Debt mountain grows to £1.46 trillion

CPP Group fears collapse

CPP Group Plc, which provides credit card and identity protection, claims that a mis-selling investigation by the Financial Services of Authority (FSA) could put it out of business. The FSA has been reviewing the firm for a year following complaints over the way it sold card protection and identity protection products. The regulator has now [...]

Government on track to beat borrowing target

The government expects to either achieve or exceed its target of borrowing no more than £127bn this year, after recording its biggest surplus for four years in January. In the tax year to date the government has borrowed £93.5bn and in January it made a net repayment of £7.75bn, excluding financial interventions. Although a surplus [...]

FSA fines Santander £1.5m over compensation scheme

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Santander £1.5m for failing to explain to customers that some of its investment products were not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS is a financial safety net which pays compensation to customers of financial services firms authorised by the FSA, if the firm itself [...]

Mortgage lending 12% lower in January

Gross mortgage lending fell to £10.5bn in January, 12 per cent lower than the total for December. However the figures represent a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. January was the sixth consecutive month of higher lending compared with the previous year. Home loan approvals also increased in [...]

Rents continued to rise in January

The average rent increased by 0.1% from December to January, a traditionally quiet period for the rental market. It was the first January increase in rents ever recorded by LSL Property Services, which said that tenants were trying to take advantage of the quiet period. With many potential first-time buyers unable to afford to buy [...]

Netmums says families in financial crisis

The economic downturn, the rising cost of living and the government’s austerity programme have pushed over 70 per cent of UK families to the brink of poverty, according to online parenting organisation Netmums. The organisation surveyed over 2,000 of its members this month to find out how they are coping in the economic downturn and [...]

More buy-to-let mortgages approved

The number of properties bought with buy-to-let mortgages increased by 84,000 in 2011 according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ latest figures. In the final quarter, 34,800 buy-to-let mortgages totalling £4 billion were approved, compared with 26,300 worth a total of £2.9 billion, in the 2010 final quarter. Demand for rented accommodation has increased significantly [...]

Barclays launches mobile banking app

Barclays’ free ‘Pingit’ app allows the bank’s UK current account holders to send money from their phone by simply entering the recipient’s mobile phone number. Up to £300 can be sent via the app and funds are sent using ‘Faster Payments’, which means the payment could be credited to the recipient’s account within a few [...]

OFT calls for step change in banking sector

In a speech to bankers, the head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said that banks must improve their services or face being broken-up. The OFT’s chief executive, John Fingleton, said that despite investigations into the UK’s banking system by competition authorities, consumer bodies and the government, there is still too little competition. He [...]

16-year olds should manage own bank accounts

Parenting expert and author Andrew Watson has added his voice to those calling for young people to learn money management at an early age. Mr Watson, who wrote a book for dads-to-be when his wife was expecting their first baby, suggests that allowing young people to make financial mistakes will help prevent them making more [...]