BALANCE TRANSFER FEE
If you transfer your balance from one credit card to another, the card company you move the debt to will often charge you a balance transfer fee. Typically, it will be between 2% and 3% of the balance you transfer. If you move to a credit card charging 0% on balance transfers, you will still be charged interest on the balance transfer fee.

BALLOON PAYMENT
This is a large final payment that some finance deals impose (such as personal contract purchase, which you might use to buy a new car). Having a balloon payment means the finance company can reduce the regular, monthly payments to a more affordable and attractive level.

BANKING CODE
A voluntary code that many banks and building societies follow. There is one code for individual consumers and another for small businesses.

BANKRUPT
Someone who has entered into a legal agreement to clear debts that they cannot pay. When you go bankrupt, you no longer have control of your assets or money. There are some restrictions on the jobs you can do while you're bankrupt.

BANKRUPTCY
A way of clearing debts that you cannot pay. When you go bankrupt, you no longer have control of your assets or money. You will generally be discharged from bankruptcy a year after the date of the bankruptcy order. Bankruptcy has serious consequences; it will remain on your credit file for six years and affect your ability to get credit or a mortgage during that time.

BASE INTEREST RATE
Otherwise known as the Bank of England base rate or the base rate, this rate is set every month by the Bank of England's monetary policy committee. When it changes, mortgage and savings rates will generally change as well, although not necessarily by the same amount (with the exception of tracker rate mortgages and savings, which have to mirror the base rate).

BASIC STATE PENSION
This is a pension that you are entitled to receive at state retirement age based on National Insurance contributions that you've paid, are treated as having paid or are credited with throughout your working life.

BENEFICIARY
Someone who receives an inheritance when you die or money from an insurance policy when it pays out.

BID-OFFER SPREAD
If you take out an investment, such as a unit trust or shares in a company, you buy units or shares at a higher price than you sell them at. This is called the bid-offer spread and it can be around 5% for unit trusts. It means if you invest £100 in a plan with a 5% bid-offer spread, you immediately lose 5% of its value.

BID PRICE
The price at which you sell units in an investment fund, such as a unit trust, or shares in a company.

BLUE CHIP
Blue chip companies are meant to be the biggest and safest companies in the UK. Well known high street names and other large companies may be described as 'blue chip'. It's not so reassuring when you realise that the term comes from the high value blue coloured chips at a casino!

BOILER ROOM
A scam where brokers use high-pressure sales tactics to persuade investors to put money into worthless or non-existent companies. They often have plausible-sounding names (sometimes similar to regular stock broking firms) and employ very persuasive tactics. The average amount lost by victims who fall for their techniques is £20,000.

BOND
The term 'bond' is sometimes used to mean different things, but a true bond is an IOU for a loan, either to a company or a government. If you invest in a bond you receive interest on the loan (normally at a fixed rate), with the capital being paid back at the end of the term. A company bond is called a corporate bond and a UK government bond is called a gilt. Bonds are traded, so their value will rise and fall according to a variety of factors that influence demand (such as inflation etc.).

BOND FUND
An investment fund that puts money into a variety of different bonds (which are IOUs for loans); normally a mixture of either company or government bonds.

BR19
A form which tells you the state pension you are likely to receive at retirement.

BROKER
Someone who acts as an intermediary between you and a company (such as a mortgage lender or insurance company). A good mortgage or insurance broker should be able to compare deals from many different companies before they make their recommendation. Always ask how many different insurance providers or mortgage lenders a particular broker deals with before you use them.

BUDGET
There are two kinds of budget; the annual Budget presented by the Chancellor, which sets out taxes etc. for the coming year and a personal budget, which helps you to work out how much money you can spend.

BUDGETING
A way of working out how much you have coming in each month and therefore what you can afford to spend.

BUILDINGS INSURANCE
Insurance that covers the cost of repairs to your property if it is damaged by unforeseen events (flood, fire etc.). It will also pay the costs of rebuilding the property if it cannot be repaired. Buildings insurance generally covers anything that you wouldn't take with you if you moved house (such as a fitted kitchen, bathroom suite, garden shed etc.). However, although hard flooring comes under buildings insurance, fitted carpets are covered by contents insurance.

BUY-TO-LET MORTGAGE
A mortgage that you can take out if you want to buy a property as an investment. The interest rates are normally higher than those on an ordinary residential mortgage and you generally have to come up with a larger deposit.