Personal loan, credit card and overdraft borrowing is being repaid at the highest rate since January 2011. The British Bankersa�� Association (BBA) reported net consumer credit repayments of A?305 million in February. Consumers borrowed A?7 billion on credit cards but A?7.3 billion was repaid. The ongoing squeeze on household incomes is making consumers more careful […]
Lloyds TSB has refunded the A?3,700 cost of a womana��s breast implants after they ruptured. The woman, who is in her 40s and lives in the Midlands, had the implants in 2008 at a private firm which later went into administration. . She consulted a breast cancer clinic in September 2011 after she found a […]
Virgin Money has increased the interest rate on credit cards for some of its customers from 16.8 per cent to 24.9 per cent. Following criticism of the move, the bank unsympathetically told the customers to either accept the increase, which amounts to nearly 50 per cent, or pay off their balances. The rates on balance […]
The amount of money lost due to credit and debit card fraud fell to A?341m in 2011. This was 7 per cent less than the amount lost in 2010 and 44 per cent lower than in 2008, when A?610m was lost through card fraud. Since 2010 the number of fraudsters impersonating people to use or […]
Capital One has launched a credit card suitable for customers whose credit score has been adversely affected by previous CCJs or defaults. The a�?Balancea�� credit card offers 0% on balance transfers until October 2012, the transfer fee is just 1.7 per cent and there is no annual fee. It provides a small, manageable credit limit […]
Consumers are shunning credit cards in favour of debit cards, digital payment and payday loans, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Although UK households paid off some unsecured debts in 2011, the average debt was around A?7,900 at the end of the year. The Ernst & Young Item Club has also reported a […]
Lloyds Banking Group has decided to withdraw Halifax and Bank of Scotland charity credit cards at the end of February because it doesna��t consider them a cost-effective way of donating to charity. The bank has been issuing charity credit cards for over 23 years and they have raised millions of pounds for charities such as […]
With household incomes under increasing pressure from inflation and unemployment more consumers are turning to price comparison services to help them reduce their outgoings and the New Year has seen the launch of several new sites. Insurance specialist comparethemarket.com has launched a new service which allows consumers to find which credit cards and loans will […]
Nationwide has re-launched its Select Visa credit card which offers 0%-on-purchases for 18 months a�� the longest period currently available on the market for a 0% deal. Cardholders also benefit from commission-free purchases while they are abroad and 0.5% cashback. Balance transfers are eligible for the 0% interest deal, but for 17 months rather than […]
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 […]
Paypal is now more popular than credit cards as the preferred method of payment for online shopping according to a global survey by financial advisory firm KPMG. According to KPMGa��s “The Converged Lifestyle” report, consumers worldwide are rapidly adopting new technologies and Paypal is reaping much of the benefit. The study looked at the online […]
Payments business Visa has reported a 2.3 per cent fall in spending on credit and debit cards over the four weeks to 27 November, compared with the same period in 2010. Last week, which is traditionally one of the UKa��s biggest Christmas shopping weeks, spending on cards fell both on the High Street and online, […]
Credit card holders in the UK are paying less off their balance than at any point during the last two years, which isna��t surprising given the current pressure on household incomes from deteriorating employment conditions and record high levels of inflation. The trend was noticed among a�?classica�� card accounts taken out within the last five […]
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 A?7.2 billion […]
New figures from Sainsburya��s Bank suggest that nearly two million credit card holders intend to switch providers over the next year, when their 0 per cent balance transfer offer expires. A further 900,000 card holders will switch when their 0 per cent purchase deal expires, according to the banka��s latest research. After the introductory offer […]
As part of its a�?On Your Sidea�� campaign Nationwide Building Society has launched a credit card reward scheme which should make shopping more enjoyable for its customers. The scheme, which is available to the building societya��s Visa debit and credit card customers, is designed to help their money go further. It offers discounts at several […]
Banking giant HSBC has today announced it has disposed of its US credit card division to Capital One Financial, as part of a global strategic cost-cutting exercise. The announcement comes shortly after the bank said it would slash its underperforming US branch network by half and also announced it would axe 30,000 jobs globally in […]
The UK Cards Association has today revealed that credit and debit card fraud continues to decline. According to the Association, fraud losses on UK credit and debit cards totalled A?365.4 million in the 2010 year – a drop of 17% compared with 2009. The figure represented a 10-year low and compares with the record high […]
Consumer group Which? is concerned about surcharges imposed on to consumers who pay by debit or credit cards. It has therefore asked the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate the matter – which sees retailers, local authorities, estate agents and cinemas all impose the charges. However, the a�?worst offendersa�? are said to be budget […]
A report from the homeless charity, Shelter, has revealed that in the last year, 2.6 million Britons have paid their mortgage or rent on their credit card. The figure represents a rise of 50% on the previous year and reveals the extraordinary lengths some are going to in order to keep a roof over their […]
Home rental costs down in November
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 A?741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. […]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
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 […]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
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 A?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 […]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
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 […]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
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 a�?Mind the Credit Gapa�? report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than A?50,000 could have a credit […]
Monthly incomes A?22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by A?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 […]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
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 A?1,186, more than double the average savings […]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
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 […]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Companya��s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailersa�� sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wongaa��s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A […]
First-time buyers take a decade to save for a deposit
Before the credit crunch it took first-time buyers two to four years to save up a deposit for a property but a quarter of first-time buyers now say it will take them at least ten years. In its latest Property Tracker report, the Building Societies Association (BSA) suggests that since September 2010 raising a deposit […]
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