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Banking experts estimate that up to £5bn may be sitting unclaimed in UK bank accounts that have gone 'dormant'. What does this mean, and could you be entitled to a share in this huge amount of idle money?

A bank account goes dormant when, in the words of the British Bankers' Association, a bank and a customer 'lose touch with each other'. What this usually means in practice is that a customer has either passed away or moved house, and the bank haven't been told and are unable to locate the account holder some time later.

If there are no transactions on an account over a period of around 12 months, the bank will write to the account holder at the last known address to ask them if they wish to keep the account open. If no reply is received, then the bank will change the status of the account to 'dormant'. This means that from now on, no statements, chequebooks or other correspondance will be sent out to the customer.

The money in the account will still earn interest at whatever the normal rate of that account is, and the bank will still keep track of the account balance and keep a record of the last known address of the holder.

There are two main reasons for an account being made dormant. The first and most obvious one is to save the banks the administration costs of sending out statements and the like when there is no activity on the account from month to month (other than that initiated by the bank itself, such as interest payments).

The more important reason however is to guard against identity fraud. If a bank continues to send statements to an address when the account holder is no longer there to receive them, it is all too easy for these documents to end up in the hands of fraudsters, who could use the sensitive information they contain to begin a campaign of ID theft.

Most dormant accounts will have very small balances, but some will inevitably contain a substantial sum, often those belonging to someone who has passed away. If you think you may be entitled to money held in a dormant account, you can make a claim by filling in a form available from the bank in question.

You will need to give your reasons for making a claim, such as that the account belonged to a close relative whose estate was passed to you. You will also need to prove your own identity, and your connection to the original account holder if applicable.

If the bank don't agree that you're entitled to take over the account, you have the right to pursue an appeal, where your claim is re-examined. If the appeal fails, you can take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose decision is final and binding.

Despite easier than ever access to personal finance services, there are still 3 million adults in the UK today who are completely outside the banking system, and don't have access to a bank account.

Many of these people are unable to get a standard account because they have a poor credit score, either because of past financial difficulties or simply a lack of positive financial history. While high street banks are always keen to deal with people with good credit ratings, they can be cautious about making credit facilities such as overdrafts available to people with sub-prime ratings.

A new kind of bank account was needed if the industry's government prompted goal of increasing financial inclusion was to be met, and Basic Bank Accounts were born.

Basic bank accounts, also known as starter accounts or introductory accounts, are a very simple type of account which offer little in the way of credit or ways for accountholders to get into debt. There is usually no overdraft facility, no cheque book, and no debit card. The accounts simply provide a way for money to be paid in either over the counter or by electronic transfer, and withdrawn by cash machine.

This lack of features means that there is little risk or cost involved for the banks, and so their approval rates are much higher. In fact, about the only people who will have their applications rejected are undischarged bankrupts, or those with a history of fraud or very serious bad debt.

So how can getting a basic bank account benefit you? Firstly, most accounts will let you set up direct debits to pay your bills, and this will save you money as many companies will give you a discount if you pay in this way.

Also, the government is moving towards paying all benefits and pensions direct into bank accounts rather than in the old way over the Post Office counter, and basic bank accounts will let you receive money in this way.

Finally, this kind of account can be a 'stepping stone' into other financial services, helping you to build up a better credit rating, and in the future to take advantage of other services available such as overdrafts and debit or credit cards.

Since they were introduced, basic accounts have been very successful, and there have now been around 5 million accounts opened. Both the government and the banking industry say they are committed to increasing this figure even more over the next few years, until ideally every adult has some form of bank account, and so we can expect to hear a lot more about basic accounts in the near future.

About the Author: Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer at http://www.1stop-finance.co.uk/ and a more detailed version of this article can be found at http://www.1stop-finance.co.uk/banking/basic_bank_accounts/explained.html

FOREX is the abbreviation for the Foreign Exchange market. The main principle of Forex is converting one currency into another. As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, FOREX is a perfect market and is also the world's biggest financial market. In many investment portfolios, you will find FOREX more and more since the currency exchange realm has opened up to the small investor. In its simplest form, Forex is transaction of monetary funds from one government to another or business associates of different countries. There are substantial earnings to be made in the foreign currency market, but trading in the Forex is for the well-informed. In addition, forecasting Forex is not easy, as Forex is a fast moving market where several changes occur in the fraction of seconds.

Trading Forex works remarkably easy and is convenient since the currency exchange market is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, providing plenty of trading opportunities. You can get started trading the (spot) FOREX with little money and there are many brokers on the internet that will allow you to make paper practice trades for up to 30 days, free of charge, to see if Forex is for you. They have guides that show techniques for day trading as well as mid-term Forex trading (one to seven days). Trading currency with tighter spreads can improve your trading profits, and you can see for yourself how taking short-term trading positions can be exciting. Low spreads and high volatility is a very popular way of trading on Forex, and is known as day trading.

The foreign exchange (currency or Forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. Trading Foreign Exchange currency in the global Forex trading system market can make you money. Very often currency pairs are closely related to one another - and this is something that can be used to the Forex Traders advantage. There are Consumer Alerts, however, and you should beware of Foreign Currency Trading Frauds. You should educate yourself first in all areas relating to currency trading. It's a great way to get comfortable with a currency trading system and to develop a successful Forex trading strategy. Use the currency forecasts to set profit points and maximize your return. You can make significant earnings in the foreign currency market, but trading in the Forex is for the well-informed and you should take advantage of advice from a reputable broker.

A broker is any person or firm that charges a fee in exchange for executing trades for a trader. When it is time to find a broker, there are several factors to consider. Assuming you are dealing with a reputable broker, there are still risks to FOREX trading. But inexperience is not the only broker reason to consider using a Forex broker to trade in the high risk international currencies market. Most traders find that it is necessary to utilize a broker when making transactions on the FOREX exchange and this has created a market demand for an online Forex broker, Forex dealers and a currency exchange service. As an example, your Forex currency broker is able to purchase $100,000 with only a deposit of $1,000, as the rest of the amount is leveraged to you by your Forex broker. With this type of account, your broker/dealer basically trades your money on the Forex market for you, and will always show the highest bid and the lowest offer.

In simplest terms Forex can be as simple as you would want it to be. Managed Forex is an area of Forex trading that's continuing to grow. FOREX is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons... Forex is maximum liquidity; FOREX is real trade, in term of business. Basically, Forex is transaction of monetary funds from one government to another or business associates of different countries. For the astute investor, Forex is better than the stock market and every other money-making opportunity. Since Forex is entirely electronic and the liquidity and size is so much larger, it tends to be easier and more efficient to do a Forex transaction.

The foreign exchange market (the forex) can be a treacherous market to trade especially if you are not properly equipped for the job. You will need to give attention to the following: the equipment and type of internet connection you have; the overall amount of capital you can put at risk on this enterprise, as well as the amount of capital you are prepared to risk on any one trade;your broker and the reliability of the trading platform; charts and technical analysis; good entry and exit signals; being aware of news releases affecting this market; the need to use a stop loss on each trade to protect your position; the cutting of losses if a trade goes against you; and the compounding of profits.

You will ideally need a Pentium 4 desktop computer running Windows XP with a processor speed of 2.5GHZ and 512MB of RAM. The monitor needs to be at least 17", but 19" or bigger is better. You could get away with a 56K dial-up connection but broadband is usually far better in terms of stability.Some people have been known to trade this market successfully from a laptop which gives them mobility.

YOu will need a minimum of $20,000 risk capital to trade this market. "Risk capital" means that it doesn't include money you require for living from month to month, and therefore you can employ it in the market for speculative purposes. The reason for the entry figure being so high is that it is inadvisable to risk more than 3% of your total risk capital on any one trade. On this basis, the most you should be putting at risk on any one trade is $600 ( that is $20,000 X 3%) using full lots. You could start with a lesser amount of risk capital by using mini lots and still maintain the maximum 3% loss any one trade.

You will need to choose a broker wisely for two reasons: his financial stability; and the stability of the platform he provides. It is best to chose a broker with a proven record in the forex market operating from a well-regulated country such as the USA, UK or Switzerland.This market was only opened up to speculators in 1997, so forex brokers haven't got as long a history as stockbrokers.It is therefore best to chose on the basis of size -you are looking a broker with at least 10,000 clients operating from one of the aforementioned countries. The functionality of the platform the broker provides is important for the execution and tracking of live trades. What you don't want is a platform that always keeps going down at crucial moments in your trading day. In my experience, the platforms belonging the the major brokers are now very reliable although there might be a problem with the continuity of data displayed from time to time.

People who trade the forex market off fundamental analysis have been known to stay in the positions taken for multiple days, weeks, months or even years. If you are daytrading this market, however, you haven't got much choice but to use technical analysis as the basis of your decisions. Therefore charts become vitally important in the decision making process. candlestick charts are the easiest to follow on the screen as it simple to distinguish a bull candle from a bear one just by viewing the different colors. With charts,especially at the start of your trading day, it is best to use the top-down approach.Even though your entry and exits may be made off the 15 minute chart, you should start the day by looking at the daily chart to get the big picture. Then the 4 hour chart, the hour chart and 30 minute can each in turn be consulted prior to your regular chart (the 15 minute) in order to get the top-down perspective on the market.

Breakouts from support or resistance offer good entry points for trades. A support line can be drawn by joining the bottoms of two candles that stand lower than their immediate neighbors remembering that the support line must be tilted upwards therefore the nearest candle the line is connected to must be higher than the further away one. If this line is then extended into the future and is confirmed by a third candle touching the line you have a solid support line. When a candle breaks this support line and a 15 minute candle closes below it and subsequent candles go 5 pips (or points) beyond the bottom of the candle which broke the support line, you have a valid entry point for a short trade (thatis selling the currency pair being traded). Resistance lines are done on the same basis except that the initial line drawn must have a downward slope which when broken, and the the other criteria for entry is met, gives you a valid long entry (that is buying the currency pair being traded).

Before you start your trading day, it is imperative that the daytrader knows when economic news affecting the currency pairs being traded is scheduled to be released.There are various websites that do this but the best one that I have found is http//www.dailyfx.com. If you go to their Home Page, and click on the Calendar tab at the top, a page will open with the words "Weekly Economic Calender for ....." on the top left hand side on which you click to take you to the page where all the scheduled news for the world's major currency pairs are listed on a daily basis. The times of the news releases are given in both GMT and EST so you may have to compensate depending on which time zone you happen to be in the world.Knowing when the news is going to be released is crucial, because depending on its strength is may be sensible if you are in a trade that is making a profit. to take profits before the news hits the wire, or at least tighten up your stop.

It is also sensible never to trade without a stop. For daytrading a stop in the region of 20 - 30 pips is sensible. This is the loss you are prepared to take on the trade if it goes against you. It is also sensible to set your profit objective higher than your loss by 25% -50% dependent upon the quality of the signal generated. Only risk 3% of your risk capital on any one trade. If you start off with $20,000 risk capital and after 4 months or so you have found that it has grown to $40,000, now use 2 lots per trade and thereby employ compounding.When you capital grows to $60,000, you would employ 3 lots and so forth. If your selection criteria is good your capital can build at a surprising rate using this technique.

If you're wondering why there seems to be so much buzz these days about forex trading, you're not alone. There are a number of reasons why forex trading is one of the hottest "new" investment opportunities for average folks. Fortunately, more and more information is surfacing about forex, making it a great time to start doing your research.

The purpose of this short article is to present a basic overview of key aspects which differentiate forex from other investment vehicles with which most of us are more familiar.

Today, the average person has a home computer with an internet connection. In addition, the number of people with a hi-speed broadband connection is rapidly increasing. This places a power and control in our hands that we've never before experienced. It's no longer necessary to have to rely upon the technical infrastructure of banks, brokerage firms and mutual fund advisors. This is incredibly significant. The internet represents more and more independence and choice for the individual to handle investing activities.

The nature of forex fits right in with the independence and freedom of having your internet connection. You can trade anytime from anywhere, starting with a very low investment; under $1000. There are no fees to pay and although the currency market is very liquid, it's also very predictable. You can also make money whether markets are up or down. That's why it works. The really fun thing is that you can get online and practice by paper trading and learn without any risk. Then, after gaining a better understanding of how it works, you can begin with a small amount and make it grow.

Previously, only the "big boys" and financial institutions were in-the-know about forex trading and very active in it as well. Seasoned investors have also been involved over the last few years. Experienced stocks and commodities traders have discovered the power of forex trading. The daily forex trading volume is said to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 trillion dollars, which is 30 times the combined volume of all the US equity markets. That's some pretty tall talking, but certainly worthy of your investigation. Now, because of certain regulatory changes that occurred in the late '90's and the explosion of home computing & internet technology, forex has become an investment opportunity that most people can be involved with in the comfort of their home as they control their own investment strategies.

Like I said, this is really just a light overview, but I urge you to give some attention to forex trading and discovering more about it. You may find it quite rewarding.

he forex trading system involves buying and selling foreign currency. Unlike the stock market there is no fixed market for the forex trading system. A good and effective forex trading system allows the traders to transact easily and provide more chances to increase the earnings. Forex, foreign exchange market, is a market place where a currency of one country is sold for another country's currency for some profit. Currencies are traded in pares, like, US Dollar and Japanese Yen or US Dollar and Euro.

Foreign exchange tradings are a great money making opportunity for those who know their way around, for newbie it's a dream world where they either fall hard, sail well or fly high, its not easy to be a successful trader in the forex trading system., it's a mix of luck and experience that must work to find success. There are a lot of companies and individuals over the internet and offline willing to help you earn money from the forex trading system but only a handful of these are true and can actually help.

Nowadays most of the calculations are done by easy to use software that need minimum input from the user. You will need help initially, and may take some time for you to get to know the forex trading system. The high degree off leverage can sweep you either way, in the forex trading system one has to assess the risk for self, think of the chance one may have individually or with the help of a broker and/ or signal provider one may have and the amount which one can safely risk without putting yourself into financial trouble. It's a law of nature, where there's potential to earn there' potential to loose so just be prepared before you dive in.

here is a lot of interest out there in running Metatrader 4 on the Linux platform, however until Metaquotes does a native Linux version, the only option if you want to do it is to run it under WINE emulation.

What follows is a step by step guide to installing MT4 in Linux. I have used the excellent Ubuntu distribution for this task though you may adapt it your distribution easily. This also works on Gentoo for example.

Anyway...

1) Install WINE if it's not already installed.

sudo apt-get install wine

Once WINE is installed you need to configure it. This is pretty easy. As a normal user (Not Root!) run winecfg from a terminal and it should set itself up. If you want to do any more configuration or tweaking, have a look around the tabs, but for now I suggest keeping it as default.

2) From a valid windows installation, copy over all the fonts into your wine installation. It also assumes you told Ubuntu to mount your windows partition in /windows.

cp /windows/WINDOWS/Fonts/* ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/

3) Copy 2 needed DLL files from your valid windows installation.

cp /windows/WINDOWS/system32/mfc4* ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/

4) Download mt4setup from your favourite broker, or one of the broker suggestions on rebatefx.com.

5) Install MT4.

wine mt4setup.exe

6) You should now have an icon on your Desktop and a working install of MT4 under Linux! Double click it to launch. Don't be alarmed if it takes a while to run first time.

There are some small problems at the time of writing though. This is to be expected when emulating software written for another platform. These problems may include (They don't happen to everyone), not being able to place limit or stop orders due to an invalid parameter error, not being able to change the width of trend lines, and indicator lines, and in some cases the Meta Editor will refuse to run without a copy of Internet Explorer 6 or better being installed also. While it's no guarantee to fix the problem it's useful to have Internet Explorer installed for those web pages that insist on you using it or for web page development.

To install ie6 you can use the excellent ies4linux package. The following commands should get ie6 installed on your linux machine.

sudo apt-get install cabextract
wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
tar xzvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
cd ies4linux-*
./ies4linux

So there you have it. Metatrader 4 working in Linux. Well, mostly ;)

It's not perfect, but it's a workable solution if you trade by entering at market prices. It's certainly good for news trading when an unexpected virus check or annoying windows update popup steals the focus from the trading terminal losing you precious seconds which may mean all the difference between making a lot of money or just a little. Even worse, losing your chart setups or even your whole account to a virus or keylogger attack.

Good luck and Happy Trading!