A scheme that protects holidaymakers if their tour operator collapses has now been extended to flight-plus holidays booked online. The Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol) scheme will now protect an estimated six million holidaymakers. The scheme is designed to ensure that holidaymakers who book their holiday with an ATOL holder do not lose their money [...]
NBNK Investments Plc is reported to be talking to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds with a view to increasing its bid for 632 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds has been in exclusive talks with the Co-operative Group over the ‘Project Verde’ business since December, but announced on Friday that these talks had [...]
Economists had expected mortgage approvals to increase to 34,000 in March but instead the latest figures from the British Bankers Association show they actually fell, to 31,888. This was significantly lower than 32,840 in February and the 25-month high in January, when 38,233 mortgages were approved. The slump in March represents an 11-month low and [...]
The number of houses sold in the £1 million to £2 million price bracket fell by 5% to 6,911 in 2011 according to a report from Lloyds TSB based on figures from the Land Registry. The figures represent the first annual fall in million-pound sales since 2009. In contrast, sales of homes priced above £2 [...]
The cost of car insurance is starting to fall according to the AA’s British Insurance Premium Index. The average ‘shoparound’ quote for comprehensive car insurance fell by 1.1 per cent to £1,132 by the end of March. The Shoparound premium is an average of the five cheapest premiums quoted by around 50 insurance providers. Over [...]
Mobile operator O2 has become the latest entrant in the mobile payments market with the launch of a new app. The O2 Wallet app, which allows users to transfer up to £500 via text message, follows the launch of a similar service, Pingit, by Barclays. Barclays’ free ‘Pingit’ app allows the bank’s UK current account [...]
A global police operation involving the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has closed down 36 websites selling credit card details following an investigation which spanned two years. Raids in the US, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania and Macedonia led to the sites being closed, many of them after being monitored for months. The [...]
Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the UK economy has contracted for two consecutive quarters, which means it has fallen back into recession. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the latest figures show a contraction of 0.2% in the first three months of 2012 [...]
People over the age of 50 will need to work for a further 11 years after they reach state pension age according to a new report. The Pensions Policy Institute claims that those who are unable to carry on working will struggle to maintain their standard of living. The report suggests that a single person [...]
Lower earnings, increased levels of debt and inflation worries took their toll on household finances in April, with the Markit Household Finance Index falling for the second month in a row. The Index fell at the steepest rate for three months to 37.0 in April from 37.8 in March, with a score under 50 indicating [...]
While Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are growing in popularity, pension contributions continue to decline, prompting the Institute of Directors (IoD)to call for the government to take action on savings. According to data compiled by the IoD in association with Lucida, the amount paid into ISAs increased from £35.7 billion in 2007, to £43.9 billion in [...]
Three quarters of mums are unprepared for a fall in income while they are on maternity leave and nearly a third go into debt. A study by price comparison site uSwitch.com suggests that the average debt accumulated by mothers while they are on maternity leave is nearly £2,500. As well as facing a 50 per [...]
Obtaining a mortgage has become increasingly difficult since the credit crunch and the situation is worsening according to recent reports. Several lenders have recently increased mortgage rates for new borrowers, including Abbey, HSBC, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Santander, Britannia, and Cheltenham & Gloucester. Customers taking out new fixed, tracker or discounted home loans will have to [...]
Consumer groups are encouraging victims of PPI mis-selling to claim their money back themselves, without the help of a claims management company. An intensive ‘no win no fee’ advertising campaign is tempting many companies to turn to claims management companies to reclaim PPI. moneysavingexpert.com and Which? have now joined forces in an advertising campaign of [...]
Barclaycard is trialling PayTag, a contactless payment card, with a selected group of customers prior to rolling it out to millions of customers by the end of the year. The card is around one third of the size of a standard credit card and it contains a near-field communications (NFC) chip. It is designed to [...]
A further strike against the government’s proposals to reform public sector pensions is expected next month. The dispute has continued for a year now, with a million public sector workers from a number of unions taking part in a general strike in November. Members of The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and health union [...]
According to two separate reports by consumer champion Which?, insurance customers are facing unnecessary costs. Which? has found that 10 out of the 12 largest water companies are promoting pipe insurance from third parties such as Homeserve. This insurance costs consumers more than £100m in total and in many cases it is unnecessary Which? claims. [...]
A court ruling writing off a consumer’s £5,126 store-card debt has opened the door for similar cases according to a report by the BBC. Judge Henrietta Manners ruled at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch county court that Santander must write-off the debt on a credit card held by Diana Mayhew. Ms Mayhew’s store card was automatically upgraded [...]
Higher food and clothing prices helped to push inflation up slightly to 3.5 per cent in March, from 3.4 per cent in February. The rise in inflation on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was unexpected and represents a break in a downward trend which started in September. It is a setback to the Bank of [...]
Brits don’t consider themselves in serious debt until they owe more than £14,416 according to insurance company Bright Grey. Although this may sound excessive, it reflect a significant improvement from a year ago when £15,837 was the point at which people started to consider them themselves in serious financial difficulty. Bright Grey’s ‘financial safety net’ [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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