Ministry of Justice warning over another scam

The Ministry of Justice has recently issued a warning over another scam that has been used to dupe many consumers in the UK and swindle them out of large sums of money. According to the MoJ fraudsters are cold calling consumers and pretending to be government officials. Read more

Tags: upfront, Ministry, office of fair trading, fraud, Ministry of Justice, fortune, claims management firms, Ministry of Justice scams

No need to take complaints to FOS through claims handling firms

Officials from the Financial Ombudsman Service have recently reiterated that there is no need for consumers to enlist the help of claims handling firms in order to take a complaint to the FOS. Read more

Tags: finance claims, personal finance, Ministry of Justice, Citizen's Advice Bureau, Financial Ombudsman Service

Repossessions least likely for first-time buyers

The operations director of Firstrung has said that first-time buyers are the least likely group to have their homes repossessed under the current economic conditions.

Paul Holmes said this group is unlikely to face the same difficulties repaying their mortgages as families who have recently upgraded to larger houses.

First-time buyers have tended to take out mortgages that are “very manageable”, with the average loan being £115,000 over the past two years.

In contrast, buyers with mortgages in excess of £250,000 on a four or five bedroom property are likely to have “real problems”, Mr Holmes warned.

Mortgage possession claims, the first stage of the repossession process, increased by 16 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice.

“First time buyers who have recently climbed onto the first rung [of the property ladder] are least affected by the problems than any other buyer group,” Mr Holmes commented.

Tags: first time buyers, First-time, mortgage, average loan, Ministry of Justice, Justice, bedroom property, repossessions