Payday Loan company MCO Capital has been closed down by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and fined £544,000 after failing to check the identity of its borrowers. The firm, which traded as Help Loan, was targeted by criminals and cheated of more than £1.5m by the fraudsters due to its negligence. The criminals stole [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to assess whether banks have made it easier for customers to switch current accounts. Following a review in 2008 the OFT said that the personal current account market was not working well for consumers. It reported a lack of transparency over charges, making it difficult for customers to [...]
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 [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today published new guidelines for firms offering debt management advice or credit repair services to consumers. Complaints about debt management firms have increased significantly in recent years; 546 complaints were made to the Financial Ombudsman Service last year compared with 463 in 2010. The complaints included concern over [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate Payday lenders over concern that they may be encouraging people to take out loans without checking that they can afford to repay them. Payday lenders offer short-term loans at very high interest rates and while these can be affordable if they are paid back at the [...]
In a speech to bankers, the head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said that banks must improve their services or face being broken-up. The OFT’s chief executive, John Fingleton, said that despite investigations into the UK’s banking system by competition authorities, consumer bodies and the government, there is still too little competition. He [...]
Soaring motor insurance premiums have prompted an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which could lead to a Competition Commission inquiry into the industry. Car insurance premiums increased by 12 per cent between 2009 and 2010 and by a further 9 per cent in the first nine months of this year. The average [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is increasing its scrutiny of payday loan companies after the number of complaints about them soared. In a report to the Government, the OFT revealed that the number of complaints received by helpline Consumer Direct about payday loan companies more than doubled to 1,535 in the 11 months to [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning people to steer clear of scam loan companies that take upfront fees but fail to provide credit, or offer unsuitable credit alternatives. The watchdog has seen a 50% year-on-year rise in complaints about loan scams, particularly credit applications that involve upfront fees sent through money transfer companies. [...]
Consumer group Which? is concerned about surcharges imposed on to consumers who pay by debit or credit cards. It has therefore asked the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate the matter – which sees retailers, local authorities, estate agents and cinemas all impose the charges. However, the “worst offenders” are said to be budget [...]
Following an investigation into Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), savers with a cash ISA should find it quicker to switch their money to a different provider. The 90-day investigation, conducted by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), came after Consumer Focus warned that cash ISAs are depriving savers of £3 billion in interest each year. The [...]
From 2 December, Lloyds TSB will reduce the overdraft fees on its current accounts. The move comes just a month after the new coalition Government said it would introduce measures that will see an end to “unfair” bank charges, as well as excessive interest rates on credit cards. The banking industry was successful in a [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 84% state-owned, has been fined £28.6 million by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after admitting breaches of competition law. RBS confessed to passing on loan pricing information to its rival Barclays and the OFT began its investigation after receiving a tip-off from Barclays. According to the [...]
Consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has today revealed UK banks may soon be offering customers the ability to opt out of unarranged overdraft facilities. Should the procedure be put in place, it would mean consumers would avoid hefty fees if they slipped into the red. The announcement comes as the OFT took [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is recommending a “shake-up” of the way in which most Britons sell their homes, including new legislation that encourages innovation in the estate agency market. Following a study of the home-buying and selling process, the watchdog concludes: “The housing market remains dominated by traditional estate agents with weak competition [...]
The planned merger between mobile phone giants, T-Mobile UK and Orange, is set to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT said the merger “threatens significantly to affect competition in mobile telecommunications in the UK”. At the time of the proposed merger in September, the two phone giants said a deal [...]
Consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has announced it is to abandon plans to take further legal action against banks regarding unauthorised overdraft charges. At the end of last month, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the banks over the fairness of the charges. The test case originally commenced in July 2007 [...]
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the banks over the fairness of unauthorised overdraft charges. The legal battle, which has been ongoing since July 2007, came as a devastating blow to consumer groups who have been campaigning for many years about the charges, which they deem to be unfair. Since the ruling, [...]
The Supreme Court has today ruled in favour of the banks over the fairness of unauthorised overdraft charges. The legal battle, which has been ongoing since July 2007, will come as a devastating blow to consumer groups who have been campaigning for many years about the charges, which they deem to be unfair. However, Lord [...]
The ongoing legal battle between seven high street banks and one building society could reach a conclusion today. The Supreme Court will decide whether the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has the power to assess whether or not bank charges are fair. The case, which has been ongoing for more than two years, could see [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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