Northern Rock cuts its repossession numbers

The nationalized mortgage lender Northern Rock has recently announced that it has managed to cut its mortgage repossession numbers as a result of the housing boom seen over the summer period. The bank has also seen stabilisation of the number of mortgage customers on its books that are in arrears with their mortgage repayments. Read more

Tags: lender, northern rock, general election, temptation, repossessions, taxpayer, result, northern rock repossessions

Supermarket giant to start offering mortgages next year

Supermarket giant Tesco has announced that it plans to start offering mortgages next year with plans to open a new call centre in Glasgow that will create around eight hundred new jobs. Read more

Tags: tesco mortgages, ideal time, northern rock, street banks, time, Mortgages, supermarket mortgages, finance

Taxpayers pay bonus for Rock employees

Over recent months the government has been using taxpayers’ money for a variety of purposes, sparking concern amongst opposition parties and the public with regards to how the public purse is being used. Read more

Tags: pay, northern rock, Northern Rock bonus, Northern Rock employee bonus, Business Finance, economics, bank

Savers worry about where to put their cash

The world of finance has been thrown into complete turmoil over the past year, not just for borrowers and lenders but also for those looking for a safe place to stash their hard earned cash. It seems that until around this time last year we all had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to put our cash in order to make it work for us, but since the chaotic situation with Northern Rock threw the banking world into turmoil many of us have no idea what to do with our savings, and seems to be running from one bank to another clutching our precious cash in the hope that we will finally find a safe resting place for it. Read more

Tags: post office, northern rock, lloyds tsb, hbos, savings, icesave

Northern Rock forced to cut savings accounts

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 been nationalised and since falling into government hands now offers a 100% guarantee on savings deposits for customers – a guarantee that had previously only been available on National Savings & Investments. Read more

Tags: rush, collapse, hbos, competition, northern rock, savings accounts, year, lloyds tsb

Another bank gets nationalised

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 the government will be taking on the £50 billion loan book of the troubled bank, much of which has been lent to buy to let investors, whilst the Spanish owned bank Santander, which also owns Abbey, takes on the savings account side of the business, said to be value at £20 billion. Read more

Tags: fact, bradford & bingley, northern rock, Financial services, largest level

Northern Rock benefits from HBOS takeover

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 the first run on a British bank in nearly one hundred and fifty years. Earlier this year Northern Rock was nationalised as a result of the problems that it had experienced. Read more

Tags: government owned bank, immediate fears, government, lloyds tsb, place, hbos, northern rock

Consumers need to budget more as the cost of living increases

As the cost of living increases consumers need to be more aware of ways to budget to make their cash go further, one financial expert has advised.

Because of this Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) has asked its customers to provide their tips on how to budget effectively.

Advice includes budgeting for utility bills, putting aside money for events such as Christmas into a separate account, unplugging all electrical items and ensuring they are turned off, as well as planning a weekly food menu and basing a shopping list around this.

Gary Lacey, group product manager at N&P, said it is refreshing to see that simple tips, such as changing shopping habits or saving electricity can prove the most popular.

“By adhering to just a few of the tips our customers suggested, families can save little and often, which, in the long run, could add up to a decent amount of money,” he said.

Meanwhile, further research from N&P revealed that the majority of financial decisions for a family are made as a group.

Tags: majority, shopping habits, expert, northern rock, Financial Services Authority, utility, food, Peterborough Building Society

Building societies attract record savings

Building societies attracted record savings of more than £16 billion over the course of 2007 according to the latest figures.

The Building Societies Association (BSA) said that this figure was double the £8.3 billion inflow of 2006.

The previous record was in 1988, when £13.6 billion was deposited as savers reacted to the stock market crash of October 1987.

Adrian Coles, director-general of the BSA, said: “2007 was a bumper year for building society savings. The majority of the deposits came in the latter months of 2007, so a significant proportion is almost certainly funds withdrawn from Northern Rock bank.

He added that a “considerable amount” would be from households increasing the amount they saved in order to prepare for an uncertain year ahead.

Societies also raised a net funding of £19.1 billion in the wholesale markets in 2007 compared with £13.5 billion in the previous year.

Much of the cash was received in the last quarter of the year following the Northern Rock crisis.

Meanwhile the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ revealed record lending in 2007.

Tags: mortgage, building society, bumper, northern rock, funding, inflow, societies attracted record, proportion

A fall in consumer confidence in banking

A recent survey has shown that there has been a significant fall in consumer confidence when it comes to banking in the UK, with much of this decrease being blamed on the recent turmoil and chaos with Northern Rock.

As a result of this overall, confidence in banking and finance in the UK has taken a tumble state researchers from Teamspirit, which carried out the survey. According to the results most sectors of the banking and finance industry have been affected by this fall in consumer confidence.

One industry professional stated that the recent Northern Rock situation had had a profound effect on consumer confidence in banking and finance, stating: “The Northern Rock situation has contributed to the low levels of trust that the British public has in companies that look after their money.”

The survey involved polling around 2500 people, and showed that fewer than half of consumers trusted banks and building societies, and just a quarter now trusted online banking. The number of people that still trusted building societies was slightly higher than banks, with around 48% stating that they still had trust in building societies. Around 46% now have confidence in high street banks, and just 25% are confident when it comes to online banking.

The recent credit crunch that has spread from the sub-prime sector of the United States has also affected the level of consumer confidence in banking and finance, according to officials, with financial markets in the UK and around the world facing turmoil as a result of repercussions of the credit crisis sparked in the United States. Banks and lenders have now had to raise interest rates on many areas of lending, which has further affected both confidence and affordability in terms of finance.

Tom Smith
3rd November 2007

Tags: Banking, accounts, bank, northern rock, finance, confidence

FSA investigating banks’ stability

Following the recent turmoil in the financial markets, which has spread from the sub-prime sector in the United States, the Financial Services Authority is to launch an investigation to review the stability of mortgage lenders. Read more

Tags: loan, clock, northern rock, billions, fsa investigation, banks, bradford & bingley, fsa

Britons ‘banking billions’ at home

UK consumers have managed to hide a whopping £4.6 billion worth of cash around their homes, with the average Brit stashing £127 and an affluent eight per cent sitting on anything between £300 and £1,000 in cold hard currency.

That is according to new research from home insurance provider Cornhill Direct. The company found that 40 per cent of homeowners believe it is a good idea to keep money in the house, while 45 per cent believe that the recent Northern Rock situation could result in more people keeping hold of their own money.

Interestingly, Brits were not put off by feelings of uneasiness about keeping cash at home (one third), nor by the fact that one in ten have had funds go missing.

Mark Bishop, a representative for Cornhill Direct, commented: “Our home contents policy provides protection for money kept in the house, but it is never a good idea to keep large sums in the house.”

Back in May, Virgin Money estimated that Brits were keeping £3.5 billion in cash at home. Based on a forecast of future inflation, it predicted this money would lose around £200 million in purchasing power by 2010.

Tags: Cornhill Direct, Northern Rock situation, new research, northern rock, fact, home contents policy, power, cent

Lenders increase mortgage rates

Halifax has said that global turmoil in credit markets was to blame for the rise in rates of 20 of its tracker mortgages.

More specifically, the bank explained that there had been a sharp increase in short-term interest rates that banks pay when they lend to each other.

Such mortgages are often financed by banks borrowing money on the international markets yet because of the sub-prime fears in the US availability of lending has slowed dramatically.

Halifax’s announcement of its decision came in the wake of news that Northern Rock had ceased offering sub-prime products, which it had done in partnership with US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Abbey has also increased the tracked margin above the Bank of England’s base rate for its tracker products.

Halifax’s Paul Fincham, said: “Pricing has changed in the markets. Also we have seen other lenders move so we needed to adjust our rates.”

Ray Boulger, spokesperson for the broker John Charcol, said: “It means that the effect is now being felt by borrowers across the board.”

Tags: global turmoil, england, john charcol, rise, bank of england, partnership, northern rock