chase £50 offer

If you're weighing up Monzo vs Chase in 2026, you're in good company. Both are app-only banks, both are free to open, and both promise to make managing your money less painful. However, once you dig past the slick onboarding screens, the two take noticeably different approaches to savings, cashback and everyday features.

Chase (a trading name of J.P. Morgan Europe Limited) lures new customers with a boosted saver rate and 2% cashback on everyday spending. Monzo, the UK's original fintech darling, counters with powerful budgeting tools, paid plan perks like a free Railcard, and one of the most feature-rich banking apps on the market.

Below, we break down every meaningful difference so you can pick the one that actually fits your life. We also link to both referral offers if you want a bonus for signing up.

Comparing Monzo with more than Chase? I have also put it against Starling and Zopa's Biscuit, and my Monzo guides hub collects every Monzo guide in one place.

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Published by Stiv in Apps, Banking, Comparisons, Finance, Investing, Personal finance, Reviews, Saving, Services
Tags: app review, bank comparison, cashback, chase, chase uk, digital bank, fintech, monzo, monzo vs chase, personal finance, savings, uk banking
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March 15, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

UK Mortgage Rates Rising: What the Middle East Conflict Means for Your Bills

Originally published: 15 March 2026. Reviewed for accuracy: 10 June 2026. This is a dated news post tied to specific events in early 2026; it is not intended as evergreen advice.

Update, 17 September 2026. Bank Rate is still 3.75%, but three of the nine members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee now want it raised to 4%, and fixed mortgage rates rose again in September. The current position, updated after every decision, is on my Bank of England base rate page.

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

I write this with skin in the game: a mortgage of my own, Nationwide until June 2026 and Halifax since, plus monthly overpayments running through Sprive since October 2021, so I have watched these rate swings as a borrower, not just a blogger.

This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

Overpaying as your hedge?

If overpaying is your answer to all of this, we keep the current Sprive welcome offer and claim steps up to date on our referral page.

Get the latest Sprive offer

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

CoolCuration is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide financial advice. The information below is for general informational purposes only. Always seek advice from an FCA-regulated broker or adviser before making mortgage decisions.

If you've been watching the news this year, you'll know the Middle East conflict has thrown a spanner into the UK's financial outlook. UK mortgage rates climbed again after weeks of improvement, lenders pulled deals, and energy prices headed in the wrong direction. Whether you're on a fixed-rate mortgage nearing renewal or simply trying to keep your gas bill under control, the events of early 2026 have had lasting consequences. Here's what happened, what it means for your money, and what you can actually do about it.

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Published by Stiv in Money, Personal finance
Tags: 2026, Bank of England, energy prices, Middle East conflict, mortgage rates, Ofgem price cap, remortgage, UK personal finance
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March 15, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Cheapest Investment App UK (2026) – FX Fees Compared

Investing · FX fees2026 Edit

Commission-free is not cost-free

Last updated: 6 September 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

Looking for the cheapest investment app in 2026? The headline says "zero commission". Yet the foreign exchange (FX) fee on every US share quietly adds up. So we rechecked the live pricing for Lightyear, Robinhood, Trading 212, Freetrade, InvestEngine, Hargreaves Lansdown and J.P. Morgan. Then we worked out the real cost of buying a US share on each.

Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

Not financial advice. This piece reflects what works for us, not a personal recommendation, so please do your own research or speak to a qualified adviser before investing. Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

See the lowest flat FX fee in our comparison

Of the apps below, Lightyear currently has the lowest flat FX fee on US shares. The latest sign-up steps are kept up to date on our referral page.

See the Lightyear FX offer

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Published by Stiv in Finance, Investing, Personal finance
Tags: Freetrade, FX fees, investing, investment apps, isa, Lightyear, monzo, Trading 212, uk investing
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October 8, 2025 — Comments are off for this post.

What Is Sprive, and How Does the App Work? (UK Guide 2026)

Last updated: 24 October 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

I've used Sprive since October 2021, with Nationwide and now Halifax as my lender. This guide is based on the actual setup process and daily use since then.

How does the Sprive app work? You link a current account and your mortgage, then set a monthly saving range. Sprive collects money by direct debit into a safeguarded balance, based on your spending. With one tap, that balance goes to your lender as an overpayment. Cashback from gift cards bought in the app adds to the same pot.

The one thing to check first is your lender's overpayment allowance, usually 10% of the balance a year on a fixed rate. Go over it and you can pay an early repayment charge, so set the range with that limit in mind.

This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them. This is information, not financial advice, and CoolCuration is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Just here for the sign-up bonus?

The current Sprive offer and the steps to claim it are always kept up to date on our referral page.

Get the Sprive sign-up bonus

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Getting started with Sprive? This guide covers the basics. For everything else, from cashback to the prize draws, see our Sprive guides hub, all in one place.

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Published by Stiv in Finance, Personal finance, Saving, Services
Tags: cashback apps, cool curation, finance app, how Sprive app works, mortgage helper, mortgage overpayment, mortgage saving, Open Banking apps UK, pay off mortgage faster, personal finance uk, referral app, smart money apps, Sprive app, uk money tools
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September 28, 2025 — Comments are off for this post.

How to Reduce Mortgage Payments UK: Practical Ways That Work (2026)

Last updated: 13 October 2026. I checked every rate and lender option in this guide on how to reduce mortgage payments against the Bank of England, Moneyfacts and Citizens Advice on 13 October 2026.

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

I've overpaid my own mortgage through Sprive every month since October 2021, and in June 2026 I remortgaged from Nationwide to Halifax. These are the moves I've actually used or weighed up for myself.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

Not financial advice. CoolCuration is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. This article is for information only. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Consider speaking to a qualified mortgage adviser before you change your repayment plan.

Want the Sprive sign-up bonus?

If automated overpayments appeal, the current Sprive welcome offer and the steps to claim it are kept up to date on our referral page.

Get the Sprive referral bonus

If you want to reduce mortgage payments, there are two different jobs to do. The first is cutting what the loan costs you: getting off an expensive rate, timing your remortgage and plugging the leaks that drain your budget. The second, meanwhile, is lowering the monthly figure itself when money is tight. Be aware, though, that some ways to shrink the monthly payment cost you more over time.

Looking to clear it sooner instead? Our guide to paying off your mortgage faster is the speed plan, and everything we have written on Sprive, the app I use to overpay, sits in our Sprive guides hub.

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Published by Stiv in Apps, Finance, Money saving, Personal finance, Saving, Services
Tags: best mortgage apps UK, cashback towards mortgage, lower mortgage payments, mortgage comparison tools, mortgage interest savings, mortgage overpayment calculator, mortgage savings, mortgage savings UK, mortgage tips UK, overpayment mortgage UK, pay off mortgage early, reduce mortgage payments, save thousands on your mortgage, Sprive app
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September 21, 2025 — Comments are off for this post.

Taxfix Review UK: Is It Worth It for Self Assessment?

Last updated: 9 June 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.

If you are looking for an honest Taxfix review UK, you are in the right place. Taxfix (formerly TaxScouts) is an online tax service that pairs you with an accredited accountant to file your Self Assessment. No HMRC rabbit holes and no trips to an office. You answer a handful of questions, upload your documents and let someone qualified handle the rest.

We have used the service ourselves and followed its evolution from TaxScouts to Taxfix. Below is our full verdict, including what works, what could be better and whether the price is justified.

Cool Factor: 4/5

Thinking of trying Taxfix?

The latest new-customer offer and how to claim it are kept up to date on our referral page.

See the latest Taxfix offer

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Published by Stiv in Discount, Finance, Personal finance, Services
Tags: online tax return UK, self assessment uk, tax filing service UK, TaxFix coupon code, TaxFix discount code, TaxFix promo code, TaxFix referral code, taxfix review, TaxFix review UK, TaxFix self assessment UK, TaxFix Trustpilot reviews, Taxfix UK, Taxfix worth it, TaxScouts review, UK tax filing service
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