It has been announced today that cheques will not be phased out after the Payments Council announced it would abolish them in 2018. The Council has now decided to keep them after criticism from MPs and charities and was forced to make the u-turn after pressure from the public. Richard North, the chairman of the [...]
The banking industry has announced that alternatives to cheques are still being sought. The announcement comes after the UK Payments Council voted to phase out cheques on 31 October 2018, but stated that cheques will not be phased out until an “accessible and acceptable” alternative payment system is introduced. Cheque usage continues to decline as [...]
Official figures today showed the Japanese economy continues to battle with deflation. Figures revealed Japanese core consumer prices fell 0.6% in October compared with a year ago – representing the 20th consecutive monthly decline that the economy has been in deflation. Last month, the Bank of Japan cut interest rates to almost zero. The move [...]
David Ward, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, has launched a campaign to save the chequebook. The campaign comes after the UK Payments Council voted to phase out cheques on 31 October 2018, but stated that cheques will not be phased out until an “accessible and acceptable” alternative payment system is introduced. Cheque usage [...]
The UK Payments Council, the body which oversees the strategy on payments systems, has said cheque usage continues to decline as consumers opt to use debit cards. In the April to June period, an average of 290,000 fewer cheques were written each day, a fall of 10% compared with the same period last year. The [...]
Spanish banking giant, Santander, has announced it will begin to withdraw cheque guarantee cards for its customers. The move comes after the UK Payments Council announced months ago that it would axe the cheque guarantee service, which has been established for forty years, from June 2011. Santander, which owns Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, said [...]
Consumers groups have expressed concern for the elderly if cheques are abolished, suggesting that it will result in them hoarding cash at home. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, Jane Vass, of Age Concern and Help the Aged, warned that there could be a security issue if cheques were to be scrapped. “This would encourage [...]
The use of the cheque book continues to decline as consumers opt for quicker payment methods and, as a result, the cheque clearing system could end by 2018. Major retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s no longer accept cheques, arguing that phasing out the use of cheques in stores resulted in quicker service and improved [...]
Key Retirement Solutions has updated the equity release market with its latest monitor, showing that volumes are down for the second consecutive quarter. In the three months to the end of June, the number of new plans sold fell an annual 24% to 5,143. Furthermore, the property market downturn meant that the value of new [...]
Halifax has reported that UK house prices fell back 0.5% last month, after recording a rise of 2.6% in May. Despite the June fall, the annual rate of decline eased to 15% (down from 16.3% in May) nudging the average property price up to £157,715. Taking a three-month measure the average value of a home [...]
Latest figures from the Land Registry show house prices in England and Wales declining by 0.2% in May, with the average property worth £152,497. While the monthly change remained negative, the rate of fall eased from 0.3% in April and the annual rate of decline fell back to 15.9% compared with 16.2% in April. In [...]
Gross mortgage lending declined slightly last month, falling to £10.3 billion in May from £10.5 billion in April. The 2% decline took the annual fall to 58%. The new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) include lending for house purchases and remortgages and the Council points out that even if house purchase activity [...]
The plight of would-be first-time buyers is highlighted by new research from Moneysupermarket.com. According to the price comparison website, home loans requiring a 10% deposit have all but disappeared in the credit crisis with only 102 available today, compared with 3,124 in January 2007, a decline of 97%. First-time buyers are also being penalised on [...]
The latest CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has revealed some good news for Britain’s manufacturing industry today after a rise was noted in new manufacturing orders. According to the PMI, new manufacturing orders increased to a 14-month high, while UK manufacturing contracted at its slowest pace in a year in May. May marked the third [...]
India’s exports for March have fallen by a record amount as the country missed a revised export target of $175 billion. In 2007-08, the country posted export growth of 23 percent valued at $155.51 billion. According to figures released by the ministry of commerce in March exports were valued at $11.52 billion, which is down [...]
Nationwide’s latest house price index shows a 0.4% fall in the average price of a home in April. The decline means the average domestic residence is now worth 15% less than a year ago, at £151,861. It also scuppers hopes that the 0.9% price rise reported by the building society in March launched the UK [...]
Hometrack has reported that house prices in England and Wales fell by 0.3% in April. The monthly decline was at its slowest for a year and half that recorded by the housing intelligence firm in March. Figures for this month bring the annual loss to 10.1% and the price of the average home in England [...]
Industrial orders in the euro zone have fallen by 34.5 percent compared to last year and fell at their fastest rate in over 13 years in February as the global economic slowdown has meant that the demand for factory equipment and metal work has fallen drastically. The European Union’s statistics office said today that the [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has dealt a blow today by announcing that the global economy is set to decline by 1.3% in 2009. Back in January, the IMF predicted that world output would increase by 0.5% in 2009. In the UK, the IMF is forecasting a “quite severe recession” and that the economy will [...]
Despite high hopes for the equity release market during the fallout from the credit crisis, the first quarter of 2009 has produced disappointing results. The Key Retirement Solutions (KRS) Equity Release Market Monitor shows a decline in take-up compared to a year ago, with the number of plans sold down 7% during the first three [...]
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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