Housebuilder Bovis Homes has today claimed the coalition Government’s spending cuts and tax hikes have dented consumer confidence. Its claim comes as the company reported a pre-tax profit of £3.5 million in the first half of 2010, compared with a loss of £8.6 million for the same period last year, Meanwhile, it added it planned [...]
Brits should take charge of their own pension plans following the government’s cuts to pensions in the emergency budget, a financial expert has claimed. Nick Scarrett, head of pensions at the Fair Investment Company (FIC), said consumers should take responsibility for saving as much as they can afford for retirement. “It has never been more [...]
The number of homeowners who saw their properties repossessed by lenders fell to a two-year low in the first three months of 2010. New data from the Financial Services Authority put the total the number of repossessions at 10,500, down 11% on the final quarter of 2009. In addition, new mortgage arrears declined by 2%, [...]
George Osborne’s emergency budget “takes from the poor to give to the rich” according to campaigners for a fairer tax system. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has failed to hold banks responsible for the financial carnage they caused in the credit crunch and the subsequent recession, the Robin Hood Tax campaign said. ”The Chancellor called [...]
Yesterday’s emergency Budget contained a change to the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) scheme, which aims to give homeowners in financial difficulties time to find new employment or recover income, without the added stress of potentially losing their homes. The scheme involves lenders reducing a borrower’s monthly mortgage payments by deferring interest, which can be [...]
The latest survey from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed a sharp fall in UK consumer confidence for the month of May. The building society’s consumer confidence index plunged to 65 last month – the lowest level since June 2009, down from a revised reading of 75 in April. According to the Nationwide, its survey [...]
In a major speech in Milton Keynes this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron said the budget problems are even worse than thought and has laid the blame with the former Government. His speech, which comes ahead of the emergency budget on 22 June, issued a stark warning about the painful spending cuts which his Government [...]
In a major speech in Milton Keynes this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to issue a stark warning about the painful spending cuts which his Government is to implement in the years to come. Mr Cameron is expected to say: “The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country. And [...]
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Prime Minister David Cameron said action needed to be taken to deal with the “huge amount of debt” but promised to explain “the purpose behind the pain”. He said: “The country has got an overdraft. The interest on that overdraft is swallowing up things that the nation should [...]
Mervyn King, the Bank of England’s Governor, has turned down a pay rise worth more than £15,000, according to the Bank’s annual report. The report, published today, revealed Mr King waived his right to a pay rise and comes just a few weeks before the Government is expected to announce severe spending cuts in an [...]
British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has today announced pre-tax profits totalled £632.5 million for the 12 months to 27 March – a rise of 4.6% on the same period a year ago. UK like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new store openings, grew 0.9% over the 12-month period. Sales of general [...]
Leading economists have said VAT will rise to 20% by the end of 2011 under the new coalition Government. According to a BBC survey, 24 out of 29 economists used by the Treasury expect the sales tax to rise, in order to try to pay back the UK’s fiscal deficit. Prior to the election, all [...]
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, 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 [...]
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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