Doorstep lenders lose 1.4 million customer records

70% of websites break EU credit rules

A pan-European investigation carried out in September 2011 revealed that 70 per cent of websites offering credit cards, loans and finance are failing to meet EU standards. The investigation, which followed a large number of customer complaints, looked at 562 websites across the 27 member states and found that 393 of the sites were failing [...]

AA reveals surge in motor insurance claims

Stormy weather caused the number of car insurance claims to shoot up by 28% in the first five days of the New Year, the AA has revealed. Many parts of the UK suffered winds of up to 90mph resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage to vehicles. Cars were hit by an array of [...]

Pensions hit by low annuity rates

People who retire this year will be £3,000 worse off than those who retired four years ago because factors such as the credit crunch, the recession and the eurozone crisis have pushed down annuity rates to a record low. Annuity rates fell by eight per cent in 2011, which was the fourth consecutive year of [...]

UK faces stagnation but may escape recession

Britain’s economy stagnated in the final quarter of 2011 and is “very likely” to contract in the first half of 2012 according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). The euro zone debt crisis caused the economy to stagnate in 2011 and it has failed to improve this year, with the survey suggesting that one [...]

Unrealistic house prices hamper market

Although more new houses were put up for sale in December, transactions were hampered by sellers asking too high a price for their properties, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). December saw the number of houses put up for sale increase for the third month in a row, especially in London where [...]

Post Office launches reward saver account

The Post Office has strengthened its range of savings products with a reward saver account offering 3 per cent interest and a notice period of only 30 days. If savers make a withdrawal without giving 30 days notice, they will lose 30 days interest on the amount withdrawn. The interest rate includes a 1.25% bonus [...]

Doorstep lenders lose 1.4 million customer records

Financial Services Limited and Shopacheck, which are both part of the Cattles Group, are writing to 1.4 million customers, warning them that back-up storage tapes containing their personal details have been lost. The storage tapes contained the names, addresses and payment histories of 600,000 customers and the names and addresses of another 800,000. They also [...]

New rules allow credit unions to expand

Credit unions which have previously had to restrict their services to a common group of members, such as residents of certain geographical area, will be able to expand under new legislation. While they were only allowed to offer services to individuals, changes to the Credit Unions Act means that they are now allowed to provide [...]

Banks and insurers failing victims of PPI mis-selling

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has criticised banks and insurance companies for their slow response to payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation claims. The huge numbers of PPI claims are overwhelming UK banks, with the result that customers are becoming tired of waiting and are taking their cases to the FOS. The FOS says that number [...]

House prices down 1.3% in 2011

Mortgage lender the Halifax claims that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent last year to an average of £160,063, their lowest level since July 2009. According to the Halifax House Price Index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent in December, compared with the previous month. Although prices rose in the third quarter of 2010, [...]