Credit broker Yes Loans has had its licence revoked by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over concern that its business practices ‘deceitful and oppressive’. Two associated businesses, Blue Sky Personal Finance and Money Worries Limited, have also been found to be unfit to hold a consumer credit licence. Following a long-term investigation, the OFT [...]
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 [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning people that the summer is an opportune time for rogue traders who offer home maintenance work on the doorstep. In 2009, the government-funded advice service, Consumer Direct, received more than 5,300 complaints over such offers of work, a 16% rise from the previous year. Complaints peaked from [...]
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 [...]
Consumer Focus has warned that cash ISAs are depriving savers of £3 billion in interest each year. The consumer group has made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and is calling for an investigation into Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs). ISAs, which were launched a decade ago by then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and [...]
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 [...]
The ongoing legal battle between eight high street banks and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over unauthorised overdraft charges might actually reach a conclusion next week. Wednesday 25 November is the date that has been set for the Supreme Court to decide whether the OFT has the power to assess whether or not bank [...]
An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found that consumers struggle to understand current account charges, as well as interest rates and overdraft fees. As a result, new measures from 2011 will see banks make it easier for consumers to understand their costs and charges, as well as making the switching process easier. [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an online version of its register of dodgy estate agents. Firm’s listed have been given warnings or been banned from estate agency work and the list can be viewed at www.oft.gov.uk/estateagentregister The register can be browsed alphabetically or by date and also provides information on how to [...]
A report from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has revealed that the new Faster Payments service is not as efficient as it could be. The Faster Payments service was launched to speed up the time taken for electronic bank payments to clear but the report revealed that the service is only running at 69% [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has shut down thirteen websites for misleading consumers. The watchdog said these debt management companies, which have not been named, are using website addresses similar to non-profit organisations and are deliberately misleading customers. Ray Watson, OFT credit director, said “We believe they are misleading consumers by holding themselves out [...]
Banks are under pressure to back down from their multi-million pound court appeal in favour of overdraft charges. The banks are currently appealing a High Court ruling from last April that allowed the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to determine the fairness of bank charges. Some banks were known to charge customers up to £39 [...]
NewBuy mortgage scheme launched
The government launched its NewBuy scheme today, to help people afford a mortgage on a new property. The mortgage indemnity scheme will help people borrow up to 95 per cent of the value of new homes, for example on a newly built £200,000 property they would have to provide a £10,000 deposit. Since the credit [...]
Nick Clegg calls for fairer taxes
Speaking at the Lib Dem’s spring conference yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it was a ‘basic justice’ that the highest earners should pay the most tax. In his keynote speech at the Gateshead conference, Mr Clegg said that the wealthiest people in society should pay more tax help fund tax cuts for the [...]
Strikes threatened as public sector pension talks conclude
Talks over public sector pensions have now ended with the government producing a final set of proposals. While the Treasury said the talks were constructive, unions claim that ‘serious matters’ have been left unresolved, leading to the threat of further industrial action. The proposed changes to health, education and civil service pensions are designed to [...]
Payday loan company’s licence revoked
Credit broker Yes Loans has had its licence revoked by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over concern that its business practices ‘deceitful and oppressive’. Two associated businesses, Blue Sky Personal Finance and Money Worries Limited, have also been found to be unfit to hold a consumer credit licence. Following a long-term investigation, the OFT [...]
Card fraud falls to 11-year low
The amount of money lost due to credit and debit card fraud fell to £341m in 2011. This was 7 per cent less than the amount lost in 2010 and 44 per cent lower than in 2008, when £610m was lost through card fraud. Since 2010 the number of fraudsters impersonating people to use or [...]
Pensioners hammered by QE and rising living costs
The value of final salary pension schemes has been slashed by £90 billion due to the government’s latest round of quantitative easing (QE), the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) warns, while pensioners’ incomes have also been hit by soaring living costs. A new study by LV= suggest that pensioners’ day-to-day living costs have increased [...]
Second salvo of QE knocks £90bn off pensions funds
Falling gilt yields have pushed final salary pension funds £90bn deeper into the red since the second wave of quantitative easing (QE) started last October, pension experts said today. The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said the Bank of England’s printing of £125bn within the past six months had hit pension funds harder than [...]
Bank of Ireland raises cost of mortgages
The Bank of Ireland has become the latest lender to increase the standard variable rate (SVR) on its mortgages. Around 100,000 UK customers will be affected when the bank increases the SVR from 2.99 per cent, to 3.99 per cent in June There will be a further increase in September, when the SVR will rise [...]
House prices down 1.1% in February
House prices fell 1.1 per cent in February according to The Halifax, contradicting earlier figures from Nationwide suggesting that property prices have increased. According to the Halifax’s three monthly index, house prices were 1.1 per cent lower in February than in the previous three months. The mortgage lender’s annual index showed that property prices fell [...]
Debit card transactions declined by Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Customers of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank have been experiencing problems with debit cards being declined due to computer changes. The problem initially occurred while the banks, which are both part of the National Australia Bank (NAB), were transferring their systems operations to an external contractor on Sunday morning. Problems with some Mastercard debit transactions persisted [...]
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