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May 23, 2008
by Gill Montia
Mortgage broker, John Charcol, has published its latest best-buy tables, which are headed by Nationwide and Abbey.
For fixed-rate loans, Nationwide's two-year deal gained prominence, charging 5.95% and reverting to 6.49% at the end of the fixed period. A fee of £599 applies.
Abbey's discount and tracker mortgages also appear high on the list with a rate of 6.02% (bank rate plus 0.97%).
Earlier ...
by Kay Murchie
Research from Birmingham Midshires has revealed that savings level are increasing in spite of the credit squeeze having an impact on struggling households.
The study shows that people in the UK appear to be prepared to take action to safeguard their spending. Britons are topping up their savings account and dipping less into funds.
Over the last 3 months, an average of £938 ...
by Kay Murchie
The outcome of the unfair bank charges case has been delayed as the eight major banks have appealed against Mr Justice Andrew Smith’s decision.
Last month's ruling by Mr Justice Smith was a victory for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which has been seeking legal confirmation that it can rule if bank charges are fair or not.
Peter Vicary-Smith of ...
May 22, 2008
by Gill Montia
NatWest is encouraging would-be first-time buyers with the launch of a new savings account aimed at those putting money aside for their deposit.
The First Home Saver Account provides tax-free cashback of up to £5,000 for a basic rate tax payer who goes on to complete a NatWest mortgage.
For those paying tax at the higher rate the cashback increase to a ...
by Kay Murchie
Swiss banking giant, UBS, has revealed plans for a SwFr16 billion (£7.9 billion) rights issue in a move to shore up its balance sheet.
The announcement from the Swiss bank, which is the biggest European casualty of the credit crunch so far, comes just one day after it sold some of its mortgage-backed securities to BlackRock, the US fund manager.
The rights, which ...
by Kay Murchie
Nationwide building society agreed mortgage loans worth £6.7 billion last year, down from £11.2 billion the previous year. This represents a 40% fall as tough credit conditions led it to cut back lending.
However, the figure is in line with industry forecasts for a sharp reduction in total mortgage lending this year.
Britain's largest building society saw its profits increase ...
by Kay Murchie
A new study by price comparison website, moneysupermarket.com, has revealed that Kwik-Fit and Swiftcover are the most competitive car insurance providers.
The biggest improver was Endsleigh, who went from 47th to the 6th most competitive provider.
Over the last 12 months, moneysupermarket.com analysed 12 million quotes on their car insurance channel and established that Kwik-Fit and Swiftcover consistently provided the cheapest ...
by Kay Murchie
The 2008 National Management Salary Survey published by Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has revealed that redundancies in the UK are at a 7-year high.
According to the CMI, redundancies have risen to 3% this year, double the 1.4% reported last year.
This represents the largest increase since 2001 when it reached 3.7% after the economic fallout from the dot-com boom.
The study did reveal, however, ...
May 21, 2008
by Gill Montia
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revised its forecast for UK house prices and is predicting a 7% fall in values this year, as opposed to a 1% rise (October 2007).
During the months of March and April, mortgage lending fell by 16% year-on-year as the market continued to shrink and lenders upped their deposit requirements for their most ...
by Gill Montia
The credit crisis and an economic slowdown could force one in four second homeowners in England to downsize to one property over the next two years.
Economic forecasting consultancy, Capital Economics, is predicting that falling house prices and the increased cost involved in running a second home will prompt many to sell.
This could mean that by 2010, around 60,000 second homes will have ...
by Kay Murchie
Prudential has increased its presence further in the retirement solutions market by introducing a new lower cost self-invested personal pension (SIPP) option called FundSIPP, which is in partnership with Cofunds.
With more than 1,100 funds available in the Cofunds range, these funds complement Prudential's existing insured fund range, which includes the multi-asset funds managed by the Pru's Portfolio Management Group.
The Pru has pointed ...
by Kay Murchie
Experts believe that the number of top bankers leaving the US for Asia is set to increase as a result of the credit squeeze.
As investment banking profits are squeezed in US and Europe by the credit crunch, institutions are looking to Asia where many Chinese and Hong Kong firms are flush with cash, having raised capital by listing shares ...
by Kay Murchie
Northern Rock chairman, Ron Sandler, has warned that sharp house price falls could delay its plans to repay the billions of pounds it owes the Bank of England.
Mr Sandler said if house prices were to decline 5%, 10% or 15%, that would seriously impede fulfilling the plan and added I can't give you a single ...
May 20, 2008
by Gill Montia
HSBC subsidiary, First Direct, has re-opened to new business after closing its doors to new customers on the 1st April because it could not keep up with demand for its mortgages.
At the time, the lender reported that business volumes had increased 500% and that it would be focusing on the needs of its existing customers until a backlog had been ...
by Kay Murchie
Citigroup has said it plans to close two of its UK lending arms putting 670 jobs at risk.
The world’s largest bank is proposing to shut down mortgage supplier Future Mortgages and CitiFinancial, a personal loans business. Both businesses stopped lending to new customers last week.
Future Mortgages has around 26,000 customers and less than 1% share of the UK's mortgage ...
by Kay Murchie
Buy-to-let specialist, Bradford & Bingley (B&B), saw it shares dive 16% yesterday which has caused concern over its £300 million rights issue.
It is the latest UK bank to ask its shareholders for additional funding to shore up its balance sheet.
Should the shares fall a further 20% between now and July 11, the deadline which investors will decide whether or ...
May 19, 2008
by Gill Montia
Housesellers in the south west of England appear to be immune to property market gloom and are marketing their homes at above pre credit crisis prices.
According to Rightmove, asking prices for properties in the south west rose 1% from April to May, pushing annual growth to 2.4%.
In its latest survey, the property website found that the average asking price in the region ...
by Kay Murchie
The Government has announced that Child Trust Fund (CTF) opening rates have increased from 70% to 72%.
Commenting on the figures, Kity Ussher, economic secretary, said that the Government remained committed to increasing this total, through publicity campaigns focusing on parents.
Ms Ussher is urging low-income families to make contributions to the CTF account, however small they might be, ...
by Kay Murchie
Endowments were primarily taken out as a savings vehicle expecting to pay a mortgage off or to have a lump sum available at a specific time.
They have always been considered a good investment for homeowners but the reality is that 86% of endowment policyholders have received warning that their policy will not be enough to pay off their ...
by Gill Montia
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has warned that house sales could fall by over 40% during 2008.
According to Rics chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, housing transactions have declined by 31.7% year-on-year since January.
He is expecting the second half of the year to prove a difficult period for the market because potential first-time buyers and homemovers will be unable ...
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Mortgage broker, John Charcol, has published its latest best-buy tables, which are headed by Nationwide and Abbey.
For fixed-rate loans, Nationwide's two-year deal gained prominence, charging 5.95% and reverting to 6.49% at the end of the fixed period. A fee of £599 applies.
Abbey's discount and tracker mortgages also appear high on the list with a rate of 6.02% (bank rate plus 0.97%).
Earlier ...
NatWest is encouraging would-be first-time buyers with the launch of a new savings account aimed at those putting money aside for their deposit.
The First Home Saver Account provides tax-free cashback of up to £5,000 for a basic rate tax payer who goes on to complete a NatWest mortgage.
For those paying tax at the higher rate the cashback increase to a ...
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revised its forecast for UK house prices and is predicting a 7% fall in values this year, as opposed to a 1% rise (October 2007).
During the months of March and April, mortgage lending fell by 16% year-on-year as the market continued to shrink and lenders upped their deposit requirements for their most ...
