Jobs are at risk after Allied Carpets has gone into administration as the property market crash and economic downturn has meant fewer people are buying carpets and flooring. Last month, rival Carpetright announced a 72% slump in profits after sales fell 7.4% compared with a year ago. Meanwhile, BDO Stoy Hayward, which has been appointed [...]
Struggling car maker Jaguar Land Rover is to reduce its workforce at its Halewood factory in Merseyside as the company plans to cease production of its X-Type model. The global economic downturn has resulted in a slump in demand for big-ticket items, such as cars. This has affected carmakers worldwide with many cutting back on [...]
According to The Mail on Sunday, Newcastle Building Society is in advanced talks with Skipton Building Society, which will see further consolidation within the sector. Newcastle BS, which is the country’s 10th biggest building society, has been struggling after a poor performance in 2008 when it reported losses of £35 million as a result of [...]
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Government is in talks with Citigroup to increase its stake in the struggling bank. Shares in Citigroup plummeted for a sixth consecutive session last Friday amid speculation that it would have to be nationalised in order to survive. It is believed that the Government could end up [...]
Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, will this afternoon unveil plans to help the struggling car industry since the economic downturn has meant that car sales have plummeted in recent times. However, No. 10 have said that the support is ‘not a bailout’ but is expected to include measures such as guarantees for loans to the industry [...]
According to the Bank of England’s latest quarterly bulletin, British households are struggling as a result of higher food and utility costs and falling house prices. The report found that disposable income plunged this year for 71% of British households, while the number of people struggling to pay their mortgage or rent is at its [...]
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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