Northern Rock is once again offering mortgages to existing customers. The move follows a gap of well over a year during which period borrowers coming off fixed deals either reverted to the Rock’s standard variable rate or were forced to go elsewhere. The nationalised lender is strictly interested in retaining its best customers and only [...]
The Which? Awards, which names ‘the best of the best’ in products and services, has named the Co-operative Bank as the Best Financial Services Provider. The bank has been performing well amid the recession and its customer numbers have increased significantly in recent years because of its ethical investment policy. Since 1992, the bank’s commercial [...]
It is understood that the West Bromwich Building Society is to be rescued within days after weeks of speculation about its future. However, savers and mortgage borrowers have been assured that it’s business as usual since the rescue will not affect customers. There were talks last month that the country’s eighth largest building society was [...]
BSkyB has reported a 7 percent increase in adjusted revenues for the last 9 months with adjusted operating profit increasing by 13 percent to £589m, as the company added a further 80,000 new customers in the first quarter of this year and 243,000 customers opted for the Sky+HD package. Despite the company saying that the [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is threatening to fine banks and building societies that are heavy handed with homeowners who fall into arrears with mortgage repayments. The regulator has written to the chief executives of mortgage lenders, giving them until 31st January to review their policies. The FSA’s managing director of retail, Jon Pain, explains [...]
Rightmove has been experiencing a sharp downturn in the number of estate agents advertising on its website. The company, which operates the UK’s largest property portal and claims to advertise around 90% of British homes for sale, has reported that up to 300 estate agents are terminating their agreements each month. This time last year [...]
Thousands of customers have been lining up to withdraw their savings from the Bank of East Asia after rumours spread that the bank is facing financial collapse, an allegation which the bank has fiercely denied. The police have been informed and are investigating after the bank said the rumours were malicious and untruthful and were [...]
As the housing market downturn continues, Northern Rock customers are more likely to be facing negative equity than borrowers with other UK lenders. While the number of people in arrears with their mortgage repayments is rising across the banking sector, Northern Rock is more exposed than most of its competitors because prior to the credit [...]
An internal memo at Northern Rock has unveiled that the crisis-torn bank is expecting to see a vast increase in the amount of customers struggling to pay off their mortgage over the next 12 months. As a result, the bank is proposing to more than double the number of people who work in its debt [...]
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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