Bank of Scotland, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, has been fined £3.5 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The matter arose after the Financial Ombudsman Service received appeals from investors who said their complaints had been rejected wrongly. As a result, the bank has been ordered to pay customers around £17 [...]
The cost of owning and running a home in Scotland has declined by 4% over the past two years, according to research by Bank of Scotland. Between April 2008 and April 2010, average yearly expenses fell by £388, from £8,949 to £8,562. In real terms (after allowing for retail price inflation), the figure is down [...]
Mortgage customers with two of the UK’s rescued banks are less than happy with the service they receive, according to new research from Which? Money. The 41% state-owned Lloyds Banking Group has the furthest to go: only 41% of Bank of Scotland borrowers surveyed expressed satisfaction, while the group’s Halifax unit impressed 44% of home [...]
People who took out shared appreciation mortgages (SAMS) in the 1990s are to have their day in court. The mortgages were sold by Barclays and Bank of Scotland, usually at 0% interest, and were secured against the future equity growth in a property. Loans were made for up to 25% of a property’s value and [...]
Lloyds Banking Group is considering more job losses as the bank plans to close more than 300 “agency” counters run by its Halifax subsidiary in the offices of estate agents, solicitors or financial advisers. Agency counters are not Halifax branches and their staff are employed by the agent as part of their wider business and [...]
Halifax has completed a round-up of seaside property prices in England and Wales in a survey that places all ten most affordable seaside locations in northern England. Whitehaven in Cumbria comes top of the list, with the lowest average house price to earnings ratio in the first quarter of 2009. Withernsea on the East Yorkshire [...]
This week’s announcement that Britain is staring into the abyss of deflation comes as no surprise to small businesses. A recent survey by the Bank of Scotland found that two thirds (66%) of small businesses expected inflation to ‘decrease’ or ‘flatten out’ over the course of 2009. However, the outlook of small businesses is not [...]
This week has seen a round of rate cuts from High Street lenders, as competition appears to be returning to the market. Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest have announced interest rate cuts of at least 0.10% on their new fixed and tracker mortgages, while rates on some other deals are being reduced by up [...]
Persimmon has joined forces with Halifax to help first-time buyers enter the property market. The housebuilder’s “double your deposit” scheme does exactly what it says as long the funds are used to buy a new Persimmon home. To participate in the offer, a would-be homeowner needs to make regular deposits of up to £5,000 into [...]
Halifax has announced that it is cutting some mortgage rates from 19th July, having already reduced the cost of a range of loans during last week. The bank is lowering rates on its two-year fixed-rate mortgages by 0.1% and on its five-year deals by 0.15%. The move is aimed at keeping the UK’s largest mortgage [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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