Rise in the supply of rental properties coming onto market

Homeowners that have been keen to sell their homes before house prices plummet further have found themselves hitting a brick wall over recent months, as a number of factors have contributed to the housing market facing its worse slump in decades. Estate agents have reported very poor sales figures for properties, and many homeowners have found that they simply cannot sell their properties. Read more

Tags: rental property, purchase, uk, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, demand, first time buyers

Fixed-rates “still” popular

New research has revealed that fixed-rate mortgages continue to be popular among homebuyers even though they have become more expensive in recent months. Read more

Tags: Fixed-rates, future, personal finance, fixed rate mortgages, purchase, series, Homebuyers, Stephen Smith

Consumer spending on cars set to decrease

The number of consumers expected to buy a car over the next six months is set to drop according to new statistics.

Findings from Sainsbury’s Bank show that 6.86 million people plan to purchase a vehicle between March and August 2008, almost one million less people than in the preceding six month period.

The research showed that £47.5 billion will be spent on purchasing cars over the next half year, a figure which represents a £11.1 billion decrease on the previous September 2007 to February 2008 findings.

Steven Baillie, head of loans with Sainsbury’s Finance, said: “Our findings would indicate that both the number of people who are looking to buy a car over the next six months and the total amount expected to be spent on car purchases are at their lowest levels since March 2005.”

The figures also show that up to 30 per cent of people who intend to buy a vehicle over the next six months finance at least some of their purchase with a loan.

Meanwhile, research from Sainsburys shows that over £1 billion worth of loans will be used to finance weddings during 2008.

Tags: purchase, Sainsbury's Bank, head of loans with Finance, period, looking to buy a car, Sainsbury, figure

People should avoid “pitfalls” when writing a will, says provider

Everyone should not only write a will, but must write it out carefully and properly, according to Willcraft Services.

The online will-making company also said that hiring professionals to do the job could be worth the customer’s while in the long run.

Colin Chapman, managing director at Willcraft, said that “I would say anyone over the age of 18 should make a will to ensure that everything goes where they want it to go. But, being more realistic, the first trigger point is either a child or a property purchase.”

He added that many clients “should really get professionals in to do the job properly because there are so many pitfalls” in the will-making process.

Those who had written a will years previously might well be in need of updating it, Mr Chapman said: “Circumstances have changed and certainly asset values have changed”, he said.

Recent research from Barclays Wealth shows that around two in three Britons have not written a will.

The statistic – 63 per cent of those polled – matches exactly a similar survey conducted the previous year, showing that the importance of writing a will has yet to be fully realised by the British public.

Tags: provider, run, research, purchase, public, company, will-making process.Those, Willcraft

Capital One fined by watchdog

Credit card provider Capital One has been fined £175,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The fine comes as the industry watchdog found that the bank had inadequate controls regarding selling Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) to customers.

PPI is taken out approximately 7 million times each year, and covers debt repayments in case of an accident, sickness or unemployment.

While PPI can prove useful to those in debt, the FSA had found earlier this month as part of its ongoing investigation into the cover that some financial services companies were making its purchase a “default” choice for customers, using techniques such as a pre-checked box purchasing the cover on online application forms.

The regulator ruled that, in the period January 2005 to April 2006, Capital One did not provide adequate information about the policy to 50,000 of its customers, leaving its terms unclear.

The FSA conceded, however, that the bank did implement remedial measures before its ruling, which included compensating inadequately informed customers to the tune of around £3 million.

Tags: online application, purchase, application forms.The regulator, fine, british bankers association, sickness, GBP, investigation