Government plans to help elderly savers by increasing the limit on tax-free savings will have little effect, a financial expert has warned. Kevin Mountford, savings expert at Moneysupermarket.com, said the increased limit on cash ISAs – from £3,600 to £5,100 – is worth a paltry £1.89 in tax savings on interest payments. The £1,500 increase [...]
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 [...]
From April next year, savers will be able to earn tax-free interest on up to £10,200 of savings following an increase to the ISA allowance. Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the change this week in his Budget speech, increasing both the cash savings and the investments limit from £3,600 to £5,100. Financial experts and high street [...]
In today’s Budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said the country is suffering as the economy is in the midst of its worst year since World War II. In an attempt to drive the UK to recovery, the Chancellor unveiled a series of measures including tax rises and spending cuts. Those earning in excess [...]
Nationwide Building Society has called on the government to review its approach to tax-free savings accounts in today’s Budget report. The UK’s biggest building society said Chancellor Alistair Darling should seek to foster a savings habit among Brits in his Budget proposals later today by making individual savings accounts (ISAs) more flexible and easier to [...]
Savers disillusioned by low-interest rates should spread their tax-free ISA allowance across bonds and income-funds, Virgin Money said this week. With the Bank of England’s base rate at an all time low, Cash ISA interest rates offer meagre returns, hitting an average of 0.96% at the end of February. Meanwhile, the ongoing volatility of the [...]
Saga Personal Finance has announced plans to launch two new ISA products on 1 April, paying interest at up to 2.95% tax free/AER. The One Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA pays annual interest at 2.95% tax free/AER, whilst the Saga One Year Fixed Rate Monthly Interest ISA pays interest at 2.91% tax free or 2.95% [...]
Britain is engulfed in a ‘savings crisis’ with one in four adults having saved nothing in the past two years, new research by moneysupermarket.com has discovered. The poll also found that over a third (36%) of Brits now have less money in their savings than they did in 2007. Of those who are saving, just [...]
Many people in the UK find individual savings accounts (ISAs) confusing, according to new research by Alliance & Leicester. The building society found that 71% of Brits did not know that the current Cash ISA allowance is £3,600. One in five (19%) of those questioned believed that the allowance was still £3,000. Nearly half of [...]
The government must start encouraging the UK to save money, the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) said yesterday. Chris Cummings, AIFA director-general, said it is vital that the government’s upcoming budget provides incentives for saving. With personal debt now above £1.4 trillion, a sea-change in the UK’s approach to personal finance is ‘essential’, Cummings [...]
Savers are increasingly turning to investment individual savings accounts (ISAs) as interest rates on cash ISAs continue to plummet. Research by Barclays shows a 67% rise in the number of investment ISAs opened recently compared to the same period in 2008. The bank also revealed that nearly half (45%) of investment ISA savers have already [...]
Abbey has launched a new range of ISAs paying interest at up to 5.5%. The Santander-owned bank has unveiled three new individual savings accounts (ISAs) – the Reward ISA, the Direct ISA, and the Super Direct ISA. New savers can place up to £3,600 in the Reward ISA, which pays interest at 1.5% plus a [...]
ISAs are best for savings despite falling interest rates Savers should make the most of their money by saving in a tax free ISA, moenysupermarket.com said on Wednesday. Calculations by the price comparison site found that savers who have used their full ISA allowance for the past 10 years will be £2,700 better off than [...]
Chelsea Building Society has launched new ‘improved’ versions of its individual savings accounts (ISAs). Chelsea’s Postal 30 Cash ISA now has an annual interest rate of 3% for account balances over £6,000, and 2.6% for lower balances. The Chelsea Cash ISA (2nd Issue) pays interest at 2% for balances over £6,000, and 1.6% for lower [...]
Almost three quarters (73%) of UK consumers believe the benefits of saving have fallen over the last year, according to new research by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Only 7% of those questioned felt the benefits of saving have increased, down from 15% when the survey was conducted three months earlier. Rebecca Driver, the [...]
According to the Investment Management Association (IMA), the fund management trade body, this year’s Isa (Individual Savings Accounts) season has been the worst on record. As investors were threatened by the financial crisis, sales of Isas fells to a new low said the IMA. Net sales of Isas fell to £1.3 billion during the 2007/08 [...]
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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