Moody’s Investor Services has categorised remortgages as having “adverse loan characterisics”, indicating that they carry some of the risks associated with a high default rate. In a recent report entitled “What drives UK mortgage loans to default” the credit rating agency places remortgages alongside other risky loans, based on data gathered on mortgages that originated [...]
Millions of Brits have stashed away unused credit cards as a financial safety net, new research has discovered. A poll by uSwitch.com found 16 million credit card holders with unused cards. These consumers hold an average of 2.3 unused credit cards, and together they could access £200 billion of credit. With unemployment above two million, [...]
According to The Mail on Sunday, Newcastle Building Society is in advanced talks with Skipton Building Society, which will see further consolidation within the sector. Newcastle BS, which is the country’s 10th biggest building society, has been struggling after a poor performance in 2008 when it reported losses of £35 million as a result of [...]
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has again downgraded Ireland’s credit rating by one notch to AA, from AA+ amid fears that the Government is set to incur a bigger than expected cost for supporting banks. At the end of March, the agency downgraded Ireland’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ amid debt fears and put Ireland [...]
Crisis talks have been taking place over the weekend between the Bank of England (BoE) and seven of the UK’s building societies. The move follows last week’s decision by Moody’s to downgrade the credit ratings of several building societies due to concerns they will be hit by losses due to the housing market slump. The [...]
Britannia Building Society has cut the cost of some of its fixed-rate mortgages by up to 0.6% The lender is now offering its two-year fixed-rate deal from 3.59%, meaning that new customers borrowing £150,000 at 60% loan-to-value face monthly payments of £760.21 on a 25-year term. An arrangement fee of £549 will be added to [...]
There is more bad news for Ireland after ratings agency, Moody’s, has downgraded ratings on a dozen Irish banks, just 24 hours after the country unveiled an emergency budget. The downgrades suggest that Moody’s believes the banks are in a weaker financial position and this can mean borrowing in the future can be expensive. According [...]
Ireland’s Government is set to announce its second budget in six months today as the country faces a “very grave national crisis”, according to Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan. The Irish Republic’s deficit is nearing 13% of GDP – quadruple the level allowed by the European Union. The country has been hit by a raft of [...]
Ireland, which was the first country in the euro zone to enter recession, has experienced a sharp rise in unemployment. New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed that the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance surged by 87.5% in the 12 months to March. According to the CSO, the number of people [...]
Rating agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded Ireland’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ and has put the Irish Republic on a “negative” outlook, meaning that further downgrades are possible. The downgrade could drive investors away since it will mean Irish businesses will have to pay more to borrow on the international markets. The [...]
Moody’s, the ratings agency, has downgraded Lloyds Banking Group’s bank deposit and senior debt ratings sending its shares plummeting even further. Moody’s has cut Lloyds Aaa rating to Aa3, which brings it into line with Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. Yesterday, shares in the bank fell amid speculation that the Government may be forced [...]
Barclays Bank has announced a full year pre-tax profit of £6.08 billion for the 2008 year – this represents a fall of 14% compared with the 2007 year. However, the profits still exceeded analysts’ expectations. The bank has also announced £5.4 billion of write-downs (nearly double a year earlier) and has cancelled its final dividend [...]
Shares in Barclays have plunged 9% to 96p this morning after Moody’s downgraded the bank’s long-term debt rating from Aa1 to Aa3, while its financial strength rating was cut from B to C. Moody’s said it expects the bank to announce considerable further losses on credit related write-downs. Barclays stock has been hit hard over [...]
The turmoil in the stock markets continues this morning after shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plummeted by over 35% to below the £1 mark. The bank is now worth just £16 billion, compared to £75 billion a year ago. RBS shares plunged to 95p, the lowest point since the recession of the early [...]
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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