33 Personal finance

A Managing your finances

Read this leaflet on personal financial management given out by a university to its students.
Note the collocations.

KEEPING AFLOAT1 – HOW TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCES

While you’re doing your degree, your main source of income may be a student loan or, if you’re lucky, a
grant or scholarship. But you may well still need to supplement2 your income by getting some kind of
part-time work. Here are some tips for avoiding financial problems:
• Open a current account at the campus bank – they have a team there specialises in helping
students with their financial matters.
• If you get into debt, try to clear3 your debts as soon as possible.
• If things are difficult, you may have to economise by, say, cutting down on
luxuries. This is far better than running up huge debts4.
• If you have a credit-card debt, try to make a payment every month, however
small. Never exceed your agreed credit limit.
• It’s a bad idea to borrow heavily to repay your debts. Always seek advice from
your bank about how to clear outstanding5 debts and pay back loans.
• Never run up an overdraft6 if you can avoid it. If you do need one, remember that most banks will
offer students an interest-free overdraft.

1 4
having enough money to pay what you owe continuing to spend and therefore owing a large
(can also be staying afloat) amount of money
2 5
add something to something to make it larger not yet paid
6
or better amount of money that a customer with a bank
3
pay in full account is temporarily allowed to owe to the bank

B Financial crimes and disputes

These newspaper extracts are all concerned with financial crimes and problems.

Credit-card fraud1 has reached an all- Mr Ambrose spent a fortune staying at

time high. One in ten people is a victim
of identity theft2 and the crime is on the
increase.
People are being encouraged to put
down a deposit5 on new homes, thanks
to low interest rates. But if borrowers
default on repayments6, banks are
obliged to call in loans7.
expensive hotels. He managed to run up3
a bill of £17,000 at one hotel. He used his
employer’s funds and falsified4 records.
He made fraudulent claims for travel
expenses.
The company is now under new
management. Its backers have written off
debts8 of £500,000 on the promise of new
cost-cutting measures designed to solve
the company’s financial problems.

1 5
crime of misusing another person’s credit card pay a sum of money in advance as part of a
without their permission total payment
2 6
stealing someone’s personal details, usually in fail to pay a debt
7
order to access their bank accounts or credit cards demand that people pay back the money the
3
accumulate bank has lent to them
4 8
changed something, e.g. a document, in order to accepted that an amount of money has been lost
deceive people or that a debt will not be paid

70 English Collocations in Use Advanced

 Exercises

33.1 Match words from each box to form collocations from the opposite page and use them
to complete the sentences below.

borrow make spend stay supplement afloat a fortune heavily my income a payment

1 I of €500 every month to my credit-card account.

2 When I was a student I got a job in a fast-food outlet to .
3 I used to on books when I was at university.
4 I had no grant or scholarship, so I had to to finance my studies.
5 Small firms find it difficult to when costs and interest rates are
high.
33.2 Copy and complete the collocation bubbles using words from the box. Some words
collocate only with debt, some only with overdraft and some with both. Use a
dictionary to help you find one more collocation for each bubble.

dictionary.cambridge.org to arrange a(n) a bad to be in

to clear a(n) deep in facility to get a(n)
to get into a hefty the national DEBT OVERDRAFT
to pay off a(n) -ridden to run up a(n)
an unauthorised

33.3 Correct the collocation errors in these sentences.

1 The firm has huge debts and has had to borrow $10 million. The new chief executive has
introduced cost-cutting methods.
2 When I left university I had no upstanding debts, unlike most of my friends, who owed
thousands of pounds.
3 The manager falsified company recordings and stole money from her employer.
4 I had no resource of income, so I had to get a job, and quickly.
5 We placed down a deposit on a new car last week.
6 She faulted on her loan repayment and had to sell her business.
7 Many people don’t trust online banking because they are afraid of identification theft.
8 If we don’t cut up on luxuries, we’re going to find ourselves in serious debt.
9 There are special offers for students who enter a current account at the university bank.
10 You will pay a lot of interest if you go over your discussed credit limit.
33.4 Answer the questions about collocations from the opposite page.
1 What object is a person or company being compared to when we use the collocation keep or
stay afloat metaphorically?
2 What are you eventually expected to do with a loan?
3 If a bank calls in a loan, do they (a) give it (b) write it off (c) demand full payment?
4 If someone defaults on a payment, do they (a) not make it (b) make it in full (c) partially make it?
5 What is the crime called when someone makes illegal use of another person’s credit card?
33.5 Complete each sentence using the word in brackets in the appropriate form.
1 The accused was found guilty of company records. (false)
2 The insurance company takes all claims very seriously. (fraUd)
3 I try to make a into my savings account every month. (paY)
4 Identity is becoming an increasingly common crime. (thief)
5 I was glad that the bank was able to offer me an overdraft. (interest)

English Collocations in Use Advanced 71