Don’t Get Ripped Off On Your Holiday This Year

It is possible that your holiday may cost you more money than you planned on spending this year. With hidden bank charges this could amount to an extra £300. Read more

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Having multiple credit cards ‘can be confusing’

Having a number of different credit cards can be “confusing” for spenders, claims a consumer guidance charity.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said that there are many reasons for people having more than one card – plastic may be used for work, one could have a transfer balance with a low interest rate and another one could be used for purchases.

However, James Ketchell, spokesperson for the CCCS, said: “It can become confusing and people have to really stay on top of their credit card spending and finances as a whole”.

He adds that in the UK, the economic model is similar to the US more than Europe due to the ease with which credit can be obtained when making purchases.

According to a report by Datamonitor, the average Briton held 1.4 credit cards at the end of 2006.

This figure is twice as many as second place Norway, while the UK has the highest number of payment cards overall – 2.8 credit or debit cards each.

Tags: charity, Debit card, europe, consumer guidance charity, Debit cards

Secured loans market rocketing

The personal secured loan market in the UK is predicted to grow to in excess of £10 billion by 2011, it has emerged.

Information collected by Datamonitor revealed that the growth in this type of loan from £7.5 billion in 2006 is prompted largely by increased demand to consolidate debt.

This growth is remarkable particularly because some lenders have pulled out of the market following the sub-prime crisis that hit the US this year, making lending increasingly tight.

Maya Imberg, analyst with Datamonitor’s Financial Services practice, commented: “The US sub-prime mortgage crisis and global credit crunch will affect the market in the short term.

“However the UK secured personal loans market continues to portray an encouraging future in the long term.”

Among providers pulling out of the secured loan market are Kensington Personal Loans, the London Mortgage Company, Southern Pacific Personal and GMAC-RFC.

Meanwhile, those looking to take out a secured loan will find prices going up with tighter borrowing criteria, making it increasingly difficult to do so.

Tags: US, market, debt, london, sub prime mortgage crisis, Datamonitor's Financial Services

Bank holds interest rates

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) has decided to keep interest rates at 5.75 per cent for at least the next month.

Although rates have not risen since July, that was the fifth rise within 12 months and there were concerns earlier in the year that rates would hit six per cent before the end of 2007.

However the inflation rate currently sits at 1.9 per cent, below its target level of two per cent and the current problems in the financial markets are making further rises less likely.

In a statement that accompanied the decision, the MPC said that it had considered carefully the effects that recent credit market problems, brought about by the collapse of the US sub-prime borrowing market, could have on the inflation rate.

Responding to the news, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) welcomed the bank’s decision to hold rates steady at 5.75 per cent.

Micheal Coogan, director general of the CML, said: “Credit conditions have tightened since the rate went up in July, and a further increase would have added to the liquidity problems we are already seeing in some sections of the market.

“At the same time, there is now much clearer evidence that the cumulative effect of five rate rises since last August is slowing activity in the housing market.”

Tags: Council, bank, US, cml, interest, evidence, time, bank's decision

TK hacked to the max

Millions of customers who shop at TK Maxx may potentially have been the victim of credit card fraud.

The store’s owner, US firm TJX, has revealed that a total of 45.7 million customers’ bank details have been stolen.

Information was taken from the computer systems in Watford, Hertfordshire and Massachusetts and the scam is being labelled the biggest case of card fraud ever.

A statement released by TJX said: “We suspect that customer data for payment card transactions at TK Maxx stores in the UK and Ireland has been stolen.”

“We suspect that these files contained payment card transaction data, some or all of which could have been unencrypted and unmasked.”

TJX has come in for criticism over the way it has handled the situation which it discovered in January.

At the time, the firm said the security breach had affected “substantially less than millions” of customers but today (March 30th) the true scale of the problem has been revealed.

Customers in the UK and Ireland are being told to look closely at bank and card statements to ensure that have not been targeted.

Tags: US, max, store, card statements, information, TK Maxx, ireland, store's owner