FASTER PAYMENTS SERVICE
This enables money to be transferred between accounts in hours (rather than days). However, both the sending and receiving bank or building society have to be members of the service in order for this to happen.

FINAL SALARY PENSION
Otherwise known as a defined benefit scheme, it's a pension you may be offered by your employer where the pension you receive is based on the salary you earn at retirement. Many firms are now closing their final salary schemes.

FINANCIAL ADVISER
Someone who is authorised by the Financial Services Authority to give financial advice. You can check the Financial Services Authority's register to make sure an adviser is authorised before you sign up with them.

FINANCIAL ASSOCIATION/ LINK
If you have taken out joint debts or opened a joint bank account with someone else, you have a financial association with them. This means that a credit reference agency can link your credit file with theirs. If you no longer have any joint debts or accounts with them you can ask the credit reference agency to create a 'disassociation' to break the link.

FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE
An independent and free adjudication service if you have a complaint about a financial product. It covers most financial products (bank accounts, credit cards, insurance, mortgages, pensions etc.), although some are excluded, and certain types of complaint will not be allowed. For example, you cannot complain about the fact that a stock market investment has fallen in value if you knew the risks, although you could complain if you were told by the sales adviser that it was a risk-free investment.

FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (FSA)
The main financial regulator, which regulates most financial markets, standards and firms. It's also responsible for helping consumers get a fair deal. There are some types of financial transaction that aren't regulated by the FSA.

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME (FSCS)
An independent scheme designed to compensate savers and investors who lose money because a bank or investment firm goes out of business. There are limits on how much you are entitled to depending on whether you have a savings account or investment product.

FIXED INCOME
Those involved in the financial industry often refer to bonds (which are simply loans to a company or government) as fixed income.

FIXED RATE MORTGAGE
As the name implies, this mortgage is fixed and doesn't rise or fall during the term of the deal. They're a good idea if you need the certainty of knowing that your mortgage payments will not increase, but they're often more expensive than variable rate mortgages (such as tracker or discount rates).

FLEXIBLE MORTGAGE
A mortgage that lets you overpay, underpay and take payment holidays. The lender should also calculate interest on a daily basis, which means that if you make extra payments, your balance is reduced immediately. Beware that some mortgages brand themselves as flexible when they don't offer many of these features.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE FEE
When you use your credit card abroad, the cost of your purchase shows up on your credit card bill in the local currency (euros or dollars etc.), but you're billed in pounds. The foreign exchange fee is a charge of (typically) up to 3% that credit card companies add when they're converting currencies.

FREEHOLDER
An individual or company that owns a leasehold building (such as a block of flats) and the land that belongs to it. The freeholder is ultimately responsible for maintenance and repairs to the property, although leaseholders (those who have bought a leasehold flat) normally have to pay for them.

FTSE
The FTSE is an independent company owned jointly by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange (hence the name). In the UK, it provides stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 index (made up of the 100 largest publicly quoted companies), the FTSE 250 (the next largest 250 companies) and the FTSE All-Share, which represents 98-99% of UK companies.

FUND MANAGER
Either one person or a team of people who run an investment fund. He or she decides which companies to invest in, when to invest and how much of the fund's money to commit to a particular company. As in many walks of life, there are good, average and pretty awful fund managers around.