It has recently been revealed that two building societies, the Yorkshire and the Barnsley Building Societies, are to merge, with the larger Yorkshire building Society agreeing to the merger with its smaller rival in a form of rescue bid. This is one of a number of recent mergers and takeovers in the world of banking [...]
A recent report has suggested that High Street bank, HSBC, is giving more favourable treatment to its better off customers with its Internet arm First Direct than to its poorer HSBC customers. Officials claim that the customers of First Direct, who tend to be better off due to changes that were made by the bank [...]
Following the collapse of Icelandic banks earlier this month it was revealed that over one hundred councils across the country had lost millions of pounds, which they had invested in the Icelandic banks, which then went bust. There was outrage amongst consumers, who wanted to know why the council had been putting money into these [...]
Following recent hearings in the next stage of the overdraft bank charge High Court case, many of the UK’s banks have received a clean bill of health from the presiding judge, who has said that most customers will not be able to use the law to challenge the terms that the banks in question have [...]
The Prime Minister recently called a press conference where he not only announced a surprise 0.5% cut in interest rates a day ahead of the scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting, but also unveiled a package of measures aimed at rescuing the British banking system. It is thought that around £400 billion will have to be [...]
Amidst all of the financial chaos that has been taking place over recent days, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has issued some good news to consumers that had money saved with the collapsed Icelandic Internet bank, Icesave. Darling has announced that savers with money with Icesave will receive a 100% guarantee on all [...]
The government has recently announced that saving guarantee safety net in the UK is to be increased to £50,000. Previously the 100% guarantee on savings applied to only the first £35,000 of savings with most financial institutions, and this compensation comes from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Prior to the Northern Rock fiasco last year [...]
According to a recent report warnings that were issued about Icelandic banks were ignored by the UK government, resulting in officials being accused of complacency. It is alleges that warnings over the possible collapse of Icelandic banks were given as far back as July, but the government paid no heed to these warnings. The issue [...]
Following the collapse of Icelandic banks a number of charities that had money invested in these banks because of the high rates of interest being offered have come forward with concerns that they may have lost millions of pounds. The UK government has given a 100% guarantee on UK consumer savings in these banks after [...]
According to recent reports many of the UK savers that tried to transfer their money from the collapsed Icelandic banks, Icesave and Kaupthing Edge, have discovered that the money has not hit the accounts into which it was transferred. Many consumers who had put savings into the Icelandic banks due to the high rates of [...]
As a result of changes to the Irish banking system some savers in the UK, including those with Post Office savings accounts, will see their savings guarantee almost double compared to that of savers with other financial institutions. Post Office savers will be offered a safety net of up to almost £80,000 on their savings. [...]
Following a change in the Irish banking industry it seems that many consumers in the UK could be looking at shifting their savings into UK branches of Irish banks or into the Post Office in order to increase the security of their heard earned money. Earlier this month the Irish government changed regulations so that [...]
Just a year ago Northern Rock was being branded the victim of the first run on a British bank in almost 150 years, and customers were flocking to get to the bank and take out their cash amidst rumours that the bank was on the verge of collapse. However, since this time the bank has [...]
Earlier this year the financial headlines were filled with news about the government taking over the stricken bank Northern Rock. Over the past few days the government has used the same legislation that was used in the Northern Rock takeover to rush through the nationalisation of another troubled bank, Bradford & Bingley. According to reports [...]
Earlier this year the financial headlines were filled with news about the government taking over the stricken bank Northern Rock. Over the past few days the government has used the same legislation that was used in the Northern Rock takeover to rush through the nationalisation of another troubled bank, Bradford & Bingley.
Recent figures have shown that inflation levels in the UK have soared even further out of control, rising from 4.4% to 4.7% for August. The government target for inflation is just 2% so the current rate of inflation is way beyond the target. The jump to 4.7% was higher than many industry officials had anticipated, [...]
According to a recent report there was a rise in the amount of money deposited into building society savings accounts in the first half of this year. The figures were recently released by the Building Societies’ Association, and indicated that the level of deposits being made into building society savings accounts had risen by almost [...]
This time last year Northern Rock was fast becoming known as one of the first major victims of the global credit crunch in the UK, with rumours that it was on the verge of collapse and savers rushing to withdraw billions of pounds in savings within a few days. The bank became the victim of [...]
According to an industry official the financial downturn that the nation is experiencing at the moment could last for another eighteen months until the property slump in the United States sorts itself out. Andrew Hornby, the chief executive of HBOS, said that it could take until 2010 for house prices in the United States to [...]
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which also owns NatWest, has recently announced that there will be a greater number of branches for both RBS and NatWest opening on a Saturday, which will provide consumers with increased ease and convenience if they need to visit their bank. Officials from RBS said that the decision to increase [...]
This year’s High Court test case into bank charges saw round one go to the Office of Fair Trading, with the regulatory body being given permission to assess banks# terms and conditions, including overdraft charges, for fairness. According to the contents of a leaked memo that was sent to senior staff members at RBS and [...]
Earlier this week Lloyds TSB, the high street banking giant, announced that it was taking over HBOS in a £12.2 billion rescue operation. The takeover has been rushed through, and officials have said that the government has all but ripped up the rule book with regards to competition so that the takeover could go ahead. [...]
Over recent weeks a number of industry professionals and groups have said that Britain will slide into recession by the end of the year. The latest warning comes from the European Union, which has warned that a number of countries face recession by the end of this year. There was also a stark warning from [...]
A recent report from the Ernst and Young ITEM club claims that despite the various factors affecting the economy and the financial climate in the UK, the risk of a recession occurring is still pretty low. The economy has suffered a slow down over recent months, and this is expected to continue over the course [...]
In a recent poll carried out by moneysupermarket.com a building society has beaten all of the big banks, pipping them to the post with the number one spot as most trusted bank or building society amongst UK consumers. The big name banks have always claimed to be the most trustworthy and reliable, but the poll [...]
According to a recent report banks in the UK have been raking in a fortune recently by sneakily increasing the interest rates on agreed overdrafts on customers’ bank accounts. Banks have lost millions of pounds over the past couple of years due to overdraft charge claims, and it is thought that this move is designed [...]
A woman who previously had tens of thousands of pounds worth of savings with ailing bank Northern Rock was outraged when she was hit with an £800 fine from the bank for withdrawing her savings, even though she had followed the procedure required in order to avoid these charges. The elderly widow, Mrs Heather, had [...]
A building society has become the latest culprit of a string of data loss incidents, having lost sensitive data on around one thousand of its employees. The Leeds Building Society is said to have lost details that included the bank accounts numbers and salary details of around one thousand employees, and staff members affected have [...]
The government watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading, has been calling for a review of the bank account system in the UK, claiming that consumers are often getting a raw deal because arrangement that are currently in existence when it comes to the eight billion pound bank account market were simply not adequate. The OFT [...]
Britain could see an end to free banking in the near future depending on what happens with the banks charges case, and whether the fees that banks are allowed to charge for overdraft fees and charges can be curbed. If the charges are cut then banks and other financial institutions may decide that they are [...]
Soaring inflation levels, high food prices, rocketing energy bills, high petrol costs, and increased borrowing costs have been impacting on household finances in the UK for some months now, and a recent report has shown that many people are now having to raid their savings in order to try and keep afloat financially. Officials have [...]
According to the largest manufacturer’s association in the UK, the CBI, the state of the economy in the UK is in worse shape than most actually thought. The CBI has said that the economy is deteriorating far faster than was originally thought, with the association’s director stating that there was “no doubt that the mood [...]
In a recent report the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Callum McCarthy, has stated that the impact on stricken lender Northern Rock could have been softened had consumers been made more aware of the savings guarantee that was in place from the government. Mr McCarthy stated that many consumers had not been aware of [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
A recent report has suggested that banks are making huge profits from the controversial overdraft fees, which have been in the financial headlines lately having been at the centre of a high court test case with regards to their fairness, with some banks charging close to £40 per fee even though the cost to the [...]
Consumers in the UK have been hit with soaring petrol prices over recent months, with the cost of oil per barrel rocketing and higher petrol costs putting additional strain on already struggling household finances. Households have also had to cope with increased food prices, higher borrowing costs, and hiked up bills, all of which have [...]
Many people class the AA as a household name when it comes to breakdown services, and many may think that the AA provides one of the best breakdown services. However, according to a recent survey the AA actually came pretty low down the list in terms of its breakdown services, with a survey that involved [...]
According to a recent report holidays are still important to Brits despite the fact that the global credit crunch has impacted heavily on household finances. In fact, the report suggests that many people would actually rather cut back on every day goods and luxuries than have to give up their yearly holiday, even though many [...]
A recent report has shown that food prices are continuing to soar and add further pressure to already strained household finances, with food inflation thought to have gone up by around 7% in the space of a year. It is thought that the rate of inflation could rise even higher as a result of the [...]
According to a recent report the government is hoping to provide the nation’s savers with increased security and peace of mind by increasing protection on deposits that are made into financial institutions. Until last summer only a couple of thousand pounds of consumers’ savings benefited from the government’s 100% guarantee. However, after the Northern Rick [...]
Employers from small and medium sized businesses in the UK have said that the economy is at serious risk of recession. The warning came after a small business survey was carried out earlier this month, with businesses warning that the economy could slide into recession within a matter of months. The survey showed that orders [...]
Following the recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier this month the Bank of England announced that it would be keeping interest rates on hold at 5.25%, stating that the risk of rising inflation had to be considered in addition to the slowing economy. Interest rates have already fallen twice since December, and industry experts predict [...]
According to a recent report a number of mortgage lenders have been offering some impressive interest rates on savings accounts in a bid to increase deposits from savers to aid funding. Many banks and lending institutions have experienced funding problems as a result of the credit crunch, which has swept across the country leaving a [...]
The interest rates being offered to savers with some banks have already started to fall following the recent base rate cut from the Bank of England. Following the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting early in December the Bank of England announced that interest rates would be falling by 0.25% taking the rate from 5.75% to [...]
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has recently warned consumers that their financial situations could become increasingly strained due to rising bills and below inflation pay rises. With inflation levels soaring and the cost of energy, food, and petrol continuing to rise many households could find themselves running into severe financial problems [...]