Drop in interest rates causes surprise for consumers

Struggling homeowners trying to cope with high mortgage repayments welcomed a surprise earlier this month after the Bank of England slashed the base rate by 1.5% just a month after applying a surprise 0.5% cut a day ahead of the scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The slash in interest rates has now taken the base rate down to just 3%. Just a year ago the base rate stood at 5.75%, so it is now nearly half of what it was a year ago. Read more

Tags: Business Finance, bank of england, chancellor, borrowers, interest rates, order

Abbey launches packaged current accounts

Abbey has recently joined the long list of banks now offering customers the opportunity to sign up to a packaged current account, and officials from the bank are hoping that on top of the other achievements that Abbey has enjoyed this year, such as the acquisition of Bradford and Bingley and a larger share in the mortgage market, it will also be able to lure customers away from other banks by offering the packaged current account. Read more

Tags: travel insurance, current accounts, breakdown cover, bradford & bingley, Mortgages, bradford and bingley, lloyds, abbey

Banks could make billions from increasing profit margins

According to a recent report many of the UK’s major banks could end up making billions of pounds in extra profits by increasing the margins on loans and mortgages. It is thought that the banks could end up making around £3.6 billion as a result of these increases, so although the Bank of England base rate has fallen from 5.75% to just 3% over the past year the banks are still set to make huge profits. Read more

Tags: money products, Loans, industry official, bank profits, Credit card, profit margins, Economic history, Mortgages

Credit crunch really affecting 18-34s

According to a recent report one of the groups that is most suffering as a result of the ongoing global credit crunch is the 18034s age group, which some industry officials have referred to as the Ipod Generation. Over half of this group is thought to have debts of over £10,000, not including mortgages, and nearly a third have no form of savings whatsoever, putting them at increased risk of really feeling the pinch. Read more

Tags: Hardware, broke britain, credit crunch, financial services practitioners, half

Local authorities have lost hundreds of millions of pounds

News about the failure of Icelandic banks that have recently collapsed has been dominating the headlines, and the government has confirmed that local authorities have invested a total of over £840 million with these Icelandic banks. This has caused outrage amongst consumers, but government officials have said that councils were not being reckless with the cash by investing it in these Icelandic banks. Read more

Tags: bank losses, advice, charities, LGA, guarantee, recklessness

How Are Your Savings?

Most of us struggle to put aside as much money as we can into savings, especially in the current financial climate, and we all want to know that our savings are as safe as possible. However, with the financial turmoil being experienced by the UK and other major nations around the world consumers are becoming more and more jittery about just how safe their money really is. Read more

Tags: savings accounts, net, climate, concern, headline, northern, Icelandic government

Could some consumers in Europe end up paying more for their broadband?

A paper will shortly be published by the Centre for European Policy Studies that may damn the current approach by European Leaders to broadband internet access and their increasing “net neutrality” friendliness. The principle of looking to stop excessive restrictions to the access of broadband is currently what is known as Net Neutrality. In essence, no restrictions of access to any services (traffic management) or content and equal access for everyone would make a truly neutral network.
 Read more

Tags: GBP, broadband, music video, Leaders, internet connection, hand

What does the latest ruling in the High Court test case into bank charges mean?

The presiding judge in the ongoing High Court test case in to banking overdraft charges has recently made an announcement that has pleased the banking industry at a time when many are relieved to finally have some good news. The battle over bank charges began several years ago, when the Office of Fair Trading branded the charges that banks charge when someone goes over their overdraft limit as being unfair and unlawful. Read more

Tags: ongoing high court, oft, someone, past charges, andrew smith, bank charges, court

Can you afford to give to charity?

Just a couple of years ago many of us were happy to give generously to a range of worth causes, and we were prepared to whip out our debit or credit cards whenever there was a charity appeal, sign up to monthly donations for charities, and make one off payments to worth causes. However, household finances have been hit hard over the past year, and households have had to cut down on their expenditure in order to keep their heads above water financially. Unfortunately, for many this has also meant having to cut back on the amount of money that they are able to donate to charity. Read more

Tags: Big Society, advice, Social Issues, high rates, fuel, usage, Charities Commission

Watchdog wants bills cut in winter

A consumer watchdog has stated that energy bills must be cut by the UK’s energy giants for the winter, stating that the fall in oil prices over recent months warrants a fall in energy prices.

Both the government and consumer campaigners have said that energy companies need to start reducing the cost of gas and electricity usage over the coming weeks, as the cost per barrel of oil has fallen by close to 50% since the summer. Petrol companies have already slashed petrol prices since the price of oil came down, although the price cuts did take some time to filter through. Read more

Tags: price, energy companies, barrel, wholesale price rises, affordable prices, uk

Next Page »