A consumer rights website has slammed the returns offered by NS&I premium bonds, with interest rate cuts ‘swallowing up’ the likelihood of a decent return on savings. Research by MoneySavingExpert.com found that the chance of beating inflation with savings in premium bonds has dropped from 75% to 1% following changes to the prize draw. Changes [...]
The latest Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey has revealed that business confidence among major manufacturers in Japan has hit the lowest level ever. The survey of 10,000 companies, which is seen as a key indicator of the health of the country’s economy, revealed that confidence has plummeted to a 35-year low. The world’s second [...]
Figures from Eurostat have revealed a sharp fall in European industrial orders for the month of December. The official figures show that new industrial new orders in the euro zone fell 5.2% compared with November and 22.3% compared with December 2007. The drop was attributed, in part, to fewer orders for machinery and electronic equipment. [...]
The US Commerce Department has revealed that US housing starts fell by 16.8% last month – the lowest level since the Commerce Department started collecting data in 1959. The construction of new houses and apartments fell to an annual rate of 466,000 units in January, much less than the forecasted rate of 530,000 by analysts. [...]
As widely expected, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has cut interest rates half a percentage point to a new record low of 1%, in a bid to fight off a prolonged recession. The cut comes just two weeks after official figures confirmed the UK had entered a recession. Aggressive cuts have been [...]
As recession bites and fears grow over job security, US consumer confidence has plummeted to a record low in January. According to the Conference Board’s monthly consumer index, confidence fell to 37.7, from a revised 38.6 in December, below analysts’ expectations of 39. The figure is the lowest since the New York-based group started monitoring [...]
Business sentiment in Germany has taken a battering after a business index from the Ifo research institute revealed a sharp drop this month to a low not seen since 1990. Europe’s largest economy is set to be in for a challenging year believe economists since just a month ago, official figures revealed that the country [...]
Figures published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) have revealed that the US service sector hit the lowest level on record last month. The index fell far more than expected to 37.3 in November from 44.4 the previous month and is the lowest level since the series began in the 1997. The US service [...]
The UK services sector, which is the backbone of the economy, is declining at a record rate as the closely monitored Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 40.1 in November from 42.4 in October, the lowest level and fastest decline since the survey started in 1996. The index monitors everything from output to orders and [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has reported that property sales continued to fall last month. The decline took the number of transactions to its lowest level since records began, in 1978. A lack of mortgage finance meant that sales per estate agency averaged 10.9 during the three months to the end of October, [...]
Following Chancellor Alistair Darling’s grave assessment of the British economy, the pound has fallen to a record low against the euro and also fell against the dollar. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Chancellor Alistair Darling said the UK is facing the worst economic downturn in 60 years and it will be ‘profound and [...]
Official figures show that the number of homes and apartments being constructed in the US plummeted to the lowest level since March 1991. According to the Commerce Department, the 11% fall to an annual rate of 965,000, the lowest level for over 17 years, followed a 1.084 million rate the previous month. In addition, building [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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