Doorstep lenders lose 1.4 million customer records
Financial Services Limited and Shopacheck, which are both part of the Cattles Group, are writing to 1.4 million customers, warning them that back-up storage tapes containing their personal details have been lost. The storage tapes contained the names, addresses and payment histories of 600,000 customers and the names and addresses of another 800,000. They also [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Banks and insurers failing victims of PPI mis-selling
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has criticised banks and insurance companies for their slow response to payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation claims. The huge numbers of PPI claims are overwhelming UK banks, with the result that customers are becoming tired of waiting and are taking their cases to the FOS. The FOS says that number [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Bank of England reports static mortgage lending
52,854 mortgage loans were agreed in principle in November according to the latest figures from the Bank of England, just 68 higher than the previous month. Although mortgage lending in November 2011 was 12% higher than in November 2010, there has been no significant improvement for four months. Mortgage approvals remain at half their 2007 [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Virgin Money introduces charge for current accounts
Virgin Money, the new owner of Northern Rock, is to begin charging all new customers for current accounts, even if the account remains in credit. Virgin Money’s chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia “Most people know there is no such thing as free banking. “Banks have to cover the cost of free current accounts with hidden charges [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Personal loan rates on downward trend
Marks & Spencer Money is offering borrowers a personal loan at a rate of just 6 per cent. This represents the lowest rate since 2008 when Moneyback Bank was offering 5.8 per cent, while just one year ago Tesco Bank offered the lowest loan rate, of 8.4 per cent. Marks & Spencer Money’s 6% deal [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Austerity plans will hit families hardest
The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) today warned that families with children will be worst affected by the Government’s proposed changes to tax and benefits. A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on behalf of the FPI suggests that the average income of families with children will fall by 4.2 per cent by 2015-16, [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

House prices down 1.3% in 2011
Mortgage lender the Halifax claims that house prices fell by 1.3 per cent last year to an average of £160,063, their lowest level since July 2009. According to the Halifax House Price Index, house prices fell 0.9 per cent in December, compared with the previous month. Although prices rose in the third quarter of 2010, [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

New rules allow credit unions to expand
Credit unions which have previously had to restrict their services to a common group of members, such as residents of certain geographical area, will be able to expand under new legislation. While they were only allowed to offer services to individuals, changes to the Credit Unions Act means that they are now allowed to provide [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Housebuyers using payday loans to pay mortgages
In the last year around seven million UK house buyers have been forced to use payday loans or unauthorised overdrafts to meet their mortgage repayments, according to housing charity Shelter. With both of these sources of finance potentially carrying extremely high interest rates, this represents one in seven Britons who could be at risk of [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]

Public sector pension reforms ineffective
An independent pensions consultant claims that the government’s proposed reforms to public sector pensions will result in no cost savings whatsoever. John Ralfe says that the savings which will be made by increasing the public sector pension age to 67 will be cancelled out by the faster build up of pensions in the new schemes. [...]

[ Published on : Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:37 ]