Dedicated parents are sacrificing looking good in their own glad rags so they can kit out their kids in designer threads. Credit crunched mums and dads are reducing the amount they spend on their own clothes so their children can keep up with the latest fashion trends, new research has discovered. Parents are trading down [...]
HSBC this week secured the title of Responsible Lender of the Year at the Credit Today awards 2009. The commercial and consumer lending magazine applauded HSBC for its conscientious attitude towards lending. Joe Garner of HSBC UK said the bank is “proud” to be recognised for its “approach to responsible lending”. “To us, responsible lending [...]
The Tooth Fairy’s budget has fallen 6% in the last year, according to new research into the habits of magical and mythical creatures. The Tooth Fairy Index (TFI), published this week by the Children’s Mutual, shows the average amount left under the pillow in exchange for wobbly teeth has dropped to £1.15, compared to £1.22 [...]
Good deals on personal credit continue despite the credit crunch, research by Defaqto has discovered. Although personal loan rates remain high, with the best interest rates available at around 8%, credit with 0% interest is available on overdrafts and credit cards. Seven in ten (69%) credit cards offer a 0% introductory interest rate on balance [...]
First time buyers are taking advantage of plummeting house prices, according to figures released this week by mortgage experts John Charcol. A fifth of mortgage applications during the first four months of 2009 came from first time buyers – an increase of 350% compared to the final four months of 2008. A significant proportion of [...]
Ethical banking is proving a popular choice for British savers, with record numbers signing up for accounts at the Co-operative. The bank this week revealed that 123% more people have signed up for its current account this year compared to last year. Customers are coming to the Co-operative, which has an ethical screening policy on [...]
Fixed-rate mortgages are set to grow in popularity because the base rate was held rather than cut last month, Abbey claimed this week. Research by the mortgage lender found that the number of people who believe the base rate has fallen as low as it will go has doubled in the past month. Meanwhile, the [...]
Credit crunched Brits are embracing a ‘no frills’ lifestyle in an effort to cut costs, new research has discovered. A study by Abbey found that six in ten (58%) UK consumers are more likely to fill their shopping trolleys with no frills products compared to a year ago. Flashy purchases are shunned as a waste [...]
Leeds Building Society has announced that its fixed-rate ISAs pay interest at up to seven times the Bank of England’s base rate. Kim Rebecchi, Leeds’s director of sales and marketing, said the building society’s five year fixed-rate ISA, which pays interest at 3.5%, is a ‘market leading offer’. “With many ISAs in the market paying [...]
With the recession continuing to deepen, many Brits have started saving up their pennies according to research by uSwitch.com. Over half (52%) of people in the UK are now following the old adage: ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.’ Loose change is being kept in a piggy bank and carefully [...]
Government plans to help elderly savers by increasing the limit on tax-free savings will have little effect, a financial expert has warned. Kevin Mountford, savings expert at Moneysupermarket.com, said the increased limit on cash ISAs – from £3,600 to £5,100 – is worth a paltry £1.89 in tax savings on interest payments. The £1,500 increase [...]
Up to 1.5 million motorists are set to take advantage of the new car scrappage scheme announced last week by Chancellor Alistair Darling. Research by Experian found that 7.1 million privately owned cars and vans are eligible to take part in the scheme, which offers £2,000 for cars at least 10 years old if traded [...]
Pensioners have seen their monthly income slashed by almost a quarter in the last year, research by SHIP has discovered. SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans) revealed that the 8 million British pensioners are suffering from the drop in income, caused by the collapse in the Bank of England’s base rate. Income from savings has plummeted [...]
Moneysupermarket.com has revealed that the average interest rate of loans dropped last week for the first time since August 2008. The average annual percentage rate (APR) of leading loan providers hit a high of 8.88% in March, compared to 7.34% in March 2008. The peak came despite repeated cuts to the Bank of England’s base [...]
Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, is to wield the axe on another 8,700 jobs. Oswald Gruebel, the chief executive appointed to restore the bank’s reputation, said the bank will become smaller and there will be cuts. The jobs are set to go by next year in a major cost-cutting programme after the bank announced losses of [...]
Research carried out by Aon, the insurer and pension provider, has found that the value of private pension savings in the UK have been badly damaged by the credit crisis and the recession. Aon calculates that 3.7 million people in the UK are affected and since the beginning of October 2007, their defined contribution savings [...]
Over half of UK savers have no idea what interest rate their savings account is paying, according to new research by uSwitch.com. The price comparison site found that 22 million savers are clueless as to how much their interest has been reduced since the Bank of England’s base rate started falling six months ago. Meanwhile, [...]
There are finally signs that bank lending to companies and households will increase which will play a crucial part in the recovery from the recession, after a survey from the Bank of England revealed that credit conditions are improving. The quarterly survey on credit conditions now shows that lenders expect availability of credit to both [...]
Fortis Insurance has reported its 2008 results with a full year net profit of €6 million, which came despite €639 million of investment losses. All of the insurance unit’s profit was made in its Belgium branch, with the international insurance business only breaking even. The insurance unit’s profit was dwarfed, however, by the Fortis banking [...]
Legal & General has cut its final dividend for the first time in living memory following a £1.5 billion pre-tax loss, compared to an £848 million profit in 2007. The UK’s fourth largest insurer slashed its dividend in half to 2.05p per share in a bid to preserve capital strength. The cut will save the [...]
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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