Finance News from Loans4.co.uk http://www.loans4.co.uk/finance_loan_industry_news.php 2010-07-31T23:03:17+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk http://www.loans4.co.uk.net/images/Loans4Small.jpg text/html 2010-07-29T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=894-Tesco_in_hot_water_over_banking_security_breach Although it is a relatively new player in the banking sector supermarket giant Tesco has found itself in hot water after it emerged that the personal and financial details of dozens of customers have gone astray. According to reports the detail of the customers were sent unprotected in the post by Tesco banking staff despite the fact that the data was sensitive and personal, and the documentation has now gone missing. The customers affected by the security breach from Tesco are now at increased risk of fraud if the information falls into the wrong hands. It is also claimed that the customers' whose personal data has gone missing were already in a dispute with Tesco bank over charges for the controversial payment protection insurance (PPI) on credit cards. The papers that were sent unprotected in the standard post contained the names, addresses, and account details of the customers, and with so many people worried about falling victim to identity theft and fraud these days the loss will cause uproar amongst customers of the supermarket bank, particularly those that may have been affected by the security breach. It is thought that the detail of thirty nine customers in total have been lost as a result of the information being put into the standard post. The documents were being send between offices in Manchester and Glasgow, but given the sensitive and personal nature of the information contained in the documents should not have been put in the standard post without any protection. Tesco officials have laid the blame at the door of a service provider, although it has failed to provide any names. The details are thought to have been posted by a staff member from the Royal Bank of Scotland who was working as a contractor for Tesco bank. Tesco is said to have been aware of the data loss in June, and since that time has contacted the customers that have been affected and offered them two years of free insurance against any losses or damages that may arise as a result of the loss of data. text/html 2010-07-28T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=893-Government_confirms_scrapping_of_default_retirement_age The UK government has confirmed that the default retirement age in the UK is to be scrapped, with the retirement age no longer to be in force from October of next year. This means that employers will no longer be able to dismiss employees based on them reaching the default retirement age of sixty five, so those that wish to continue with their jobs and are competent enough to continue will be able to do so even after they have reached the age of sixty five. Many lobbyists who have been calling for the default retirement age to be scrapped for some time have welcomed the decision, branding it a victory against ageism. Many workers will also be pleased to learn that their employer will not be able to force them to retire at sixty five if they do not wish to do so. Under current regulations workers can be forced to retire at the age of sixty five without their employer having to pay them any form of financial compensation. Employers are obliged to hold a meeting with employees six months prior to them reaching the default retirement age, but that is the only real obligation that they have in this respect. The government has already started a consultation process with regards to the scrapping of the rule, and it is thought that the changes could start to take place as early as April of next year given that employers have to give their employees six months notice of terminating their employment based on retirement age. The Employees Forum on Age said that the decision was wonderful news, and it would put an end to the 'unfair' process of being forced out of their jobs simply due to their age, even if they still wished to and were able to continue with their work. The decision was also welcomed by the charity Age UK, which has been at the forefront of trying to get the default retirement age scrapped. With people now living longer the government hopes that the scrapping of the default retirement age will encourage people to live for longer, and will enable workers to fund their lifestyles for longer rather than being forced into retirement and losing their income. text/html 2010-07-27T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=892-Is_it_the_end_for_PPI_? A recent report has suggested that the end could be in sight for sales of Payment Protection Insurance with financial products by banks, after one major High Street bank decided to throw in the towel with regards to selling this controversial insurance cover. It was announced by the High Street banking giant Lloyds TSB that it is no longer offering PPI cover with its loan products, and that it has now withdrawn sales of PPI with its financial products across all of its subsidiaries. Lloyds TSB, and its subsidiaries, which include Cheltenham & Gloucester, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, will no longer be selling PPI, (Payment Protection Insurance), with any of its financial products, and many industry observers believe that this could be a move that is mirrored by other major financial institutions, spelling the end of the sale of the product with financial products and services. PPI is a type of insurance cover that is designed to provide protection by covering repayment on loans and credit for a specified period of time in the event that the policyholder cannot meet repayments due to sickness, injury, or redundancy. The cover can prove valuable to those that want peace of mind against falling behind with their repayments as a result of unforeseen circumstances. However, over recent years this type of cover has been widely mis-sold, which is something that has been highlighted as a result of recent investigations. It was revealed that in many cases those that had been sold PPI by financial institutions alongside financial products had been sold the cover despite not wanting it, not being eligible to claim on it, and in some cases not even knowing about it. Industry experts and campaigners against mis-sold PPI have welcomed the move by Lloyds TSB to stop selling the cover alongside its financial products, and are hoping that other financial and banking giants will follow suit so that an end can be brought to the mis-selling of this often costly cover. The cover has become a huge money spinner for banks and financial institutions over recent years, and has been slated by many campaigners, consumers, and industry groups. text/html 2010-07-26T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=891-House_prices_to_fall_in_second_half_of_this_year A property information specialist has stated recently that property prices in the UK will continue to fall over the second half of this year. A report from Hometrack claims that property prices saw a fall for the month of July and will continue to fall over the second half of this year. The average home is said to have seen its value fall by 0.1 percent according to the report from the property specialist, which added that this was the first house price fall that it had seen in fifteen months. Hometrack surveys estate agents across England and Wales in order to produce its reports and information. The company said that following polls with estate agents it had become clear that the number of sellers had been increasing and the number of buyers on the market had been falling. This is a trend that has been reflected in a number of different reports recently, where the trend has shown rising property sellers on the market compared with a drop in property purchases resulting from a range of factors. It has been predicted that interest rates will remain low for some time to come, and that lenders will cut their mortgage interest rates. However, Hometrack believes that the effects of house price falls will still be felt in the latter half of the year. House prices have already been inching down because of increased supply compared to decreased demand for property. An official from Hometrack said that levels of demand for property had been slowing down over the past five months, and as the demand for property continued to slow there would inevitably be a drop in the value of properties in the UK. He said that as the number of properties being put onto the market continued to rise and the number of buyers continued to fall house prices would take a knock. He report from Hometrack also showed that for the month of July the proportion of the asking prices that sellers were receiving on their property sales dropped slightly to 94 percent from 94.3 percent. text/html 2010-07-25T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=890-Fall_in_lending_from_UK_banks_in_June Figures have shown that there has been a drop in mortgage lending by banks in the UK for the month of June. Mortgage lending by major bank in the UK is said to have fallen in June compared to the previous month according to figures from the British Banker's Association. Officials from the British Banker's Association said that the figure for mortgage loans given out for property purchases fell to 34,813 during the month of June. The BBA did state, however, that whilst mortgage lending had fallen since May the lending levels were still around 4.1 percent higher than they were a year ago. The BBA also pointed out that consumers were continuing to repay more of their unsecured debts than they were spending on credit cards, personal loans, and overdrafts. The drop in mortgage lending may have come a surprise to some, as at the same time there was a flurry of increased activity in the property market as more sellers put their homes on the market, partly due to the abolition of Home Information Packs, which were scrapped after the new coalition government came into power. A recent report from HM Revenue and Customs also confirmed that there had been an increase in activity in the property market recently due to the increase in the number of homeowners putting their properties up for sale. Sales figures were said to be the highest this year, and were up by 15 percent compared to the same period the previous year. The BBA figures indicated that despite the increased activity from sellers the number of buyers could continue to drop, with home loans having already fallen in June from the 36,418 home loans seen in May. For many people the prospect of buying a property has been hampered because of lack of mortgage availability and the high deposits that are still being demanded by lenders. A report from the Bank of England that was released recently has also warned that the level of mortgage availability from lenders in the UK could continue to fall over the coming few months. text/html 2010-07-22T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=889-Tax_rebates_on_hold_for_millions It has been revealed that millions of consumers in the UK will have to wait for tax rebates that they are entitled to due to problems with the system. Reports claim that some people that are entitled to rebates may have to wait around four years to get their hands on the money that is owed to them by the tax man. Billions of pounds in total are thought to be owed by the taxman in rebates, but a merging of databases has created problems with the tax office systems, which has subsequently delayed these rebates hugely. The unresolved tax records of over fifteen million people are said to be stuck in a huge backlog due to the disastrous merger, and this is affecting how quickly rebates can be issued. The tax office is investigating nine million of these records to check whether tax has been overpaid or underpaid. The revelation was made in a damning report from the National Audit Office, which has stated that it will be a hugely difficult challenge to try and clear the backlog. The report also went on to state that the sums of money involved in the rebates were substantial in many cases, and will come as a surprise to the people affected. It has been estimated that in total the taxman owes around £3 billion to taxpayers in rebates, but is also due to collect £1.4 billion in underpaid tax bills. The problems with the system occurred last year when a number of regional databases holding tax records were amalgamated into one, but no checks were carried out and this led to massive problems with tax records, subsequently resulted in huge delays. The problems with the system have also resulted in creating more work for the tax office in terms of callers, and at one point it is claimed that around eighteen thousand callers a day were calling the tax office to try and get problems resolved. Industry insiders are even said to have admitted that the tax system is 'on the brink of collapse'. text/html 2010-07-21T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=888-Increase_in_home_sales_for_month_of_June It has been reported that the month of June saw the level of property sales in the UK increase by an impressive 21 percent. The figures were released by HM Revenue & Customs, and showed that between May and June there was a 21 percent increase in property sales, bringing the number of homes sold to 86,000. The data also showed that sales figures for June were up by 15 percent from the same period last year, and were the highest that they have been this year. Overall sales of properties in the first six months of the year have been 21 percent higher than in the first six months of last year. However, whilst property sales have increased to some degree officials from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said that the figures were still subdued, and were well below average sales seen prior to the global financial crisis. RICS officials said that this was partly due to the mortgage funding drought, and partly because, until recently, there had been a shortage of properties on the market. Many lenders are said to be sceptical over the prospect of their mortgage lending levels increasing by much this year, which means that property sales may continue to remain subdued because consumers will struggle to get the finance that they need. The Bank of England has already issued a warning recently that mortgage lending could dry up more in the coming months, which will clearly affect property sales in the UK. A number of financial institutions have also said that the rise in house prices that has been seen over recent months appears to have become flat, and RICS has predicted that in the latter part of the year property prices may start to fall again as a result of a rising number of properties being put up for sale. Whilst the recovery in sales of properties in the UK has been welcomed by many industry experts appear to be sceptical about whether the sales levels can be maintained due to lack of mortgage finance over the course of this year. text/html 2010-07-20T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=887-Mortgage_rescue_fund_to_be_cut It has been announced by the new coalition government that the funding for a mortgage rescue fund in the UK is to be cut. This comes after an emergency budget that saw the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announcing a range of financial cutbacks in order to save money to try and reduce the huge public deficit, which the new government has blamed on the former Labour government. The announcement about the mortgage funding scheme was made by the housing minister, Grant Shapps. He confirmed that whilst the total kitty had not changed for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme the government grant for each home bought under the scheme would be reduced. Under the scheme homeowners are able to sell their properties to the council or to a housing association but are also able to stay on in the property as a tenant. Shapps said that the government felt that it was more effective and beneficial to cut the grant for the housing scheme and put more funding towards reducing the public deficit so that interest rates were kept low. The mortgage rescue scheme was introduced in 2009, and also allows homeowners to sell a portion of their home in order to reduce the mortgage repayments on the property. So far around 629 people have been helped through the scheme. At the end of March there were also around 1849 applications pending, and in these cases repossession proceedings are put on hold by banks. It was thought by the former Labour government, which launched the scheme, that it would help thousands of homeowners. Various measures that were taken by the government have already helped to keep repossessions down according to reports, as they are far lower than they were in the housing slump that was seen in the early 1990s. Grant Shapps said that there is danger of funding for the scheme for this year running out early, and has said that funding levels will be looked at again in a spending review that is due to be conducted in October. The portion of funding from the government for each home bought by councils and housing associations will fall from 65 percent to 55 percent. text/html 2010-07-19T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=886-House_prices_will_fall_due_to_eagerness_to_sell It has been reported recently that house prices are likely to fall again as a result of homeowners' eagerness to sell their properties. The report claims that a rapidly rising number of homeowners are trying to sell their homes and that this will spark a drop in property prices. Since their peak in 2007 house prices in the UK have been falling, but over recent months had been picking up to some extent. However, the influx of homeowners trying to sell their homes is set to reverse the trend once again and trigger a fall in property prices. Asking prices have already fallen for the first time this year according to the data, and by the end of this year are set to have plunged even more. It is thought that the average asking price for properties in England and Wales will fall by around £14,000 by the end of this year. The data has been released by the property website Right Move. This month saw asking prices fall by around 0.6 percent, which equated to nearly £1,500 being knocked off the average property price. This is said to be the first drop in property prices since December of last year. Right Move claims that the fall in asking prices is the result of more people selling up, leading to more supply than demand. Every week more than thirty thousand homes are being put on the market across England and Wales, and this equates to a rise of more than 50 percent compared to July of last year. However, whilst more homes are flooding onto the market the number of potential buyers is dwindling, with many put off by the current financial climate, high deposit demands from banks, and lack of affordability. Many would be buyers are being refused for mortgages by banks, which is another reason why supply is higher than demand at present. Only eleven thousand mortgages a month are being approved at present, and this is just a third of the number of properties coming onto the market in the same period. text/html 2010-07-18T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=885-Financial_advisers_issue_warnings_on_packaged_bank_accounts Over recent years many bank customers have opted to take out packaged current accounts, which a rising number of banks have started to offer. With packaged bank accounts the accountholder pays a fixed fee each month for the account, and in return is entitled to a range of benefits. Amongst the benefits that come with packaged bank accounts are travel insurance cover, breakdown cover, mobile insurance, discounts, preferential rates on borrowing, and many other benefits, although they can vary from one bank to another. However, whilst these benefits can sound like they offer great value for money some financial experts are warning that they can prove to be very poor value for money for some customers. According to figures around seven million people have packaged bank accounts, and each of them spends an average of £480 a year on the fees for these accounts. The cost of the packaged bank accounts can vary from bank to bank, but the accounts can be quite expensive. Experts are now stating that whilst many people take out these packaged accounts the benefits and so-called perks that come with the accounts can prove to be poor value for money. Many banks are now pushing customers to go for these packaged bank accounts, as it means that they have another way to try and shore up their finances by charging customers for banking services. However, consumers are being warned to be carefully before they commit to one of these accounts. Whilst some of the benefits that come with the packaged accounts can be beneficial there are many consumers that pay the monthly fee for the account and only use one of the benefits that come with the account. For many people it would therefore be cheaper to take out the services that they use on the open market and not bother with a packaged account. The research company Defaqto has stated that the number of packaged accounts available has almost doubled in the past few years, reflecting the banking industry's determination to make money from packaged banks accounts that some people may not even benefit from. text/html 2010-07-15T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=884-Many_meter_users_going_without_energy It has been claimed that many British consumers that use energy meters in their homes are effectively cutting themselves off from time to time in order to save money. According to the data released by a consumer group recently hundreds of thousands of households with prepay meters have decided to go without energy at least once in the past year. The data was released by Consumer Focus, and officials from the group have said that lack of money and inconvenience were amongst the reasons why so many households had effectively cut their own energy supplies off. Consumer Focus is now calling on energy suppliers to make energy meter more affordable and more convenient so that this problem does not occur. The data suggests that 1.4 million people have effectively cut off their own energy supplies, and many of these people are in vulnerable groups. The data was collected following interviews with 5726 energy consumers, out of which 764 had prepayment meters. The consumer group believes that there are around nine million people living in homes that have prepayment energy meters for their gas and electricity. Out of the many households that disconnected their own energy supply last year due to payment problems and inconvenience half included people that had an illness or disability and two in five had children that were aged under sixteen. The chief executive of Consumer Focus, Mike O'Connor said that there were many people that liked using prepayment meters because it meant that they had more control over their budget. However, he added that he was concerned that "hundreds of thousands of vulnerable consumers were walking a tightrope between topping up their energy to stay warm or buying a decent meal". He added that paying for energy in advance through these prepayment meters shouldn’t mean that the customers have to put up with a second class service. He said hat energy suppliers needed to 'bring prepayment meters into the 21st century' making them simpler, cheaper, and more convenient. However, energy suppliers have claimed that they already have measures in place to help more vulnerable customers. text/html 2010-07-14T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=883-Many_Brits_having_to_go_part_time_to_find_work It has been revealed that many people in Britain have had to resort to working part time simply in order to find some form of work. Official figures were released yesterday showing that the number of Brits in employment has risen at its fastest level in around four years. However, this has resulted from many people simply opting for part time work in what has become a very difficult economic climate. The figures showed that between March and May around 160,000 more people managed to find work, and this took the total number of employed in Britain to 8.9 million. However, record numbers of workers are unable to get full time work in the current climate, and have therefore had to resort to taking part time work. Britain now has 7.8 million part time workers, and this is the highest number of part time employees recorded since records began, which was back in 1984. There has been an increase of 79,000 part time workers in Britain in the last year alone, reflecting how the economic situation has affected the ability of many people when it comes to working. Over the same period there has been a sharp drop in the number of full time employed people in Britain, which has fallen by around 83,000 in the past year according to the figures. Officials have said that many people have had no choice but to accept part time work because in the current climate it is all they can get, and a small income is better than no income at all. Over the past quarter unemployment has fallen by 34,000 according to the figures, but some industry experts have warned that this drop may only be a temporary one. A spokesperson for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said that this could be the calm before the storm, and that things could look a lot worse by the spring of next year than they do at present. With the government having recently announced dramatic cuts in the public sector there are fears that hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs could be lost, and that this could have a knock on effect on private sector jobs. text/html 2010-07-13T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=882-Record_fall_in_Brits_taking_trips_abroad_last_year Recently released data has indicated that last year saw a record fall in the number of Brits taking holidays abroad, as the recession and the global financial crisis took its toll on consumer finances and confidence levels. The number of visits made abroad by Brits is said to have fallen by around 15 percent last year, which is the fastest level since the 1970s according to the figures. The data was released by the Office for National Statistics, which reported that in 2009 there were a total of 58.6 million trips made abroad by Brits, and this came in at 10.4 million fewer than the number of trips taken abroad in 2008. Many Brits have spent the last couple of years struggling financially due to job losses and the price of food and petrol, and this will have affected the ability of many to go abroad. The figures also showed that the number of visitor coming to the UK from other countries also experienced a fall last year, although the fall in the number of visitors coming to the UK was not as high as the fall in the number of people from the UK that were heading abroad. The figures show that there was a fall of 6.3 percent in the number of visitors coming to the UK from other countries, with just under 30 million residents from overseas coming to the UK. The steepest drop in numbers was seen amongst business visitors that were coming to and going from the UK. The number of people heading abroad from the UK on business trips is said to have fallen by 23 percent. The number of people from other countries heading to the UK on business is said to have dropped by 19 percent. The figures formed part of the Travel Trends report from the Office for National Statistics, and whilst the report showed that there had also been falls in the number of visits abroad in 2007 and 2008 the drop in numbers for these years were very small, coming in at just 1 percent and 2.7 percent respectively. text/html 2010-07-11T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=881-Consumer_group_calls_for_changes_to_regular_payments_on_cards The consumer campaign group Which? has called for changes to be made when it comes to regular payments that are made by credit or debit card by consumers. Every year hundreds of people have been sending in complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service as a result of the difficulties that they have had in stopping money from coming out of their accounts. Many people set up regular payments on their debit or credit cards for services that they take, but often have difficulties stopping payments from coming out. With direct debits and standing orders consumers are simply able to contact the bank and place a stop on the payment. However, with regular card payments this cannot be done, and the consumer usually has to rely on the company from which services have been taken to stop taking the payments at the right time. Which? officials have said that regular payments on credit and debit cards should be easier to cancel, and consumers should have the same control as they would have with direct debits and standing orders when it comes to cancelling these payments. However, this is not the case, and as a result many people have had payment taken on their cards for quite some time after they should officially have stopped being taken. The banking industry has said that it holds no responsibility for these contracts and therefore does not have control over the regular payments that are set up between consumers and companies. Many consumers are under the impression that if they set up regular payments on their credit or debit cards they can simply contact their bank if they want to then cancel the continuous payment, but this is not the case. Some believe that the payments are similar to direct debits and standing orders in that they can go in and cancel them at any time, and a lot of consumers have been shocked to discover that they cannot in fact do this. Even cancelling the card and switching to a new one does not necessarily make any difference, as one consumer recently discovered when he changed his card and found that an insurance firm with which he was no longer using services had still managed to take a regular payment from his account. text/html 2010-07-08T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=880-Many_borrowers_being_denied_PPI_refunds It has been reported that many borrowers are being denied refunds on Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI, with some of the refunds amounting to thousands of pounds. According to the report many UK banks are automatically rejecting complaints and claims relating to these refunds, which is resulting in around 300,000 borrowers every year being denied refunds that could come to thousands of pound. PPI hit the headlines in a cloud of controversy a few years ago after investigations revealed that it had often been mis-sold to people that did not want it, could not use it, and in some cases did not even know that they were getting it. This costly insurance is designed to cover repayments on a loan for a specified period of time in the event that the policyholder is unable to work due to accidents, sickness, or redundancy. However, during the investigation lenders were found to be hard selling this cover to people that did not want it or could not realistically afford it, with some indicating that they may not be able to get the finance that they needed if they didn’t take the cover, which was not the case. Others were selling the cover to people who would never be able to claim on it, such as self employed consumers. Some were even adding the cover onto the loan and quoting customers on loans that already had the cover added without checking whether they actually wanted the cover or not. Over recent months many people have been making claims for PPI payments after the policy was mis-sold to them, and for some people the refunds have amounted to thousands of pounds. However, it appears that thousands of borrowers could be missing out as a result of the banks automatically rejecting claims and complaints relating to PPI. Last year the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, said that too many complaints were being received with regards to PPI refunds and the agency slated the banking industry for refusing refunds to customers. However, the Financial Ombudsman Service is still receiving around one thousand complaints a week over PPI refunds, and of these around 90 percent are ruled in favour of the consumer. text/html 2010-07-07T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=879-Bank_of_England_keeps_interest_rates_on_hold The Bank of England has once again decided to keep the base interest rate on hold at just 0.5 percent. This is the lowest that the base rate has been in the history of the central bank, which spans over three centuries. The base rate has now been at this record low for well over a year, having fallen to 0.5 percent in March of last year, where it has remained ever since. This marks the sixteenth month in a row that the base rate has been just 0.5 percent, which will come as good news for the many homeowners and borrowers that may have been panicking about their repayments rising along with the base interest rate. In addition to keeping the base interest rate on hold the Monetary Policy Committee has also announced that it has decided not to plough any more money into the economy through the quantitative easing programme that was brought in by the former Labour government initially. Whilst many industry officials had been expecting the decision that was announced today many have been calling for an increase in the base interest rate in order to try and curb inflation. Andrew Sentance, one MPC member, called for an increase in the base rate of 0.25 percent, which would have taken the base rate to 0.75 percent, in June of this year. He was the first MPC member to call for a base rate increase since August of 2008. The manufacturers' organisation, the EEF, has said that the news was expected, and that it was likely that for the foreseeable future the base rate would remain at its all time low. The British Chambers of Commerce said that it supported the decision of the MPC and the central bank to keep rates on hold for now. One mortgage broker said that he did not really expect any increase in the base rate until next year, and when interest rates did start to increase the rise would be slow and gradual. Officials have said that whilst the static base rate will be welcomed by many consumers and businesses the increase in VAT, which comes into play next year, will pile on the pressure. text/html 2010-07-06T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=878-BCC_report_predicts_further_growth_in_UK_economy A recent report from the British Chambers of Commerce has predicted that there has been further growth in the UK economy in the second quarter of this year. The figures were collated through a BCC study which involved collecting data from 5600 businesses from across the UK. After collating the data the BCC predicted that in the three months leading the June 2010 there would be growth of between 0.6 and 0.7 percent. However, despite the encouraging news the organisation said that there were still serious concerns with regards to how sustainable the recovery in the UK economy was. The biggest concerns were found to be presented in the service sector, with the BCC stating that the manufacturing sector appeared to be performing better than the service sector. The BCC did add that it had welcomed the measures that had been outlined in the recent first budget from the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. The BCC said that its members had stated previously that they were keen to see the government address the huge deficit in the UK, and with this is mind the measures that had been outlined in the recent emergency budget had been well received by member businesses. In its report the BCC found that there had been slow growth in retail and servicing, which account for 75 percent of the UK’s gross domestic product. The increasing cost of raw materials was also found to be putting pressure on businesses, with around 80 percent of the BCC’s manufacturing members stating that this was a factor that was putting pressure on prices. On a lighter note manufacturing export sales increased to their highest level in nearly four years according to the figures, and this was put down to a more competitive exchange rate. Further good news was that there was also an increase in employment in the manufacturing sector. Although the recession officially ended at the end of last year, and the economy has seen signs of recovery, there have been concerns expressed over the possibility of a double dip recession in the UK. text/html 2010-07-05T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=877-Study_reveals_fresh_fears_over_double_dip_recession Over the past few years the UK, like other countries across the globe, has suffered as a result of the global financial crisis coupled with the longest, deepest recession seen in decades. The nation therefore breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that the recession was officially over, with growth in the economy finally being seen in the final quarter of last year. Over recent months there have been reports of signs of recovery in the financial markets and industry as well as a return of consumer confidence. However, whilst the recession may officially be over a recent study has revealed fresh fears over a double dip recession in the UK, which is something that a number of industry officials expressed concern over as the recent recession drew to an end. The study showed that confidence levels amongst finance chiefs at some of the leading companies in Britain had plunged to their lowest levels in twelve months. More and more of these business leaders appear to be in fear of Britain facing a double dip recession, and two thirds said that they believed that the recent government cutbacks would have an adverse effect on their success and profits. Deloitte carried out the recent study, and figures show that confidence amongst business leaders has now fallen for two consecutive quarters. Officials from Deloitte said that its previous studies had shown that many business leaders had agreed that the government needed to address the huge public deficit, thus backing the proposed cutbacks. However, its most recent survey has shown that two out of three of these business leaders believe that their companies will be negatively affected by the cutbacks, which have now been outlined and are set to be implemented. The figures also showed that 70 percent of companies did not believe that they would see any direct benefit to them over the long term. On average finance chiefs believe that there is now a 38 percent chance of a double dip recession, which is an increase from 33 percent in the first quarter of the year. text/html 2010-07-04T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=876-Revenue_officers_desperate_to_catch_tax_dodgers According to recent reports revenues officers are now so desperate to catch tax dodgers that they are cutting corners when it comes to conducting investigations. Reports claim that the Revenues service is eager to crack down on tax dodging and wants to bring in as much tax money as possible through pursuing tax dodgers in order to bridge the gap in public finances. In order to demand personal financial records from business people such as business owners or directors revenues officers are supposed to have reasonable suspicion that there is something wrong. However, according to tax advisers revenues officers are now cutting corners by demanding these records even if they do not have reasonable suspicion that something is afoot. It is also claimed that a vital clause that is designed to protect the consumer has been dropped from the investigators' handbooks, and whilst the Revenues service has said that this will be restored in future editions of the handbook it gives investigators the opportunity to demand financial records without proper grounds for suspicion. The Revenues service has been taking a number of measures to try and crack down on tax dodging, aiming its efforts on middle income earners that it believes are more likely to be keeping their cash in tax havens to avoid having to give the tax office its share of their earnings. In order to demand financial records the investigators would normally have to have grounds for suspicion under section CH223430, but this is the clause that has been left out of the handbooks. The tax office has already faced controversy after it was claimed that it was sitting on millions of pounds in refunds that it should have paid out to taxpayers but had failed to do so, which is something that the tax office has denied. It has also been reported that the tax office, which appears to be doing all that it can to bring money in, paid its director general Steve Lamey more than £205,000 last year and its chairman Mike Clasper more than £150,000. text/html 2010-07-01T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=875-Bank_of_England_predicts_further_squeeze_on_mortgages The Bank of England has recently warned that there could be a further squeeze on mortgages in the UK, which could leave purchasers facing fresh problems when it comes to getting a mortgage loan to purchase a property. According to the central bank the problems could arise over the next three months as a result of the tightening of wholesale funding. For the past couple of years things have been very difficult for those looking to get mortgages and other types of finance, and this was due to the global financial crisis and the recession. However, over the past few months, with the recession over and the financial markets recovering to some degree, things have eased up in the mortgage market. This is likely to go into reverse, however, according to the Bank of England as a result of tightening in the wholesale money markets, which could result in increased difficulties for lenders which will then feed through to borrowers. The predictions were made in the Credit Conditions Survey from the Bank of England. On a lighter note the central bank also said that there had been an unexpected drop in the rate at which mortgage holders and businesses were defaulting on loans, which will come as good news for the banking industry. Officials from Ernst & Young, however, backed up the Bank of England data, stating that whilst borrowing has eased over the past quarter credit conditions seem to have turned over the past few weeks. Capital Economics also agreed that banks were expecting a downturn in mortgage availability over the next quarter, making things difficult for those looking to get a mortgage. Figures have shown that during the last quarter, which saw mortgage availability increase, the demand for mortgages actually fell slightly. With the base mortgage rate still at an all time low of just 0.5 percent, and with many lenders offering lower rates to tempt borrower, the number of people looking to remortgage has also now increased since the first time since the end of 2008 according to the Bank of England report. text/html 2010-06-30T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=874-Huge_number_of_job_losses_could_stem_from_spending_cuts In his recent emergency budget the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, outlined the spending cuts that the government was planning to make in order to cut costs, reduce public spending, and ultimately tackle the huge public deficit. This is something that the Conservative party had pledged to do all through its election campaigns, and now, as part of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, is putting into place. However, since Osborne revealed details of his spending cuts information has been leaked with regards to how this will affect the employment sector in the UK. According to Treasury estimates there could be losses of up to 600,000 jobs in the public sector alone as a result of these cutbacks, plus an additional 700,000 job losses in the private sector. This would mean that by 2015 over one million workers could lose their jobs in the public and private sectors as a result of the cutbacks made by the new government. The sweeping cuts being put in place by the coalition government will have a direct impact on the public employment sector, and as a result of private companies losing government contracts, initiatives, and funding, will also have a huge knock on effect on the private sector. It's not all bad news according to the leaked data. It has been estimated that within the next five years an additional 2.5 million jobs could be created in the private sector. The data suggests that by tackling the huge public deficit the government can restore confidence in the financial markets and keep interest rates low. This means that the private sector can actually create new jobs, which in terms of numbers will be far outweigh the number of jobs lost in the sector over the coming few years. However, despite the long term good news there is likely to be unrest and controversy in the meantime, with reports estimating that at least 2000 jobs per week will go from the public sector and up to 2800 jobs a week will go from the private sector. text/html 2010-06-29T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=873-Drop_in_number_of_people_saving_for_retirement Over recent years there have been growing concerns over the number of people that have failed to save for their retirement, with officials stating that many of these people could find themselves struggling financially or having to work beyond their retirement age as a result of failing to build a nest egg for what should be their golden years. It has now emerged that there has been a further drop in the number of people that have been saving enough for their retirement, with one of the main drivers behind this drop being the economic and financial downturn, which hit consumer finances hard. The data comes from the pensions and life insurance provider, Scottish Widows. According to the data the number of people that are saving enough to fund their retirement has fallen by a further 6 percent to 48 percent. The pensions provider said that the current figure was the lowest it had been since 2006. Around 41 percent of people in the UK said that the economic downturn was to blame for them having saved less money. The worst hit group, based on the data, was women aged over fifty, with only 38 percent of this group putting aside enough money for retirement compared to 52 percent last year. The figures also showed that last year 22 percent of women in this age group were not saving anything at all, but this had now increased to 26 percent. Whilst the credit crunch started back in the autumn of 2007 Scottish Widows claims that it is only just starting to take its toll on pensions savings. The previous three years are said to have shown an increase in the number of people that were saving towards their retirement, but officials from Scottish Widows said that this was a trend that was now starting to go into reverse. The provider added that 20 percent of those that could be saving were actually not putting aside any money at all for their retirement. Figures showed that men were saving more effectively than women, with 52 percent of men who were employed saving adequate sums for their retirement compared to 43 percent of women. text/html 2010-06-28T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=872-Apathy_over_banking_sees_consumers_losing_out Once consumers set up their bank and savings accounts it can be all too easy to simply get on with things and not really worry about the finer details of the accounts. However, a recent study has shown that this apathy with regards to bank accounts could be costing some banking customers dearly, with some losing nearly £3000 a year as a result of failure to be more pro-active about getting the best deals on their savings and borrowing. The research has suggested that by failing to switch to best buy bank accounts some consumers could be losing thousands of pounds a year, which is something that very few people can afford to do in the current financial climate. The research was carried out by the price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com. Officials involved in the research said that many banking customers would be able to find a far better bank account if they took the time to shop around and compare different options, but many simply assume that this would a very time consuming task for very little by way of financial rewards. However, the data shows that some people could actually enjoy significant financial gains by switching to a best buy bank account. The research suggested that people tend to have all their financial products with one bank, such as savings, credit cards, loans, etc. However, the report claims that many consumers would be better off not putting all of their eggs in one basket, and instead taking out different products with different banks depending on the deals available. One of the officials involved in the research said that in many cases loyalty was confused with apathy. He said that many banks had become reliant on this apathy from customers, and that the banking industry was well aware that most consumers would not put the time and effort into switching their bank account. This, he said, also made a big difference to the amount that people were paying for borrowing or earning on savings. With banking customers able to quickly and easily check best buy accounts these days, the report suggested that consumers could potentially earn themselves a lot of money for just a few hours work by switching accounts. text/html 2010-06-27T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=871-Government_and_Labour_party_clash_over_jobless_plans There has been a clash between the new government and ministers from the former Labour government recently following announcements to try and reduce unemployment from the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith. The proposals put forward from Mr Duncan-Smith relate to getting more people back into work by encouraging them to move area. Duncan-Smith has stated that people seem to be 'trapped in estates where there is no work', adding that this has resulted in five and a half million people doing no job. He said that this was often down to the fact that many unemployed people lived in council homes that they were afraid they would lose if they upped sticks and moved to another area. He stated that in many cases people were too afraid to move because it meant that they would lose their council home and may find that in another area they are unable to get a council or housing association property. With this in mind he is looking to introduce incentives to get people to move from jobless areas to places where there is more work. Whilst he has given no clear commitment with regards to rehousing workers he did say that the system needed to be more flexible. However, his proposals have been met with a frosty reception by the shadow education secretary, Ed Balls. Mr Balls said that the plan was 'profoundly unfair' and accused Duncan-Smith of abandoning areas of high unemployment, comparing him to Lord Tebbit, who told the unemployed to get on their bikes and look for work in the 1980s. Mr Balls added that the government needed to be investing in jobs and growth within local regions rather than making cutbacks and telling people to move in order to get a job. He said that the Tories were cutting investment in industry and jobs, which would see the unemployment rate increase by around one hundred thousand per year. Duncan-Smith on the other hand insists that increased flexibility with regards to housing is the key, stating that this would encourage people to take more risks and move to different areas in order to find work. text/html 2010-06-24T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=870-Coalition_pension_team_announces_proposals_over_state_pension_age Announcements were recently made at a briefing in London by Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Liberal Democrat pensions minister Steve Webb. The coalition pensions team announced proposals with regards to increasing the state pension age in the UK, with men set to be affected by the higher age bracket first followed by women several years later. Smith and Webb announced plans to speed up the process of raising the state pension age for men, and according to reports this could now happen as early as 2016. Under the new plans men will not be able to claim a state pension until they are sixty six years of age, and the same will apply to women a few years after the new pension age for men is brought in. It is thought that the government is also looking at the possibility of increasing the state pension age even further, and could end up increasing it to seventy according to reports. This would mean that those looking to claim a state pension would have to wait until they were seventy to do so, and would have to have other provisions in place or continue working to bring in an income prior to that time. With this is mind the coalition government is also looking to axe the default retirement age, which at present is sixty five. At this age employers have the right to terminate the employment of workers even though many now use their discretion and allow those aged sixty five and over to continue working if they feel that the employee is competent and healthy enough to do so. Under current regulations employers can force their workers to retire at the age of sixty five even if the employee does not wish to do so, and this is something that the government is set to scrap as part of its overhaul of the state pensions process. Iain Duncan Smith stated recently that it was time to "reinvigorate the pensions landscape". Mr Duncan Smith stated: "Britain used to have a pensions system to be proud of, but due to years of neglect and inaction we are left with fewer people saving into a pension every year and the value of the state pension has been eroded, leaving millions in poverty. We must live up to our responsibility to reinvigorate the pension landscape." text/html 2010-06-23T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=869-Government_stamp_duty_break_could_be_scrapped A stamp duty break that was brought in by the former Labour government in order to try and boost the chances of homeownership amongst struggling first time buyers could be scrapped as part of the plans of the new coalition government to make cutbacks. Last year the former chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced in his budget that the stamp duty threshold would be raised to £250,000 for first time buyers, which meant that first time buyers would be able to purchase a property up to that value without being hit with stamp duty, potentially saving them £2,500 on the cost of buying a home. Under normal circumstances the maximum property value for exemption is £125,000. However, according to recent reports the new coalition government is considering scrapping this additional stamp duty break, which could leave some potential first time buyers high and dry, as they will have to spend even more if they want to get onto the property ladder. The coalition government has been slashing spending in order to deal with the massive public deficit in the UK, and first time buyers could be amongst those that will suffer if plans to scrap the tax break go ahead. At present the new government has simply stated that it is reviewing the situation, and is looking into whether it would be beneficial to scrap the increased exemption threshold for first time buyers, which at present is due to expire in March 2012. However, in its manifesto the Conservative party had stated that it was looking to 'permanently raise the stamp duty threshold to £250,000 for first-time buyers'. According to figures the exemption will have cost the government in excess of half a billion pounds by the time it comes to an end in 2012, and with the coalition government desperately looking for ways to cut back on spending this could well be one of the areas that ends up being hit. Already the government has announced that VAT is to rise by 2.5 percent to 20 percent from the start of next year, as well as announcing drastic cuts in spending and benefits. text/html 2010-06-22T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=868-Osborne_describes_first_budget_as_tough_but_fair The Chancellor of the Exchequer with the new coalition government, George Osborne, yesterday made moves to cut Britain's huge deficit with his first budget. After announcing the measures that the new government will be taking Osborne said that the action being taken was tough but fair, and was necessary to reduce the debt levels that are hanging around the neck of the country. One of the major announcements to come out of the budget was that the government will be increasing VAT to 20 percent, reflecting an increase of 2.5 percent on the current VAT levels. Last year the Labour government temporarily reduced the level of VAT to just 15 percent in the hope of getting the economy moving but the Con-Dem coalition has gone in the other direction by increasing VAT in order to raise more money to pay off the public debt. The chancellor also announced in his budget speech that public sector pay and child benefit are to be frozen, and that 25 percent will be cut from public spending. However, Osborne also confirmed that there would be no tax hikes on alcohol, cigarettes, and fuel. Harriet Harman, the acting Labour leader, commented on the budget stating that it was 'reckless' and could end up 'throwing people out of work'. Trade unions have also expressed concerns that the cutbacks could result in many jobs being lost in public services, which could have a serious effect on local economies and could lead to a double dip recession. The budget figures suggest that on average households in the UK will be worse off by around £400 a year as a result of the changes. Osborne claimed that whilst everyone would be helping to foot the bill to reduce the deficit the majority of the burden would be shouldered by the wealthier. Figures suggest that the poorest 10 percent of the nation will be worse off by around £200 a year whilst the wealthiest will be worse off by around £1800 a year. Once again Osborne also blamed the former Labour government for the level of the public deficit, and after delivering the budget he said: "The years of debt and spending make this unavoidable." text/html 2010-06-21T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=867-Study_warns_about_possible_double_dip_recession Only recently the UK has emerged from the longest and deepest recession experienced in decades, and despite hopes that the nation would emerge from recession in the third quarter of last year this did not happen. In fact, the UK became one of the last of the major economies to emerge from the recession, and even when it did emerge this was only by the skin of the teeth. Whilst recent reports have suggested that the UK economy is now growing stronger having been out of recession now for some months one report has warned that the UK could actually be heading towards a double dip recession. The report was compiled by market research group TNS Finance, which said that savings and spending habits of consumers could see the country being plunged back into recession. According to the report many consumers are hoping to get back into the habit of saving money, and after the past couple of years, which have been financially turbulent and have left many people unable to save, many now want to try and build their nest eggs back up. The report also claims that consumers are planning to cut back on their spending, reduce credit card use, eat out less, and cut back on luxuries, as many are worried that their income could fall over the coming year. The report indicates that despite the fact that the UK is currently out of recession consumer confidence is still on very shaky ground. In recent polls carried out as part of the research 20 percent of consumers said that they planned to increase their savings, whilst another 20 percent said that they were looking to cut back on their spending on credit cards. The results of the survey also showed that 30 percent of consumers were looking to cut back on eating out and would be unlikely to book a holiday overseas whilst a further 39 percent said that they would not be making big ticket purchases in the current financial and economic climate. Only 10 percent in each case said that they were likely to increase their spending, leading officials to believe that the country could potentially find itself at the centre of a double dip recession. text/html 2010-06-20T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=866-Osborne_claims_cuts_needed_to_get_Britain_back_on_track The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has spoken out recently to claim that deficit cuts are desperately needed in order to get Britain back on track. He stated that unless cuts were made quickly Britain would be 'on the road to ruin'. Later this week Osborne is set to reveal his first budget, and the budget will include details of cuts to be made. The chancellor said that the government had a four year plan in place to try and deal with the financial issues facing the UK, adding that the UK had inherited 'a truly awful financial situation' from the former Labour government. He said that he would not be able to avoid taking tough action in order to try and get the deficit reduced and get the country back on target, but said that his ultimate aim was to achieve 'prosperity for all'. He did not reveal anymore about the up and coming budget, which is set to take place on Tuesday. However, many believe that the budget will also include election proposals from the Conservative party to ease up on National Insurance for new companies. Whilst Mr Osborne has played his cards fairly close to his chest with regards to the forthcoming budget he did state that the budget would reveal details about a levy on banks and an increase in non-business related capital gains tax. Osborne was apparently asked about the 'badness' of the forthcoming budget, but said that he did not see it as badness but more as decisive action to reduce the country's deficit and get Britain back on track. He said that it was vital that Britain dealt with the fact that at a time when markets and investors were keeping a close eye out for countries that could not control their debts Britain was sitting on the largest budget deficit of any major economy. He said that the budget was, in a sense, unavoidable, and that his aim was to be tough but also to be fair. Ed Balls from the Labour party has commented, however, that by making these cuts the government is on course to 'repeat the mistakes of the 1930s'. text/html 2010-06-17T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=865-Sweeping_reforms_from_the_new_Chancellor As part of the sweeping banking reforms from the new coalition government Chancellor, George Osborne, it has been revealed that the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, is going to 'cease to exist in its current form' and greater powers are to be passed on to the Bank of England when it comes to regulation of the banking sector. Osborne said that these planned reforms could have helped to ease the impact of the financial crisis in the UK and would have resulted in greater scrutiny of the banking sector. The chancellor said the Bank of England will now play a key role in regulating the banking sector, and added that the central bank has the capacity and authority of regulating more effectively. He also said that had his regime been in place under the last government Britain would have been left less exposed to the banking crisis. This, stated Osborne, was because there would have been people closely scrutinising the situation and looking at the overall levels of debt that he said had risen very rapidly in the middle of the last decade. The reforms planned by the Chancellor will see the FSA being broken up into separate sections, hence ceasing to exist in the form that it is now. The onus on banking regulation will be passed over to the Bank of England, and separate divisions will be created for the protection of consumers and the tackling of financial crime, which will come under a new Consumer Protection Agency and a new Economic Crime Agency. At the Bank of England a powerful new Financial Policy Committee is also to be created, said Osborne. The chancellor said that he was confident that the new system would work effectively and prove successful. He said that the chief executive of the current Financial Services Authority, Hector Sants, had agreed to stay on and oversee the transition, even though he had previously said that he was leaving. One official from the FSA said that the reforms would help to address gaps and problems that are evident in the existing tripartite system. Following the announcement of the plans it has now been estimated that the transition should be completed by 2012. text/html 2010-06-16T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=864-OFT_concludes_no_price_control_needed_on_short_term_loans Over the past couple of years a rising number of people have been turning to short term forms of borrowing, such as payday loans, home credit, and pawnbrokers. For many this has been the only option of getting credit that they need because the recession and global credit crisis has made it far more difficult for many people to get finance through more mainstream means. With the rising number of people that have become reliant on this form of borrowing the UK watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading, launched an investigation last year to look into the pricing of short term credit, after many concerns were raised over the level of interest that was often being charged on these loans. The OFT conducted a review that involved looking into the pricing of credit such as payday loans and home credit. However, the OFT has now announced that it will not be putting any pricing controls into place when it comes to this type of borrowing, and has added that these forms of borrowing have become a necessity for the many people that can no longer get credit from mainstream lenders. It has therefore backed out of placing any pricing restrictions on this form of borrowing. Furthermore, the OFT has said that if the government thinks that there is a problem with the pricing on these forms of borrowing it should take action itself. The OFT said that in many respects these forms of credit worked well for those that could not get finance from mainstream lenders, and the level of complaints in this sector remained low. The OFT also added that there was evidence that with some of these products there were no fees or charges levied in events where borrowers missed or made late payments. The investigation into this sector was originally started because of concerns that were raised over the levels of interest that were being paid by people that could not get mainstream finance. The watchdog said that by imposing price controls problems could be created for potential borrowers who could not finance elsewhere. text/html 2010-06-15T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=863-Inflation_level_in_UK_eases_off Official figures have shown that the level of inflation in the UK has eased off from the peak that it hit in April of this year, falling back down to 3.4 percent. Whilst this is still a long way off from the government target of just 2 percent it is still better than the 3.7 percent level that was reached in April, which marked the highest level for seventeen months. The Bank of England is likely to welcome the data after the Office for National Statistics released the figures on the Consumer Prices Index, with the data showing that the headline rate of inflation had eased up from its soaring April level. The fall in the level of inflation was slightly greater than had been expected, with city analysts having predicted that the rate of inflation would fall from the 3.7 percent in April to 3.5 percent. The Office for National Statistics stated that in May petrol prices, which have been soaring, increased by an average 0.3 percent taking them to a record level of 120.5 pence during the month. However, the decrease in the rate of inflation is said to have been fuelled by the fact that consumers were being hit with greater increases a year earlier. The ONS claims that consumers were hit with higher prices on things such as petrol and petrol a year ago. A year ago there were also tax hikes on alcohol and tobacco that came into effect and affected the level of inflation from the latest figures. The Monetary Policy Committee has stated that whilst inflation is still very high compared to the government target it is likely to fall rapidly over the course of the year. The Bank of England has come under fire recently with claims that it exercises a loose monetary policy and has underestimated the inflationary pressures that have been created by this. Officials have said that if the level of inflation does not start to fall as quickly as the MPC has been hoping then the need may arise sooner rather than later for the base interest rate to be put up. text/html 2010-06-14T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=862-Reduction_in_forecast_for_economic_growth The forecast for economic growth has been cut by the new public finances watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility. Whilst the Office for Budget Responsibility has cut the growth forecast that was made for the UK's economy under the last government it has also given a more optimistic picture when it comes to public borrowing for 2011. The new watchdog is said to have dropped the forecast for economic growth in the UK for 2011 to 2.6 percent, compared to the original 3.25 percent that was forecast by the former Labour government in March of this year prior to the general election that saw the Labour government being ousted from office and the new coalition government being brought in. The Labour budget also forecast public borrowing of £163 billion for 2011. However, the OBR has now placed this figure at £155 billion, and has not yet included the effects of any spending cuts that have been announced so far by the coalition government. Its revision has been based on strengths in tax receipts according to recent reports. Although some of the news from the OBR is good officials believe that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will be heavily under pressure when it comes to making decisions and announcements relating to spending cuts and tax increases in his up and coming budget, which is due to be held next week. The figures show that over the next five years total net borrowing will be around £23 billion lower than had been originally forecast, but nevertheless it will come in at a massive £544 billion. Officials believe that the overall result will not be vastly different to the one forecast in the Labour government's March budget, although the breakdown will be different with greater revenue income and larger spending cuts offset by the slower economic growth. Deutsche Bank official, George Buckley, said that when it came to the up and coming budget with regards to announcements from George Osborne 'he's facing a very similar outlook to the picture in the March budget. The structural deficit is slightly worse, so they might have to do a bit more than they would have had to in terms of the structural adjustment.' text/html 2010-06-13T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=861-Building_of_affordable_homes_to_slump It has been reported that the building of affordable new homes in the UK is set to slump, with house builders and property developers set to really feel the hit over the course of this year. The reports over the slump in the building of new properties have come from the National Housing Federation. According to the NHF the number of new homes being built in the UK this year could fall by a massive 65 percent, which is something that could affect both house builders in the country and the many first time buyers that are desperately looking for affordable new homes. The NHF said that the reduction in the number of new, affordable homes being built was down to changes to the planning system and cuts in funding. This could see fewer than 21,000 homes being built across the UK. The NHF has even written to the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, calling on the new coalition government to honour its spending commitments. Shapps stated that there would be a number of new initiatives that the government would put into place to aid new developments and building. However, he also stated: "Houses cannot be built by targets that don't work with money that doesn't exist." David Orr, the chief executive of the NHF, said that house building in the UK could effectively grind to a halt over the course of this year, and he described private development construction as 'falling off a cliff'. He also said that the spending cuts and drop in development could have a 'catastrophic impact' on the sector. It has been reported that there is a £610 million void in the government's finances, and this could threaten over 150,000 social housing projects that are relied on by the many people looking for affordable housing. In the meantime, Mr Shapps has ordered a review by the Homes and Communities Agency, blaming unfunded commitments by the previous government for the problems facing the new property sector. The house building industry has already suffered hugely during the credit crisis and recession, and if property building falls by the level predicted by the NHF the sector could be hit further. text/html 2010-06-10T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=860-Economic_recovery_to_be_affected_by_emergency_budget Since the new coalition government came into power the Tories have made it clear that they intend to cut the budget and public sector spending in order to try and reduce the public deficit. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has already called an emergency budget for June 22nd, and it is thought that at this time the budget could be slashed. The multi-billion pound public deficit that was left behind when the Labour party left power has caused massive concern amongst members of the new government as well as consumers and industry groups, and this is a matter that is high on the agenda of the new government. However, whilst the addressing of the huge deficit is undoubtedly a good thing there are also concerns that this could lead to a slowdown in the recovery of the economy. Many officials believe that the slashing of public sector spending could have a serious adverse effect on the state of the economy, and after only recently exiting recession the economy could once again find itself struggling to get back on its feet. An official from the CBI said that given the budget cuts recovery in the second year would be far slower than expected and the level of recovery in 2011 would be at only a fraction of the level expected prior to the announcement of the public sector cuts. The good news is that officials have said that this move is unlikely to send Britain plunging into a double dip recession, the likes of which has already been seen in Finland. The chances of this happening in Britain have been rated as low, and the budget cuts should help to shave billions of pounds off the huge public deficit that the nation currently sits upon. It is estimated that spending in the public sector could be slashed by as much as seventy billion pounds by 2016, which is something that the new government believes is necessary to restore confidence. However, union officials are concerned about the effects of these measures, stating that this could adversely affect the more vulnerable. text/html 2010-06-09T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=859-Base_rate_in_hold_for_another_month The base interest rate has been kept on hold yet again following the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting this month. This marks the fifteenth month in a row that the base rate has remained at just 0.5 percent, which is the lowest it has been in the history of the Bank of England, which spans over three centuries. Following its announcement that the bank rate was to remain on hold the central bank also stated that no more money would be injected into the economy through the Quantitative Easing scheme, which has already seen £200 billion pumped into the economy. There are concerns that the up and coming budget cuts that are planned by the new coalition government could hinder the recovery of the economy following a particularly gruelling recession, but although the cuts are going to be steep it is thought that the UK will not end up being plunged into a double dip recession as a result. The base rate was dropped in March of last year in a bid to revive the economy, and since this time it has stayed at this level. Equally, the Quantitative Easing scheme was brought in to try and ease the struggles that the economy was facing, but already this has exceeded the original limit placed on it by the former Labour government. There is now fierce speculation over when the central bank will increase the base rate, particularly given the fact that there is now a new government in power. A poll of over sixty economists suggested that the base interest rate would not be increased until next year, which is news that will be welcomed by many industry groups and consumers. Many homeowners are hoping for the base interest rate to stay at this low level for as long as possible, as for many the thought of increasing mortgage repayments is something that they cannot financially manage. However, with the new coalition government now determined to make cutbacks wherever possible many are fearful that the base rate could rise more quickly and sharply than anticipated. text/html 2010-06-08T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=858-Osborne_to_ask_for_input_over_spending_cuts Both prior to coming into power and since the formation of the new coalition government the Conservative party has made it clear that it intends to slash public spending in a bid to reduce the astonishing public debt in the UK, which has been causing concern for some time. It has now emerged that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, wants the public to have their say with regards to which sectors the spending cuts should take place in. According to reports Osborne plans to give the public, as well as charities and other interested parties, the opportunity to give their views on which areas they feel the spending cuts should take place in. It is thought that the chancellor hopes to win broader consent and increased support over the cuts by taking this course of action. It is estimated that the spending cuts could amount to nearly one tenth of state spending, and the need for immediate action has become all the more vital since the ratings agency Fitch said that the UK's debt needed to be addressed right away – which in itself sent the pound stumbling against the dollar and the euro. Parties that are interested in expressing their views will be given the chance to do so before the planned spending review, where they can have the opportunity to give their opinions on where money could be saved. An official from the Treasury said that this was a once in a generation opportunity for the public to help shape the government and get involved in an issue that was vital for the stability of the UK. The public deficit now stands at £156 billion and this is something that the new government is determined to rein in. Some of the changes will be outlined in the up and coming emergency budget, which Osborne is set to hold on June 22nd. Osborne is hoping to slash annual spending by as much as £60 billion. Whilst the government has its work cut out in terms of implementing the spending cuts Osborne is said to be taking a leaf out of the book of the former Canadian Premier, Jean Chretien, who had a similar situation to deal with in the 1990s. text/html 2010-06-07T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=857-Struggling_customers_being_failed_by_energy_firms It has been suggested in a recent report that many energy customers who are struggling financially are being failed by the energy firms that they are with, as a review has found that energy suppliers are not doing enough to help those that are struggling to pay their bills due to their financial situations. The review and report was put together jointly by the UK energy regulator Ofgem and the consumer watchdog group Consumer Focus. The review found that energy firms were not taking into account customers' ability to make repayments when they put a plan into place for repayment of debt that has accrued on customers' energy bills. Ofgem has put into place a set of guidelines that requires energy suppliers to properly assess the ability of the consumer to repay when putting these plans into place. Under the guidelines this means that suppliers have to make sure that the customer understands the repayment structure by making contact with the customer. This would be in the case of repayment plans that were put into place after the customer got into debt with gas and electricity bills. The report did also highlight some good points that were picked up from the review, and this included indications that energy suppliers were making an effort to help customers who were struggling financially and finding it difficult to pay their bills in the difficult financial climate. The report said that energy firms were making 'good progress' in terms of dealing effectively with customers that were in debt. The regulator has now said that it wants repayment levels on arrears owed to the energy firms to be based on the financial situation of the customer and their ability to make repayments. An official from Ofgem said that it had become increasingly important in the current financial climate for energy suppliers to tailor repayments plans on debts that were owed to them to fit in with the repayment abilities of customers. This view was mirrored by officials at Consumer Focus, who said that energy suppliers had to ensure that they were aware of and understood the financial circumstances of individual customers before putting a repayment plan into place. text/html 2010-06-06T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=856-Many_parents_fronting_to_save_money_on_insurance Over the past couple of years insurance premiums on vehicle insurance cover have soared, and for many people the cost of insuring a car has become a real financial burden. There are certain groups that are hit with higher insurance premiums than others, and this includes those with past claims, those with high spec vehicles, and new or young drivers. Recent figures have suggested that in the case of young drivers, who are often charged crippling premiums especially if they have only recent passed their tests, parents are attempting to help them out by using a process known as fronting. However, this is a process that is actually illegal, and parents could find themselves being prosecuted for fraud. Fronting is where the parents lie to the insurance company and state that they are the owners and main drivers of the vehicle, putting their son or daughter on simply as a named driver. However, in actually fact the vehicle is owned by their son or daughter and it is the child that is the main driver of the vehicle. So effectively the child owns and drives a vehicle without having their own insurance cover in place for the vehicle. The reason why many parents are doing this is because it can save their child a fair amount of money in insurance premiums, as the premiums are much higher for the younger, newer driver than for the parents in most cases. The Cooperative Insurance group carried out research recently, with the results indicating that 41 percent of parents were fronting vehicle insurance policies at present, and that 61 percent of parents said that they would do so in the future. Often the way in which fronting is uncovered by insurance firms is if it is registered at the parents address in one area but is located in a different area for most of the time, such as in cases where the child may be at university in a different part of the country and has the car with them there. Industry officials are now warning parents that whilst it may save their kids money in the short term it is a very risky practice that could lead to prosecution. text/html 2010-06-03T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=855-Volcanic_ash_claims_still_awaiting_settlement The recent volcanic ash that was spewed from the eruption of the volcano in Iceland is still causing chaos even though normal flights may have been resumed. During the month of April travellers found themselves in the centre of complete chaos, as the eruption resulted in so much ash being spewed into the air that it was deemed too dangerous for aeroplanes to fly. For many people that were due to fly out on holiday or on business the cancellation of flights and the temporary closure of British airspace meant that they had to cancel all of their plans and either make rearrangements or cancel their travel companies to arrange for refunds. However, the chaos was even greater for those that were already abroad and were due to fly back during the period when airspace was closed, as they were forced to find the money for food, accommodation, and other expenses to fund the unexpected extra time that they had to spend. Under EU regulations all European airlines were ordered to reimburse customers for their hotel and food costs whilst they were stranded abroad. However, whilst British airspace is now open and flights are operating normally the chaos still continues for the tens of thousands of airlines passengers that are waiting for their claims to be settled. The Air Transport Users Council stated recently that there were huge backlogs of claims that were being dealt with by most airlines. British Airways has already admitted that it has a huge backlog of claims that it is sorting through but has not said how long it will take to sort out the claims, other than to state that they will be sorted out 'eventually'. The disruption from the volcano not only caused chaos and financial hardship for those that were stranded abroad, but is also going to take its toll on the many airlines that have been affected. Airlines will not only have to face the financial losses of having to reimburse those that had to pay from their own pockets to fund the extra time abroad but will also be reeling from the huge financial losses that stemmed from being unable to fly for a period of several days whilst British airspace was closed. text/html 2010-06-02T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=854-Crackdown_on_interest_only_mortgages_continues As lenders continue to be cautious when it comes to mortgage lending the crackdown on higher risk interest only mortgage continues according to recent reports. Interest only mortgages have always been considered higher risk by lenders, but were handed out to many first time buyers before the onset of the global credit crisis, as they were more affordable for the often cash strapped average first time buyer. However, first time buyers have lost access to a lot of the solutions that used to be available to them to help them get onto the property ladder such as deposit free mortgages and interest only mortgages, and this is because of the increased risk that these sorts of products pose on lenders. According to one recent report a continued crackdown on interest only mortgages will result in buyers having to put down larger deposits, and will also result in the amount that they can borrow by way of a mortgage loan being restricted. Many banks have already stopped offering interest only mortgages, and many others are still in the process of cutting back on them. The problems with these mortgages arose because many lenders were failing to check whether the borrowers had any provision in place to ensure that they could repay the actual loan balance at the end of their mortgage terms other than the hope that their property would increase in value adequately over that period of time. With interest only mortgages borrowers only repay the interest on the loan over the mortgage term, and therefore at the end of the term still have the actual loan balance itself to pay off. The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has carried out a market reviews and is planning to attach for more stringent rules to interest only mortgages. This, coupled with banks' own reluctance to take the higher risks attached to these loans, could make it very difficult or impossible for most people to get one of these mortgage loans for the foreseeable future, despite the fact that just a few years ago they were seen as a financial lifeline for struggling buyers that wanted to buy a home. text/html 2010-06-01T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=853-Brighter_outlook_for_property_prices_and_mortgages Over the past few years both the property and mortgage markets have gone through a very turbulent time as a result of the financial crisis, and even now things are very strained in some sectors of the market. However, recent official figures have shown that things could be looking up both in terms of property prices in the UK and mortgage availability. The figures have been released by the UK Land Registry, and have suggested that property prices in England and Wales and continuing to increase strongly. April saw property prices in the UK increase by 0.2 percent, and this is said to have pushed up the annual rate of growth to 8.5 percent. Officials have said that this is the fastest rate of growth seen since September of 2007, which was around the time that the global financial crisis made its way across to the UK. Data from another industry group has also suggested that mortgage lenders across the UK are continuing to relax their rules, and this has resulted in an increase in the number of mortgage deals that are available. The report shows that there are now more than two thousand mortgage deals on offer in England and Wales, which require deposits of between 0 percent and 40 percent of the property value. The data also showed that over the past month there had been an increase of 14 percent in the number of mortgages, although there was little change in the number of mortgages that required a deposit of at least 25 percent, which remained steady at 56 percent. One official said that competition for the limited amount of mortgage business was gathering momentum, and this had resulted in average rates continuing to fall and lenders continuing to ease their mortgage lending criteria following a very difficult couple of years. London has seen the fastest house price increases over the past year, with property prices up by an impressive 14.8 percent in the year to April. The average house price in the capital stands at £341,487 with the capital's annual growth rate now said to be steadily overtaking other areas in England and Wales. text/html 2010-05-31T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=852-Many_consumers_confused_over_energy_bill It has been reported that a huge number of gas and electricity customers in the UK are confused and in the dark when it comes to their energy bills, and that this is a problem that is being made worse by energy companies deliberately making their billing systems more complicated. The report claims that around two thirds of energy customers have no idea how much they are paying per unit for their gas and electricity, and do not know how their bill is calculated. It is believed that this is something that is stopping millions of customers from switching energy suppliers, as many do not even realise that they are getting a really raw deal from their existing provider. The claims come following a recent study that was carried out by a new market entrant Ovo Energy. The findings of the study also showed that less than 50 percent of those polled said that they trusted their energy company more than politicians. Less than one third said that they trusted their energy supplier more than estate agents. The confusion over energy bills may be helped to some degree by measures that are being taken in response to demands from the UK's energy regulator, Ofgem. The measures include sending out annual statements to all energy customers, which is something that is due to commence from July of this year. The aim is for energy firms to make it easier for consumers to understand their bills. The statements that will be sent out by energy firms should contain comprehensive information relating to the amount of energy that has been used, and a breakdown of the costs involved. The government has said that it is determined to get energy firms to be more transparent when it comes to billing, and Ofgem is putting pressure on energy firms to use smart meters so that they can use accurate bills rather than creating the problems that many customers experience due to estimated billing. The figures showed that over 80 percent of calls that were made to energy firms were in relation to problems over estimated bills, and the government believes that installation of smart meters would put an end to these problems and could help customers who have been overpaying due to estimated billing. text/html 2010-05-30T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=851-Mobile_phone_users_missing_out_on_cash_for_old_phones It has been reported that millions of mobile phone users in the UK are failing to cash in on their old mobile handsets, choosing to discard them rather than recycle them. A UK consumer group claims that around 85 million old handsets have been discarded rather than being recycled, and in addition to contributing to environmental problems those that have discarded the phones have also missed out on the chance to get some money for their old handset. Many people in the UK are on mobile phone contracts, and with many of these contracts subscribers receive a new handset when their contract is renewed or when they take a new contract out. Often, the user then simply puts the old handset into a drawer where it is left idle or discards the phone in the trash, where it eventually ends up in a landfill. There are now many companies that offer cash for old mobile handsets, and those with old phones simply need to check the different recycling firms and provide details of the make and model of the old phone to find out how much they will get for the handset. They can then simply order an envelope to send the handset to the recycling firm, and then sit back and wait for the cheque. It is not just the financial benefits that users are missing out on when they fail to send in their old handsets. The fact that discarded handsets often end up in landfills means that consumers are missing out on the chance to help the environment. Also, many of these handsets are in fairly good condition, and these recycling firms are able to repair them and send them to developing countries. By failing to send old handsets in phone owners are also missing out on being able to help with projects such as these. The research was carried out by the government consumer group Consumer Focus, and a spokesperson for the group said that 10 percent of consumers had admitted to simply throwing their old handsets in to the bin. text/html 2010-05-27T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=850-Official_report_shows_many_are_better_off_on_benefits An official report that was released recently has shown that there are thousands of people that do so well from the benefits system in the UK that there is no need for them to work. The report was based on figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, and showed that hundreds of thousands of households are so well off on benefits that it actually pays them not to bother working. The figures showed that around 670,000 families are receiving over £15,000 a year in benefits, which is more than they would earn in many jobs. Between these claimants at least £13 billion a year is being claimed, which officials say is more than the entire budget of the Home Office for a year. The data comes from the State of the Nation report, which was published by the new Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith. Smith said that with families able to claim £15,000 a year in benefits there was very little by way of incentive that would motivate them to go out and find a job. He said that this was because the amount that they received in benefits was often higher than the amount that they would receive if they were working. The figures showed that around 50,000 households receive more than £26,000 a year in benefits, which would involve them needing to have a job for £35,000 a year to take home the same amount as they were receiving in benefits. This would also result in them having to pay many of the bills that are currently covered by taxpayer's money, which would make them even more loathe to go out and find work. Housing benefit bills are said to have increased by a massive 40 percent under the former Labour government, and with all of the different payments and benefits taken into account there are some families that are claiming an astonishing £93,000 a year in benefits which is more than many people that work could hope to take him in a decade. Smith also said that some people that lived in areas where the majority of people were on benefits were classed as 'morons' if they worked because they are losing 95 pence in benefits for every £1 they earn by working. He added that as a result of this many families would never come off benefits. text/html 2010-05-26T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=849-Two_banks_make_changes_for_customers_on_withdrawals_and_transfers Two of the UK's well known banks have announced that they are making changes for customers that want to make cash withdrawals over the counter and transfers via the internet. The two banks that have made changes are the Alliance & Leicester and HSBC. From 1st of July the Alliance & Leicester will not allow its basic bank account customers to make an over the counter money withdrawal for less than £300. The Alliance & Leicester has stated that this is to bring its banking policies in line with other banks that form part of the Santander Group, of which Alliance & Leicester is a part. Previously the Nationwide Building Society had announced that customers that had cash cards rather than debit cards would not be able to make an over the counter withdrawals for less than £100, and would instead have to use cash machines to make their withdrawal. This is said to have upset a number of elderly customers who withdrew their pension money over the counter and did not feel confident about having to do this using a cash machine, as it left them more vulnerable. These changes are set to come into force from 7th June. In the meantime, HSBC has stated that customers looking to make a money transfer online to a recipient that they have never paid before or have only rarely made payments to may have to ring the bank to confirm the transaction. Officials from HSBC said that this is designed to provide extra protection to its customers and reduce the risk of fraud. The HSBC changes will take place from August. HSBC has said that if a customer tries to make an online payment to someone that they have never paid before or who they have not paid anything to within the last thirteen months they will have to make a call or visit a branch to confirm the payment before it can be unblocked. Whilst some of the moves that are being imposed by the banks are said to be for the customer's own protection many may find that the new regulations cause inconvenience. text/html 2010-05-25T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=848-Queen_speaks_out_over_reduction_of_UK_debt When the new coalition government came into power recently the Prime Minister and new government officials made it clear that their first and most important task would be to make spending cuts that could cut costs and start making a dent in the public deficit, which increased to over £156 billion under the former Labour government. Earlier this week the government announced spending cuts to the tune of £6 billion, and an emergency budget has been set to take place on June 22nd, where the details of the next steps to reducing public debt are set to be announced. Officials hope that these cuts will help to fast track the reduction of the public deficit, which has been causing concern for some time. Even Her Majesty the Queen has now spoken out about the reduction of the public debt in her recent coalition government speech. In her speech the Queen said that measures being taken to tackle the public debt would help to maintain confidence in public finances and this was through forecasts relating to economic data. A new department is to be set up in the form of the new Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR will take over from the Treasury when it comes to setting independent economic forecasts with regards to growth. The first forecasts from the OBR, which is led by a committee of three, are set to be released just prior to the emergency budget in June. The other measures that were outlined as part of the coalition government speech included the intention to give more power to the Bank of England in terms of overseeing regulation of banks and the City. Previously this was dealt with through a shared responsibility between the central bank, the Financial Services Authority, and the Treasury. This was a system that had been put in place by the former Labour government but there is now speculation over whether the Financial Services Authority will continue to play a part once government measures are brought in, and whether the Bank of England would be given sole responsibility for the management of financial stability. text/html 2010-05-24T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=847-Government_gets_rid_of_Child_Trust_Funds_to_save_money Since coming into power only recently the new coalition government has pledged to reduce the enormous public deficit in the UK as much as possible, and has put this issue at the top of its agenda. However, in order to tackle this issue the government has already made it clear that many public spending cuts will have to be put into place, many of which may prove unpopular with the public. It has now been announced that one of the cuts that the government has put into place related to Child Trust Funds, which were launched by the former Labour government. In their pre-election manifesto the Conservative party had already hinted at making cuts through Child Trust Funds, but the cuts have been far deeper than many had expected or imagined. According to reports many industry officials had been expected the Tories to make cuts when it came to Child Trust Funds, and this was based on the information in the party's pre-election manifesto. However, many had expected partial cuts to Child Trust Funds, with the plan expected to remain in place for low income families. In a surprise move, however, the government has decided to scrap Child Trust Funds altogether, which means that they will no longer be available for any families, including low income families. The decision has been made as the government makes decisions that could help to make cutbacks to spending, thus enabling it to reduce the public deficit. The Child Trust Funds will start being phased out in around August of this year, and it is believed that by January 2011 they will have ended altogether. Following their launch by the Labour party when it was in power the Child Trust Fund scheme did not prove as popular as many had hoped, although over the past eight years five million have opened them. Whilst the Tories had been planning a cut back on Child Trust Funds rather than abolishing them it is said to be the Liberal Democrats, with which the Tories formed the coalition government, that pressed for the funds to be scrapped altogether. text/html 2010-05-23T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=846-Bank_of_England_claims_pay_increases_could_return The Bank of England has announced recently that pay rises in the UK could be returning after a particularly difficult period that saw some workers in the UK experiencing pay freezes for up to two years. Many workers have been suffering as a result of the pay freezes that have swept across the UK over the last two years, and with inflation soaring above target levels many have been struggling to cope. Millions of workers are said to have been affected by the pay freezes, and with the global financial crisis and recession taking their toll many lost their jobs altogether. Referring to the millions of pay freezes that affected workers across the UK the Bank of England said that data suggested that the pay freezes could be coming to an end, and that workers could see pay increases returning once again. If the central bank is right with its prediction with regards to pay freezes millions of workers will feel a wave of relief. The combination of borrowing restrictions, pay freezes, and the effects of recession coupled with soaring inflation has left many people unable to manage financially and with inflation still way above the government target workers will really feel the hit from the most recent wave of pay freezes. The Bank of England makes a regular assessment of businesses in the UK, and following its most recent assessment has stated that there are 'tentative' signs that pay freezes could be coming to an end and workers will once again see their pay rise, enabling them to cope with rising inflation more easily. The latest report from the Bank of England shows that the number of pay freezes in the UK has already fallen and the number of pay increases has gone up. The report also said that there were a number of reasons why bosses had decided to increase pay in the current climate, and this included rewarding workers for increasing profits, recognising loyalty from employees, or simply to improve staff morale, which over the past year or two may have fallen significantly. text/html 2010-05-20T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=845-Government_to_look_at_policies_to_rein_in_bank_charges David Cameron's new coalition government is said to be looking into policies to try and clamp down on unfair bank charges and other financial transactions. The policies could result in a clampdown on bank and financial transaction charges that are classed as unfair, and could also see excessive credit card interest rates being curbed. The Office of Fair Trading took on the banks in a landmark High Court case in order to try and curb excessive overdraft charges, but after battling it out in High Court and even the Supreme Court the OFT lost the case. However, whilst the OFT might have lost the case new policies from the coalition government could go some way towards achieving the OFT's original goal. The ConDem coalition is looking to tackle a number of issues relating to the financial sector, and in addition to looking at unfair financial transaction charges and bank charges, and trying to curb credit card interest rates, government officials will also be looking into how homeowners can get greater protection against 'aggressive' bailiffs. With regards to clamping down on repossessions the ConDems plan to make it clear to lenders and courts that repossession needs to be classed as a last resort. There will also be new regulations relating to store cards, with which many people get themselves into huge amounts of debt. Under the new regulations consumers that take out a store card will be able to benefit from a seven day cooling off period, which will be helpful for those that take out a card on impulse or feel pressured into it by sales staff but then change their minds. A number of debt charity officials have welcomed the moves by the ConDem coalition to try and provide increased protection for consumers on a range of financial issues. Marc Gander from the Consumer Action Group stated that whilst the commitment of the government was admirable it would be important to look at the details of the policies and regulations that were going to be put in place. text/html 2010-05-19T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=844-Tories_claim_HIPs_would_have_increased_council_tax_for_many The Tory party has claimed recently that documents have been unveiled indicating that the former Labour government was aiming to use the controversial Home Information Packs – known as HIPs – to push up council tax for many homeowners. The claims comes after the Tory party confirmed that it was getting rid of HIPs, keeping just one element of the packs that were brought in by the former Labour government back in 2007. Since they were brought in by Labour HIPs have caused a lot of controversy, with many property companies concerned over the delays they could cause and many consumers concerned about the cost of these packs, which saw them having to foot a bill for around £300. Many claimed that the only useful information contained within these packs was the EPC, or Energy Performance Certificate, which is the one element of the pack that the Tories have decided to keep. According to reports previously secret documents have come to light indicating that the Labour party was planning to use some of the information from these HIPs to push up council tax on many homes that had seen an increase in value over the past couple of decades. The documents have now been released by the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who claims that the data was going to be used by the former government to complete a database on around twenty two million homes, which would be held by then Valuation Office Agency. My Pickles said that given the clear intentions outlined in the papers it was no surprise that they were kept a secret by the Labour party. He said that the papers were shocking, and showed that as part of the HIPs procedure homeowners would have to have their property inspected and the information collected would have then been used to update the database and try and increase the council tax based on the updated information. He also said that the Tories would ensure that this did not happen, and would be taking measures to ensure that these unnecessary Home Information Packs were scrapped. In the meantime another recent report claimed that the Valuation Office Agency had also been collecting details on homeowners' gardens with a view to using the data to try and increase council tax. text/html 2010-05-18T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=843-House_buyers_create_boost_in_mortgage_borrowing The number of property purchasers that are buying property has been rising, causing a surge in mortgage borrowing according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Figures were released showing the difference between lending levels between February and March of this year. According to the figures the number of mortgage loans increase to 45,000 in March, reflecting an increase of 25 percent compared to February. The CML also said that the rebound amongst first time buyers was greater than that seen amongst existing homeowners. However, although the mortgage lending figures are promising and encouraging the CML has warned that the UK could see many years of rationing on mortgages and finance unless the new coalition government took action to help lenders to increase finances. Michael Coogan from the CML said that the figures showed that there was definitely increased momentum and activity in the mortgage market, but added that failure to take action by the coalition government could jeopardise the health and future of the property and mortgage markets. The CML went on to state that there was a real risk that unless action was taken to help lenders to increase finances there would be a shortage of credit within the UK, and the chance that mortgages could be rationed over the coming few years. The CMLsaid: "The UK is at risk of a chronic under-supply of credit - and the rationing of mortgages for customers - for years to come." Although mortgage lending has seen signs of improvement, particularly amongst first time buyers, the report showed that the level of lending to all property purchases was around 35 percent lower in the first quarter of this year compared to the final quarter in the previous year. The CML also went on to state that whilst mortgage lending was down in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter consumers had to remember that this could be caused as a result of a number of reasons including the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of December of last year. text/html 2010-05-18T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=842-Key_announcements_made_by_new_Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has made a number of key announcements this week, having become the new Chancellor following the formation of the coalition government between the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats. In addition to announcing the formation of a new office that would be dealing with economic growth forecasts the chancellor also announced that his first budget would be on 22nd June. Osborne was speaking alongside his coalition colleague from the Liberal Democrats, David Laws, and whilst announcing the forthcoming budget he also confirmed that this year would see £6 billion worth of spending cuts. The details of the spending cuts are to be released next week, and the purpose of the cuts is to try and address the huge public deficit that the UK has been left with following the financial crisis and the recession. The new chancellor also went on to announce the creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility, which is to be headed up by Sir Alan Budd. The aim of this agency will be to set forecasts for economic growth and government borrowing – areas that Osborne claims were regularly incorrect under the Labour government. Osborne said that the Labour party's tendency to fudge the figures, exaggerate growth forecasts, and fiddle figures to make numbers make sense had left the country in the financial mess that it was in today. He added that by giving up control of these forecasts he had become the first chancellor to remove the temptation to fudge and fiddle the figures. He said that the budget needed to be fixed to fit the figures not the other way around. The press have, in the meantime, speculated over whether the new office will simply be 'The Office of Blaming Labour' but Sir Alan Budd assured reporters that he had no intention of criticising any past government. Osborne also stated that the priority of the new ConDem coalition was to address the public deficit, adding that if the problem was not tackled as a matter of urgency the country could find itself in a similar situation to Greece when it came to financial problems. text/html 2010-05-16T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=841-Five-fold_increase_in_household_wealth_over_five_decades A recent report has been released by a High Street financial giant, which has been assessing the changes in household wealth in the UK over the past fifty years. Over the past five decades household wealth in the UK has increased five-fold according to the High Street lender, Halifax. The figures show that the total wealth of households in the UK came in at £6.3 trillion at the end of last year, and this was made up of property, savings, and investments. Based on this figure the average wealth per household at the end of last year was £237,000 whereas fifty years ago it was £73,000. It is thought that this is partly due to the increase in the number of homes since that time, with 16.7 million private addresses five decades ago compared to 26.6 million private addresses last year. Comparisons showed that in 1981 social sector housing such as councils and housing associations accounted for 33 percent of housing in the UK. However, the level of wealth has been added to not only by more people owning their properties but also as a result of property prices rocketing. The most significant change in values is said to have been seen in the 1980s, and in this period the collective assets of consumers more than doubled. However, figures also show that although household wealth has rocketed since fifty years ago households were actually better off in 2007 than they were in 2009. Between 2007 and 2008 collective wealth is said to have fallen by 15 percent, and this was due to the decreases that were seen in property prices and shares. Last year did see some level of recovery within these markets, with the effects of the global financial crisis finally easing off, but despite this household wealth was still around 8 percent lower last year than it was in 2007. One economist said that the change had been partly driven by the actions of the government, with schemes such as Right to Buy and the privatisation of nationalised industries thought to have contributed to household wealth in the form of financial assets and property. text/html 2010-05-16T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=840-Con-Dem_coalition_could_mean_higher_VAT The days following the general election on May 6th have been caused a lot of uncertainty, and there have been mixed reactions to the outcome of the election results, which has seen a coalition government created between the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats, with David Cameron serving as Prime Minister and his rival Nick Clegg becoming deputy Prime Minister. With the first coalition government in decades now in place in the UK many are still uncertain with regards to what the future holds for the country, and there are mixed feelings and reactions with regards to the formation of this collation Con-Dem government. Whilst some of the plans that have been outlined by the coalition will appeal to many people, such as raising the earnings threshold before taxation kicks in, there are also some plans that may be causing concern, one of which is the possibility of VAT being increased. According to a recent report many independent economists are expecting the VAT rate to increase by next April under the new coalition government, with most expecting the increase to be 2.5 percent, taking the level of VAT from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. Out of twenty eight economists that were polled twenty four said that they expected the new government to increase VAT, which would raise an extra £11.5 billion a year for the government. Last year saw the Labour government cut the rate of VAT on a temporary basis from 17.5 percent to 15 percent in a bid to increase affordability, boost spending, and improve the economy. This temporary reduction came to an end at the end of last year, with VAT once again increasing back to its original level of 17.5 percent. Whilst many people may not be happy to see the rate of VAT increase to 20 percent the government will be making good use of the extra income, using it to try and decrease the momentous deficit that hangs around Britain's neck. Reducing the public deficit is at the top of the agenda for the coalition government, which claims that it has been left to clean up the biggest financial mess in recent history by the Labour party. text/html 2010-05-12T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=839-Pressure_to_increase_base_interest_rate_falls Earlier this month the Bank of England announced that the base interest rate was to remain at its all time low level of 0.5 percent, where it has been since March of last year. The announcement came following the May Monetary Policy Committee meeting, and will have come as a huge relief to the many homeowners and business groups that were concerned that inflationary pressures would force the base rate up. Inflation now stands at 3.4 percent, which is far higher than the target set by the government, which is just 2 percent. Over recent weeks this has fuelled speculation and concern that the base interest rate would have to increase from its record low in order to curb spiralling inflation, and whilst the base rate was kept on hold this month a number of industry experts predicted that in the near future it could increase due to the high rate of inflation. However, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has now stated that it is likely that the rate of inflation will fall and stabilise over the next couple of years, which removed the pressure of having to hike up the base interest rate. King stated that he expected the rate of inflation to remain above the 2 percent government target over the course of this year, but he expected it to fall back to the target level and remain there for the next couple of years. On the back of Mr King's comments a number of industry experts have stated that the interest rate could remain at its all time low for some time to come, which is news that will be welcomed by many consumers and industry groups. Mr King said that at some point the central bank would have to tighten policy which could involve increasing the bank rate or selling assets, and that the Monetary Policy Committee would decide upon which course of action to take when the time came. King also commented on his expectations for economic growth in the UK, stating that he thought the economy would continue to grow and would build upon the two consecutive quarters of growth seen since the recession ended. text/html 2010-05-11T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=838-Huge_backlog_of_complaints_amongst_UK_banks Recently released figures have shown that the UK's banks have had to deal with a huge backlog of complaints, with over two million complaints being dealt with in the latter half of last year. The figures were released by the Financial Services Authority, the UK's financial regulator. In the first half of last year the banks and building societies in the UK dealt with just over 867,000 complaints. However, in the latter half of last year this soared to over two million complaints that were being dealt with. It is thought that part of the reason behind the surge in the number of complaints being dealt with was the fact that the banks have been allowed to address a huge number of complaints relating to bank charges. The bank charge complaints that had been lodged with banks had been on hold since 2007 after it was decided that the matter would have to go to High Court, leaving banks unable to deal with the complaints that had been received. However, the case was won by the banking industry last November after a long, drawn out battle that ended up in the Supreme Court. An official from the Financial Services Authority said that the bank charge complaints were put on hold over the past few years as a result of the impending test case, but now that the case was resolved the banks were able to deal with the complaints. He said that this accounted for most of the increase seen in the level of complaints being handled between the first and last half of last year. The final half of last year saw the financial services industry receive nearly 2.7 million complaints, compared to just over 1.5 million in the first half of the year. Banks were the sector of the financial industry that received the largest number of complaints, and this was followed by general insurance services. Other factors that may have affected the level of banking complaints include customer service levels, with banks rating very poorly in recent surveys relating to their levels of customer service. text/html 2010-05-10T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=837-No_respite_for_mortgage_market_following_election A number of industry experts had speculated over whether the results of the recent general election would lead to improvements in the mortgage markets making things easier for those that were looking to get a mortgage. However, as many had expected the eagerly awaited election resulted in a hung parliament, with none of the parties coming out with a clear majority. Officials now believe that the election will have no short term benefit on the mortgage markets, which is something that will come as bad news to the many first time buyers that were hoping that this would be their big chance to get onto the property ladder. First time buyers had been hoping that mortgage rates would come down and that there would be more choice available in terms of mortgages, but this is something that is unlikely to happen in the short term. Although the base interest rate has remained at its all time low of 0.5 percent the interest rates being charged on actual mortgages remain relatively higher, and for the many first time buyers that cannot afford to get together a deposit of more than 10 percent the rates are even higher. Banks have remained cautious about lending since the onset of the global credit crisis, and this caution has continued to be exercised by banks despite the fact that the nation came out of recession in the final quarter of last year. The uncertainty over leadership of the country coupled with factors such as unemployment fears means that the mortgage market is unlikely to show any improvement for the time being. One mortgage broker said that uncertainty within the market had increased in the run up to the general election, and the result of the election had simply increased this uncertainty. Although a number of reports had claimed that things were improving for first time buyers in the UK in terms of affordability, deposit levels, and mortgage choices this is something that is likely to have suffered a setback as a result of the outcome of the general election. text/html 2010-05-09T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=836-No_change_in_base_rate Despite the hung parliament that was the outcome of the general election last week the base interest rate in the UK has been kept on hold after today's Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The base interest rate is to be kept at its record low of just 0.5 percent, which is the lowest that it has been in the history of the Bank of England, and has been at this rate since March of last year. A further decision that was made at today's meeting was that no further money would be pumped into the economy by the Bank of England as part of its quantitative easing scheme, which has already amounted to a massive £200 billion since it was launched. Analysts have now predicted that for the foreseeable future the base rate will remain at its all time low enabling the economy to continue along its path to recovery. In the first three months of this year the economy is thought to have increased by 0.2 percent, although this is only an estimate and could therefore be revised upwards or downwards. This is slower than in the final three months of last year, when the economy grew by 0.4 percent, bringing the nation out of recession. There has been speculation recently about the base rate increased as a result of the level of inflation, which now stands at 3.4 percent, which is way above the government target of just 2 percent. However, analysts have now said that despite the rate of inflation the base rate is still likely to remain at its all time low for some time to come. An official from the British Chambers of Commerce said that given the state of the economy it was vital that the government did not look at increasing the base interest rate and that it considered further investment into the economy through the quantitative easing scheme. The Institute of Directors responded to the decision by stating that it made sense to keep the base rate on hold in the current climate, particularly as a result of the uncertainty that still loomed with regards to the new government. text/html 2010-05-06T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=835-New_scam_comes_to_light_following_volcanic_ash_flight_problems Over the past few weeks many travellers across the UK have had their travel plans severely disrupted after British airspace was effectively closed for a number of days due to volcanic ash that had stemmed from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Many travellers that were meant to be heading abroad had their flights delayed or cancelled and many people that were already abroad had to wait days to get back to the UK as a result of the disruption. As if the disaster itself wasn't enough for travellers to handle it has now emerged that fraudsters have used the situation to create a new scam, hoping that they can profit as a result of the misery that many people experienced during the chaos. The scam is an email and was discovered by a company in Wrexham. The email claims to be from the Civil Aviation Authority, and it tells recipients that they are entitled to compensation of up to £2000 for the delays and cancellations that they experienced. However, recipients are informed that in order to get their hands on the compensation they have to pay an administration fee. However, Scam Detectives, a company based in Wrexham has warned that the email is not from the Civil Aviation Authority and is in fact a scam. Police authorities are now getting involved in order to investigate the scam, and Charles Conway from Scam Detectives urged consumers to be careful because the emails were part of a scam. He said that anyone receiving one of the emails would be asked to pay an administration fee to get the compensation for their flight delays and cancellations but that they would never see a penny of it because the compensation did not exist. The Civil Aviation Authority has also confirmed that the emails have not come from them, despite the fact that the emails claim to be from "Frank Adam, chief consumer protection officer at the CAA". In addition to asking for an administration fee, the email also asks consumers for personal data including their passport information. text/html 2010-05-05T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=834-Interest_rates_could_rise_due_to_high_level_of_inflation Since March of last year the base interest rate has stood at its lowest level in the history of the Bank of England, having fallen to just 0.5 percent. This measure was taken in light of the huge problems that Britain was suffering because of the recession and the effects of the global financial crisis, which had left many homeowners unable to keep up with mortgage repayments and resulted in the level of repossessions soaring. However, whilst the base rate has remained at this all time low for over a year there is now speculation over how quickly it will increase. Some officials believe that the base rate may only rise to around 1 percent or 1.25 percent over the course of the next year, but others believe that it may increase to higher levels because of the high rate of inflation, which has soared to way above the government's 2 percent target, as it currently stands at 3.4 percent. Figures have shown that inflation in Britain is twice as high as in many other leading European countries, which means that consumers living in the UK are facing a far tougher time financially due to higher prices than many other Westernised countries. Whilst the level of inflation is 3.4 percent in Britain it is only 1.1 percent in Germany, 1.4 percent in Italy, and 1.6 percent in France. The figures were released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the report stated that there were only a handful of countries with higher inflation than Britain including Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, and Iceland. Over the past year the price of food in the UK is said to have increased much more sharply than in other similar countries, where in some cases food prices have only increased marginally or not at all. The cost of energy usage has also increased more in the UK than in other countries, with the prices increasing by a massive 8.5 percent over the past year compared to 4 percent in Germany and just 0.6 percent in Italy. text/html 2010-05-04T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=833-Election_results_to_affect_everyone's_finances In a recent report industry experts have claimed that the results of the election – no matter what they are – will affect everyone's finances in the UK. It is thought that whether a specific party gets into power after the general election this Thursday or whether there is a hung parliament, which many people believe will be the case, finances will be affected in a variety of different ways, some good and some bad. According to the report the election result will have an effect on the cost of home loans, which many have predicted will rise, especially in the case of a hung parliament. Experts believe that the uncertainty caused by a hung parliament will cause this surge in home loan costs, and that those coming to the end of a special deal over the next few days may want to consider fixing their mortgage for a couple of years before the increases take effect. Loss of tax relief on pensions is thought to be another side effect of the election result, which means that many pensioners could be hit in the wallets. Stockbrokers have said that the possibility of a hung parliament creates a potential 'personal finance nightmare' and could really hit higher earners who are trying to put money aside for their retirement. On a brighter note the general consensus amongst financial experts seems to be that the pound could gain strength following the election, and officials have advised anyone that may be thinking of getting foreign currency for a trip away to hold fire as the likelihood is that the rising strength of the pound will enable them to get more for their money after the election. However, this is not great news for those that may be trying to sell assets on the Continent, with advisors stating that they may wish to act quickly as a result of the Euro weakening further. The report concludes that whilst nobody can 'election proof' their finances and assets it is well worth considering whether action can be taken now to minimise the effects on individuals. text/html 2010-05-03T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=832-Banks_claim_double_dip_recession_could_stem_from_new_regulations The banking industry has claimed that new regulations that have been introduced to curb capitalism amongst banks could spark a double dip recession. The information comes from a report that has been commissioned by Britain's biggest banks, and this is said to include HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Lloyds TSB. However, despite the report from the banking industry some officials believe that the report is designed to frighten people, and is a ploy by the banking industry. A dossier has been compiled by the banking industry, but some officials believe that this could be scaremongering by the banks. The move comes after it was announced that a number of governments around the world were planning to take action to try and curb risk taking amongst banks. However, banks believe that these regulations could end up eating into profits, and as a result they have compiled this dossier. According to the report from the banking industry the measures could result in new loans to consumers and businesses having to be rationed. The industry has said that this will have a serious knock on effect on the economy and could ultimately result in a double dip recession in the UK. Support from the government has seen banks in the UK start increasing profits, but many banks are fearful that the new regulations could impact upon profits. The regulations state that banks will need to ensure that they keep a healthy figure on the balance sheets in order to provide a safeguard against the financial meltdown that has already been seen. The Liberal Democrat chancellor, Vince Cable, said recently that the scaremongering from the city at present is simply whingeing and that banks in the UK were simply starving customers and businesses of much needed finance. He added that banks needed to understand that going back to business as usual was not an option at this time. Cable said: 'Most UK banks are now holding capital far in excess of regulatory requirements and continue to pay out huge bonuses while starving solid small and medium size businesses of credit. Banks need to understand that they cannot go back to business as usual.' text/html 2010-05-02T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=831-Conservative_budget_cuts_to_hit_all_families,_warns_PM The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has warned that the budget cuts that will be put into place if the Conservative party wins the up and coming general election will hit all families. Mr Brown said that all families would find it difficult to avoid the budget cuts that the Tories would put into place. The Prime Minister outlined a number of cuts that would affect average families if the Tory Party won the election, stating that these would form part of the Conservative party's emergency budget. This included the axing of tax credits, the cutting of school and police budgets, and a reduction in the help available for students and the unemployed. The Prime Minister was making his speech in Sunderland, and claimed that pretty soon there would be no families left that had not been targeted by the Tory party budget cuts. He said that within weeks of getting into power the Tory Party would inflict damage through a series of budget cuts that would adversely affect average families. As the election draws ever closer Mr Brown has been doing all that he can to persuade potential voters that a Conservative or Liberal Democrat government would put the already fragile economy at risk, and that only Labour could make the necessary decisions and take the measures needed to ensure that the economy did not fall back into recession having only recently emerged from the deepest recession seen in many decades. He added that it was the economy that would be at stake on the May 6th elections, telling listeners that it was their future so vote for it. The Prime Minister also took the time to highlight the plans of the Labour party if it was to stay in power after the general election. In the meantime the Conservative party has accused Labour of trying to make consumers fearful about its plans if it wins the general election, and has been taking time to remind consumers of its plans with regards to helping poor and vulnerable members of society. text/html 2010-04-29T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=830-More_than_50_percent_of_adults_have_no_will A report that has recently been released by a charity has indicated that more than 50 percent of adults in the UK do not have any will in place to ensure that their loved ones are taken care of when they pass away. For many people ensuring the well being of loved ones for the future is very important, and this is why so many people take out things such as life insurance and health cover. However, the figures from the report, which was released by the charity Barnados, indicates that many adults in the UK have failed to go the extra mile and ensure that a will is in place. Without the implementation of a will the assets of the person that passes away could end up in probate and this means that some of the loved ones or chosen beneficiaries of the decedent could end up getting nothing. Whilst there are many different organisations that offer will writing services a large number of people appear to have put off making a will for reasons of their own. For many people their failure to make a will could simply be down to the cost of getting their will sorted out. However, officials are quick to point out that this could lead to real problems in the future, especially for those that have a fair amount in terms of assets yet fail to make a will. The survey was carried out amongst over 2200 adults, and a third of those responding said that they had planned to make a will but simply hadn’t got around to doing it. Many others involved in the research said that they had not bothered to make a will because they did not have any assets to leave to anyone. When it came to cohabiting coupled a massive 74 percent were found to have not made a will. The research showed that the most common reason for making a will was having a child. An official from Barnados said that the study had shown that whilst many people had every intention of making a will a huge number simply didn’t get around to doing it. text/html 2010-04-28T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=829-Complaints_handling_by_UK_banks_deemed_poor A report from the UK financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has shown that major banks in the UK are very poor when it comes to handling complaints, with five of the major UK banks having been identified as failing to provide customers with a decent service and failing to learn from the mistakes that they were making. According to the Financial Services Authority the five banks in question have been receiving around 70 percent of all financial complaints, and in addition to failing to give customers a good service in the first place have apparently been failing to learn anything from the mistakes that they have made, resulting in a consistently poor service. The banks in the most recent study that was carried out have not yet been named. However, the Financial Ombudsman Service published the names of the banks that had received the most complaints in the first half of last year, and these included the big name banks that millions of people will recognise including Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays Group, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Abbey National, which is now part of the Santander and HSBC Group. In the latest report about banking complaints the Financial Services Authority did not say whether the banks that had received the most complaints this in this report were the same as the ones that were named and shamed by the Financial Ombudsman Service last year. However, it did state that 60 percent of the complaints that against the banks in question had been upheld by the ombudsman. Coincidentally the number of complaints against the five named banks from last year that were upheld also came to 60 percent. A number of factors were identified as contributing to the poor service being offered by banks. This included lack of staff incentives, lack of senior management engagement, and lack of accountability in handling complaints. The report claimed that the banks in question had failed to enter into satisfactory correspondence with customers, and had also failed to carry out full and comprehensive investigations into complaints that were made by customers. text/html 2010-04-27T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=828-Legal_ban_imposed_on_debt_sale_company A UK debt sale company that has been at the centre of controversy for some time has been hit with a legal ban after being accused of making misleading claims to consumers with debts that made them believe that they could legally escape their debts. The company is called Credit Card Killer, and was run by husband and wife team Mr and Mrs Basil Rankine. An investigation into the company was made by Trading Standards officers, and this led to an injunction being imposed against the firm by Birmingham County Court. The firm has been accused of misleading customers with regards to how they can get out of paying their debts, and taking over £1 million in fees off customers that fell for their claims. The Rankines were allegedly telling customers that they could legally escape their debts by selling them for just one pound. They told customers that by doing this they could be free of their debt in just two weeks, and they then charged the customers a percentage of the debt that they were looking to sell and escape. Credit Card Killer was accused of running an unfair commercial practice, and the couple was banned from running their debt sale business. Many desperate consumers who were eager to get out of debt had fallen for this scam, leaving the Rankines much better off through pocketing their fees. The Office of Fair Trading said that it believed the company was a scam, and that customers had lost over £1 million in fees. The OFT added that it had been warning consumers about similar scams for some time, and that it was not possible to escape financial liabilities simply by selling the debt. The OFT added that any company that claimed that this was possible was simply looking to mislead customers and make money. The watchdog went on to state that anyone that fell for the sort of scam that the Rankines had been running were at risk of not only paying extortionate upfront fees to the company that was running the scam but could also end up having to repay the original debt to their creditors. text/html 2010-04-26T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=827-Air_fares_set_to_soar_after_volcano_chaos It has been claimed that following the volcano chaos that has affected airlines and travellers over the past couple of weeks the price of airfare is set to soar, causing even more misery for travellers across the UK. Travel industry experts have claimed that as a result of the fallout from the volcanic eruption, coupled with the soaring price of oil, travellers could find themselves being hit with airfare increase of 11.5 percent. The increases are set to be implemented in phases, and over the course of this year the cost of an average flight is set to increase by 5.2 percent, which reflect an increase of nearly £50 on the average flight. Travellers will be hit with further increases over the next couple of years, with airfares set to increase by 11.5 percent by 2012, sending the cost of the average ticket up by over £60. The data was released by officials from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, and comes as bad news for many travellers who are already struggling to afford some time out with their loved ones. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano has already caused misery for tens of thousands of Brits who were stranded abroad and couldn’t get back home due to British airspace being closed, as well as for those that had been looking forward to their holidays but could not fly out. It now appears that the repercussions of the volcano are to continue for some time, resulting in higher fares for those that want to travel. It is estimated that airlines lost around £1.3 billion as a result of European airspace closures stemming from the volcanic ash. Two thirds of this amount is set to hit European airlines, and profits for these airlines are likely to be deeply affected by the disaster. Officials said that airlines had already been suffering before the volcanic eruption as a result of the recession and the financial crisis, and this disaster had made things significantly worse for them. They added that the financial losses suffered by airlines, combined with the high cost of oil, would see airfares soaring over the next twelve to twenty four months. text/html 2010-04-25T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=826-Many_Brits_hiding_debts_from_loved_ones The situation with regards to personal debt has become worse over the last couple of years in the UK, with the global financial crisis coupled with the recession causing real financial strain for many people who have accrued more debt or have been unable to deal with the debt that they already had. Worse still, it appears that many of those that have high levels of debt are keeping the debt a secret from their loved ones, often creating additional financial strain for themselves. Figures show that a rising number of Brits that have debts are hiding their financial situations and their debts from family members and loved ones, with the level of so called 'hidden debt' thought to be standing at around £55 billion. Many of those that are hiding their debts from loved ones are struggling to make ends meet financially, with the burden of keeping their debts secret creating even more strain for them. The research was carried out by OnePoll on behalf of the Post Office, and the figures suggested that around one in every three people were hiding their debts. Over two thousand consumers were polled as part of the research, and in a breakdown of figures the results suggested that around one sixth of women kept their debts a secret and over a quarter of men keep their debts secret. There are now concerns that this situation could continue to get worse as a result of the expected increase in unemployment, and for many of those with massive hidden debts the only way out in the future may be personal insolvency. There are also concerns that if the person with debt does not come clean to their partner or family then the family home could be put at risk. One debt charity said that this was becoming an increasingly common situation, where one partner was hiding debt from the other and potentially putting the home at risk. However, officials from the charity said that anyone that was concerned could run a credit report to see if they are linked to another person's debts. text/html 2010-04-22T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=825-Good_news_for_Ryanair_travellers_over_refunds Earlier this week the massive disruption caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland started to ease, as the volcanic ash cloud that had been blocking airspace for many days started to clear. British airspace was closed for six days, and this occurred just as the Easter holidays were coming to an end leaving tens of thousands of people stranded abroad and unable to get back to the UK. In this unprecedented situation there has been confusion over what stranded travellers are to be entitled to in terms of compensation and reimbursement. The European Union told airlines that they would have to pay or provide refunds for the cost of accommodation and food for travellers who were stranded, and some airlines such as British Airways appear to have done just this. However, those that travelled with the budget airline Ryanair were left in limbo, as the Ryanair boss, Michael O'Leary, said that he would rather go to court than end up having to pay compensation to all the travellers that were stranded. O'Leary had stated that the prices that the airline charged were too low to warrant having to pay out costs for accommodation and food for those that were travelling. He said that when customers were paying prices of just thirty or forty pounds for their flights it wasn't reasonable to expect the airline to then pay hundreds of pounds per customer for their food and accommodation. Whilst the European Union passenger protection rules state that airlines have to pay reasonable costs if flights are cancelled O'Leary said that this was an unprecedented situation and the length of the disruption meant that these rules should no longer apply. He added that he wasn't sure why airlines were being expected to cover the costs for stranded UK passengers when the situation was down to the government for closing British airspace for so long in the first place. However, after facing increased pressure from authorities, and with the bad press that his decision could have resulted in, O'Leary has announced that the airline will now pay all reasonable expenses to passengers rather than limiting refunds to the price of the ticket, as had been the original plan. text/html 2010-04-21T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=824-Students_want_clarity_over_tuition_fees Over recent weeks the various political parties that are in the running for leadership when the election comes up on May 6th have been campaigning tirelessly to try and win votes, and have outlined their various strategies and policies in their respective manifestos. The Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrats have all outlined their plans and have gone into detail about various issues. However, concern has been expressed by students around the country who have said that none of the parties have provided any details about tuition fees for university students. According to reports students are now calling on the political parties to ‘come clean about tuition fees’ for university. Clarity and details over student fees for university was called for by the incoming president of the National Union of Students, Aaron Porter. The parties have been accused of hiding behind a review and avoiding the issue of student fees and university funding. Mr Porter said that the union was disappointed at the lack of debate over this issue, and another official said that students had a right to know what plans were in terms of fees and funding. Decisions with regards to university fees and funding are likely to be highly controversial given the huge number of people studying at universities across the country, and the increasing numbers of people that are expected to sign up for university. Officials are disappointed that the topic of university funding and student fees has hardly been mentioned by the political parties, despite the fact that it is such an important and relevant issue. With millions of people studying or working in higher education the policies of the parties when it comes to this issue could have a profound effect on the way in which many people vote. Student and university officials also believe that there needs to be an indepth debate with regards to student funding and university fees, because of the importance of this particular area. Whilst a review of university funding was announced last year this is not due to be reported until after the general election, by which time those that could be affected will already have cast their votes. text/html 2010-04-20T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=823-UK_inflation_increases_above_expectation The rise in the level of inflation in the UK for March has come in at above expectations according to recent reports. Increases in the cost of living are said to have pushed the inflation rate for March up to 3.4 percent which is higher than the increase that many industry officials had predicted prior to the official figures being released. According to reports the price of items such as food and clothing, as well as the rocketing price of petrol, have pushed up the Consumer Price Index, sending it soaring over and above the government's 2 percent target by a further 1.4 percent. This also reflects an increase of 0.4 percent on the rate of inflation seen in the previous month, when inflation reached 3 percent. Many had predicted that the rate of inflation for the month of March would come in at around 3.1 percent, so the actual rate of inflation was significantly higher than the rate that had been forecast. Figures were released by the Office for National Statistics, with officials from the ONS stating that the increase in inflation had been caused by prices falling a year ago and now either rising slightly or remaining stable. Household service costs are thought to have played a big part in the increase seen in March, with services such as gas experiencing price falls a year ago but remaining steady between the months of February and March this year. There are various other services and products that have seen slight price increases having fallen last year. The higher than expected rate of inflation for March has fuelled concerns that the UK could be in for a sustained period of inflation. This has also fuelled concerns that interest rates could increase, but a number of analysts have said that despite the sharp increase in inflation levels interest rates will be unlikely to increase in the short term. Although the rate of inflation for March was higher than had been expected officials have said that the level of inflation over the first quarter of this year as a whole was actually a little lower than the Monetary Policy Committee had forecast in its February Inflation Report. text/html 2010-04-19T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=822-March_sees_increase_in_mortgage_lending The Council of Mortgage Lenders has released figures showing that the level of mortgage lending increased in the UK for the month of March. The level of mortgage lending for the month is said to have reached £11.5 billion, which reflected an increase of 24 percent compared to February, where an ongoing slump from January was still being experienced. The CML figures showed that the level of lending for March of this year was also up by 3 percent compared to the same period last year, when the effects of the global credit crisis were still taking their toll. However, despite the mortgage lending levels being higher than they were in February of this year and March of last year, the CML said that mortgage lending levels were still subdued. According to officials from the mortgage group the total levels of lending for the first quarter of this year were still significantly lower than the lending levels in the first three months of last year. One CML spokesperson said that overall there had been barely any change in the situation in the mortgage markets, and this was due to increased levels of activity last year being counteracted by a drop in activity in the early part of this year, which was partly fuelled by the end of the stamp duty holiday. However, on a brighter note the CML does expect gentle and steady improvement over the course of this year, which will be driven by the government's extension of the stamp duty exemption, which now applies to properties up to £250,000 for first time buyers, and the continued low base interest rate, which has now been at a record low of 0.5 percent for thirteen consecutive months. Whilst there is normally a 'spring bounce' in the property and mortgage markets the one seen this year has been somewhat exaggerated as a result of the deeper than usual slump seen in the first couple of months of the year. In addition to the end of the stamp duty holiday affecting activity in January and February of this year it is thought that cold weather also played a part. text/html 2010-04-18T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=821-Volcanic_cloud_could_chaos_for_economies The economy of the UK, as well as other major economies around the world, is still in a very fragile state following the turbulence of the last two years, which has seen the global credit crunch wreak havoc across the nation and has seen the recession bring the economy to its knees. However, just as the UK and other countries thought that their economies were starting to recover having come out of recession in the latter part of last year there has been more bad news in the form of the volcanic ash cloud that has been making its way over from Iceland. The volcanic cloud has been causing disruption for some days now, and in an unprecedented move British airspace was closed to flights as the cloud made its way over. With the risks posed by the cloud to the engines of aircraft no chances are being taken, leaving many travellers either stranded in the UK or stranded abroad and unable to get back to the UK. Whilst the volcanic ash is already causing chaos for airports and travellers there are also concerns over how the situation will affect the economy, which is still very fragile. Airlines in the UK and across the world are losing tens of millions of pounds a day, with losses at present through to be running at £130 million a day worldwide. In addition to this many businesses who rely on overseas travel in order to operate effectively will be feeling the effects of the chaos, with many likely to be unable to run operations normally. The effect on holiday firms and tour operators is also profound, and there are warnings that many people working within the travel industry could end up losing their jobs because of the huge losses that companies are making. Whilst the news for air travellers, holiday companies, and airlines has been terrible there have been certain industries that have actually seen business increase as a result of the volcanic cloud. Car hire firms, rail companies, and ferry companies have all seen the level of business soar as desperate travellers look for alternative means of travel. text/html 2010-04-15T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=820-Consumer_confidence_takes_a_battering_in_run_up_to_election Data has shown that whilst consumer confidence levels in the UK had been improving over recent months the level of consumer confidence has plummeted after taking a u-turn in the run up to the election. The data was released by the Nationwide Building Society, and its consumer confidence index shows that confidence levels have suffered their biggest knock since July 2008. Whilst the economy has now come out of recession and the financial and property sectors seem to be showing signs of improvement there are a number of things that are through to have contributed to the drop in consumer confidence. The rising cost of petrol has had a real impact on many people, with drivers struggling to run their vehicles as prices at the pumps reach record highs. Another thing that is thought to be affecting the levels of consumer confidence is the up and coming general election, which is due to take place on May 6th. The huge level of uncertainty with regards to a clear front runner in the election has resulted in increased uncertainty about the future of the economy amongst consumers, and this has also knocked confidence levels. If there is a hung parliament, which many believe there could be, there will be no one party that has overall control, and many appear to be worried about how this will affect the country and the economy as well as how it will affect them personally. The building society said that its consumer confidence index had fallen to 72 in March after reaching a two year high of 81 in February. Officials from the building society said that optimism levels had fallen over the outlook for the coming six months, which had driven the drop in consumer confidence levels. An economist from the Nationwide said that it came as no surprise that confidence levels had fallen given the imminent general election, the fact that the nation's economy was still fragile, and that the threat of job losses remained very real for many people. text/html 2010-04-14T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=819-Brits_spending_their_way_out_of_economic_gloom Recently released figures have suggested that many Brits have been splashing the cash on luxuries despite the slow economy and financial hardship. The report suggests that in many cases Brits have been spending their way out of the economic gloom that has been hanging over the country for the last couple of years. Whilst the economy has come out of recession last it is still very fragile, and there is still a very real threat hanging over workers when it comes to the possibility of job losses. However, Brits still appear to be spending their money on things like holidays, eating out, and going out for drinks despite the financial situation. According to the figures the amount of money that Brits spend on luxuries such as eating out and holidays has doubled over the past ten years. After bills and other financial commitments have been paid Brits are using around 20 percent of their leftover income, equating to around £30 a week, on living the high life and splashing out. This comes to a total of around £75 billion a year, which is to and a half times more than a decade ago. The study was carried out by the UK Payments Council, and officials involved in the research said that when using plastic to pay for things consumers tended to spend even more recklessly, taking advantage of the ability to buy now and pay later even though this approach has landed many Brits in unmanageable levels of debt. Splashing the cash in restaurants has seen the biggest increase in the past ten years, and this was closely followed by spending in pus and bars. Spending in these areas rose to £30 billion and £23 billion a year respectively. It is thought that with the latter the longer opening hours may have attributed to the increase in spending. Spending on holidays increase by 89 percent over the past decade, with around £32 billion being spent last year even though the country was in dire straits with the effects of the global credit crunch still wreaking havoc and the recession causing problems for many households and businesses. text/html 2010-04-13T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=818-Election_may_have_led_to_increase_in_number_of_properties_on_the_market It has been suggested by officials from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors that the up and coming general election may have resulted in a higher number of properties for sale coming onto the market. The institute stated that in the run up to the May 6th election many people were unsure as to which party might win or whether the country could end up with a hung parliament, and this uncertainty had pushed more homeowners into putting their homes on the market sooner rather than later. At the start of this year the number of homes that were coming onto the market dropped, and with the end of the stamp duty holiday coupled with the cold weather the number of interested buyers also dropped. This led to a slight drop in property prices. However, the number of sellers on the market is now outstripping the number of buyers, with homes on the market reaching the highest level since May 2007 according to RICS. Officials now believe that property prices in the UK will start to stabilise, as the new stamp duty exemption threshold boosts interest in property purchasing and the election results in a greater number of properties coming on to the market. In February the number of new mortgages approved in the UK was 12 percent higher than in January, and compared to a year earlier the increase was a massive 49 percent. The Council of Mortgage Lenders was cautious about the year ahead for the property market. The mortgage group stated that there was unlikely to be much change in the property market, although it admitted that the stamp new exemption levels could increase interest from first time buyers. The group also said that trends over recent months had been difficult to identify. RICS figures showed that instructions from new property sellers had exceeded enquiries from new buyers for the third month in a row, with surveyors from the group stating that many buyers who had been unsure about selling their home had decided to put the property on the market prior to the general election. text/html 2010-04-12T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=817-Prime_Minister_unveils_Labour_Manifesto The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, today unveiled Labour's manifesto, where he highlighted some of the plans of the party. Mr Brown revealed a range of plans that the Labour party would be looking to put into place if it gets back into power after the general election, which is set to be held on May 6th. A number of different plans and promises were unleashed by Brown in the manifesto, one of which was a promise not to increase income tax for the life of the next parliament. However, at the launch of the party's election manifesto in Birmingham Gordon Brown did not rule out an increase in VAT, which could be increased to 20 percent under Labour. With no promise being made on sales tax in the same way that it was on income tax the Prime Minister sparked speculation that the party was reserving the right to increase this tax in the future should they wish to do so. Whilst Brown did not promise that VAT would not go up he did promise that the scope of VAT would remain unchanged, which means that things that are currently exempt from VAT will remain that way. Another revelation from the Labour election manifesto was the creation of a government scheme that would see those on certain benefits over a long term being taken off benefits and given work. The Prime Minister said that those that were out of work and on benefits for two years would have their benefits stopped and would instead be handed a job that they would have to take. Labour believes that this scheme could help to cut long term unemployment as well as reduce the number of benefit claimants. However, Brown is likely to face criticism over this scheme for adding to the payroll of the government at a time when it is vital to reduce public spending and deficit. In addition to this it was revealed that the scheme would end up costing tax payers around £150 million more than if the claimants were left to continue claiming benefits. text/html 2010-04-11T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=816-New_Nationwide_rules_could_affect_some_customers High Street building society Nationwide has announced that it will no longer be allowing some customers to withdraw small sums of money over the counter from June. From 7th June customers with cash cards that want to withdraw less than £100 will no longer be able to use their card and take the money out over the counter at their local branch. Officials from Nationwide have stated that they are hoping to cut down on queues by stopping those that want to take out less than £100 by banning them from doing this within Nationwide branches and instead insisting that they use cash points or other means to take out their money. However, those that have passbooks or debit cards will not be affected by the change. The building society said that there were other alternatives available to those that wanted to take out their money, and that the move is essential in order to cut down on queues. However, many people are concerned that some people could be badly affected by the changes such as pensioners that only have cash cards but feel vulnerable about taking money out from a cash point on the street. One consumer said that his father was aged eighty three and had always used the counter at Nationwide branches to take out his money. He said that the service that his father had received at branches had been excellent, and that this was something that older people needed. However, as a result of the new ruling from Nationwide he said that his father may be forced to stop making his own financial transactions due to the increased risk and vulnerability. Nationwide said that the majority of its customers were keen to see something done about the queues within branches, particularly workers who were limited for time when visiting a branch during their lunch hour or before work. He said that this was why the building society had decided to make this move and try and cut back on the number of people that were queuing to take out money that could just as easily be taken out from a machine. text/html 2010-04-08T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=815-Good_news_for_motor_industry_but_bad_news_for_drivers The motor industry has welcomed the good news that new car sales have soared in the first quarter of this year, with the sale of new cars coming in at around 26 percent higher than in the same period last year when the motor industry was at a very low ebb and struggling to make money. Officials from the motor trade have said that the recovery within the industry has gathered pace, and that the motor industry had enjoyed a more successful first quarter of the year than had been expected. Much of this success has been put down to the government's scrappage scheme, also known as the 'cash for bangers' scheme. Whilst the scrappage scheme, which enabled owners of old cars to get money off buying a new vehicle by scrapping their old one, came to an end in March the motor industry has attributed much of the interest in new cars in the first quarter of this year to the scheme. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that 397,383 new cars were registered last month, with the scrappage scheme accounting for just over 12 percent of registrations. Whilst the group admits that the coming months will be challenging given that the scrappage scheme has now come to an end officials also said that the scheme had helped the motor industry to get back on its feet and had boosted sales. However, whilst the motor industry has enjoyed renewed success over recent months drivers have not been so lucky. In addition to seeing motoring costs such as insurance premiums rise drivers have now seen the price of fuel at the pumps reach record highs, with prices now at a high of £1.20, beating the previous high seen back in July of 2008. According to reports it now takes £60 to fill the tank of an average fifty litre car, and many drivers will struggle to cope with the rise in the cost of petrol. The prices leapt to this record high just days after the first of the three petrol duty hikes of one penny was applied. text/html 2010-04-07T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=814-Bank_of_England_keeps_rates_on_hold Once again the Bank of England has announced that it is keeping the base interest rate on hold at its all time low of just 0.5 percent. The announcement was made after the April Monetary Policy Committee meeting, and the decision came as no surprise to most industry experts who had been expecting the base rate to remain on hold given that the UK has only recently existed recession and the economic and financial climate remains fragile. In addition to confirming that the base rate would be kept on hold the Bank of England also stated that there would be no further changes to the quantitative easing scheme, which has so far seen £200 billion pumped into the economy. For the foreseeable future no further money will be pumped into the economy through the quantitative easing scheme. The base rate has been at 0.5 percent since March of last year, making this the thirteenth month that the base rate has remained on hold at its all time low. Industry officials are not expecting the base rate to increase in the short term, as the economy is still on the road to recovery following the recent deep recession, which the nation only exited recently having lagged behind many other major economies that managed to come out of recession earlier than the UK. With economic growth having grown by 0.4 percent in the final quarter of last year, this is when the UK officially came out of recession. Analysts and economists have said that the economy in the UK has continued to see some growth, although recovery is likely to be slow and drawn out. For this reason it is unlikely that the base rate will be changed over the coming months. The British Chambers of Commerce also stated that the UK was seeing continued but slow recovery, reducing the risk of the double dip recession that many had been worried about. However, the BCC also said that the economy could easily suffer setbacks due to its fragility, and therefore keeping interest rates low was essential. text/html 2010-04-06T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=813-More_bad_news_for_drivers_as_oil_prices_soar Many drivers in the UK will remember how the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps soared back in the summer of 2008 when the prices of crude oil also soared to nearly $150 per barrel. This saw the cost of petrol at the pumps increase to highs of nearly £1.20 per litre, and with many drivers already suffering the consequences of the credit crisis the price increases created huge problems for many of Britain's cash strapped motorists. Based on recent reports drivers could once again find themselves in a similar situation, as figures relating to crude oil prices brought more bad news for drivers this week. The price per litre of fuel at the pumps is already extremely close to that seen in July of 2008, and just days ago drivers were hit with the first instalment of the 3 pence fuel tax that is to be applied over the course of this financial year. At the start of the month one penny of this three pence hike was applied to petrol prices. This came after the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said that he would shield Britain's motorists from sudden huge hikes on already spiralling petrol costs by staggering the fuel tax hike, adding another penny in October of this year and the final one in January of next year. However, many drivers that may have been hoping to benefit from Darling's plan to stagger the fuel duty hike will have been disappointed to learn that the cost of crude oil has increased to its highest level since October of 2008, rising to almost $87. In the past week crude oil prices are said to have increased by 8 percent. Whilst the price of crude oil is nowhere near as high as it was in July of 2008 the price of buying petrol at the pumps is almost on par with that seen in July 2008. Officials have said that this is as a result of the weak pound as well as rising crude oil prices, with £1 having bought $2 at that time whereas now it only buys $1.50. text/html 2010-04-05T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=812-Increased_tax_rate_for_high_earners_comes_into_force The start of the new financial year has brought with it bad news for higher earners in the UK, with those earning over £150,000 set to be hit by a new, higher 50 pence tax rate on all taxable earnings over and above £150,000 a year. The 300,000 highest earners in the UK are set to be affected by the new, higher tax rate and the 50 pence tax could net the government around £2.4 billion. Personal tax allowance changes will also take place for around 600,000 people that earn over £100,000, and this is set to net the government a further £1.5 billion. The government's aim is to try and boost public finances through increasing taxes for higher earners, but some industry groups have expressed concerns over how the new tax rate will affect business in the UK. According to the Institute of Directors business confidence could be seriously affected by the higher tax rate, and foreign investment as well as entrepreneurial aspirations could be affected as a result of the tax rate increase. The group has also expressed concern that many of the high earners in the UK could end up moving abroad where taxes are cheaper in order to avoid having to pay the higher rate of tax, and this could seriously affect business in the UK. The government's abilities to levy corporation tax could also be affected according to the Institute of Directors as a result of companies deciding to also move their headquarters abroad. One tax official said that the tax rate increase for higher earners could prove fruitless, as although it would mean that higher earners in the UK would be paying more tax on their earnings there would be fewer higher earners to take the tax from if there is a mass exodus of companies and individuals moving abroad. He said that people with higher earnings would either leave the UK or not come to the UK in the first place, and this would mean that the population of higher earners would come down and the government would not get as much money from the higher tax bracket as it may be expecting. text/html 2010-04-05T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=811-Mobile_phone_charges_could_drop These days having a mobile phone is no longer a luxury, but in the eyes of many people is more of a necessity. However, whilst having mobile phones provide users with convenience and ease they can also be costly to run. With many people trying to cut back on their monthly costs mobile phone bills can be a burden to deal with, but the UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, is bringing in a new ruling that could result in cheaper bills. Officials from Ofcom have announced recently that the regulator is bringing in a ruling that will force down the mobile termination charges that network providers charge to connect mobile calls. The regulator is hoping to cut these charges from 4.3 pence per minute to just 0.5 pence, which could make a big difference to overall costs. Ofcom is aiming to bring the charge down to 0.5 pence by 2015, and its decision to cut the termination rates comes following a review that was carried out last year. The regulator also said that the cut in the termination charges, which is the charge that mobile networks pass on to one another for connecting calls from one network to another, should be passed onto consumers, which would increase affordability, and should increase competition. Whilst landline users should be able to benefit from the price cuts that will result from the reduction in termination charges there is still speculation over whether mobile phone users will benefit. This is because whilst mobile network providers will save money by having to pay lower termination charges to other networks they will also lose revenue by having to cut their own termination charges. According to Ofcom consumers will be able to save a total of around £800 million over the four year period that the price cuts have been set for. However, officials from the communications giant BT have said that it could be 2015 before consumers see any savings in costs when calling mobile phones. Mobile network provider, 3, said that the measure was long overdue, and urged Ofcom to bring in the new ruling as soon as possible. text/html 2010-04-01T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=810-Tighter_credit_scoring_to_continue_for_unsecured_lending A survey of lenders has indicated that over the next few months only better quality borrowers will be able to access unsecured credit other than credit cards. The results of the survey showed that lenders were planning to be selective with regards to who they approve for loans and overdrafts, and only those with higher credit rating would be likely to be able to get this type of finance. Already this year many lenders have been more stringent when it comes to credit scoring, and according to the Bank of England banks will continue to exercise tighter credit scoring over the course of this year, and certainly over the next few months, making it difficult for those that have lower credit ratings to get overdraft facilities and personal loans. Lenders have confirmed that the availability of mortgage loans should remain steady, which is better news for those that are hoping to get their foot on the property ladder or move home. There also seems to have been some improvement in the level of lending to businesses, with business loans having increased over the first three months of this year following a turbulent twelve months since the onset of the recession. Whilst unsecured lending to consumers with less than perfect credit is likely to become restricted over the next three months the Bank of England said that corporate lending should continue to increase over the same period based on the survey of lenders. According to reports the increased lending is the result of the end of the recession, which has provided businesses with a brighter economic outlook, instilling more confidence in the banks that make loans to them. Lenders do not expect any significant changes in the property market over the coming months, which is why the supply and demand for mortgage is expected to remain steady over the next few months. The survey also showed that whilst lenders appeared to be taking more risks when it came to credit card lending the demand for credit cards actually fell in the first three months of this year. text/html 2010-03-31T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=809-Concerns_over_scrappage_scheme_expiry_amongst_motoring_industry_workers A number of officials working within the UK’s motor industry have expressed concerns over the government’s vehicle scrappage scheme coming to an end. The scrappage scheme was introduced as a result of the motor industry experiencing a real slump during the recession, and it was hoped that by offering drivers cash for trading in their old cars and buying new ones the motor industry would receive a much needed boost. The scheme did indeed prove to be a success, and the motor industry saw a sharp increase in sales as people flocked to trade in cars that were over ten years old and receive £2000 off a new, more reliable vehicle. However, the government only had a limited amount of funding to put into the scheme, and this is why it has now come to an end. However, although some officials have expressed concern over how the expiry of the scheme will affect vehicle sales the motor industry body SMMT said that it was not overly concerned as many good things had come out of the scheme. Whilst the scheme may have officially come to an end a rising number of motor vehicle companies have started up similar schemes of their own, and are offering money off new cars or in some cases nearly new cars when drivers trade in their old vehicles. This means that although the government scheme has come to an end some drivers may be able to benefit from getting money off a new car depending on where they buy the car from and whether the showroom has its own scheme in place. The government scrappage scheme has already had a positive impact on sales figures for the motoring industry since it came into play, with around 20 percent of cars sold after the launch of the scheme being put down to the scheme itself. The scheme is also thought to have supported around four thousand jobs within the motor industry and according to the SMMT it "provided a vital stimulus to the automotive sector during a difficult economic period" Figures showed that over 50 percent of those that bought a new car under the scheme had never bought a new vehicle before, despite the fact that around 60 percent of these buyers were aged over sixty. Another positive side effect of the scheme was that the rising number of people trading in old bangers and buying new cars resulted in a decrease in CO2 emission, as the new cars were far more environmentally friendly than the older ones. text/html 2010-03-30T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=808-Ombudsman_wants_lettings_agents_to_be_regulated In his latest annual report the Property Ombudsman in the UK has stated that lettings agents need to be regulated in order to protect both tenants and landlords. The ombudsman, Christopher Hamer, said in his report that the number of complaints relating to lettings agents in the UK had soared, and this warranted proper regulation of this group so that consumers were better protected. According to the figures in his report the number of complaints against lettings agents last year increased from 28 percent to 49 percent, reflecting an increase of over 20 percent. With the mortgage market so restricted over the past couple of years the increase in complaints could be partly due to the fact that more people have had to resort to renting rather than buying due to lack of mortgage finance and therefore more people had dealing with these agents. The ombudsman’s report also showed that the number of complaints relating to estate agents actually feel during this period, and once again this was put down to fewer people buying properties and therefore dealing with estate agents due to difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance in the difficult climate. The lack of sales over the past year also saw many homeowners deciding to let their homes rather than trying to sell them, and this also affected the increase in letting agent complaints and the decrease in estate agent complaints. The ombudsman stated that over the past year his workload had decreased by around 15 percent because of the decline in estate agency complaints, which he said was inevitable given the state of the market over the past year. Around 90 percent of estate agents are signed up to the Property Ombudsman scheme because they are legally obliged to be registered with an official redress scheme. This is not the case with lettings agents, and whilst many are signed up to the Property Ombudsman scheme there are also many others that set their own rules for what they believe to be a fair and appropriate service. Hamer said that the responsibility of the Property Ombudsman was to deal with estate agent complaints that had not been satisfactorily concluded, and this is what he wanted to see come into place with lettings agents. text/html 2010-03-29T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=807-Homebuyer_mortgages_fall_for_third_consecutive_month Recently released figures have shown that mortgages for home buyers in the UK have fallen for the third consecutive month, with the revival of the property market continuing to be sluggish. The poor figures for February have been blamed on a continuation of the slump seen in January, which stemmed partly from the stamp duty holiday coming to an end. The end of last year saw the expiry of the stamp duty holiday that had enabled buyers to be exempt from stamp duty on properties up £175,000 rather than the standard £125,000. Because many buyers were aware that the increased stamp duty threshold was coming to an end at the end of last year many rushed through purchases in the latter part of 2009 so that they could benefit from the stamp duty exemption before it came to an end. This resulted in an unusually sluggish January at the start of this year, and this slump appears to have continued into February based on mortgage lending figures for property purchasers. According to Bank of England figures just over 47,000 mortgages were approved for property purchases for the month of February. This was around 20% less than the recent peak seen in November of last year, which is when many people were pushing sales through in order to benefit from the stamp duty holiday. Industry officials are also still blaming the cold weather than was seen in the first couple of months of this year for the sluggish figures. Some also believe that affordability has a big part to play in the poor lending figures for the months, with increased house prices in some areas affecting the affordability of some potential buyers. Restrictions in the mortgage market are also still in place, and whilst some reports have indicated that conditions are easing banks are still being stringent about who they hand mortgages out to and are still asking for substantial deposits from buyers. The figures also showed that mortgage lending was currently running at around two thirds of the levels seen prior to the onset of the global financial crisis, and some industry experts believe that activity in the property market could remain unstable over the course of this year. text/html 2010-03-28T23:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=806-Investment_financial_advisors_will_no_longer_receive_commission According to recent reports the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, is putting regulations into place that will see financial advisors that sell investment policies being banned from receiving commission. The changes are to take place in 2012, and will mean that these financial advisors will no longer be able to take commission for any investment policies that they sell to consumers. The topic of these financial advisors receiving commission has been a controversial one, as there are concerns that commission based sales could have been resulting in massive mis-selling of investment policies. Officials believe that the new ruling could revolutionise the market and could put an end to mis-selling. The FSA said that the new rules would remove any commission bias involved in the sale of investment policies, and would mean that firms would have to be more upfront about their own actual costs for advice rather than basing the cost on the cost of the actual product. The new regulations will apply to investments such as unit trusts and pensions, but will not apply to insurance policies and mortgages. When the rules come in from 2012 these financial advisors will have to ensure that they charge their customers for their services directly, and this means that they will have to be upfront and honest about the amount that they charge for their advice. The FSA said that this would give consumers greater peace of mind, as they would know that the product that was being recommended was the one that was best suited to their needs rather than being the one that earned the financial advisor the most commission. The regulator also said that the new rules would mean that firms had to base their recommendations on an effective analysis of the market and on what would be in the best interests of the consumer, as they would have nothing to gain from recommending a more costly product or one that would have otherwise earned them a higher amount of commission. It is believed that both independent financial advisors and banks could be affected by the new regulations. text/html 2010-03-26T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=805-Darling_announces_staggered_petrol_duty_hike In his pre-election budget report this week the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the scheduled hike in petrol tax, which was due to be imposed in April, will now be staggered in order to improve affordability for drivers. Many drivers are already struggling due to the rocketing cost of petrol and diesel, and for those that rely on their vehicles to get around and travel to and from work the cost of travelling has become a real problem. In his budget speech Alistair Darling said that in order to try and improve affordability for the many struggling drivers in the UK he would not impose the full petrol duty increase in one go. Instead he said that he would ease the financial strain for drivers by spacing out the scheduled three pence petrol duty hike. Darling plans to do this by increasing the duty by a penny in April, which is when the full petrol duty hike of three pence was due. Darling will then increase petrol duty again by another penny in October of this year, and the remaining penny that will make up the scheduled rise in duty will come in January of next year. This, according to the chancellor, will help to avoid sudden sharp increases in price at the petrol pumps. However, many motorists are unhappy that there is going to be a petrol duty increase at all given the already soaring price of petrol. Alistair Darling also appeared on the popular daytime television show This Morning the day after his budget speech, and was asked by a viewer why he was increasing the duty on petrol when prices were so high already. Darling responded by saying that the price of petrol had gone up because the price of oil had increased again, but that staggering the increase in duty would mean that motorists did not feel the financial pinch as much. An official from the motoring group, the AA, said that spacing out the petrol duty hike would help to avoid sudden sharp increases at the pumps in April, but he added that motorists would still be hit hard even by the penny increase on what were now record prices at the petrol pumps. text/html 2010-03-25T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=804-Another_stamp_duty_holiday_announced_in_budget At the end of last year the suspension of stamp duty on properties up to the value of £175,000 came to an end, and the exemption one again became applicable only to properties up to the value of £125,000. However, Yesterday's budget brought good news for many first time buyers, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announcing that the stamp duty exemption would once again be increased but this time on properties up to the value of £250,000. The measure is once again a temporary one but the chancellor stated that it would last for at least two years this time. However, the stamp duty holiday on properties up to this value will only be applicable for first time buyers. The saving for those purchasing their first property could be up to £2500 depending on the value of the property that they are buying, and the news will be welcomed by many first time buyers hoping to save money on the cost of property purchase. However, the news is not so good for wealthier buyers, as the shortfall that will come from the higher exemption bracket for first time buyers is to be made up through increases on stamp duty for those purchasing more expensive properties. Darling announced that those purchasing a property for £1 million or more would have to pay stamp duty of 5 percent, and this would mean a stamp duty bill of at least £50,000 for these buyers. The new exemption levels are to be brought in immediately although the increase for those purchasing high value homes will not come in until the 2011/2012 tax year. It was also announced that the exemption will not be available to those that have ever owned a home in the UK before, so only true first time buyers will be able to benefit from the new measures. Any property that is up to a value of £125,000 is exempt from stamp duty as standard, but until now those purchasing a property between £125,000 and £250,000 had to pay stamp duty of 1 percent of the property value, which meant a bill of up to £2500. text/html 2010-03-24T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=803-Bank_accounts_to_be_made_available_for_all_as_part_of_budget It has been revealed that the forthcoming budget will include plans that will make banks in the UK legally responsible for the provision of at least basic banking facilities for all. The plans have been included in the budget as part of the government's aim to try and deal with financial exclusion according to industry officials. The reason for the measures being included in the budget is that whilst many people are able to get things such as current accounts and packaged accounts there are also many people, such as those with poor credit or on lower incomes, that are not able to access banking facilities, thus resulting in them being excluded from these services. A Treasury task force recently reported that there were around one and three quarter million consumers in the UK that had no access to a bank account through which they could conduct transactions. However, whilst the government has decided to include this issue in its budget the British Banker's Association has claimed that things have improved in terms of financial exclusion when it comes to bank account access. The BBA claims that anyone can have a bank account as long as they are legally entitled to have one. It also claims that over recent years the banking industry in the UK has been working closely with government officials to make sure that more people have access to bank account service, thus cutting the number of people without bank account access by around 50 percent and reducing the level of financial exclusion. In 2003 the banking industry launched a commitment to 'universal banking' since which time around eight million people have opened basic bank accounts. With basic bank accounts consumers are able to conduct transactions such as direct debits and standing orders as well as other basic facilities but do not get facilities such as overdrafts and cheque books. Some do not get debit cards, but are instead issued with bank cards that can be used to make withdrawals. One report claimed that it was unlikely that the banking industry would be impressed with being forced into providing bank accounts to anyone who could prove their address, and that they would view this as a bureaucratic move. text/html 2010-03-23T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=802-Age_Concern_highlights_discrimination_by_insurance_industry In a recent report the combined charity Age Concern and Help the Aged has highlighted how age discrimination is becoming increasingly rife within the insurance industry. The group has now called for the government to take action and put an end to the discrimination within this sector, which it claims is getting worse. The charity claims that around 50 percent of all motor insurance companies will not consider taking on customers that are aged eighty and over, and this is regardless of the state of their health or well-being. The report also claimed that in cases where the insurance firm was prepared to accept an older consumer the cost of cover was far higher. One spokesperson from the charity, Andrew Harrop, said that it could be difficult to get insurance cover in some cases from the age of sixty five onwards, but that this type of discrimination was unfair because it not only sent out a harmful message but it also put restriction on the lives of consumers. He said that the government needed to take action to ensure that people of all ages were catered for by the insurance industry. It is not only in the motor insurance industry that these problems have been highlighted, and the charity said that many older people find it difficult or impossible to get insurance such as travel cover. The group said that this made it difficult for many elderly people to get around and visit friends and relations during a period in their lives that they had time to do this. It also restricted many older people from enjoying holidays abroad. However, the Association of British Insurers claims that the situation has, in fact, improved over recent years, and that older consumers are able to get better prices on insurance cover these days because the market is competitive. He added that pricing was not simply plucked out of thin air, and that premiums for cover were calculated based on risk and past claims history. He added that people that were aged eighty and over were at least eight times more likely to make a claim on travel insurance cover than those aged up to sixty five. text/html 2010-03-22T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=801-First_time_buyers_still_need_to_find_substantial_deposit There have been a number of reports in circulation recently claiming that the number of mortgage deals on the market aimed towards first time buyers has increased, and figures have shown that there are now around four hundred deals available for those with a deposit of 15 percent, which is now considered relatively low considering lenders have been asking for huge deposits from borrowers. However, whilst the number of mortgage products that accept a deposit of 15 percent may have increased figures have shown that the average first time buyer will still need to find around £50,000 in order to get a mortgage and get onto the property ladder. For many first time buyers finding this sort of money will prove impossible, and this means that many are still frozen out of the property market. Whilst an easing of mortgage restrictions and an increase in mortgage products should in theory have made it easier for the many first time buyers that have been struggling to get onto the property ladder over the past couple of years, the amount that is required by way of a deposit based on property prices and lending criteria means that for many this is a dream that is still out of reach. The deposit was calculated based on the latest affordability and house price index from FindaProperty.com, and officials from the firm said that the gap between the amount of deposit that first time buyers needed to raise and the amount that they could borrow had narrowed. A survey was carried out showing that around 50 percent of first time buyers that were polled said that it was not being able to afford monthly repayment that stood in their way of homeownership but the amount of deposit that they needed to raise. One industry official said that house prices were starting to show an upwards trend, and this could mean that first time buyers would find it increasingly difficult to raise the deposit that they needed in order to buy their own homes. He added that at present there were around 12 percent fewer entry level homes on the market than there were twelve months ago. text/html 2010-03-19T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=800-Mortgage_lending_activity_to_be_unstable_over_coming_months A report has been released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, suggesting that over the coming months mortgage lending activity in the UK is likely to be unstable and will continue to fluctuate. This comes after figures were released showing that after a particularly slow start to the year mortgage lending levels increased in February. The figures showed that mortgage lending levels increased by around 6 percent in February compared to January, with the value of mortgage lending for the months coming at an estimated £9.2 billion. The slowdown in January was not unexpected, as it is a common trend due to seasonal factors, but the extent of the slowdown was more severe than usual as a result of the end of the stamp duty holiday and the cold weather. Lenders have now announced that lending activity is likely to be uneven over the next few months, which means that figures and mortgage lending levels could fluctuate from one month to another. The level of mortgage lending for February of this year is said to be significantly lower than the average seen in February of last year, and reflected a 6 percent drop compared to the same month in 2009. An economist from the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that figures suggested that activity in the property market is still at low levels and that mortgage lending remained weak. He added that the end of the stamp duty holiday had pushed lending levels to lower than normal levels in January, and this explained the unusual increase seen this February. The CML also said that whilst confidence in the UK economy is expected to grow, failure to tackle the fiscal deficit could slow down recovery of the economy to some extent. The agency said that combined with a squeeze on banks' and building societies' mortgage funding this would most likely mean an uneven market over the coming months. A spokesperson for the CML went on to state that there were expectations of fluctuations in property prices as well as activity and lending levels over the coming months, and this was the result of short term weakness and distortion in the market. text/html 2010-03-18T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=799-OFT_calls_for_customers_to_opt_out_of_overdrafts The Office of Fair Trading has apparently called for consumers in the UK to be able to opt out of bank overdrafts, stating that banks need to provide customers with the option of taking one of these ‘opt out’ account so that they can reduce the risk of running up debt and incurring charges. The recommendation comes as part of a package of measures that has been proposed by the watchdog. One of the main reasons that the OFT wants accounts that will enable consumers to opt out of the overdraft facility is because it means that if consumers try to make transactions that would take them over their limit the transaction would be refused, and this would mean that the accountholder did not get into debt and did not incur costly bank charges. The OFT recently revealed its recommendations with regards to bank charges, with the opt out bank accounts being one of the measures recommended for consumers that do not want arranged overdrafts and want to try and avoid overdraft fees and charges. The OFT also made recommendations relating to providing more choice for consumers when it came to charging structures. The recommendations from the OFT included calls to bring the charges relating to overdrafts down, but the watchdog revealed that these charges had already been falling to some degree. Following the High Court battle between the OFT and the banking industry relating to overdraft charges – which the OFT ultimately lost – the average fee for unauthorised overdraft use has dropped from £30 to £22. Whilst the OFT had to admit defeat in relation to the High Court battle with the banks, officials from the agency have said that its investigation into the current accounts market has already resulted in significant changes that could lead to continued improvement for consumers. The agency said that it had found that some banks had already made improvements to the way in which customers were charged and the amounts that they were being charged, and that these changes had been welcomed by consumers and campaign groups. text/html 2010-03-17T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=798-More_protection_in_place_for_UK_credit_card_users Following calls for consumers that use credit cards in the UK to be offered greater protection from rising debts a number of new proposals have been brought in this week, although the protection provided is not as great as many had hoped that it would be. The measures have been put into place after the government made proposals that were met with a lengthy document from the credit card industry defending the methods that it used. Under the new proposals credit card users will be given a period of sixty days within which to reject changes in interest rates that the provider makes on their existing credit card debt. Consumers will also be able to opt out of credit card interest increases applied to their accounts. Original proposals had included increasing the minimum repayment that credit card users would have to pay on their debts to help them to repay the debt more quickly, but this proposal has been dropped and borrowers will need to continue making the minimum repayment requested by their individual lenders. However, there have been changes made for new account holders, whereby their credit card providers will have to charge them a minimum repayment that covers at least the interest, fees, and charges, plus 1 percent of anything spent on the card. The Consumer Minister, Kevin Brennan, said that there had been concerns amongst consumers that they may not be able to afford repayments of the minimum repayment was increased too much, and that this could be a particular problem for those with several different credit cards. The final agreement to changes within the credit card industry has been formed out of a combination of the government’s original proposals and proposals put forward by lenders themselves. The changes are set to come into force at the start of next year, and some of the changes will include ensuring that the most expensive credit card debt is paid off first, banning credit limit increases for those that are struggling financially, and providing consumers with more freedom to reject or opt out of credit card interest increases. Consumers that decide to reject any increases in the credit card interest rate on their existing debts within the sixty day period will have to then close their accounts, but reasonable time must be given to them by the credit card provider to allow them to pay off the balance on their cards. text/html 2010-03-16T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=797-Millions_of_pounds_in_refunds_still_with_taxman As many people will be only too aware the taxman never seems too willing to wait around when money is owed to the tax office by consumers. However, according to a recent report the tax office is currently sitting on millions of pounds in refunds that are owed to consumers in the UK. Accusations have now been made against the tax office of deliberately sitting on money that is meant to have been refunded to consumers. A national newspaper reported that there was evidence of many tax refunds being delayed, both in terms of general claims for tax refunds and with regards to settlement cheques that had already been agreed. There have even been accusations that the tax office may be sitting on these payments because of its own financial problems. One accountant said that his firm was finding it very difficult to get any tax refunds out of the tax office, even in cases where they had been agreed, and that the taxman was finding any excuse to just sit on the money. He said that the greater the amount of money the more difficult it was to get it from the tax office, and that the delays were costing consumers money and accountants time. The accountant added that the tax office seemed to have the attitude that once money was in its bank account it belonged to them but that in fact much of it legally belonged to people that were waiting on refunds. He said that he wasn’t sure whether the problems were occurring due to sheer incompetence or deliberate strategy on the part of the tax office. According to reports delays are caused by the tax office insisting on carrying out a string of additional security checks, which many believe are unnecessary and are simply delay tactics. The problems with delayed refunds were highlighted in a report last summer, after which the tax office promised to make improvements to its refunds procedure. However, according to reports little has changed and huge delays are still being experienced on a widespread basis. text/html 2010-03-15T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=796-Online_shoppers_warned_about_clicking_on_links These days, with so many people having access to broadband in the home, more and more of us are doing all sorts of shopping online, from buying specialist products and gifts to purchasing the weekly or monthly groceries. Many people are now confident about using websites to shop and are happy to enter their credit card details in the knowledge that they are using a secure site. And in most cases people don't think twice about clicking on another link on the website that they are on if there is something of interest, such as a special deal or offer. However, a warning has been issued by the Information Commission urging online shoppers to be careful about clicking on links even if they are using a secure site. This is because the links are sometimes for special deals and offers from companies that charge a fee for the service or product, but often the consumer fails to realise that there is a charge and thinks that they are getting a free trial or product. Even if the consumer does not enter any card details when clicking on the link there is a chance that the original website, if they have made a purchase and entered their card details into that site, will pass the payment card details onto the other company. Consumer may then find that money is taken from their accounts for a product or service that they thought they were getting for free or on a free trial basis. One customer explained that she made a purchase from a website and then clicked on a link for a free thirty day trial of another service. As she had not given any card details to the second company she did not expect any money to be taken after the thirty day free trial. However, the original website passed her card details on, and subsequently she found that money was taken from her account when the free trial period ended. The Information Commission said that whilst companies and website had a responsibility to make it clear that they passed on card details and that money may be taken from the customer's account, consumers also needed to be vigilant and check the small print before clicking on any links. text/html 2010-03-12T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=795-Repossessions_could_increase_due_to_rate_increases_and_property_price_falls The financial regulator in the UK, the Financial Services Authority, has warned recently that there could be a further surge in repossessions in the UK in the event that interest rates increase or property prices fall significantly. The FSA has warned that shock interest rate increases or property price falls could see millions of families put at risk of losing their homes. Over the past couple of years concerns over repossession levels have been soaring, and the government has been putting various measures into place to ensure that repossession action is used as a last resort by the banks in the UK. Whilst the situation has eased off as a result of improvements in the property market and the rock bottom base interest rate, which has been at an all time low of just 0.5 percent for a year, the FSA is concerned that this could quickly be reversed of interest rates surge or property prices start to fall again. Officials from the FSA have said that the families that are most at risk are those that have failed to pay off their debts, and could therefore be hard hit in terms of their finances if interest rates go up or property prices fall. Many young professionals who took out mortgage loans that were many times their income in order to get onto the property ladder could find themselves in risk of losing their homes, as could those that have been living beyond their means through the use of loans and credit cards. Many middle class families could find their income slashed and their finances deeply affected by any increase in interest rates, a further house price crash, or from rising unemployment. Many may find that this leads to them being unable to keep on top of their mortgage repayments, and this could eventually result in them losing their homes and could push repossession figures back up. The warning comes after it was revealed that millions of people that are desperate for credit have been applying for credit cards, with some charging interest rates of an astonishing 60 percent. These are amongst the groups that are most likely to suffer in the event that their finances are affected by interest rates, house prices, and job losses. text/html 2010-03-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=794-FSA_issues_warning_on_packaged_bank_accounts The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has issued a warning over packages bank accounts, which are accounts that major UK banks offer under different names. With packages bank accounts customers are charged a monthly banking fee in exchange for a package of benefits bolted onto their current account. Some of the benefits include commission free travel money, travel insurance, pet insurance, vehicle breakdown cover, preferential overdraft and loan rates, and more. However, the FSA is warning that many of these packages bank accounts may have been mis-sold to customers, and that many may not be getting value for money on the accounts. It is estimated that 15 percent of adults already have these packages accounts, but many of these may be paying more for having a packaged bank account than they would pay for the individual services that they actually use out of the benefits offered with the accounts. For example, many of those that take out packaged current accounts with their banks will only every use one or two of the benefits that come with the account and therefore may be paying far more each year for having a packaged account than they would pay if they had a standard free current account and simply paid for the one or two services that they use on the open market. The FSA said that whilst some consumers may benefit from having a packaged bank account many may find that they are not benefitting at all financially from having one of these accounts. Moreover, the FSA expressed concern that some of the benefits that came with the packaged accounts, such as insurance cover, may not provide adequate levels of cover in the same way that insurance purchased individually would provide. The warning was issued in the Financial Risk Outlook for 2010 published by the FSA. With the recession only just over and the effects of the credit crunch still wreaking havoc in the financial sector there are concerns that some banks may try and increase revenue by pushing services such as packaged accounts. The FSA has said that the increased push on such products could results in more people that do not fully understand the terms and benefits of the service agreeing to sign up even though they will not really benefit. text/html 2010-03-10T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=793-Savers_being_penalised_through_rock_bottom_base_rate The recent news that the Bank of England base interest rate was to remain at its all time low level of 0.5 percent for the twelfth month in a row will have been welcomed by millions of borrowers across the country, many of whom will be relieved to hear that their borrowing costs are not going to soar as a result of rising interest rates. However, the same cannot be said of the savers in the country, who are said to outweigh borrowers by seven to one. According to recent reports millions of savers have suffered financial losses over the past year leaving the average saver around £600 worse off over the course of the year. Campaign groups claim that savers have been hit with the worst returns on their finances in history, and the decision to keep the base rate on hold yet again would add to their misery. Research has shown that there are now no instant access accounts that offer savers interest that beats inflation, and to make matter worse some industry experts are stating that the base rate cuts have not actually helped the economy as much as had been hoped. The campaign group Saver our Savers has now stepped in and expressed its concern over the way in which savers are suffering and will continue to suffer for the foreseeable future. Save our Savers is concerned that many of the savers in Great Britain are pensioners, and many of them rely on the interest from their life savings to get by financially. A spokesperson for the group said that savings interest rates were 'pitiful' and that the group along with savers felt betrayed and angry. He said that since the global credit crunch frustration amongst savers had turned into anger. The group also went on to state that whilst it was not savers that had caused the collapse of the financial systems it was once again savers that were being penalised , with many watching their savings dwindle away and others unable to make their finances stretch far enough because of the lack of interest being paid on their money. text/html 2010-03-09T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=792-Failure_to_return_faulty_goods_costing_Brits_a_fortune Millions of people in the UK go out shopping or get online to purchase goods only to find that they are faulty when we get them home or when they are delivered. However, a recent report has shown that an alarming number of us fail to take any action about the fact that the goods are faulty, and for one of a number of reasons we just keep the goods in the home even though they may be faulty to the point where they cannot be used. A poll was carried out by the Department of Business showed that every year the faulty goods cost the average consumer £78 a year, and over the course of the average lifetime this works out to a massive £5000. There are a number of reasons why people are thought to be failing to return faulty goods, and this includes being too nervous or worried to return the goods, feeling intimidated about making returns, or feeling embarrassed. The poll that was carried out by the Department of Business found that over 50 percent of respondents had at least one faulty item at home that they had failed to return to the retailer. The results of the research showed that smaller, lower value items were most likely to be kept by consumers rather than being returned. The most complained about items with regards to faults were second hand cars. The survey involved polling three thousand people, and in a breakdown of the results it was shown that men were more likely to lose more money by failing to return faulty goods compared to women. Then average annual loss for men as a result of failure to return these goods was £89 whereas for women the average annual loss was £71. The research formed part of a campaign that is aimed at educating shoppers about their rights. The Consumer Minister Kevin Brennan said that it was important that consumers did not lose out financially simply because they were not aware of their rights. He added that it was important for consumers to learn more about their rights so that they could be confident about returning faulty goods. text/html 2010-03-08T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=791-Home_ownership_numbers_set_to_fall The Council of Mortgage Lenders has recently released a report indicating that the number of people in the UK that own their own homes is set to decline over the coming years. A number of factors have stood in the way of consumers owning their own properties over recent years, and according to the CML this will be reflected in the declining number of owned homes across the nation. Since 2005 homeownership number have been in decline according to government figures, and in 2008-2009 the number of owned homes in England came to just under 68 percent. This was the lowest level of homeownership since the 1980s based on statistics, and the situation could continue to get worse based on the CML report. A number of factors are likely to affect homeownership numbers according to the CML, and this includes a rationing of mortgages as well as a lack of new homes. A spokesperson from the CML said that appeared that the lack of availability of homes and mortgage finances would be difficult to avoid for the foreseeable future. The CML went on to state that first time buyers would continue to face challenges when it came to the deposit levels that lenders were demanding, and that this would contribute to the falling level of homeownership. Whilst some lenders have reduced deposit demand slightly many first time buyers are still struggling to raise the required funds due to lack of savings. Further data was recently revealed in the English Housing Survey, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The data showed that in 2005 homeownership numbers stood at a peak of 14,791,000. However, by 2008-2009 there had been a drop of 170,000, taking homeownership numbers to 14,621,000. Figures also showed that there had been a sharp increase in the number of people that were privately renting their homes, with numbers rising from just over two million back in 2001 to more than three million in 2008-2009. Again, this increase has been attributed to the mortgage rationing that has been taking place since the onset of the global financial crisis. text/html 2010-03-05T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=790-Acceleration_of_new_car_sales_in_February Although the end of the government's car scrappage scheme is now imminent the motor industry still appears to be benefitting from the scheme, although this may change in the second half of this year when the scheme is no longer in operation. According to figures new car sales increased again in February, with new registrations for the month coming in at 68,686. This figure reflected an increase of 26.4 percent compared to registrations seen in February of 2009, when the motor industry was suffering a real downturn. Car sales had plunged in the early part of 2009 with the recession still in full swing and the effects of the ongoing financial crisis still affecting consumers' finances and abilities to make big ticket purchases. As a result of plunging sales the government launched the car scrappage scheme, where drivers were able to get £2000 off a new car if they scrapped their old cars providing they had owned the old car for at least twelve month and the vehicle was at least ten years old. The scheme quickly became a hit, and the motor industry started to see sales increase again as drivers rushed to take advantage of the scheme before the money ran dry. The figures for this February are impressive compared to the same period last year, but the effects that the financial crisis and the recession have had on the motor industry are evidence when the figures are compared to average sales levels for the months of February between 1999 and 2009, with sales being 12.2 percent below the average for that particular month over this period. This year nearly 20 percent of car sales for the month of February were down to the car scrappage scheme according to the Society of Motor manufacturers and Traders. Prior to the scheme being launched motor sales and demand had been falling for fifteen consecutive months. However, as a result of the scheme there have now been eight consecutive months of growth in the industry and this is expected to continue for some time. text/html 2010-03-04T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=789-Base_rate_stays_on_hold_for_twelfth_month The Bank of England has announced today that the base interest rate is to remain on hold at 0.5 percent. The news comes following the earlier Monetary Policy Committee meeting, and marks the twelfth consecutive month that the base interest rate has been at 0.5 percent, which is the lowest level it has ever been in the history of the Bank of England, which spans well over three hundred years. With the UK having only recently come out of recession, and with the growth that brought the country out of recession being so slight, the decision to keep the base rate on hold was widely expected by industry experts. Many economists had predicted that the base rate would be kept on hold because the risk of damaging the fragile economy in the UK by increasing interest rates was too high. There was no surprise in the central bank's decision not to pump any more money into the economy through its quantitative easing scheme. The bank of England has pumped £200 billion into the economy through the QE scheme so far, but indicated last month that it would be put on hold for the moment whilst authorities took stock of what positive effects the scheme had resulted in so far. It had been estimated that the economy grew by 0.1 percent in the final three months of last year, which brought the nation out of recession. Many had been concerned over the low level of growth, with worries that this could result in a double dip recession. However, official figures have now revealed that the actual growth for the final quarter of 2009 was 0.3 percent. Despite actual growth for the final quarter being greater than the growth that had been estimated there are still concerns that further economic growth is by no means guaranteed and the economy in the UK is still very fragile. This, combined with other factors, will have impacted on the decision of the Bank of England and the Monetary Policy Committee to keep the base rate on hold. text/html 2010-03-03T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=788-Contactless_credit_cards_can_be_used_to_make_higher_value_purchases Over the past eighteen months a number of banks and payment card providers have launched contactless credit and debit cards, and these are cards that can be used to make purchases without the cardholder having to enter any PIN or provide a signature for the purchase. The cards work by placing them close to specialist sensors installed by retailers, and the money is then debited from the account of the cardholder. Many consumers have taken to these contactless payment cards because they allow greater freedom, ease, and flexibility. They also speed things up for both the consumer and the retailer when it comes to dealing with transactions. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud using contactless credit and debit cards the maximum transaction limit placed on the cards was £10. It has now been decided that the maximum spend limits for transactions made on these contactless cards is to be increased slightly, and is going up from £10 to £15. Whilst the increase is not huge, it does offer consumers the opportunity to make higher value purchases without the need to enter a PIN or sign a receipt, and it brings the maximum limit closer to that used in the Eurozone with contactless credit cards, which is 25 Euros at present. The decision to increase the spend limit on these contactless credit cards was made following a request from the payment card giants Visa and Mastercard. The banking industry has agreed to the increased limits, which means that cardholders will be able to enjoy greater choice and flexibility when making purchases on their contactless credit cards. The cards have already proven popular amongst consumers, and it is thought that by the end of this year around one in seven consumers will have a contactless credit card. The move to increase the limits on these cards has been welcomed by the banking industry, and one official from Barclays stated that consumers would find using the cards even more convenient as a result of the limit increase. He added that the increase could result in more retailers taking on this technology, which was important because contactless technology was the future of making payments. text/html 2010-03-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=787-Hundreds_of_thousands_working_weekly_overtime_for_no_pay It has been revealed in a recent report that hundreds of thousands of people have been working overtime on a weekly basis but receiving no pay for the extra work that they have been doing. The report suggests that almost nine hundred thousand workers may be putting in more than ten hours of overtime each week without getting paid for it. The data comes from the annual survey of working hours, which was released late last week by the TUC. The figures suggested that the average number of hours that many workers were putting in without pay came to around eighteen. The report from the TUC also showed the professions in which workers were most likely to do unpaid overtime. It showed that those most likely to do this were lawyers and teacher, with 20 percent of people in these professions putting in around seventeen hours a week extra without pay. The TUC stated that compared to the previous year the number of people that put in unpaid overtime in 2009 went up by a massive fourteen thousand. The report showed that 25 percent of public sector employees did unpaid overtime last year, with the amount of unpaid overtime carried out by these employees amounting to nearly £9 billion value. This compared to one in six employees in the private sector doing overtime for nothing. The research also showed that the group most likely to work unpaid overtime were single females. The TUC said that whilst there had been an increase in the number of people that were classed as under-employed – which refers to those that wish to work more hours but can't do so due to restrictions such as cutbacks by their employer – the amount of unpaid overtime being worked had risen. Nearly three million workers are thought to want more hours or want full time work rather than part time work. It is thought that many workers may be putting in overtime without pay because they do not want to risk losing their jobs, and with companies still reeling from the recession many workers are doing what they can to help out. text/html 2010-03-01T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=786-UK_claims_management_company_under_investigation It has been claimed in recent reports that one of the biggest claims management companies in the UK is under investigation by the Ministry of Justice, although the company has denied that it is under investigation. It has been reported that the Ministry of Justice is investigating Cartel Client Review. The company deals with trying to get the debts of consumers written off by finding mistakes in the credit agreements that are issued by lenders when the borrower takes the finance out. According to reports the decision to launch an investigation into the company was made following a number of complaints that were made by consumers. Cartel charges customers £495 by way of an upfront fee to help them to escape their debts, and customers have been told that their debts will be resolved within 6-12 months. However, customers have complained that they have been waiting two years in some cases and still nothing has been resolved. Some customers claim to have paid hundreds or even thousands of pounds to the company in order to get their loans and credit cards written off or to get compensation on their mortgages. One woman claims she paid £500 to the company and was told she stood to get thousands of pounds in compensation on her mortgages. She was told that this would take between 3 and 9 months to resolve, but two years later she is still waiting. This is despite the fact that she was told that if there was no success in getting compensation she would get all of her upfront fee back apart from £10. It appears that a number of customers have found themselves in similar situations with Cartel despite the fact that the company's terms and conditions state that the upfront fee is refunded if the claim is not successful. Representatives from Cartel have stated that there has never been an issue with refunds, and the only reason that there have been some delays is because the company has been waiting on judgements in court. It was also found that once cases had initially been assessed by Cartel they were passed on to a firm of solicitors to deal with. The cases were colour coded based on the likelihood of success, with green coded ones being ones that were very unlikely to succeed when it came to making a claim. One worker from the solicitors where the cases were sent has now revealed that 99.9 percent of the cases that were passed on to them were coded green, which meant that the claim was pretty much certain to fail. text/html 2010-02-26T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=785-Banks_receive_most_complaints_in_financial_services_sector The UK's banking industry has again received the most complaints out of all financial service sectors, with some of the best known high street banks receiving the highest number of complaints. Between July and December of last year the Financial Ombudsman Service received just over eighty two thousand complaints, and over half of these complaints related to High Street banking giants. The total number of complaints received by the financial ombudsman had increased by one fifth compared to the first half of last year. The High Street bank that received the most complaints in the last half of 2009 was banking giant Lloyds Banking Group. Figures that were released this week showed that Lloyds Banking Group received over twenty thousand complaints in this period, of which nearly half related to Lloyds TSB and over seven thousand related to the Bank of Scotland, which forms part of the Lloyds Banking Group. Another High Street bank that saw the complaints flooding into the financial ombudsman was Barclays, which received nearly eleven thousand complaints. The Royal Bank of Scotland received just over seven thousand complaints, Spanish owned Abbey received nearly five thousand complaints, and HSBC received just under four thousand complaints. Officials have been quick to point out that whilst these banking giants did see complaints flooding in, and did make up a large proportion of overall financial complaints collectively, the size of these banks had to be taken into account, as the number of complaints reflected the size of the organisations. Figures were also released in relation to the number of complaints that were upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). In the case of Barclays Bank the FOS upheld 65 percent of complaints that were made against the bank. Overall 53 percent of complaints against the banking industry were upheld by the FOS, and this reflected a slight fall from the 59 percent that were upheld in the first half of last year. A spokesperson from the FOS said that the level of complaints and the number of cases that were upheld showed that banks still needed to do a lot of work to ensure the satisfaction of their customers. text/html 2010-02-25T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=784-Customers_to_be_repaid_record_amount_by_financial_advice_company It has been reported that a financial advice company has been ordered to repay record amounts after a range of failings by the company were identified. The Leeds based independent financial advice company, called Park Row, is being forced to make repayments to customers amounting to an estimated £7.8 million. Then firm has been ordered to make repayments to customers by the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, which conducted an investigation and found that the company had acted recklessly in failing to ensure that customers were receiving accurate and proper advice with regards to a variety of financial products and services, including pensions, investments, and mortgages. The failings were found to have taken place over a two year period, during which the company is said to have had around twenty four thousand customers. According to the FSA customers who sought advice from Park Row, which is now said to be winding down, were at risk of receiving the wrong advice with regards to many different areas of finance. The errors that were looked into by the FSA are said to have occurred between January of 2007 and January of 2009. It is claimed that during this period advisors from Park Row were giving consumers financial advice based on the level of commission that they would receive rather than on how suitable the various products were for the consumer. During the two year period when the catalogue of errors occurred the company is said to have accumulated fees and commissions in excess of £10 million. The company was also found to have failed to take action to put these problems right, even though the problems are said to have been highlighted to officials from Park Row on a number of occasions. Many customers may now be entitled to refunds, and an external examiner will be contacting those that may have received unsuitable or biased advice from Park Row. It is thought that many of those that may have been affected did not even realise that there was a problem with the company and that they had received unsuitable advice. text/html 2010-02-24T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=783-Households_waiting_longer_to_get_onto_property_ladder A comprehensive study of English homes has revealed that families are now waiting longer to get onto the property ladder than they would have been three years ago. The study was carried out by the Department of Communities and Local Government. The agency said that families are now being forced to wait much longer than they would have waited just several years ago if they wished to get onto the property ladder. The data showed that over the course of the next couple of years only 24 percent of households that were currently privately renting expected to be able to get onto the property ladder. Just several years ago this figure stood at 34 percent, which indicates that the number of privately renting families that expect to be able to purchase their own home in the next two years has fallen by 10 percent. The property market has been volatile since the onset of the global credit crunch and the house price crash seen in 2007, and whilst there have been certain signs of recovery in the market officials believe that there are still problems that are reflected through market movement such as a sharp increase in property renting. The study showed that around 42 percent of households thought that they would be waiting for more than five years to get onto the property ladder. The number of owner occupiers in England has also fallen as a result of a rising number of renters being unable to purchase their own home, and this has fallen from 14.8 million in 2005 to 14.6 million for the 2008-2009 period. Despite the difficulties in getting onto the property ladder the majority of families that are renting homes are looking to make a property purchase at some point in the future, even if this is not something that they are able to do in the near future. Around 59 percent of families that were renting homes were found to be hoping for the right opportunity to come along that would enable them to purchase their own homes, and said that renting was only a temporary measure until they were able to make such a purchase. text/html 2010-02-23T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=782-Former_government_advisor_slates_credit_card_rates Over recent years the level by which the interest rates charged on credit cards has increased has a great deal of concern amongst campaign groups, industry groups, and consumers. Several years ago a clampdown resulted in credit card companies seeing the charges that they made for late or missed payments being capped, and this had real impact on their profits. Over the past couple of years many struggling consumers have been shocked to see their credit card interest rates increased, and campaign groups have done their best to get this issue addressed. However, it has recently been revealed that credit card interest rates are now at their highest in twelve years, which is extremely bad news for borrowers that have been adversely affected by the recession and may already be struggling to keep on top of their finances. Whilst the Bank of England base rate has been at its lowest level ever, at 0.5 percent, for nearly a year the rates on credit cards have continued to increase, leaving an astonishing gap between the base interest rate and the average credit card rate. As a result of this situation a former government advisor has now called for an investigation to be carried out to look into the massive profits that credit cards are making as a result of the widening gap between their interest rates and the base interest rate. The former advisor that is calling for an investigation to be carried out is Ros Altmann, who has stated that the current average interest rate of 18 percent that is being charged by credit card firms is far too high. Altmann claims that the level of the gap between the base interest rate and the average credit card interest rate could be cause for regulators to look into the charges being applied by credit card firms and to subsequently oversee these interest rate charges. Credit card firms have tried to defend the high level of interest that they are charging by claiming that this is a necessity because of the high level of defaults from credit card borrowers. The claim that they have had to write off huge losses resulting from these defaults and have had to use higher interest rates amongst other things to try and claw back some of this lost revenue. text/html 2010-02-22T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=781-Petrol_prices_stagnant_despite_wholesale_cuts The rising cost of petrol is yet another thing that has been adding to the financial strain that many households have been feeling over recent months, and for many the high cost of petrol has made it very difficult for them to afford to run their vehicles. There are now concerns that over the past month the cost of wholesale petrol has fallen but the cost of petrol on the forecourts has remained stagnant. The data comes from the motoring organisation the AA, with officials from the group stating that whilst the wholesale price of petrol had fallen by around two pence per litre the cost of petrol on the forecourts had remained static at around £1.12 per litre. The AA said that in the past the supermarket giants had been known to take a lead on price cuts when wholesale prices fell, but in this case they had been slow to react to the changes. The AA also warned that drivers could be facing an upward trend in petrol prices over the long term. The group said that in some supermarkets the price of petrol had now fallen to below £1.10 per litre but in some service stations the price was more than ten pence per litre more than this. The average cost of diesel stands at £1.14 per litre. However, the AA data showed that once petrol or diesel prices exceeded £1.10 per litre drivers' tolerance over fuel prices seemed to disappear. The cost of petrol and diesel does vary from one area to another, according to the AA data. The report from the AA showed that the lowest petrol and diesel prices were to be found in Yorkshire and Humberside, but motorists in Northern Ireland faced the highest costs when it came to petrol and diesel prices. The AA also said that the high prices that were being charged by some petrol stations meant that drivers were more likely to carefully consider where they bought their fuel so that they could minimise in the cost of filling up their tank. In January the rate of inflation soared to 3.5 percent, which was way above the government target of 2 percent, and it is thought that soaring petrol prices were a contributory factor to the increase in inflation. text/html 2010-02-19T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=780-Stamp_duty_changes_affect_January_lending_levels Figures have been released showing that there was a sharp fall in mortgage lending in the UK for the month of January, and many believe that this is as a result of the changes to stamp duty that took place at the start of the year. Compared with December of last year gross mortgage lending for the month fell by 32 percent, dropping to £9.1 billion. The figures were released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. It is thought that the reason for the sharp drop in mortgage lending for last month was because of the mad rush to purchase property in the final months of last year, where people were keen to complete their property purchases before the end of the year before the stamp duty rules changed. Despite many officials believing that this was the main reason behind the drop in mortgage lending this January, the figures also showed that mortgage lending was 21 percent lower than in January of last year and was at its lowest monthly level since February 2000. Lenders said that whilst it was usual to see a seasonal drop in mortgage lending for the month of January the drop for this January was sharper than usual. The CML believes that this is down to a lull seen after the changes to stamp duty. The government changed the threshold on stamp duty during the recession, enabling those buying properties up to the value of £175,000 to avoid paying stamp duty. However, this temporary suspension expired at the end of 2009, and the threshold for stamp duty exemption has now dropped back down to its standard level of £125,000. A spokesperson from the CML said that mortgage activity for the month of January had been heavily influenced by changes to the stamp duty threshold, and had resulted in a larger than usual dip in mortgage lending. Other officials have said that despite the fall in mortgage lending for last month the market as a whole was in far better shape than it was a year ago, with mortgage lending restriction more relaxed, the property market in a more positive position, and a greater choice of mortgage products being made available by lenders. text/html 2010-02-18T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=779-Impressive_increase_seen_in_property_asking_prices A leading property industry website has reported that there has been an impressive increase in asking prices seen on properties in England and Wales in the past year following a turbulent period where property prices crashed leaving many facing negative equity. Asking prices are now said to have seen their biggest monthly increase since April of 2007, which was prior to the credit crunch and the burst of the property bubble, which occurred later on that same year. In February of this year property asking prices are said to have increased by 3.2 percent compared to January according to Right Move. This means that property asking prices in England and Wales are now 6.1 percent higher than they were this time last year based on these figures. In February the average asking price for properties in England and Wales came in at £229,398. Asking prices in London saw particularly impressive growth, with a rise of 5 percent compared to January, taking the average asking price in London to £427,987. Officials from Right Move said that this took average asking prices in the area to a higher level than they were at when the property market peaked in 2007, and compared to this time last year property asking prices in London had soared by 10.3 percent. Despite the good news with regards to the increase in property asking prices Right Move said that it was unlikely that this situation would be sustainable. Officials from the property company said that the amount of house purchase finances that was available following the credit crunch and recession would make it difficult to sustain these higher asking prices. The Commercial Director of the website, Miles Shipside, said that when it came to the availability of mortgage finance the current climate was more in line with the 1970s and 1980s, where mortgage availability was restricted, than with more recent years, where getting finance became relatively easy until the credit crunch swept the nation. He added that if the number of properties coming onto the market continued to increase then the limited number of buyers would make it difficult for higher house prices to be sustained. text/html 2010-02-17T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=778-UK_inflation_rate_rises_to_3.5_percent In its fastest annual rise in the past fourteen months the rate of inflation in the UK has soared to 3.5 percent for the month of January, accelerating from its December level of 2.9 percent. The target rate of inflation set by the government is 2 percent, so the new inflation rate is well above the government's target even though it is claimed that the increase should only be temporary. Higher petrol prices and the increase in VAT are thought to be driving factors behind the increase in Consumer Price Index inflation (CPI), and Retail Price Index inflation (RPI) increase from 2.4 percent in December to 3.7 percent. The sharp increase in inflation levels means that the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has had to write a letter of explanation to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, as is routine procedure when the rate of inflation rises more than 1 percent above the government's target. King stated in his letter to Darling that the increase in inflation was a temporary one, and Darling responded that the outlook for inflation remained uncertain because the nation was still recovering from its 'deepest downturn in modern times'. A number of factors have been attributed to the sharp increase in the rate of inflation, and one of the main drivers is thought to be the increase in VAT, which came in at the start of the year. Vat was reduce from 17.5 percent to 15 percent last year by the government in order to help boost the economy, but this temporary reduction came to an end on the first day of this year, when it increased back up to its original level of 17.5 percent. Increasing transport and fuel costs are also thought to have driven inflation upwards, and according to reports even the cold snap seen last month had an effect as it increased the price of some vegetables. There had already been a warning from the Bank of England that the inflation rate could rise to this level but it has predicted that it will fall back to its target of 2 percent later in the year. text/html 2010-02-16T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=777-Boiler_scrappage_applicants_need_to_act_quickly It has been revealed that the popularity of the boiler scrappage scheme that was launched by the government has been so great that there are only limited funds left in the pot. This means that anyone that is planning to apply for the boiler scrappage scheme will have to act quickly in order to avoid missing out, as otherwise the kitty may run dry. Reports are warning those that are looking to replace their old boilers that there are now only seventy thousand of the money off vouchers left, with 44 percent of the vouchers having been taken in the very first month of the scheme. The vouchers offer eligible consumers £400 off the cost of a new replacement boiler, and the household can then continue to benefit from the energy saving features that come with new boilers. Figures have been released by the Energy Saving Trust and have indicated that so far nearly fifty five thousand households have benefited from the money off vouchers from the boiler scrappage scheme. However, there are thought to be around 3.5 million households in the UK with G rate boilers, which offer the lowest energy efficiency, but scheme funding means that at present only 125,000 of them will be able to get money off a replacement boiler. This means that only 4 percent of those that have boilers with poor energy efficiency in the UK will be able to get their hands on a voucher, and with nearly half of them having already been taken those that are still considering replacing their old boiler will need to act quickly. The Energy Saving Trust has said that those that switch their G rated boilers to the most energy efficient ones could see the cost of their energy bills plunge by around 25 percent, offering savings of around £235 a year. In the first month of the scheme being launched there were around 400,000 enquiries from interested parties, so the Energy Saving Trust – which is running the scheme for the government – is aware of the huge interest that is being shown in the scheme. text/html 2010-02-15T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=776-Change_in_stamp_duty_saw_increase_in_December_home_loans The Council of Mortgage Lenders has confirmed recently that there was a rush in the number of home loans being taken out in December of last year, resulting from the change in stamp duty, which took place from the start of this year. Stamp duty on properties between £125,000 and £175,000 was suspended by the government in order to try and boost affordability for first time buyers. However, this suspension came to an end at the end of 2009. Officials from the CML have said that as a result of the changes that were due to take place with regards to stamp duty there was a rush on home loans during the month of December last year. Compared to November of last year the number of home loans for December had increased by 23 percent. The increase compared to December of the previous year was even higher, coming in at a whopping 90 percent. The number of home loans that were made to first time buyers increased to 24,900, which was the highest level since November 2007 and reflected an increase of 26 percent compared to November. The total number of home loans made for the month of December came in at 62,800. The CML also confirmed that 55 percent of home loans that were made during the month were made for properties that were under £175,000 in value, which meant that they were exempt from stamp duty. This was an increase from the 51 percent seen in November. The CML went on to state that the figures indicated that many people had been rushing to complete their property purchases in November so that they would not be stung on stamp duty for properties between £125,000 and £175,000. All properties that are under the value of £125,000 are already exempt from stamp duty. The figures showed that in areas where the average property value was below £175,000 the number of transactions in the property market increased by just over 10 percent. However, when looking at the number of home loans made over the course of 2009 as a whole the figures were not much higher than those seen the previous year. text/html 2010-02-12T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=775-Many_elderly_will_be_hit_with_tax_code_blunders It was recently reported that the systems used by HM Revenue & Customs to work out tax codes had been resulting in many incorrect tax codes being sent out to people, many of whom may have paid far too much tax as a result. It has now been found that amongst the groups to suffer because of these tax code problems are pensioners, many of whom are being issued with the wrong tax code costing them hundreds of pounds a year or more. Over the next few weeks HMRC will be sending out around twenty five million tax codes, and reports claim that many of these, including ones issues to pensioners, may be wrong. An assessment carried out by the Low Income Tax Reform Group has found that there are a number of common errors that are being made by the system, which is why so many people could be affected. One of the problems that have been identified with the tax coding is married couples allowance, which of often being missed out. It should be applied when either the husband or wife is aged seventy five or over, and if it is missed off it could be costing the couple around £700 a year. The personal allowances that consumers are entitled too have also been missed off in some cases or are incorrect, resulting in too much tax being paid. Another problem involves pensioners underpaying tax, and this is the result of coding notices that are issued not taking into account any state pension that is being received. Other allowances such as those for being people may have been missed off by the HMRC systems, and in many cases the figure for other income is incorrect. Another group being urged to check their tax codes is those that have changed jobs recently, as the computer system may not recognise that they have changed jobs and may be taxing them on having two jobs. According to the tax office the problems have occurred due to the amalgamation of twenty computer systems into one, which may have resulted in historical data being transferred over and being treated as up to date information. text/html 2010-02-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=774-January_weather_caused_drop_in_activity Over recent months there has been some encouraging news in relation to the property market in the UK, and after around two years of problems and turbulence it finally appeared that things were looking up. There was increased interest in properties from first time buyers and buy to let landlords, an increase in the number of properties coming onto the market, and there have been a series of house price increases. However, it spears that the market may have suffered a slight setback as a result of the cold weather that was seen in January of this year, with figures showing that there was a drop in both buying and selling transactions over the course of the month. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors stated that the cold weather that was seen during the month was responsible for the drop in the level of transactions in the property market. The good news is that the institute does not expect this slight dip in property market activity to get any worse or even to last, and as the weather in the UK starts to pick up over the coming weeks it is likely that there will be further improvement in the property market. Industry experts have marked improvements in the property market for around six months following the severe slump that was seen over the previous two years. Surveyors from RICS said that with the worst snowfall in decades hitting the UK several weeks ago many property sellers were put off from putting their property on the market. Similarly many would be buyers wisely decided not to venture out to look for properties, and these factors led to the drop in transactions. RICS stated that the cold snap had resulted in a significant impact on both buyers and sellers, but added that a spring bounce was likely to be around the corner which would see activity in the sector increase. Despite the fall in property transactions for the month of January house price movement continued to show encouraging signs, with 32 percent more surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall when it came to property prices. text/html 2010-02-10T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=773-Millions_of_pounds_still_lying_in_dormant_accounts A recent report has shown how millions of pounds have been left festering in dormant bank accounts across the UK, and the owners of the money could risk losing it if they fail to take action and re-claim their accounts. Despite the credit crisis and the recession, it appears that many consumers have put money into bank or building society savings accounts only to forget that they have the accounts. It is estimated that over £500 million has been left in dormant accounts, and officials have said that consumers need to take fast action to reclaim these accounts otherwise they could lose their cash. The Treasury is set to seize more than £500 million of the cash that is lying in these accounts this summer, and it has announced that plans to get the money transferred are well underway. The money that is left unclaimed in these dormant accounts is moved into a Central Reclaim Fund, and any money that is left over after people have made their claims is then donated to worth causes. Whilst consumers might find that their cash in transferred into the central fund before they realise that they have a dormant account, and whilst some may even find that their money has been given to a worthy cause, it has been made clear that they can reclaim their cash at any time in the future. The definition of a dormant account is one where the customer has failed to make contact or make any transactions for fifteen years or more. Because of the length of time that may have lapsed since the saver made any contact with the bank or building society with regards to the account many will have forgotten that they have the accounts at all, and some may never realise that their money has been transferred or donated. The £500 million that is said to be lying in dormant savings accounts does not include £450 million that has been left in dormant accounts with National Savings & Investments. Consumers are now being urged to try and remember whether they may have an account that has been lying dormant for the last fifteen years, and to contact the relevant bank or building society. text/html 2010-02-09T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=772-Good_news_for_British_Gas_customers After a very turbulent couple of years in terms of finances there is finally some good news for some energy customers, after energy giant British Gas announced that it is cutting bills for its customers by 7 percent. The news will be welcomed by the many consumers who have been struggling to cope with their financial problems having been hit by the global credit crisis and the recession. The average cut of 7 percent in British Gas bills is set to come into effect immediately according to reports, so consumers can start benefiting straight away from the price cuts. Around eight million households are set to benefit from the price cuts, with the average consumer set to save around £55 a year according to officials from British Gas. Over the past twelve months the energy giant has implemented a number of price cuts, and this latest one will be the third price cut that it has introduced in the past year. The move comes amidst fierce criticism that energy companies have faced as a result of failing to pass on the price cuts from wholesale energy prices. Wholesale energy prices were cut in February of last year, but energy customers have been forced to continue paying higher prices because of the failure of energy firms to pass on the price cuts. The recent cold snap has also increased concerns over more vulnerable people being unable to afford to heat their homes adequately, and the move by British Gas is likely to be welcomed by industry groups as well as consumers. An official from the energy firm said that British Gas was aware of how many households were struggling to make their budgets stretch as far as they needed to, and that the firm was also aware of how worried many households were about the amount that they would have to pay for their energy usage during the recent cold weather. The firm added that the price cuts would help customers to cope more easily with the cost of their fuel bills. text/html 2010-02-08T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=771-Tax_code_errors_could_cost_consumers_thousands It has been claimed that some consumers could end up paying thousands of pounds more than they need to for their tax as a result of errors that have been made with their tax code. The errors that have been made with the 2010/2011 tax codes could mean that some taxpayers end up paying way over the odds when it comes to their tax bill, and many may fail to realise that they are paying more than they have to, as they will not be aware that their tax code is incorrect. Industry experts have stated that measures that have been put into place to try and streamline the tax system have actually resulted in many people being hit with incorrect tax codes, and this has resulted in people having to pay way more than they are due to in the form of income tax. This comes after HM Revenue and Customs conducted an overhaul of its systems last year. However, despite the fact that the purpose of the system overhaul carried out by HM Revenue and Customs, which was designed to improve the system, the measure appears to have simply made things more difficult by issuing people with the wrong tax codes, resulting in many people not getting the tax free allowance that they should be entitled to. A spokesperson for the Institute of Chartered Accountants stated that there was clearly outdated information on the files of HMRC and this was affecting the tax codes that people were being issued with. She added that 'if you put garbage in then you get garbage out' casting further doubt on the abilities of the tax system in the UK. The people that are thought to be most at risk are those that that have changed their details or changed their jobs in the past twelve months. Some people are said to have been sent tax codes for jobs that they left several years earlier, showing how flawed the whole system is. Consumers are being warned to look out for letters on the tax code that include BR or Do, as these are said to indicate that there is no tax free allowance attached to the income. text/html 2010-02-05T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=770-Debt_advice_agencies_struggling_to_cope_with_demand It has been revealed that the personal debt mountain in the UK has now reached £1.46 trillion, and following a very turbulent couple of years in terms of finances many households are now struggling to cope with the debt that they have found themselves in. Many have had to turn to professional agencies and charities for help and advice, but according to a recent report these charities and agencies are now also struggling to cope with the demand for debt advice and assistance. Figures show that in the space of one year there has been an increase of 30 percent in the number of people that are looking for help and advice from debt professional, with the need to help being fuelled by the recession, which has left many people on a lower income and struggling to keep on top of repayment. The credit drought has also played its part, leaving many unable to get finance such as consolidation loans to try and reduce their monthly outgoings. According to reports some consumers are having to wait six weeks or more to get the advice that they need, and there are even some that are being turned away for advice and assistance. This is because some debt advice agencies are having to turn consumers down when they come looking for advice simply because their waiting lists are now so long. In the meantime industry experts have warned that over the course of this year around 150,000 people could become insolvent, reflecting an increase of 15 percent compared to last year. One industry official said that whilst job losses had played their part in the crisis this was not necessarily the main reason for many people struggling to repay their debts. Often consumers were struggling because they had lost bonuses or overtime that they had come to rely on, and this had impacted heavily on their ability to make repayments on their debts. The lack of funding for advice agencies means that there is a shortage of counsellors to offer assistance to cash strapped consumers. However, the government pledged to invest £143 million into providing additional debt advice between 2004 and 2011 so that free face to face advice can be made available for struggling consumers. text/html 2010-02-04T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=769-Interest_rates_on_hold,_and_QE_not_to_be_extended The Bank of England has announced today that the base interest rate is to be kept on hold for the eleventh month in a row. The announcement was made following today's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, and many economists and industry officials were not surprised to learn that the base interest rate was being kept at its record low of 0.5 percent, where it has been since March of last year. The decision to keep the base rate on hold comes just a week or so after official figures revealed that the UK had finally managed to pull itself out of recession, albeit by the skin of its teeth with growth of just 0.1 percent recorded in the final quarter of last year. Many officials believe that it will be later this year when the Bank of England starts to increase the base interest rate again, and some have predicted that it could be towards the middle of next year. One of the reasons why many analysts believe that the base rate will remain at its lowest level in over three hundred years for some time to come is because of the low level of growth seen in the economy in the final quarter of last year. Industry experts have said that this has resulted in the UK only just making it out of recession, and there are fears that the slightest reversal could result in the UK becoming the victim of a double dip recession. In addition to announcing that the base rate was to remain on hold the Bank of England has also announced that it will not be extending the quantitative easing programme. The £200 billion that was put aside for the programme has now been spent, and there are no plans to extend this any further for the foreseeable future. However, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has said that the situation will be carefully monitored, and there was scope for further cash injections into the economy at some point in the future should the need arise. The governor also spoke about the rate of inflation, and said that it was likely that inflation would rise above 3 percent for a while, which is significantly higher than the government's 2 percent target. However, he added that in the medium term it should return to target. text/html 2010-02-03T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=768-Increase_reported_in_demand_for_credit Over the past twelve months there have been a number of reports that have highlighted how the level of demand for consumer credit has been falling, with the credit crisis and the recession putting consumers on red alert when it came to borrowing money and getting into debt. However, it seems that this trend has now reversed, and the demand for credit seems to be growing. December saw an increase in consumer borrowing, much of which was the result of increased credit card borrowing according to figures from the Bank of England. Over the course of the month the level of consumer borrowing increased by £52 million, with many people borrowing on their credit cards over the month of December in the run up to Christmas. The figures for December showed that the amount borrowed on credit cards, loans, and overdrafts came in at more than the amount that had been repaid on consumer debt for the first time since June of last year. For the five months leading up to December the amount being repaid on consumer debt had been outweighing the amount that was being borrowed by consumers, but the Bank of England figures showed that this trend was reversed in December. Credit card borrowing was found to be the main driver behind the increase in consumer borrowing for the month of December, with the amount being borrowed on credit cards for the month increasing by £195 million. Loan and overdraft borrowing for the month remained subdued, however, with repayments on this type of borrowing continuing to outstrip borrowing. It is thought that much of the increase in credit card spending may have been down to the impending increase in VAT rates, which were due to increase at the start of January. In addition to this the festive season would have contributed to the increase in credit card spending, with many people using their plastic to make their purchases for Christmas and the New Year. One economist said that the factors that contributed to the increase in consumer spending meant that there could be a relapse for this month. text/html 2010-02-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=767-Healthy_outlook_predicted_for_house_prices_in_UK A recent report has predicted that house price growth in the UK will gain momentum over the next few years, and property prices could increase by 20 percent by 2013. The prediction was made by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which has revised previous forecasts that it made as a result of an increase in mortgage availability and an improvement in mortgage lending levels. Officials from the CEBR have predicted that over the course of this year property prices will increase by around 6 percent, and by the end of 2013 they may have leapt by 20 percent. The report did acknowledge that in 2011 property price increases could be curbed as a result of cut in public sector spending and rising unemployment, but also claimed that in the following years property prices would be driven up as a result of a shortage of homes. Within three years the CEBR expects the average house price to increase from £167,000 to around £210,000. Just over one month ago the group predicted that over the course of this year property prices could increase by between 2 and 4 percent, but given the increase in mortgage approvals and availability this has now been upwardly revised to 6 percent for the year. One of the official that was involved in the report said that many industry officials had already been surprised by the fact that property prices had already increased by around 10 percent since they reached their lows. However, he added that it was easy to see why property prices had suddenly increased in this way given the shortage of new properties on the market, the increase in the level of mortgage lending, the record low interest rates that had been seen over the past ten months, and the slower than expected increase in unemployment. He went on to state that it would be these factors that that would continue to push up property prices over the course of this year, although the price increases are expected to be more modest than they have been over the past six months. In its report the CEBR also predicted that the base interest rate would remain at its all time low level of just 0.5 percent until around the middle of 2011. text/html 2010-02-01T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=766-HMRC_warns_consumers_over_tax_refund_scam Officials from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have issued a warning for consumers who may have received an email claiming that they are due a tax refund. The scam has been identified previously, but with this being the time of year when tax refunds have been submitted online there are fears that a rising number of people could fall for the scam, resulting in them being defrauded of money. The phishing scam has seen fraudsters emailing tens of thousands of people informing them that they are entitled to a refund on their tax. The email asks the consumers to complete an online form including their bank or credit card details. With many consumers having only recently submitted their online tax returns many may believe that the revenue service has calculated that they are indeed entitled to a refund, but this is not the case and the emails are simply part of a huge scam designed to gain access to consumers' bank and credit card accounts. Not only do those that fall victim to the scam find their bank accounts and credit card accounts being cleared but in some cases they could also find their details have been sold on to third parties, putting them at further risk of fraud and identity theft. HMRC has confirmed that it never contacts consumers by email with regards to tax refunds, and would only do this by post. Therefore anyone that received one of these phishing emails is advised not to respond to it. HMRC has also stated that those that do receive these emails should forward them on to HMRC for investigation rather than deleting them. Officials have said that they should also be mindful that no official contact regarding tax refunds would be made by telephone or via an outside agency either, so caution should always be exercised when there is any contact regarding a refund other than an official HMRC letter by post. There is concern that the number of emails that are being sent could see an upsurge following the 31st January online tax return submission deadline, as this is when many people will be waiting for news about genuine tax refunds. text/html 2010-01-29T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=765-Car_insurance_costs_being_hiked_due_to_compensation_culture A report from the AA has claimed that the cost of car insurance is on the rise as a result of the compensation culture that has become so rife in the UK. Officials from the AA said that this compensation culture was at least partly responsible for the increases in car insurance premiums that have been seen over the past year. The motoring group said that as a result of the many advertisements that were now being aired by law firms encouraging consumers to make claims for personal injuries such claims were becoming 'increasingly embedded in British culture'. Over recent years these advertisements have been regularly aired on television and radio resulting in a surge of claims being made by consumers for personal injuries. Figures from the AA have shown that last year the average cost of comprehensive car insurance increased by 18.7 percent to over £1000. This was the largest increase seen since records began back in 1994. In the last three months of 2009 comprehensive car insurance costs surged by 7.2 percent according to the AA's British Insurance Premium Index. The price increases have affected even the cheapest premiums, which showed an increase of around 11.3 percent taking the cost to £613. The final quarter of last year also saw the average cost of third party, fire, and theft insurance cover increase, with premiums rising by 8.9 percent to just over £1250. Even with the cheapest premiums there had been an increase of 13.9 percent, taking the cost to £788. The AA said that the premium increases had come at a time when insurance firms were struggling financially as a result of having to pay out on the rising number of personal injury claims that were flooding in. The group said that as a result of the law firms' advertisements consumers were claiming for even minor injuries that they would probably not have bothered with in the past. The AA also said that that this was something that was becoming increasingly embedded in our culture, and was feeding back to insurance premiums. text/html 2010-01-28T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=764-Food_and_petrol_prices_soaring With the government's temporary VAT cut having come to an end at the start of this year many consumers were expecting the price of goods such as food and petrol to increase slightly. The level of VAT was cut by 2.5 percent last year taking it from 17.5 percent to 15 percent. This move was aimed at helping the economy to get back on its feet and easing the financial strain that consumers and businesses were feeling through the recession. The VAT level has now been increased back up to 17.5 percent, and prices of goods and services have increased accordingly. According to reports many supermarkets had made promises of huge January price cuts to help shoppers in terms of affordability, but the price of both food and petrol is said to have soared leaving consumers facing spiralling costs that will continue to impact on their finances. Some have suggested that the increase in VAT has given supermarkets and other retailers the opportunity to increase prices by a significant level with the prices in some cases having increased by far more than the 2.5 percent by which VAT has increased. The Daily Mail Cost of Living Index showed that the cost of food essentials has soared compared to last January and the price of unleaded petrol is now almost 30 percent higher than it was this time last year. There are concerns that supermarkets may have given up on cost cutting despite promises of bargain deals that would be available in January. An experiment was carried out where a basket of thirty seven essential supermarket items was put together and the price compared to the cost of the same items a year ago. This showed that there had been an increase of 7.5 percent compared to last year, which equates to nearly £400 a year extra for the average family spending £100 a week on shopping. The price increases on food and petrol are causing particular concern because there is still evidence that workers in the private sector will face further pay freezes and pay cuts over the course of this year, which will have an even greater impact on affordability for consumers. text/html 2010-01-27T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=763-UK_finally_pulls_out_of_recession Official figures that were released on Tuesday have shown that the UK has finally exited recession, following in the footsteps of other major economies. Whilst the news will be welcomed by the nation officials have warned that growth was minimal and this means that the good news could quickly come to an end. The data showed that the economy had indeed grown over the last quarter of 2009. However, the growth in the economy was much weaker than had been expected, with a paltry growth level of just 0.1 percent. Prior to this the economy had been in negative growth for six consecutive quarters, making the longest and deepest recession seen since records began. There had been expectations that the UK would exit recession in the third quarter of last year, but shock figures that were released late last year revealed that in fact the UK was lagging behind other major economies and had remained in recession at that time. These latest figures, which have finally confirmed Britain's emergence from the recession, were released by the Office for National Statistics. A number of signs of economic recovery have been seen over recent months, from falling unemployment levels to increased property sales levels and better than expected profits for High Street retailers over the festive season. Whilst the recovery was slow the UK has at last joined other major economies including Japan, the United States, France, and Germany in escaping the grip of the recession. However, some officials are now warning people to err on the side of caution, stating that the minimal growth level that has finally dragged the nation out of recession could be too insignificant to result in sustainability, and this could result in a double dip recession where the economy is plunged back into recession after just about managing to claw itself out. One economist said that Britain had just about crossed the line in coming out of recession, adding that the growth figures had been well below the expectations of analysts. Another economist added that growth and GDP figures were a blow for anyone that had hoped that the UK would be able to completely free itself from the grip of this latest recession. text/html 2010-01-26T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=762-Treasury_steps_in_over_cheque_controversy It was recently announced by the banking industry that there were plans to abolish the use of cheques, and the industry was hoping to phase out cheque use by around 2018. However, this revelation caused a lot of controversy, with many groups and consumers stating that they could be left high and dry without any cheque facilities. The banks tried to alleviate the upset that was caused by the announcement of phasing out cheques by stating that they would ensure that there was a suitable alternative in place for use by those that had become accustomed to using cheques or needed to use cheques to make payments. However, no details of what that alternative might be were given by the banking industry. It has now been reported that the Treasury has decided to step in and intervene with the process following the outcry. Ministers have said that they do not want the banking industry to reach any decision with regards to the abolition of cheque usage until the banks have found an effective alternative for consumers and businesses to use. The announcement was made by the banking industry in December of last year, and immediately sparked concerns amongst many people. Many were concerned that particular groups of people may be affected far more than others, such as older people that had become used to using cheques over the decades and those that did not have credit or debit card access. The Treasury has now demanded that the banks do not stop the use of cheques until a firm and effective alternative has been found, and the banking industry has agreed to this. The banks are set to consult on a regular basis with the Treasury's Financial Inclusion Taskforce with regards to the issue. A Treasury spokesperson stated that ministers were aware of the popularity of cheques with many people and they were concerned that the sudden abolition of cheques could adversely affect those that relied on them to make payments. The UK Payments Council has said that it will ensure that new options are available to consumers so that cheques will no longer be required by the time that they are abolished in 2018. text/html 2010-01-25T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=761-Two_year_high_for_property_sales_in_December There have been further signs of recovery in the UK property market after official figures showed that property sales levels in December of last year reached their highest in two years There is no doubt that over the past couple of years the property market has been through a very bumpy ride, and the repercussions of the turbulence that has been seen in the property market are still taking their toll. Over the past couple of years the nation has seen property price plummet, property sales levels plunge, and the availability of mortgage loans become increasingly restricted, all of which have had an adverse effect on the property sector in the UK. However, there have been a number of signs of improvement in the property market over recent months, and the latest sign of recovery has come with figures that have been released by HM Revenue & Customs. The figures from HMRC have shown that in December of last year the number of property sales reached the highest level seen in two years, which will come as further encouraging news for the property sector. The data indicated that in December 2009 the number of property sales completed for properties over the value of £40,000 came in at 104,000. This was said to be the first time since December of 2007 that property sales have exceeded the 100,000 mark. The lowest point seen in terms of transaction completions was seen in January of last year, when the property market was going through a particularly tough time. That month saw property sales reach only a paltry 41,000, which was the lowest level since records began in 1977. Despite the encouraging data from HMRC many industry experts are still predicting that this year will see property sales levels remain stable rather than continue to increase. Mortgage availability has improved to some degree, but it is still very tough for many people, such as first time buyers, to get the finance that they need to purchase a home due to restricted availability and high deposit levels that lenders are demanding. text/html 2010-01-22T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=760-Supermarket_aims_to_save_consumers_money_and_cut_back_on_food_waste A leading UK supermarket is hoping to not only cut costs for consumers when it comes to their shopping but also hoping to cut back on food waste, which is an issue that has caused a lot of concern over the past couple of years. Tesco is soon to launch a 'buy one get one free' offer with a difference, which could cut back on people having to waste food yet still enable them to save money on the products that they buy regularly. The first of the Tesco deals, which are known as 'Buy One Get One Free – Later' deals, is set to be launched this week, with others being introduced over time. The traditional 'buy one get one free' deals have become very popular with shoppers, particularly in the current financial climate, but these deals can pose a problem in that consumers do not get the chance to use the second product in some cases before its date expires. This has contributed to food wastage, and means that the consumer doesn't get to benefit from the offer because the free item goes to waste. The big difference with the Tesco 'buy one get one free' deal is that the consumer can purchase the product but can get the free one at a later date, which means that it won't go to waste and the consumer still gets to benefit from the savings. It is generally perishable items that create the problem with 'buy one get one free offers' and the Tesco offer means that consumers are less likely to have food going off in the fridge. Over the next couple of weeks shoppers that go to Tesco will be able to take advantage of 'buy one get one free' offers on perishables such as fruit and other foods and can either choose to take the free item right away in the usual way or can take the freebie the following week when they actually need it. A spokesperson from Tesco said that whilst consumers were keen on 'buy one get one free' offers many of them – particularly those in smaller households – often did not have time to use the second item before it went past its best. She said that the new deal would ensure that customers had the increased flexibility to take the item when they needed it rather than risking it going off before they could use it. text/html 2010-01-21T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=759-Unemployment_falls_for_first_time_since_2008 There has been some good news for the UK recently following the release of official figures that have shown that the level of unemployment in the UK has fallen for the first time since 2008. The unexpected fall in unemployment figures occurred in the three months to November of last year, with unemployment numbers standing at 2.46 million reflecting a drop of seven thousand compared to the previous three months. The fall in the number of unemployed means that the series of unemployment level increases that have been seen over the past eighteen months has been broken and the news will be welcomed by many people and industry groups. However, there have been warnings from government officials that the level of unemployment could start to increase again over the course of this year. The Office for National Statistics has said that the percentage of unemployed had fallen from 7.9 percent last month to 7.8 percent for this month. There has also been a drop in the number of people that are claiming Job Seeker's Allowance, which dropped to just over 1.6 million in December, reflecting a drop of over fifteen thousand over the month. This also came as good news, as industry experts had predicted that there would be a drop of just 2500. The three month period to November of last year also saw a fall in the level of unemployment amongst those aged between sixteen and twenty four, with numbers falling from 943,000 to 927,000. However, whilst the figures appear to be encouraging it is thought that the fall in unemployment overall is due to a rising number of people taking on part time work to tide them over in the current climate. The number of people working part time increased by 99,000 for the quarter, and this took the total number of people in part time employment to a record high of 7.71 million. Many of those that were working part time had only taken on part time work because they were not able to find a full time job. text/html 2010-01-20T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=758-Seasonal_dip_seen_in_mortgage_lending_levels The Council of Mortgage Lenders has recently released figures suggesting that there has been a seasonal dip in mortgage lending levels for the month of November 2009. However, despite the drop in mortgage loans for the months lending levels were still found to be far higher than they were in the same period in the previous year. According to the data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders the number of mortgage loans handed out for property purchases in November was around 4 percent lower than the previous month, coming in at around 53,000. However, on the upside the number of mortgage loans for November was around 66 percent higher than the figure for November of 2008. Officials from the Council of Mortgage Lenders indicated that first time buyers were still having a tough time getting onto the property ladder, with many still having to put down a minimum of 25 percent of the property value by way of a deposit. However, the organisation also said that the percentage of income that homeowners were having to allocate to their mortgage repayments was at its lowest in around five years thanks to the low base interest rate, which has now been at an all time low of just 0.5 percent for the past ten months. A spokesperson from the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that it was encouraging to see that mortgage interest payments were now more affordable for both homeowners and new buyers. He said that mortgages were becoming more affordable, and repayments on mortgage loans had plummeted for many homeowners as a result of the low base interest rate. He added, however, that the market would continue to feel the strain for the foreseeable future as a result of the hefty deposits that lenders were still demanding from borrowers. The CML data indicated a slowdown in the property market, and this backs up another recent report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, which indicated that the pace of house price increases had started to slow down in December. text/html 2010-01-19T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=757-Modest_recovery_for_manufacturers_this_year It has been predicted that the UK manufacturing sector will see a modest level of recovery over the course of this year. The prediction was made by the manufacturers' organisation EEF. The organisation carried out a survey amongst manufacturers and found that the average growth expectation within the sector was only 1.2 percent for this year, rising to 3.4 percent for next year. The EEF also predicted that there would be growth of around 0.9 percent this year for the economy as a whole. An economist from the organisation said that this modest level of recovery meant that the future for Britain remains uncertain. He added that the outlook was also variable for different manufacturing sectors. He said that although some had already been through the worst of the recession others still had difficult times ahead of them. The EEF went on to state that 2010 was set to be another very challenging year for manufacturing and the economy as a whole, and that companies would continue to seek stability from policy makers. This comes just after the National Institute for Economic and Social Research reported that the nation had probably come out of recession during the fourth quarter of last year, although this is still to be confirmed when official figures are released within the next couple of weeks. The EEF is said to have surveyed more than six hundred manufacturing companies across the company in order to collect the data with regards to growth expectations for this year. The results of the survey suggested that the manufacturing sector as a whole was still very cautious, and that firms within the sector did not have high expectations for recovery for this year despite the fact that the country is supposed to have come out of recession. Recently the British Retails Consortium also reported that the retail industry was set to face another very tough year in 2010, and like the EEF has predicted that the retail sector will see little if any growth during the course of this year as consumers continue to rein in their spending. text/html 2010-01-18T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=756-Shops_introduce_sneaky_price_increases_following_VAT_increase Most people were expecting prices in shops to go up after Christmas as a result of the level of VAT rising from 15 percent to 17.5 percent on 1st January this year. The government reduced the VAT rate to 15 percent last year in order to try and get the economy back on its feet, but this was only a temporary measure and the VAT rate was increased back to its original level of 17.5 percent at the start of this year. However, there is evidence that some supermarkets are exploiting this VAT increase according to a recent report, which some said to be hiking up prices on various product by more than the level of the VAT increase. An analysis of the various supermarkets was carried out recently, and the results found that the price on thousands of items had been increased disproportionately, with the price increase being higher than the VAT increase. Around twelve and a half thousand products were looked at in total as part of the study, and out of these the prices on over one third had been increased disproportionately by retailers. This sneaky tactic will cause problems for the many struggling shoppers who already face having to cope with the debts that they accrued over Christmas and the VAT increase. The research was carried out by Brand View on behalf of The Grocer magazine, and according to the report from the researchers a number of the major supermarket giants were found to have increased prices on some products by more than the sales tax increase, including Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury's. One industry official said that this deceit dispelled any hopes of special January deals from supermarkets, stating that it was a case of 'of lies, damned lies, and VAT-related statistics.' The researchers said that the government is set to make billions of pounds from the additional 2.5 percent that has been added back on to VAT. They also said that with the majority of products supermarkets had increased prices in proportion with the VAT increase, but with around four and a half thousand products the price increase was higher than 2.5 percent. text/html 2010-01-15T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=755-Credit_card_rate_hikes_hit_shoppers Earlier this month the Bank of England announced that for the tenth month in a row the base interest rate was to remain at its all time low of just 0.5 percent. However, despite this credit card firms have continued to increase their interest rates, and according to recent reports these interest rate hikes are set to hit shoppers hard as they struggle to pay off the debt that they have accrued over the Christmas period. Figures have shown that the gap between the base interest rate and the average amount of interest being charged on credit cards is now at its highest level on record, with the average rate of interest on credit cards rising from 15.89 percent to 16.28 percent in December. It is thought that around nine million Brits used their credit cards to fund their Christmas spending, and the hike in interest rates will create difficulties for many of these people when it comes to repayments. Many people have also been using their credit cards to make payments on their mortgages or rental properties over recent months, and the hike in interest rates will also cause problems for many of these consumers. Just before Christmas one major credit card provider, Capital One, was said to have increased its average rate of interest by up to 7 percent in some cases, with some of its customers seeing their interest rates pushed to nearly 40 percent. According to officials the average rate of interest charges on credit cards is now at its highest since September 2006, with banks making huge profits as a result of the rate increases. Many are angered by the credit card rate increases given that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, stated last year that he would be talking such unfair practices by credit card providers and would ensure a 'new responsible approach to lending'. Over recent months many industry experts have urged consumers to ensure that they contact their credit card provider if their interest rate is hiked up to demand an explanation, and to state that they want to rate reverted in the event that there is no reasonable explanation. However, those that do not persuade their lenders to reduce the rate again should look at switching to a new provider that offers a lower rate of interest. text/html 2010-01-14T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=754-Good_news_following_worst_year_of_recession_in_nearly_nine_decades Having sunk to levels that resulted in the worst year of recession in nearly nine decades it has emerged that Britain officially came out of recession in the final quarter of last year. Many will welcome the news that Britain has moved out of recession following a particularly difficult year, but officials have said that the end of the recession came only after Britain had seen its worse year of recession since 1921. Figures were released by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and the date showed that in the final quarter of 2009 UK gross domestic product increased by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. However, despite this increase the economy overall shrank by 4.8 percent over the course of the year, which was the steepest fall in eighty eight years. The fall was greater than at any time during the Great Depression, reflecting the severity of the most recent recession seen in Britain. It is thought that the lowest point of the recent recession was seen in March of this year according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, but officials from the group have said that there are now clear signs of recovery emerging. The end of the recession has come later than many had expected, as many experts had predicted that, like other major economies, Britain would come out of recession in the third quarter of last year, but this did not happen. The Office for National Statistics is set to release official figures that will confirm that the nation is out of recession in the next two weeks. Many people will be wary of getting too confident about the recession being over given what happened in the third quarter of last year, when official figures showed that the economy had actually shrunk further despite prediction that the country would come out of recession. Despite signs of recovery in the economy many consumers also remain concerned about the financial climate and the effects of the recession, and as a result of this consumer spending is set to remain subdued leaving retailers facing another challenging year in 2010. text/html 2010-01-13T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=753-Charity_concerned_over_mortgage_repayments_made_by_credit_card A leading homeless charity has expressed concern over the number of people that are now making their mortgage repayments through the use of their credit cards. According to officials from the charity Shelter around one million people across the UK are using their credit cards to make payments on their mortgage or to pay their monthly rent. The charity is concerned that at some point these consumers will find that they no longer have credit to rely on, and will not only find themselves up to their necks in credit card debt but will also find that they no longer have any means of making payments on their mortgage or rent. This could then lead to a rise in mortgage and rent defaults, and could ultimately end up with many of these people having their homes repossessed or being evicted by their landlords. Overall the number of homeowners and tenants that are using their credit cards to make repayments on mortgages and rent represents around 6 percent of homes in the UK. The charity said that whilst the majority of tenants and homeowners that had found themselves in this situation were working class there were also some middle class professionals that were turning to credit cards to meet their mortgage or rent payments. The survey that was carried out by Shelter involved polling over two thousand people, and officials from the charity said that they were shocked by the figures. The charity is now urging those that are struggling to make payments on their mortgage or rent to seek expert advice as they could otherwise find themselves in huge amounts of credit card debt and could still end up losing their home or being evicted. A spokesperson from Shelter said that credit cards were not the answer for those that were struggling with their mortgage or rent payments, and that it was vital that these people sought advice from debt advice charities and experts rather than turning to their credit cards. She added that a rising number of people using their credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent were at risk of becoming homeless. text/html 2010-01-12T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=752-Harman_wants_retirement_age_to_be_scrapped The deputy leader of the Labour party, Harriet Harman, has stated recently that she wants to see the retirement age in the UK scrapped, giving older people the right to continue working into their seventies or even their eighties should they wish to do so. Under the radical new proposals from Harman older people would not only be given the choice over whether they retired but would also be free to make other requests from their employers, as the new proposals would give them more rights and greater control. Harman said that there is a myth that once a person reached the age of sixty five they are 'past it' and this is a myth that she wants to dispel through the introduction of new regulations. Under the new ruled those that wished to retire could still claim the state pension from the standard retirement age, but those that did not want to retire could not be forced to do so by their employer. The new proposals may also allow those that reach the official retirement age but wish to continue working to ask for part time hours, flexible working hours, or even the facility to work from home. Any changes in the law would also cover those that may have signed contracts to say that they will retire at the standard retirement age. Miss Harman said that at present companies are not obliged to agree to requests from workers to continue working once they reach retirement age, but the new rules would change this by giving older people more rights legally. Many companies, industry groups, and business leaders have insisted that some sort of cut off point is needed with regards to age, and Miss Harman's plans to scrap the retirement age altogether will come as a shock to many of them. Many will also be concerned over the greater rights to flexible working hours that older people will be given, and whilst employers can turn the request down there will only be eight reasons for refusal. Harman stated that she understood the concerns of worried employers, but added that the age of a person generally had no bearing on their ability, and this was why change was needed. text/html 2010-01-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=751-Payments_Council_to_crack_down_on_slow_banks The UK Payments Council (APACS) has recently advised consumers in the UK to switch their bank account if their existing bank does not process faster payments. Officials from the Payments Council have said that if a customer's bank does not allow them to move money on the same day between accounts with different banks then they should look for an alternative bank that does offer this facility. According to the council some banks can still take up to three days to transfer money between accounts in different banks, and this is something that the Payments Council has said that it is determined to crack down on. The council said that it plans to take 'a harder line' with banks that are still taking days to electronically transfer money between accounts. Nationwide, which is one of the slowest at present according to reports, said that making the faster transfers was proving more difficult than it had anticipated. One Nationwide customer said that he felt cheated by the fact that it was taking so long to transfer money, stating that he was effectively losing out on three day's worth of interest when moving money around. Sandra Quinn from the Payments Council said that she sympathised with the many customers that were feeling the frustration of being unable to do something as simple as transfer money from one bank to another on the same day. She added that there were banks that were able to do this, and those that were getting really annoyed over the fact that their bank did not do this should consider moving their bank account. Customers have been complaining for years about the fact that when they transferred money it disappeared for several days before arriving at its destination. In response to complaints about this the Faster Payment system was launched in 2008. However, the deadline for implementing the new system was the end of 2008, and many banks failed to meet this deadline. Many banks have said that the reason for delays over implementing the Faster Payments system is that they have to exercise caution over the risk of fraud. text/html 2010-01-08T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=750-Mortgage_rates_increase_despite_base_rate_ After being announced this week that the base interest rate was being held at its record low of 0.5 percent for the tenth month in a row, this news was welcomed by many homeowners and industry groups. However, a recent report has shown that although the base rate has been at this all time low since March of last year a number of mortgage lenders have been increasing their mortgage interest rates on Standard Variable Rate mortgages. The report claims that around eight building societies have increased their standard variable rate mortgage rates even though there has been no upward movement in the base rate, and this is resulting in homeowners paying up to £1400 a year extra on their mortgages. Many customers are now going for the SVR because it is often the cheapest option, and this is also the mortgage that people move onto when their special deals such as fixed rate deals come to an end. The fact that some lenders have been increasing their SVR rates throughout the base rate freeze means that many borrowers are being stung with higher payments. There are around five and a half million homeowners that are on mortgages that are linked to lenders' SVRs, so the higher payments could affect a rising number of borrowers as more and more lenders increase their SVR rates. Some officials believe that since a handful of lenders have already increased their SVR rates more are likely to follow, which means that more and more borrowers could end up paying more on their mortgage repayments even if the Bank of England continues to keep the base interest rate on hold, as it is expected to do for some time to come. One industry expert said that the momentum to increase interest rates seemed to be 'gathering pace' amongst lenders, and added that now that some lenders had taken this step it was likely that others would follow. In the meantime an economic advisor to Deloitte said that he thought the Bank of England should cut the base rate to 0 percent, adding that he believed that the base rate would stand at 1 percent or lower for at least the next five years. text/html 2010-01-07T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=749-Base_rate_remains_unchanged The base interest rate has remained unchanged for yet another month, with the Bank of England confirming that it will remain at its all time low of 0.5 percent following the January Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The base rate has been at this record low since last March, and many industry experts were not surprised at the decision to keep the rate at 0.5 percent to kick off the New Year. Many economists have predicted that the Bank of England will continue to keep the base rate on hold at 0.5 percent for the foreseeable future in a bid to try and revive the UK economy. The current base rate is the lowest it has ever been in the history of the Bank of England, which spans over three centuries. Whilst the UK is thought to have come out of recession in the final quarter of last year the economy is still very fragile, and it is hoped that keeping the interest rate at this low level could speed up recovery of the economy. It was also announced after the latest MPC meeting that the quantitative easing programme would be maintained at £200 billion. Members of the MPC said that the programme would continue to be reviewed, and that it would take another month to complete. One economist said that the MPC had some challenging times ahead, as members would need to decide on how long to keep the base rate at record lows as well as whether to extend the QE programme next month. He said that the decision to keep the base rate at 0.5 percent for January did not come as any surprise, and that policy makers would now have to start making tough decisions with regards to the future of the base rate over the coming months. Manufacturing bodies have welcomed the news of the base rate freeze, stating that whilst the economy seemed to be recovering to some degree the sustainability and strength of the recovery was in doubt. An official from the manufacturing group EEF said that the MPC was right to keep the base rate on hold until the economic picture became clearer. text/html 2010-01-07T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=748-Mortgage_approvals_up_but_borrowers_continue_to_repay_unsecured_debt Figures have shown that the number of mortgage approvals for the month of November showed another increase, but that at the same time the level of unsecured debt amongst consumers fell during the same month as more and more people strived to reduce their unsecured debt levels as much as possible. In the run up to Christmas many people traditionally get themselves into more debt with purchases through credit cards and loans, but this year saw people struggling to pay off their debts in light of the unfavourable financial and economic conditions. With over 60,500 mortgages approved for the month the number of mortgage approvals was said to be at its highest since March 2008. However, whilst mortgage lending continued to rise the level of consumers credit continued to fall, dropping for the fifth consecutive month according to Bank of England figures. The current climate has led an increasing number of people to try and rid themselves of their unsecured debt as much as possible, leading to more money being paid back on this type of borrowing than is being borrowed. With Christmas just around the corner there was an increase in credit card spending for the month of November. However, when the money repaid on other unsecured finance was taken into account the amount that was repaid by consumers for the month on unsecured credit outstripped the amount borrowed. With consumers being increasingly cautious about borrowing due to the financial climate they ended up repaying around £376 million more than they borrowed for the month of November according to the Bank of England figures. Industry experts have said that the drop in unsecured credit amongst consumers has shown how the recession has affected the borrowing habits of consumers, with many afraid to take out credit for larger purchases such as cars as a result of insecurity over jobs and financial difficulties. In the twelve months to November consumers are said to have repaid a collective £7.85 billion on their unsecured debts. The poor returns being offered on savings, stemming from the base rate which is still at an all time low of 0.5 percent, has also resulted in fewer people putting any spare cash into savings and instead using them to make larger repayments on high interest credit cards and loans, thus further impacting on the amount of money being repaid on unsecured debts. text/html 2010-01-05T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=747-Picture_still_looks_bleak_for_first_time_buyers_in_2010 Although we have now entered a New Year and many people may be hoping to make a fresh start in 2010 by doing things such as getting onto the property ladder reports have claimed that things will continue to be very difficult this year for the many people that are still striving to become homeowners. Despite some encouraging signs and measures designed to help those wishing to get onto the property ladder there are still many hurdles that will get in the way for first time buyers. Industry experts have claimed in a recent report that first time buyers are going to continue struggling to get a mortgage loan and get onto the property ladder this year, despite rock bottom interest rates, more affordable house prices, and the fact that they would generally be in a better position to do so. One mortgage broker from London & County said that it was likely that mortgage conditions would remain extremely challenging for most first time buyers. He added that the choice of mortgage loans for first time buyers had actually started to improve towards the end of last year, but stated that it was still likely that in order to get the better deals and rates first time buyers would still need to be able to raise at least 15 percent of the property value by way of a deposit. He added that first time buyers that were not able to raise a deposit of at least 15 percent of the property value would find themselves with a far poorer choice of mortgage products and would be penalised with higher rates on interest on their borrowing. In addition to having to put down a higher deposit for the better deals first time buyers will also no longer have the stamp duty holiday on properties between £125,000 and £175,000 which also means shelling out extra cash. Until the end of last year the threshold for stamp duty exemption had been extended to £175,000 whereas previously it had been £125,000 – the level it has now come back down to. He added that there were still no lenders that were prepared to offer 100 percent mortgages to first time buyers, and only one that would currently consider a 95 percent mortgage for those that had only a 5 percent deposit. He added that a bigger deposit could make a huge difference to the repayments that first time buyers would need to make, and therefore it was important for them to try and put down as high a deposit as possible in order to get the better deals. text/html 2010-01-04T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=746-Partial_victory_for_banks_over_credit_card_debts Banks have recently been awarded another case in their favour after a High Court Judge ruled partially in their favour with regards to test cases that were being heard relating to credit card debts that consumers have been trying to escape. The test cases were referred to the High Court to determine whether consumers could escape their credit card debts over the failure of banks or lenders to provide the original credit agreement under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act. However, the judge from the High Court in Manchester has stated that while the lender would have to be able to produce a credit agreement it would not have to be the original and could be a 'reconstituted'. This means that if the original credit agreement has been lost or destroyed the loan or debt can still be enforced legally. Many claims management companies have been putting together thousands of cases relying on the original document having to be produced, and as a result of the ruling all of these cases may be affected. According to reports many banks have difficulties in producing original credit agreements and loan documents, and one bank is said to have destroyed all of its old credit agreements. Under the Consumer Credit Act lenders must provide borrowers with a copy of their loan or credit agreement within twelve days of request. Claims management firms have been using the failure of banks to produce these documents to try and get their clients out of debt by claiming that the debt cannot be enforced. Six test cases were examined by the High Court judge in order to reach a decision, and he stated that whilst consumers had a right to see a copy of the loan agreement or contract this should be for informational purposes and to check the state of their account rather than to check and see whether the agreement was initially executed properly. He said that the creditor could fulfil its responsibility by providing a reconstituted version of the agreement, albeit from other sources, rather than having to produce the original agreement. text/html 2009-12-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=745-Motorists_will_pay_for_the_government's_debts After the last turbulent couple of years where the word 'bailout' has been the buzz word for the government the level of public debt has rocketed, with taxpayer's money being used to bail out banks, try and boost the economy, and for whatever other purpose the Labour government sees fit. However, the government now has a responsibility to try and reduce this public debt, and one of the ways in which it will do this appears to be through sharp increases in petrol prices. In fact, according to a recent report motorists in the UK have been warned to prepare themselves for rocketing fuel prices, and there are suggestions that the price of petrol could go up by a massive fifteen pence per litre, which would take the price of petrol to its highest level on record. If petrol prices do go up by this amount then the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol will rocket from £1.08 to £1.23. It is thought that there will be an increase of five pence per litre of petrol in the spring of next year, and this will be the first increase to hit motorists. In the autumn a further petrol price increase of five pence per litre is expected, which means that the government will have pushed prices up by ten pence per litre in order to bring in more money from fuel tax and try and tackle the astonishing national debt. As well as the petrol price increases from the government motorists will also face increases relating to market conditions, and this could amount to a further five pence per litre. In total this could amount to a crippling fifteen pence on a litre of petrol, which in the current economic climate could leave many drivers facing real problems. The figures have come from the Petrol Retailers' Association, and there are concerns that the tight profit margins that will arise from this situation could result in many petrol forecourts having to close altogether. In July of least year petrol price peaked at nearly £1.20 per litre as the cost per barrel soared, but as a result of the UK's national debt it seems that the previous record could be beaten in 2010. text/html 2009-12-30T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=744-Government_addresses_repossession_related_loophole The Labour government has announced that it is to look at closing a legal loophole that has allowed lenders to repossess peoples' homes without the matter having to go to court first. The government recently announced its plans to address this legal loophole, and this comes just after campaign groups and charities highlighted the problem following a repossession case last year. In the repossession case the judge ruled in favour of the lender, which was GMAC-RFC, and as a result of the loophole struggling homeowners who had missed two repayments on their mortgage were at risk of being immediately repossessed without further action. The government has now stated that the move will prevent unscrupulous lenders from taking advantage of the loophole. A consultation has been taking place over the past eight weeks with regards to the repossession loophole, and the decision has been made by the Ministry of Justice. Last year GMAC-RFC took possession of a property after the homeowner fell into arrears, and this sparked concern and campaigns from charities. In the case the lender never had to go to court to get a repossession order but simply evicted the borrower for living in the property against the rules of the buy to let mortgage. Whilst the borrower claimed that his human rights had been violated the judge ruled in favour of the lender. In October of this year, however, the same lender was fined nearly £3 million for the mistreatment of borrowers that fell into mortgage arrears. The lender was accused by the Financial Services Authority of being too quick to repossess properties and of applying unfair charges on the accounts of those that fell behind with their mortgage repayments. Bridget Prentice, the Justice Ministers, spoke about the new proposals, and she said that under existing law lenders were able to sell or repossess a property without the agreement of the borrower or the courts, but that closing this legal loophole would mean that 'rogue lenders' were not able to use this loophole to their advantage. text/html 2009-12-29T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=743-High_Street_enjoys_huge_success_on_Boxing_Day With the gloomy year that most people have had in terms of their finances, and with the recession having taken its toll on many households across the country, most people would not have been surprised to see the High Streets around the country half empty on Boxing Day despite the launch of the traditional post Christmas sales. However, according to figures the situation was quite the opposite, with millions of people pouring out of their homes on Boxing Day morning to hit the sales and try and pick up a bargain. In fact, retail analysts have stated that this year Boxing Day attracted the highest number of shoppers since records began, with around twelve million people thought to have hit the sales just twenty four hours after Christmas Day. According to Experian the number shoppers that flooded out onto the streets on Boxing Day this year was around 20 percent higher than the number seen on Boxing Day last year, and it is clear that despite the difficult financial year that many have suffered and the recession that has gripped the UK shoppers are still keen to get out there and get their hands on a bargain. The success of the Boxing Day sales has been put down to a number of factors. One explanation that has been given is that Boxing Day fell on a weekend this year, which may have resulted in a higher number of people being able to get out there and hit the shops. Another factor that has been attributed to the high number of sales shoppers is the VAT increase, which is due to take place on 1st January, and which many people may have been hoping to avoid by getting their bargains before that date. Whilst the success of the High Street sales has bee described as 'remarkable' this year the British Retail Consortium has made it clear that High Street retailers should not get too complacent, as tough times still lie ahead for the coming year. The BRC carried out a survey in which 80 percent of retailers said that sales were unlikely to improve in 2010 compared to 2009. text/html 2009-12-28T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.loans4.co.uk Loans4 Limited http://www.loans4.co.uk/loan_news/news.php?item=742-Some_retailers_will_not_add_VAT_rise_at_start_of_January Many consumers have rushed out over the last couple of days to get their hands on big ticket items in the sales before the VAT increase kicks in next week. VAT was reduced from 17.5 percent to 15 percent by the government last year in order to increase affordability for consumers and to help boost the economy. However, it was made clear that this was only a temporary measure, and the VAT level is set to return to its former 17.5 percent as of 1st January 2010. However, whilst the VAT level will return officially to 17.5 percent as of this date some retailers have said that they will not be applying the VAT increases until the end of January, giving customers more time to get their hands on bargains and helping bring more customers through retailers' doors. A number of major retailers have decided that they will not be increasing VAT levels just yet, and this includes stores such as Argos and Curry's. Another big name retailer, John Lewis, has decided to delay the VAT increase until the end of the month, and with regards to its clothing range supermarket giant Asda said that it will be increasing VAT only as and when its spring range of clothing starts to a