New EU rules, due to take effect on 21 December, are expected to lead to a substantial increase in the cost of car insurance for female drivers, but could benefit female pensioners. In 2011, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that setting insurance premiums or pensions based on gender was discriminatory and breached […]
Allow Ltd, a London-based company focused on helping people protect the privacy of their personal data, has launched the UK’s first social media insurance for consumers. The firm offers services to deal with social media account hacking, reputational damage and other types of ID theft. With Facebook accounts being hacked at a rate of 600,000 […]
Google has stepped further into the price comparison market with a new service to compare car insurance quotes from around 120 insurers. The search giant is using its technology to make sure its own service is top of the list of results when internet users type ‘car insurance’ into the Google search engine. Digital marketing […]
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has launched the Insurance Fraud Register in an effort to cut the number of fraudulent insurance claims. Around 400 fraudulent insurance claims are made each day, according to an ABI report. This adds up to £1 billion a year and means that insurance premiums cost an average of £50 […]
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 1,500 complaints about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling per day, in the first six months of 2012 The number of PPI complaints received by the ombudsman grew by 42 per cent to 85,562 in the first half of the year, despite banks promising to deal with compensation claims promptly. […]
Fewer individuals are taking out standalone private medical insurance (PMI) policies, although demand for company PMI schemes returned to growth last year. According to new figures from healthcare intelligence provider Laing and Buisson, the number of private medical insurance policies in existence in 2011 fell by 0.2 per cent compared with the previous year, to […]
Direct Line Insurance has revealed that its separation from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is ”substantially complete”. In an upbeat announcement the insurer said that it expects profitability to soar following the separation. RBS is selling Direct Line under the conditions imposed by European regulators on its bailout by the UK government during the credit […]
Automatic car insurance renewals are causing British drivers to be collectively out-of-pocket by £3.1 billion a year. Price comparison site MoneySupermarket.com claims that the 8 million drivers who remain with their existing insurer could save £404 each if they shopped around. More than one in five UK car owners automatically renew their motor insurance, according […]
Police have seized the millionth uninsured vehicle, indicating the size of the problem of uninsured driving in the UK. The vehicle was seized in Birmingham, which is one of UK’s motor insurance evasion hotspots. According to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), Bordesley in Birmingham has now replaced the Barkerend area of Bradford as the place […]
The rising cost of private healthcare is pushing health insurance in the UK up to unaffordable levels, according to international healthcare group Bupa. A lack of competition among private hospitals has led to the cost of treatment rising, and the insurer says that this could lead to health insurance becoming unaffordable. An increase in the […]
Many holidaymakers will embark on their annual break without any travel insurance and people taking to the roads in Europe are failing to take out breakdown cover. A study by the Money Advice Service reveals that 53 per cent of people in the UK are planning to take a summer holiday, but half of these […]
The UK’s ‘big five’ banks have now paid out £8.8 billion in compensation to customers mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) and the eventual bill is expected to exceed £10 billion. Administration and staff costs will send the bill even higher. Banks are suffering an administrative headache in trying to sort out genuine claims from the […]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced new rules to prevent banks and building societies mis-selling accounts which include insurance policies. Customers pay a fee for packaged accounts, which often include travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, and breakdown cover alongside deals on overdrafts, foreign currency and even offers on music downloads and business class lounge […]
The average cost of car insurance is now £1,034, breaking the £1,000 barrier for the first time, according to the AA British insurance premium index. Motor insurance is now 8.5 per cent higher than it was a year ago and has doubled in price over four years. In July 2008 the average fully comprehensive policy […]
The average cost of comprehensive car insurance was £797 in spring 2012, a fall of more than 7 per cent, or £60, compared with a year ago. The fall reverses a steady rise in the price of motor insurance premiums since 2009. A survey by Confused.com and professional services company Towers Watson revealed that men […]
Sales of telematic, or ‘black-box’, car insurance will reach 500,000 in the next two years, according to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba). The trade body for the insurance industry has recorded a five-fold increase in this type of motor insurance in the past two years. The use of telematic technology is proving popular because […]
The growing risk of flooding in the UK could lead to an increase in the cost of home insurance for everyone, regardless of where they live. Britain has been awash with rain for the last three months and with many parts of the country suffering from repeated flooding, insurance companies are likely to miss their […]
The Building Societies Association (BSA) is calling for claims management companies to be more strictly governed after mutual lenders were bombarded with bogus claims over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). The number of claims soared by 247 per cent in the six months to the end of April 2012, compared with the previous […]
The number of road accidents fell by 11 per cent in 2011 and yet the number of personal injury claims increased by 18 per cent. The figures were revealed in a report by the Institute And Faculty Of Actuaries. The study found that more personal injury claims are made in areas which are well supplied […]
The insurance market is failing to keep up with social changes according to a new study by comparison site Confused.com. With more people marrying later in life, the site claims that traditional insurance products are failing to meet the needs of the increasing number of people who are joining up with friends to buy a […]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
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 […]
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 £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 £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 ‘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 […]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
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 […]
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 £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 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 […]
About | Privacy | Disclaimer | Resources | XML Feeds | Press Releases | Directory | Contact us
