The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products.

Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than women because their life expectancy is lower, but rates for men and women must now be equalised.

PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that payouts could be cut by up to £10,000 for men, over the lifetime of their retirement, while women could be better off, although they could lose out when it comes to joint life annuities.

Raj Mody, head of pensions consulting at PwC, said: “While a small number of women will be better off from the ruling, eight out of ten annuities currently sold in the UK are bought by men, so many more people risk losing out than gaining.

“Women who are beneficiaries of joint life annuities purchased by their male partner will also be affected as they will end up with a lower income.”

The changes were announced more than a year ago to give annuity providers and insurers time to prepare and the European Commission will monitor how the new rules are implemented.

In a statement the European Commission said: “The insurance industry is competitive and innovative.

“It should be in a position to make these adjustments and offer attractive unisex products to consumers without unjustified impact on the overall price level.”

Separate research from MGM Advantage suggests that more consumers are shopping around Independent Financial Advisors for annuities, and this will be even more important under the new gender rules.

MGM Advantage found that 4.5 per cent of quotes produced each month are for customers using more than one IFA, compared with 2 per cent at the beginning of the year.

Aston Goodey, distribution and marketing director at MGM Advantage said: “We were very surprised to find even this number of customers effectively window shopping around advisers looking to get the best annuity rate.

“It looks like this might be a growing trend – we know of one customer who approached six different advisers to try and secure the best rate.”

The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services.

Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September.

However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year.

The south east of England saw the biggest drop on a month-on-month basis, with rents down 1.9 per cent.

Rents in the north west of England fell by 1.1 per cent and in the West Midlands they were down 1 per cent compared with October.

Rents increased in London, Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber in November, partly offsetting the falls seen elsewhere.

David Newnes, director of LSL, said: “Landlords look to avoid having properties empty over the Christmas period, and are often more flexible on pricing at this point in the year.

“But the rental market has not ground to a halt by any means.

“The housing market is still haunted by the demons of undersupply of new homes and tight credit conditions for buyers with the smallest deposits, which is pushing up tenant demand.

“This is cushioning the downwards pressure on rents normally seen in the final months of the year, and will see rent rises return as competition intensifies in spring”.

The launch of a £200 million fund by housing minister Mark Prisk is expected to stimulate growth in the private rental market next year.

The Build to Rent fund is expected to increase the construction of properties for private rental by encouraging developers to meet the demand of the rental market in their area.

The fund will finance the work of construction firms until the property is successfully let.

Developers will then repay the government investment.

The fund is expected to boost quality standards of rental property and encourage larger companies and organisations to play a greater role in the private rental market.

Currently, most private landlords are individual investors with a small number of properties.

Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax.

Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees ranging from £9.95 to £25 a month for an account which includes extra services such as travel insurance and breakdown cover.

Its decision to postpone the sale of these accounts in branches will not affect customers who already have a packaged account

The bank denied that the decision was related to new Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulations on packaged accounts, which will be introduced in 2013.

The new rules, which follow recent scandals in which customers were mis-sold financial products, will require lenders to ensure that customers are eligible to claim on any insurance included in the package.

A spokesman for the bank said: “It is not about the Financial Services Authority or mis-selling, it is about moving to a unified process within the group.”

The FSA has called for an end to the practice of incentivising staff to sell products such as packaged accounts, as this is believed to have led to mis-selling.

Currently Lloyds TSB branch staff will recommend a packaged account to a customer, whereas Halifax branch staff will provide information but are not allowed to recommend a product.

Lloyds TSB customers will still be able to sign up for a packaged account online while the changes are brought into effect.

Earlier this month consumer group Which? published the results of a survey suggesting that Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Barclays have continued to pressure sales staff to sell more, despite the mis-selling scandals.

Peter Vicary-Smith, Which? chief executive, said: “Our survey reveals the stark realities of the sales culture that still exists at the heart of the banking industry.

“Senior bankers say the culture is changing but this shows it just isn’t filtering through to staff on the front line who remain under real pressure to put sales before service, even after incentives are taken away.”

Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)

Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on as home loans and loans to small businesses.

House sales are increasing and the improvement looks set to continue into 2013, with around 950,000 property transactions, £156 billion of gross lending, and £12 billion of net lending expected.

The CML tempered its optimism with a warning that the weak economy could dampen demand for mortgages.

Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML, said: “Whereas the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) was conceived by the UK authorities to mitigate the worst impacts of a potential fresh credit crunch, its launch has in fact coincided with a more positive external funding environment, in part due to European Central Bank actions.

“Given this more benign context, in our view the FLS now has the potential to underpin a modest pick-up in mortgage lending activity.

“A key test, however, will be the extent to which greater borrower appetite materialises in response to better credit availability,” he added.

Last year the CML estimated that 825,000 property transactions would take place in 2012, but activity has been stronger than expected with 930,000 transactions expected by the end of the year.

In contrast to the CML’s positive outlook, a recent survey by the Building Societies Association (BSA) suggests that potential first-time buyers are less optimistic about their chances of buying a property next year.

More than a quarter of potential buyers surveyed by the BSA thought it would take them at least 10 years to save up a deposit to buy their first property.

Just 26 per cent of potential buyers thought it would take them three years or less, compared with 69 per cent prior to the start of the credit crunch in 2008.

Raising a deposit is the biggest barrier to property ownership, not just for first-time buyers, but across the whole range of buyers, the BSA said.

Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society.

The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed.

Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages were a popular option as they offer the borrower a lower monthly outlay than repayment mortgages.

Borrowers only pay the interest on the mortgage each month, and wait until the end of the mortgage term to repay the capital in one lump sum.

In 2007 interest-only deals accounted for a third of all mortgages taken out but hundreds of thousands of homeowners have been unable to pay off their original debt, leaving them facing repossession of their home.

Financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has found that three-quarters of homeowners with interest-only mortgages do not have an adequate savings plan in place to repay their loan when the mortgage ends.

It is estimated that 1.3 million interest-only loan are due to be repaid in the next nine years, a situation which the FSA called a “ticking time bomb”.

The FSA is introducing new rules requiring lenders to ensure that borrowers have a credible repayment strategy in place before approving an interest-only loan.

The new rules, which will come into effect on 26 April 2014, are part of the FSA’s Mortgage Market Review, which covers the whole mortgage market.

For all types of mortgage, lenders will have to take into account a borrower’s net income, and any committed and essential expenditure, while borrowers will have to produce evidence of their income.

Lenders will also have to take into account the effect of possible future interest rate rises on mortgage repayment costs.

Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report.

The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit application turned down.

Since the financial crisis lenders have significantly tightened their lending criteria, to the extent that 69 per cent of women and eighty-two per cent of young people aged between 18 and 24 years are now likely to fail a credit check.

Reasons for being refused credit include having no credit history, either because of having recently entered the country or due to never having had a credit agreement before.

aqua credit cards’ report highlights the importance of building up a strong credit score as people risk being turned down by utility providers, mobile phone companies and Internet Service Providers if they fail to pass a credit check.

Despite the importance of a strong credit score, 79 per cent of people do not know what their credit score is, and more than half have no idea how to improve it.

Simple steps such as being on the electoral roll and paying bills on time can make a significant difference to a credit rating.

It is also important to check that credit record details are accurate, and to close unused credit card accounts and cancel direct debits that are no longer required.

James Corcoran, CEO of aqua credit cards, said: “Surprisingly one in two adults are at risk of being declined credit by mainstream lenders – that’s over 25 million people whose lives are being affected.

“The irony is that the people who need their money to go further are the ones who end up paying more – paying for utilities and mobile phones on a pay-and-go basis for instance can cost up to 27% more than paying via direct debit.”

According to uSwitch.com 59 per cent of Brits will fund Christmas using credit cards.

The comparison site warns that this could lead to debt in the long-term, if the card balance isn’t cleared in the New Year.

Michael Ossei, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com, said: “The high number of consumers willing to put themselves deeper in debt just to stave off the embarrassment of not giving presents sends alarm bells ringing.”

The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting.

People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE reported.

The survey, which was published by the BoE in its latest Quarterly Bulletin, found that the 62 per cent of households in the lowest income bracket had suffered a fall in after-tax income in the past year, compared with 48 per cent of those in the highest income bracket.

Average monthly pre-tax incomes fell by £43 to £2,627 this year, more than offsetting growth in wages, which were estimated to have increased by just 1.3 per cent in October.

CPI inflation of 2.2 per cent, higher VAT, rising food and energy costs and more expensive imports, all increased the pressure on household incomes.

The survey identified high levels of household debt, with 35 per cent of households reducing their spending due to debt worries.

Economists suggest that inflation could rise to over 3 per cent next year, as the effect of higher fuel prices kicks in.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight, said: “It still looks very possible that increased energy tariffs and higher food prices could push consumer price inflation up to 3pc early in 2013 and keep it there for a while.

“Further utility price hikes will kick in during December and January.”

A separate survey by Lloyds TSB also found that inflation is eroding household incomes.

In November, inflation rose 0.1 per cent faster than the earnings of its current account customers, the bank said.

Lloyds TSB customers are estimated to have seen their annual spending power fall by £11.

New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes.

Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months.

The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings of £555 made by 75 per cent of respondents to the survey over the same period.

Richard Fearon, Head of Halifax Savings, said: “Raiding your savings can sometimes be inevitable, but in the run up to Christmas the data shows the average amount being raided from savings is much higher than the average amount being saved.”

Twenty-three per cent of respondents said they had raided their savings to pay for unexpected costs such as emergency repairs to their property or car.

Eighteen per cent had used savings to fund a holiday and 16 per cent had used savings because their current account was overdrawn.

The survey found that lower earners withdrew a greater proportion of their income than higher earners.

Those earning between £10,000 and £14,999 per annum saved an average of £772, equivalent to 2.5 weeks wages, and withdrew an average of £983.90, equivalent to 3.5 weeks wages.

In comparison, those earning between £30,000 and £49,000 withdrew £1,532.40, equivalent to 1.5 weeks wages.

The survey also highlighted regional variations in savings habits, with more people in north east England raiding their savings in the last three months than in other regions.

Over this period, people in the north east withdrew an average of £976 of their savings, while putting away just £228.

People in the north east also have the lowest level of savings at an average of £11,951, while Londoners have the highest regional average of £22,366.

Although this Christmas hasn’t even arrived yet, lenders are already urging people to open a savings account to fund next year’s purchases.

Skipton Building Society is offering a Christmas Saver account paying 2.4 per cent interest on monthly savings up to £250 until November 2013.

The account then reverts to a regular easy access account.

Principality Building Society offers a Christmas Savings account paying a slightly higher rate of 2.8 per cent on savings of between £20 and £500 per month, again until November 2013.

Monmouthshire Building Society offers an interest rate of 2.25 per cent, including a 1 per cent bonus rate, on savings of between £1 and £1,000 each month.

The account offers instant access during November and December but withdrawals can only be made earlier in the year by closing the account down.

Consumer group Which? is advising people to check out regular savings accounts before opting for a Christmas savings account, as they can sometimes provide a better deal.

According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data.

Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though this is a greater security risk that using unique passwords for each account.

The problem is that people struggle to remember passwords, and therefore choose passwords that are easier to remember, even though they don’t give adequate protection, especially when it comes to online banking.

Almost a third of those surveyed said they never changed passwords and many shared their passwords with other people.

Birthdays, addresses and partners’ names are all popular password choices, even though these are easy to guess.

The Payments Council, which is responsible for ensuring that payment services work in the UK, carried out the survey as part of its education campaign, PayYourWay.org.uk.

It has published its top tips for password security on its website.

One of its more creative tips is to use the first letters of a song lyric such as the The Grand Old Duke of York, he had ten thousand men’, which would give the password of ‘TGODoYhh10000m!’

The combination of lower and upper case letters, numbers and symbols makes this password difficult to crack and using the initial letters of a sentence know only to yourself would make the password even more secure.

However this doesn’t solve the problem of having dozens of passwords to remember, and people with many passwords might benefit from using password manager software.

Password managers create random, strong passwords for each site, but the user only needs to remember one master password to access them all.

Some password managers also automate the process of entering passwords and other data into websites.

Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website.

The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future.

Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print.

A spokesman for Wonga said: “Essentially, Paylater is providing an alternative to credit cards.

“It takes the cost of your purchase, you pay an upfront fee of 7%, then there are three payments over subsequent months that cover the outstanding costs.”

With an annual percentage rate of 27.7% the cost of the service is substantially lower that the payday loans Wonga is better known for, which have an annual interest rate of 4,214 per cent.

The company has been criticised by consumer groups for leading people into a spiral of debt, and the Office of Fair Trading found that its debt collection practices could be aggressive and misleading.

Wonga is believed to be planning to float on the US stock market where it could be valued at £1 billion.

Labour MP Stella Creasy is campaigning against payday loan companies, saying they are no more than “legal loan sharks”.

The StepChange debt charity has warned that the number of people using payday loans this Christmas could double.

Earlier this month the charity revealed that in the first nine months of 2012, 25,476 people sought its help with payday loans compared with 17,414 in 2011.

Delroy Corinaldi, external affairs director of StepChange Debt Charity, said: “The dramatic rise in problem payday loan debt is alarming as this type of debt is expensive and can spiral out of control very easily.

“It is therefore crucial that anyone struggling to repay what they owe at the end of the month doesn’t keep rolling over their loan and racking up very high charges, but seeks advice from a debt charity instead.”