Moody’s Investors Service has today announced it is reviewing 14 UK banks and building societies for downgrade due to the withdrawal of Government support. Elisabeth Rudman, a Moody’s Senior Credit Officer, said: “It has been initiated in response to ongoing guidance from the UK authorities (the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the [...]
Music, books, DVD and games retailer, HMV, has issued its third profits warning in as many months. It expects full-year pre-tax profits to be around £30 million – lower than the £38 million it estimated a month ago. The 90-year old retailer, which also owns Waterstone’s bookshops, in January said it was struggling to meet [...]
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales fell by 8.9% in September compared with the same month in 2009. It represents the third consecutive monthly fall but was expected due to the withdrawal of the scrappage scheme. It follows a 17.5% fall in August. The SMMT said the [...]
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has today revealed a surge in sales of previously owned homes in the US for the month of August. The industry body said sales jumped 7.6% in August to an annual rate of 4.13 million units, up from a revised 3.84 million units in July – which represented the [...]
Figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed a sharp fall in UK car production for the month of July. Car production plummeted by 8.9% against the same month a year ago – the first such fall since October last year. The SMMT said there were 98,000 cars produced in [...]
From today, the Nationwide Building Society will attempt to reduce its queues by making customers with cash cards withdrawing less than £100 to use the branch cash machine. The Nationwide said the change, which was announced in April, is essential and the move is aimed at speeding up transactions and freeing up staff time to [...]
From 7 June, Nationwide Building Society will attempt to reduce its queues by making customers with cash cards withdrawing less than £100 to use the branch cash machine. The Nationwide said the change is essential and the move is aimed at speeding up transactions and freeing up staff time to deal with other transactions. The [...]
The Indian Government has today announced that the economy is expected to expand 7.2% in the year to the end of March. The economy is making a strong recovery and expanded at an annual pace of 7.9% in the three months to the end of September, after growing 6.7% in the year to the end [...]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today warned that the global recovery “remains very fragile“. Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF said the global economy has been stronger than expected and China and developing Asian economies are leading the way in the global economic recovery but warned all major economies of an early withdrawal from stimulus [...]
In a further reshaping of the UK mortgage market, the maximum length of a fixed-rate deal is down to 15 years, following Manchester Building Society’s withdrawal its 30-year fix. Prior to the credit crisis, the Government was proposing to help lenders offer more affordable long-term fixed-rate products, which at the time were common in the [...]
The UK’s largest engineering company, BAE Systems, is to shut three factories in Telford, Leeds and Guildford by Christmas and is to axe 500 jobs. The announcement is primarily due to the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and the axe will be wielded in the combat vehicles and weapons division. Today’s announcement follows the [...]
New research from Durham University shows the extent to which some UK homeowners are exposed to the credit crisis because their lifestyles have been funded by withdrawing equity from property. The study, which examined the borrowing patterns of over 8,000 households between 2001 and 2005, revealed that in any year around 40% of homeowners increased [...]
Homeowning Britons have stopped using their properties as banks, according to figures from the Bank of England. For the first time since 1998, consumers have become more focused on paying off their mortgages rather than remortgaging to fund their lifestyles, or consolidate debts. In the three months to the end of June, the UK’s mortgage [...]
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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