Starbucks results exceed expectations

Banks refusing to cancel pay-day loan payments

The BBC has reported that some banks are refusing to cancel payments to payday loan companies when asked to do so by their customers. Bank customers have a legal right to cancel payments from their accounts under the 2009 Payment Services Directive. However some banks believe that they do not have to cancel certain types [...]

Google launches price comparison service for car insurance

Google has stepped further into the price comparison market with a new service to compare car insurance quotes from around 120 insurers. The search giant is using its technology to make sure its own service is top of the list of results when internet users type ‘car insurance’ into the Google search engine. Digital marketing [...]

OECD sees signs of growth for UK economy

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has reported ‘tentative signs’ that the UK economy will start to recover within the next six-to-nine months. Its forecast follows a further fall in unemployment in the UK, helped by the London Olympics. The number of people out of work fell by 7,000 to 2.59 million in [...]

Insurance fraud register launched

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has launched the Insurance Fraud Register in an effort to cut the number of fraudulent insurance claims. Around 400 fraudulent insurance claims are made each day, according to an ABI report. This adds up to £1 billion a year and means that insurance premiums cost an average of £50 [...]

Government to amend the Estate Agents Act

The Government is planning to make it easier for websites which display property for private sale to operate. Currently, these sites are governed by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, and are therefore required to make various checks such as ensuring that homes are described accurately in adverts. The government [...]

Portable account numbers would encourage people to switch banks

Switching your bank account is commonly believed to be fraught with difficulties, but consumer group Which? has discovered that more people would consider switching if they could keep their bank account number. Seventy-six per cent of the 2,057 people polled by Which? thought switching would be easier if they could keep their account number. Sixty-three [...]

One million people borrow to pay household bills

One million people are turning to payday loans to pay their monthly bills and there are fears that the situation could worsen when Universal Credit is introduced next year. According to a new study by Santander more than one million people in the UK use payday loans to pay their household bills, despite the high [...]

Mortgage deposits fall for first-time buyers

There are two pieces of good news for potential first-time buyers today, with average deposits starting to fall and the launch of a mortgage indemnity scheme in Scotland. According to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) the average deposit required by a first-time buyer has fallen to 19 per cent, its [...]

Age of first-time buyers nearing 40

New research by Post Office Mortgages reveals that many first-time buyers are nearing the age of forty before they can afford to purchase a home. Most will have to save for a decade in order to afford a deposit on a mortgage, the survey suggests. Post Office Mortgages asked 1,300 homeowners how old they were [...]

PPI complaints soar

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 1,500 complaints about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling per day, in the first six months of 2012 The number of PPI complaints received by the ombudsman grew by 42 per cent to 85,562 in the first half of the year, despite banks promising to deal with compensation claims promptly. [...]