Does inflation level mean that rate cuts are ruled out?

Inflation levels over recent months have been soaring, and in July inflation hit the highest levels since records began in 1997. coming in at 4.4%. In fact, inflation has been soaring for quite some months, and has been way over the government target of 2%. The latest rise in inflation has resulted in the rate of inflation being more than double that set by the government. Read more

Tags: energy, energy usage, Worryingly, highest levels, inflation, Business Finance

Falling living standards in store for nation

The new deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, has warned the nation that it needs to brace itself for a year of hardship, stating that they will have to face falling living standards over the next twelve months. Mr Bean said that soaring inflation levels and rising oil prices were set to cause further financial misery for consumers, and he added that the nation was facing the toughest time since the early 1990s and perhaps even earlier. Inflation levels have now soared to 3.8%, which is nearly double the government target. Read more

Tags: governor, mr bean, extra sources, pay, supply, couple

HMRC offers huge reward for return of sensitive data discs

Following the huge blunder where two discs containing the bank and personal details of 25 million people were lost by HM Revenue and Customs a huge reward has been offered by official for the safe return of the information. The discs were lost some weeks ago by HMRC, and although there has been no indication that they have fallen into the wrong hands everyone affected has been contacted in writing and urged to be extra vigilant to ensure that nothing is amiss when it comes to their bank accounts. Read more

Tags: interest rate cuts, data, identity theft, security, bank account, fraud, safe return, police

Don’t pay through the nose to claim back your bank charges

Experts have been urging bank customers to think carefully before allowing charge reclaim companies to deal with reclaiming bank and credit card charges, stating that often the customer ends up paying a huge chunk of the amount reclaimed in fees to the company. Experts state that some customers are being charged hundreds of pounds but all the company does is fill out some forms that the customer could very easily do themselves. Read more

Tags: agency, sums of money, pay, reclaim bank charge, company, online, work, bank charges

Foreign savings accounts back at the top of the best buys

Over the past couple of years consumers in the UK have seen a number of foreign banks enter the UK market, offering impressive interest rates on savings accounts and catapulting themselves to the top of the best buy tables. With some of these accounts offering very high rates on interest even on instant access account many consumers have switched their savings in order to make their money work harder for them. Read more

Tags: savings account, wholesale money markets, rate, industry official, past couple

Interest rate cuts could be put on hold

At the start of this year there were high hopes about base rate cuts amongst both borrowers and industry officials, with many expecting the base rate to fall significantly over the course of this year, and with some industry officials predicting that the base rate could fall as low as 4% or below by the end of the year. However, whilst the base rate was cut three times between December 2007 and April of this year, it seems that further rate cuts could be put on hold, as the Bank of England tries to deal with soaring inflation levels. Read more

Tags: Monetary Policy Committee, government’s 2% target, time, present steps, foreseeable future

Homeowners flock to try and sell homes

According to a recent report many homeowners are panicking because of the ongoing drop in property values in the UK, and this has resulted in a million homes being up for sale recently. Property values have been falling for some months, and many industry officials believe that they could fall by in excess of 10% by the end of the year. Many homeowners are worried that if they wait to sell their homes they could end up losing thousand of pounds more on the value of the property. Read more

Tags: May, homeowners, Real estate appraisal, consumers, remortgage, property, report, Business and Economy

Many people could find it even more difficult to sell their homes

A recent report has shown that many homeowners in the London area could find it increasingly difficult to sell their homes in the near future, as a result of new plans that may be introduced to force homeowners to inform potential buyers about the risk of flooding. It is already very difficult for many homeowners to sell their properties due to problems in the mortgage and housing markets, and this could matters even worse for many more. Read more

Tags: flooding, danger, housing markets, housing, United Kingdom, risk, mortgage, interest

Consumers looking to remortgage could experience problems

With lenders raising the borrowing costs on their standard variable rate interest mortgages, and many people due to come of cheap mortgage deals, there are many homeowners that may be thinking about remortgaging in order to ensure a more affordable deal as their existing mortgage deal draws to an end. However, some industry officials have said that many of those looking to remortgage could experience real difficulties. Read more

Tags: bank, interest mortgages, uncertainty, Interest rate stays, Insurance

Majority of parking fine appeals won by consumers

The vast majority of consumers end up winning parking fine appeals, according to a recent report. The report indicates that a massive 94% of consumers win parking fine appeals, and this happens when they go through a public appeal against parking tickets. In six months just over 9500 Westminster issued fines were taken to an adjudicator, and over 8900, or 94%, were lost at appeal. Read more

Tags: vast majority, majority, appeal, parking fines, year, period

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