Credit card repayments fall to 2-year low

Regulator says free banking should end

A leading financial regulator has blamed the ‘illusion’ of free banking for leading to some products being mis-sold. Andrew Bailey, director of banking services at the Financial Services Authority, said that “free-if-in-credit” current accounts have distorted the market. He said that ‘free banking’ means that “charges are levied inconsistently across products supplied by banks, with [...]

UK’s economic recovery to take five years

The UK’s economy will take five and a half years to recover to pre-recession levels according to Martin Weale, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. Speaking to the National Institute of Social and Economic Research, Mr Weale said that the recovery “unusually slow” and indicated that the Bank could enact more [...]

Self-employed failing to plan for retirement

In My Prime, a consultancy specialising in older workers, today warned that many self-employed people in the UK are failing to put enough money aside for their retirement. Small business owners could once rely on using the asset value of their business to fund their retirement, but in the current economic climate this may be [...]

Guidelines tackle unfair practices by credit brokers

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today published guidelines which should help to stamp out unfair practices by credit brokers and intermediaries. The guidance also clarifies the responsibilities of businesses who take referrals from credit brokers. Earlier this year Citizen’s Advice complained to the OFT that credit brokers were cold-calling consumers and offering loans [...]

HSBC launches sub-4% mortgage for first-time buyers

HSBC claims to have launched the only mortgage with a rate of less than 4% for first-time buyers and has also promised to make a further £350m available to borrowers with smaller deposits by the end of the year. It latest mortgage offers a rate of 3.84% for two-years to borrowers with a deposit of [...]

Mortgage lending growth slower in Scotland

Mortgage lending in Scotland rose by 8 per cent in the third quarter, with the number of loans increasing to 12,400, 900 more than in the previous quarter. However, the rate of growth was much lower than for the UK as a whole, where mortgage lending increased by 16 per cent. The data, from the [...]

Credit card repayments fall to 2-year low

Credit card holders in the UK are paying less off their balance than at any point during the last two years, which isn’t surprising given the current pressure on household incomes from deteriorating employment conditions and record high levels of inflation. The trend was noticed among ‘classic’ card accounts taken out within the last five [...]

Over 45s with kids unprepared for retirement

People aged between 45 and 64 whose children are still living at home are much less likely to have made financial plans for their retirement than those in households with no children, according to new research. A study by Standard Life revealed that 49 per cent of this age group, with two or more children [...]

Consumers shunning credit this Christmas

Despite stores offering tempting cut-price deals, shoppers are in a cautious mood in the run up to Christmas according to a high street banking report. Although retail sales were up in October, there was little demand for loans and overdrafts according the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), and while consumers spent a total of £7.2 billion [...]

Incomes fall 3.5% for UK households

A combination of high inflation and low earnings growth has caused the incomes of UK households to fall by 3.5 per cent in real terms according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The annual households earning survey found that the median salary for a full-time worker in the UK increased [...]