UK households will find it increasingly difficult to service their debts in the coming years, according to a report by debt charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS). According to the charity’s research, an average of more than 23 per cent of households’ disposable income went towards interest payments on loans at the end of 2011. [...]
Moneyfacts.co.uk has revealed the top performing cash ISAs during 2008-09. “Unsurprisingly it was fixed rate cash ISAs that yielded some of the top returns,” said Michelle Slade, Moneyfacts.co.uk analyst. Alliance and Leicester’s (A&L) Premier ISA took first place, adding £327.37 to a £3,600 investment made on 6 April 2008. However, to qualify for the Premier [...]
British workers can today start reducing their personal debt as it will have taken them until yesterday to pay back the interest. Personal debt is so high in Britain that it would take the whole country 83 working days - or 1st January to 25th March - just to fund the interest payments. Total debt [...]
Credit card holders in the UK are needlessly paying out over £9 billion in interest payments every year. Research by Abbey credit cards found that many card holders are paying interest on their credit balance when they could save significant money by switching to an interest free credit card. Seven in ten (69%) Brits have [...]
Mortgage approvals fell unexpectedly in March
Economists had expected mortgage approvals to increase to 34,000 in March but instead the latest figures from the British Bankers Association show they actually fell, to 31,888. This was significantly lower than 32,840 in February and the 25-month high in January, when 38,233 mortgages were approved. The slump in March represents an 11-month low and [...]
The number of houses sold in the £1 million to £2 million price bracket fell by 5% to 6,911 in 2011 according to a report from Lloyds TSB based on figures from the Land Registry. The figures represent the first annual fall in million-pound sales since 2009. In contrast, sales of homes priced above £2 [...]
The cost of car insurance is starting to fall according to the AA’s British Insurance Premium Index. The average ‘shoparound’ quote for comprehensive car insurance fell by 1.1 per cent to £1,132 by the end of March. The Shoparound premium is an average of the five cheapest premiums quoted by around 50 insurance providers. Over [...]
Mobile operator O2 has become the latest entrant in the mobile payments market with the launch of a new app. The O2 Wallet app, which allows users to transfer up to £500 via text message, follows the launch of a similar service, Pingit, by Barclays. Barclays’ free ‘Pingit’ app allows the bank’s UK current account [...]
36 credit card fraud sites closed down
A global police operation involving the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has closed down 36 websites selling credit card details following an investigation which spanned two years. Raids in the US, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania and Macedonia led to the sites being closed, many of them after being monitored for months. The [...]
Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the UK economy has contracted for two consecutive quarters, which means it has fallen back into recession. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the latest figures show a contraction of 0.2% in the first three months of 2012 [...]
Over-50s face 11-year retirement delay
People over the age of 50 will need to work for a further 11 years after they reach state pension age according to a new report. The Pensions Policy Institute claims that those who are unable to carry on working will struggle to maintain their standard of living. The report suggests that a single person [...]
Household finances continue to deteriorate
Lower earnings, increased levels of debt and inflation worries took their toll on household finances in April, with the Markit Household Finance Index falling for the second month in a row. The Index fell at the steepest rate for three months to 37.0 in April from 37.8 in March, with a score under 50 indicating [...]
ISA savings rise while pension contributions fall
While Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are growing in popularity, pension contributions continue to decline, prompting the Institute of Directors (IoD)to call for the government to take action on savings. According to data compiled by the IoD in association with Lucida, the amount paid into ISAs increased from £35.7 billion in 2007, to £43.9 billion in [...]
Mothers accumulate debt on maternity leave
Three quarters of mums are unprepared for a fall in income while they are on maternity leave and nearly a third go into debt. A study by price comparison site uSwitch.com suggests that the average debt accumulated by mothers while they are on maternity leave is nearly £2,500. As well as facing a 50 per [...]
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