Credit ratings agency Fitch has today downgraded two UK banks and placed one on a negative watch. Fitch downgraded Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) long-term credit rating to an A rating from AA-. It also placed Barclays on a negative watch, meaning a downgrade is possible in the future. In a statement, Fitch [...]
Later today, Greece’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, faces a confidence vote after the crisis-torn country needs to introduce further austerity measures in order to avoid the euro zone’s first sovereign debt default. EU leaders are insistent that the PM secure support for the measures that are a condition of the latest instalment of financial aid. [...]
Ireland received yet another blow today after credit agency Fitch cut the country’s debt rating to A+ from AA- with a negative outlook. Fitch said the downgrade was due to massive banking bailouts, which have drained the economy, as well as uncertainty surrounding the fragile recovery. Fitch also cut the short-term foreign currency issuer default [...]
Credit rating agency Fitch has today downgraded BP’s rating by six notches, from AA to BBB. The downgrade comes as the oil giant continues to battle to contain the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico which has resulted in the company’s shares plunging in value. Commenting on the downgrade, Fitch said it is concerned [...]
Moody’s credit rating agency has cut Greece’s credit rating to “junk” status from A3 to Ba1 but said the outlook is stable. Meanwhile, the agency also downgraded the country’s short-term issuer rating to not-prime from Prime-1. According to Moody’s, there was still “considerable uncertainty” surrounding the impact of tough austerity measures implemented to slash the [...]
Credit rating agency Fitch today warned that the UK needs a more ambitious deficit reduction plan, in view of the events in the euro zone. The pound fell against the dollar after Fitch’s comments, by 1% to $1.437. According to Fitch, the pace of the deficit reduction needs to be quicker than that announced by [...]
Fitch Ratings cut Spain’s credit rating from the maximum AAA to AA+ on Friday and the news comes just a week after one of the country’s banks, CajaSur, was bailed out. Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating a month ago and comes as the country has been forced to implement tough austerity measures in [...]
Credit rating agency, Moody’s, has today warned that the credit rating of banks in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain are at risk of being damaged because of “contagion” from the Greek debt crisis. Asian shares have already fallen sharply today as fears mount that the crisis would spread to other European countries. Meanwhile, Moody’s [...]
Michel Barnier, the European Internal Markets Commissioner, has pledged to investigate credit rating agencies after a series of downgrades to Greece’s debt. Mr Barnier told the European Parliament he had been surprised by the rapid deterioration of Greece’s rating. Last week, Greece became the first euro zone nation to have its debt downgraded to “junk” [...]
The European Commission has warned that additional measures may need to be taken by Portugal in order to cut its budget deficit. Like Greece, Portugal’s public finances are in a dire state and last month, international credit rating agency, Fitch, cut the country’s credit rating to ‘AA-’ with a negative outlook. According to Fitch, Portugal’s [...]
There are hopes for Greece today after leaders of the euro zone nations have agreed to provide emergency loans to the debt-ridden country. However, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking for euro zone finance ministers, said that the euro zone countries had not decided to activate the loans, as this would depend on a decision [...]
Greece’s woes intensified today after ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country’s credit rating amid fears over its rescue plan. Fitch downgraded Greece’s rating by two notches, from BBB+ to BBB-, as the cost of Greek borrowing continues to soar. The BBB- rating is significant since it is the lowest rating that qualifies as an investment [...]
The euro has recovered from a 10-month low today after the two-day EU summit, which commenced in Brussels yesterday, saw a deal reached to help Greece through its debt crisis. According to Brussels, the package will total €22 billion (£20 billion) and will include help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So far the euro [...]
International ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), has cut Greece’s credit rating by one notch, to BBB+ from A-minus. The downgrade came just a few hours after the Greek government unveiled measures including a 10% cut in public spending. Last week, credit rating agency, Fitch, also cut Greece’s sovereign debt rating to a decade-low to [...]
Credit rating agency, Fitch, has cut Greece’s sovereign debt rating to a decade-low to BBB+ from A- with a negative outlook. Greece, which is the euro zone’s weakest economy, has the highest debt of the 16-member bloc and the downgrade comes after recent warnings by two other agencies that they were considering such measures. The [...]
A new report from a leading credit rating agency makes uncomfortable reading for UK homeowners. According to Fitch, UK house prices have yet to topple 20% before bottoming out some time in 2010. A peak to trough fall of 30% is expected by the firm, plunging millions of households into negative equity as the average [...]
Northern Rock is leading the field in “prime” mortgages that have fallen into negative equity. A new report from ratings agency, Fitch, reveals that almost one in six households at the upper end of the UK property market have home loans that exceed the value of their properties. In the case of the state-owned Northern [...]
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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