The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), a charity which gives advice to people who are struggling with debt and repayments, has warned that many consumers are turning to the more expensive option of overdrafts rather than tackling any gap in their finances with loans or credit cards. Una Farrell, a spokeswoman for the charity, said that “these […]
Category: News
Top Regulator Admits FSA Didn’t Do Enough to Control Banks
The Financial Services Authority’s Lord Turner had admitted that the FSA didn’t do nearly enough to control the big banks and ensure they were operating safely in the years leading up to the credit crunch. Speaking at a dinner in the City of London, Lord Turner got as close to issuing an apology from the […]
Figures Reveal Pensions Have Fallen 20% in Three Years
This year, 800,000 people will enter retirement age and begin drawing on any private pension funds that they have set aside. However, those that do could be earning as much as 20% less than those who began their retirement just three years ago. This has all been revealed as shocking figures show just how much […]
50,000 Natwest Customers Told They Weren’t Covered for Fraud
Last week, around 50,000 Natwest customers received letters telling them that they would not be covered if fraudsters used their cards to pay for things without their knowledge. Understandably, many of these customers were worried, and Natwest have now released an apology and said that this is not the case. There have been plenty of […]
Economists Predict Winter Cut to Interest Rates
There have been yet more predictions of a cut in the interest rate set by the Bank of England, bringing it down from its already record-low 0.5% figure. The Bank has kept interest rates there for two and a half years now, and some economists are predicting a further fall. Despite expectations of a drop […]
Bank of England Policy Maker Warns QE has “lost its bite”
The policy of quantitative easing (QE), wherein the Bank of England has been printing money and giving it to the banks in order to stimulate lending, has begun to receive criticism from within the Bank itself. There were already analysts in the city and commentators throughout society that had claimed it was not doing what […]
Pension Protection Fund Levy Will Not Rise
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) have said that they will not increase the level of the levy during 2013/14, which has drawn a sigh of relief from the many businesses that pay into it. The Pension Protection Fund is set up so that employers who have guaranteed pensions for their employees do not have to […]
British Workers are Spending More Time Doing Less
Figures from the Office of National Statistics have demonstrated that British workers are currently producing less GDP per hour of work than their contemporaries in Canada, Germany, Italy, France and the US. Of the G7 nations, only Japan’s workers were producing less GDP per hour. Plenty of people and newspapers have jumped on these figures […]
British Banks Promise to Change Their Ways
With the British public’s opinion of the major high street banks in the gutter, it’s rather unsurprising that they are doing their best to change their image. If anything, it’s shocking that is has taken this long and there have been so many scandals that not much surprises the public anymore. Since the beginning of […]
Lloyds Being Investigated By FSA for Mis-selling Financial Products
The Lloyds Banking Group is being investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for mis-selling its financial products to its retail customers. The investigation into the Lloyds group was announced today by the financial regulator, which has promised to look at the whole financial industry for the mis-selling of products. The FSA announced that it planned to […]