Car insurance premiums increase by up to 50 percent

It has been revealed that drivers are facing huge financial burdens, with the news that in some cases car insurance premiums have soared by up to a massive 50 percent in the space of one year. This could see some motorists now paying hundreds of pound a year extra in car insurance premiums at a time when many are already struggling to keep their vehicles on the roads due to high petrol prices and other financial commitments.

Annual renewal costs on car insurance are now said to be at an all time high, and according to some industry experts part of the blame for the soaring cost in cover lies with ‘crash for cash’ fraudsters, who are swindling insurance firms out of huge sums of cash by staging crashes and then claiming. Fronting, which is where parents are including their kids on their own cover due to the cost of insurance for a younger driver, has also been blamed for the surge in car insurance costs.

The cost of cover for male drivers aged between seventeen and twenty two years of age has soared by around 51 percent, taking the average price of cover to £2500. For female drivers of the same age the average cost of cover is around £1400 according to figures released by the motoring group, the AA.

The AA commented on the fact that many parents were engaging in fronting, stating: ‘This is actually fraud and it is driving up premiums for everyone. Insurance companies are getting much better at detecting this.’

The company added: ‘There has also been an escalation in our compensation culture, imported from America. In the past, if you had a knock or a bump and were left with a sore neck, you would take a paracetamol. Now personal injury lawyers encourage you to sue. Personal injury claim rates in Britain are four times those of any other European country – yet we have fewer accidents.”

Tags: pound, driver, compensation culture, paracetamol. Now personal injury, insurance costs, country, car insurance costs, paracetamol

Cash back cards set to become scarce

Over the years many consumers in the UK have taken advantage of cash back credit cards, and these are a type of reward credit card that enable consumers to earn a set level of cash back on every pound that they spend on the card on purchases. Read more

Tags: personal finance, Credit Cards, pound, reward schemes, credit card provider, United Kingdom, figures 25 percent, rewards credit cards

Credit card firms try to woo back customers

Over the past couple of years credit card firms in the UK have been turning away an increasing number of clients, with the global credit crunch seriously affecting lending levels and leaving many people with little to no chance of getting credit. Read more

Tags: reward credit cards, United States, pound, cash back credit cards, Credit Cards, cash back rewards, interest, period

Barclays offer reduced personal loan rates

Barclays bank has announced it will cut its personal loan rates when many lenders are having trouble maintaining current rates, according to Gary Druggan, managing director at Barclays Personal Loans.

Cutting rates on its entire book, the lending giant steps up competition in a move that takes advantage of its “strong balance sheet”.

The bank reports that Barclayloan Plus loan rates are going down by 0.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent APR typical.

Mr Duggan said: “At Barclays we are able to take advantage of a very strong balance sheet and finance loans from our very strong deposit taking business, enabling us to cut rates for this campaign.”

Personal loan rates have been just one of many things to be affected by recent credit crunch.

With many lenders forced to push rates up by as much as four per cent, borrowers would have trouble finding a rate below 6.9 per cent.

Mr Druggan added that anyone finding better loan rates than offered with Barclays will be refunded the difference and will also receive a bonus of one pound every month.

Tags: apr, personal finance, crunch, difference, borrowers, move

Britons saving at record levels

Savings among British consumers has reached record-breaking highs, new research indicates.

According to research by Unbiased, savings in the second quarter topped £47 billion, which has been attributed to an increasing number of people taking advantage of the recent rise in interest rates.

Commenting on the figures, David Elms, chief executive of Unbiased said: “It is extremely encouraging to see that savvy consumers are taking advantage of the recent rate hikes with previously unseen record levels of savings now taking place!

“Plus it’s even better that Britons appear to have tightened their belts and are approaching borrowing far more cautiously than in previous months.”

The research, which also analyses the rate of borrowing, claims that £4 billion was loaned during the quarter, almost £13 billion less for the same three months of 2006.

In addition the saving to borrowing ratio has also decreased for 32 pence borrowed against every pound saved to eight pence borrowed against every pound.

Tags: economics, Business Finance, chief executive, GBP, pound, money, record, british consumers

How things have changed in last 50yrs

Half a century ago (July 1957) Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan famously said that the people of Britain “have never had it so good”.

He was talking at a time when rationing had only just come to an end following World War II but Halifax has been comparing the economic picture in the UK in 1957 and comparing it with today’s situation.

Understandably, it has found that massive changes have taken place and concludes that the people of Britain in 2007 really have never had it so good.

The average annual wage in 2006 stood at £31,278, compared to a miser miserly £731 that workers took home on a yearly basis 50 years ago.

More people own their own home today, with 70 per cent of the adult population holding the rights to a property, compared to just 38 per cent in 1957.

We work shorter weeks today, with the average being 38.9 hours, while in the fifties they worked 48.5 hours per week.

Some things were better in 1957, with unemployment figures very low at just 1.3 per cent compared to today, while house prices were fantastically low at just £2,330.

The pound was also very strong in those days, sitting at $2.79.

Tags: United Kingdom, halifax, week, world, pound, War