Valentines day is soon upon us, which will either see loved ones buying each other a box of chocolates  and other gifts, or will see us singletons dive into the nearest supermarket to buy as much ice cream as you can carry and heading home in solitarily to watch a soppy romantic film.

But in this spirit of a lonesome Valentines days, the only solace the singletons have is that whilst the couples are having a romantic time enjoying each others company, they are shortening their life spans by enjoying the sweet chocolate poison.

But to the disappointment of myself and so many other people celebrating/commiserating Valentines day alone, recent studies have shown how chocolate (in moderation) can improve many aspects of your life;

Full of antioxidants

Antioxidants famous for their heart protecting reputation, polyphenols, are found in abundance in most types of chocolate, and are even more common in dark chocolate. A 20g piece of dark chocolate contains the same amount of heart attack preventing polyphenols as a cup of green tea. There are also protective oligomers found in dark chocolate, whilst this might not mean anything at the moment, you will no doubt have heard that having a high cholesterol is certain to increase chances of a heart attack, well these oligomers help prevent cholesterol from being absorbed into the body.

Other heart related problems to be helped by chocolate is the fact that 100g of dark chocolate a day can reduce blood pressure by 5.1/1.8mmHg, which is proven to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 21%.

So chocolate is good for the heart, and not only because of the warm feeling when you receive it as a romantic gesture.

Full of feel good

There’s a reason that many people say chocolate is better than sex, because quite often it is. Dependent on the chocolate, it can alter the chemical levels of the brain, resulting in an increase of mood-altering phenylethylamine, which can induce a mild light headed, confidence instilling buzz.

The other chemical chocolate contains is tryptophan, a chemical that is linked directly to the release of serotonin in the brain, and we all know how serotonin in the brain results in a lifted mood and an increased sense of euphoria.

And let’s not forget theobromine, a stimulant that has the same outcome as caffeine in that it perks you up a moderate amount, and then there is the caffeine itself, which taken in small quantities can improve fat metabolism, endurance and alertness. Coming in handy for those long Valentine nights.

It’s not all good news – Calories

There are of course some cons to watch out for when seriously considering planning chocolate into your diet. The main concern for many people is the calories, 100g of chocolate typically contains over 500kcals.

There are also other additives that are not found in every chocolate, but the sugar that is contained in most has obvious negative connotations such as links to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. But it is the same that everything in moderation is ok as long as you look after yourself in the standard ways such as eating generally healthily, exercising and brushing and flossing your teeth, chocolate can be enjoyed on a daily basis.

So try not to wallow in self pity, grab yourself one of the finest dark chocolate bars you can, sit back, relax and stick that same sad soppy film on knowing all the benefits you will be making to your health by enjoying a bar of chocolate.

The other side of this equation of this equation is the lenders: following the crash the banks can no longer trade and dispose of high risk debts, so despite being assisted by cash bailouts and a stay of execution on the Vickers report recommendations, are increasingly reluctant to lend to poor credit risks.

If you are in the position of being refused credit, there are some practical steps you can take to help address this and improve your prospects so that better credit options will be open to you. None of this can be achieved overnight however, and if you are trapped in a pattern of debt or poor control over your finances, you will need to address this first for this strategy to work.

Firstly, obtain a copy of your credit report. This is a score that the main credit reference agencies keep on you and is consulted every time you apply for a form of credit. Even card companies that offer a “no check” credit card will check with the credit bureaus. No-one, especially given the state of the global economy, is going to lend money to anyone without assessing the risk involved in getting the money paid back. There is no such thing as a “no check” credit card. Companies that market this will offer a higher rate card once they establish you fail the criteria for their main product, or else refuse completely.

The good news is that you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report (although there is usually a small admin/postage charge of about £2). The details of the agencies you need to contact in the UK are:

Equifax Ltd
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US
0844 335 0550
www.equifax.co.uk

Callcredit Plc
Consumer Services Team
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ
0870 060 1414
www.callcredit.co.uk

Experian Ltd
Customer Support Centre
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF
0844 481 8000
www.experian.co.uk

Each of the agencies calculates its own score, and their overall rating will differ. They also offer subscription services which provide access to your report in greater detail, but this usually involves registering a payment card; be careful that you cancel this before your free introductory period expires if you don’t wish to continue paying for this.

Check the details on your credit report: it may be an error that is causing problems or you may have been the victim of fraud and debt attributed to you that you had no knowledge of. Contact the agencies with any corrections immediately. Late or missed payments on cards can linger on your file for over a year, if they have been settled with the creditor, get these cleared off your file and your overall assessment score will rise.

If you are not on the electoral roll (either new to the country or just turned 18), then this is another essential step in improving your credit report. Credit agencies like people they can trace to an address, so supplying proof of this with the electoral roll goes a long way to helping your credibility, as does staying at a given address for longer than a year.

In some cases, financial troubles in the past will be on your report. Things like bankruptcies or County Court Judgements (CCJs) create significant warning signals and will take some time to clear before they stop negatively affecting your credit applications.

Firstly, leave some time before applying for credit after a recent bankruptcy or CCJ. Some sources suggest four months, others recommend six. In any case, if you are refused for credit of any kind (particularly a credit card), don’t immediately re-apply or apply for another card. Refusals also appear on your credit record and a number of refusals in a short period of time will do more damage to your credit rating. Wait at least a month after a card refusal to apply again and be realistic in our expectations: applying for low interest cards with high credit limits when you have a poor credit score isn’t likely to be successful. You may have to settle for a sub-prime card that has a lower limit and higher APR (this reflects the “risk” the lender takes by lending you credit), however if you pay this back in full every month you will not be hit by the higher interest rate and will also be sending positive signals to the credit agencies about your reliability at repaying credit.

If you are having credit issues, make sure that any scheduled loans you need to make payments on are met and that money reaches the creditor and clears in their account ahead of weekends and bank holidays. This will save you being hit by penalty fees and expensive additional interest, protecting all the hard work done to improve your credit rating. Talk to a credit counsellor or consider reducing your lifestyle outgoings if it looks unlikely that you will be able to meet your repayment obligations. Unless you can show regular and continued process of reducing your credit deficit, it’s unlikely that your score will improve significantly (the same principle applied recently to countries unwilling to implement deficit reductions – their national credit ratings were reduced).

Pricing issues on websites occur when either a genuine human error has listed a product or deal incorrectly or an automatic database system is configured inaccurately and provides a window of opportunity for consumers to manipulate loopholes in their systems.

At the moment, some companies are honouring misprice deals and are accepting that it is their mistake which is earning them brand trust. Other companies however are refusing to honour deals and their brands are taking a battering on consumer action forums. The law is yet to catch up on this growing consumer behaviour.

If you’re interested in taking advantage before the law does eventually change, here are five ways in which you can find online mispricing errors:

1: Sort From Low To High

This is a relatively simple but time consuming process. You all know those filtering options in the sidebar of an ecommerce store which allow you to filter results from low to high? Use them. Regardless of the industry, take a look at all the categories on their website and filter from low to high. If a misprice occurs, you’ll quickly be able to spot an item which you know is worth a lot more, hovering on the first pages. It’ll just jump out at you. Snap it up on your credit card as soon as possible.

2: Visit A Website In The Early Hours

In the early hours of a morning is when most retailers update their databases and websites, ready for the early morning buying cycle. If ever a misprice is going to occur is likely to be then. Google shopping is also a great place to check out at this time as this is generally the time that most companies submit their shopping feed to Google.

3: Visit A Website At Its Re-Launch or Update

When a company update their catalogue, website or database, this is the time where the majority of mispricing errors are likely to occur. Teething problems occur in websites the same, if not more so than if they were high street stores opening for the first time. Things just have a way of messing up and when a company is dealing with thousands of new products or a new system, you can take advantage of the early mistakes.

4: Sign Up To Hot UK Deals

Hot UK deals is a platform where shoppers list both their best deals found locally and online. This includes a high number of misprices. If you regularly check Hot UK deals or hook up a feed to your phone you are able to be the first to find out about online and offline misprices. Usually if a company ever does honour a misprice, it’s to the early customers who made a purchase early, so get in there quick. Most users pay by credit cards to try and leverage some kind of buying protection.

5: Always Use Vouchers

Sometimes there are mistakes in a company database which leaves huge opportunity for customers to use voucher codes in combination with special offers, and sometimes even multiple voucher codes at once. This means that not only can you take advantage of a misprice, but you can then get additional cash off the misprice by using a voucher code. There are a multitude of voucher code websites hovering around on the net and for smart phones, make sure you’re hooked up to a couple.