Finance Matters

• 27Jul

  Banks ‘approve more mortgages’

  Money No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Mortgage approvals by the major banks increased to a 15-month high in June, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA).Some 35,235 mortgages were approved for house purchases in June, up from 31,919 the previous month, the BBA said. The figures reflected the banks’ increased ability to lend and was 65% up on the same month a year earlier. However, the appetite for remortgaging and for borrowing with other loans remained subdued, the group said. Typical loanThe increase in mortgage approvals raises hopes that there will be subsequent rise in activity in the property market. David Dooks, the BBA’s statistics director, said that approvals were recovering from a very low level since last November, but he suggested that the pick-up in mortgage lending by the major banks was in sharp contrast to a contraction in lending by other home loan providers. Andrew Montlake, director of mortgage broker Coreco, was not convinced that there had been a significant shift in the housing market. “…

  Click to read the full article »
• 27Jul

  Big jump in retail sales in June

  Money No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Sales in UK shops shot up 1.2% in June following a sharp fall in May as hot summer weather boosted clothing purchases, official figures show.The jump was much more than the 0.3% rise expected by economists. Retail sales had fallen 0.9% in May. The Office for National Statistics said that sales rose 2.9% from June 2008. Shops have also brought forward their summer sales, which along with the effects of last month’s heatwave, enticed consumers to spend. Earlier this week, clothing retailer Next said the good weather had bolstered its sales, allowing its to raise its profit forecast.
  The much better-than-expected retail sales figures lend support to the view that the UK is now over the worst of the recession. Economic growth figures due on Friday are expected to show that the economy shrank by about 0.4% between April and June, compared with a 2.4% contraction in the first three months of the year. However, retail sales are often volatile and analysts said UK households would continue to…

  Click to read the full article »
• 27Jul

  Airline complaints ‘on the rise’

  Money No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Complaints from customers about the airline industry have risen by 11% in a year, a consumer support group says.The Air Transport Users Council (AUC) handled 12,307 complaints and enquiries in 2008-9, compared with 11,077 the previous year. Cancellations, delays and mishandled baggage topped the gripes list but new technology has also led to new types of complaints, the AUC said. It accepted that complaints came from a “tiny” minority of passengers. CompensationThere were more complaints about cancelled flights than any other issue, with the numbers rising slightly to 3,770 in the last financial year.
  The AUC said it had been difficult to win compensation for passengers in these cases because on most occasions airlines claimed cancellations were the result of “extraordinary circumstances”, for which they do not have to pay compensation. The group won compensation for 120 complainants whose flights were cancelled compared with 60 the year before. Stricter legislation on passenger right…

  Click to read the full article »
• 26Jul

  Darling warns banks on loan rates

  Business No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
  Alistair Darling: ‘We did not stabilise the banking system out of some charitable act’
  The chancellor is to quiz bank bosses over how much they charge small firms for loans, saying he is “extremely concerned” their rates may be too high.Alistair Darling said the cost of loans seemed to have risen, despite the UK’s record low base interest rate of 0.5%. He told the BBC that banks had a duty to restore lending levels, saying the government did not rescue the banking sector “out of some charitable act”. He has called a meeting with bank executives in Downing St on Monday. ‘Do their part'”The public will not understand it if they [the banks] don’t seem to be doing their part,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. “I want them to rebuild their balance sheets… but at the same time, because of the particular circumstances we’re in now, because of the fact we’ve got this recession, we also need them to lend money,” said Mr Darlin…

  Click to read the full article »
• 26Jul

  Debt Management Companies should be transparent about fees

  IVAs No Comments

  From IVANews:

  Debt management companies – hired by borrowers to renegotiate terms with their creditors – should be more transparent about their charges, a charity has said.
  A report due out tomorrow from the Money Advice Trust found many debt management firms guilty of poor practice.
  The report, based on research by the Personal Finance Research Centre at Bristol University, says customers are often not told about the fees they will incur until late in the process. Some borrowers even felt they were worse off than before they contacted the debt management company.
  Worrying: Debt problems can cause months, even years, of constant anxiety
  The report also concludes that some companies do not make clear that in addition to an initial set-up charge, ongoing fees eat into the monthly repayments of those borrowers unable to meet former terms.
  Joanna Elson, chief executive of the trust, says: ‘Consumers have the choice to pay for debt advice, but this must be an informed decision.
  ‘We want regul…

  Click to read the full article »
• 26Jul

  Hotel firm gets £60m for growth

  Business No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Hotel group Jury Inn has secured £60m in funding to support a further expansion of the business.The firm, which has 23 hotels in the UK, is getting £15m each from major shareholders, Oman Investment Fund and property group Quinlan Private. The remaining £30m is coming from an extension of its existing debt. Jurys said it would look at new developments in key markets such as London. It has already opened five new hotels across the UK this year. These were in Sheffield, Watford, Exeter, Swindon and Derby. Another hotel is due to open in Aberdeen later this year, with more to follow next year in Portsmouth, Glasgow, Newcastle and Bradford. Jurys’ chief executive John Brennan said the new funding represented a vote of confidence in the firm and its growth plans in the face of challenging current trading….

  Click to read the full article »
• 26Jul

  Ericsson buys key Nortel assets

  Business No Comments

  From The BBC:

  Sweden’s Ericsson has won an auction for the wireless assets of bankrupt Canadian telecoms firm Nortel Networks.Ericsson is paying $1.13bn (£688m) for the businesses, which analysts say will enable it to substantially increase its North American presence. The units were put on sale by Nortel after it was forced to apply for bankruptcy protection in January, blaming the impact of global recession. Nortel is now effectively in the process of being broken up. There had previously been hope that it could emerge from bankruptcy protection as a slimmed-down firm. ‘Sad story'”An orderly disposal of the assets of Nortel is the best outcome for the stakeholders,” said Nortel official Richard Lowe. Telecoms analyst Jeff Kagan said the sale was “a sad story for Nortel, and a happy story for Ericsson”. “Rather than competing with Nortel, Ericsson has won,” he said. Nortel employed about 30,000 people worldwide at the start of this year….

  Click to read the full article »
• 23Jul

  Higher standards for defined contribution (DC) pensions

  Pensions No Comments

  From The Pensions Regulator:

  Informed member choices at retirement and greater employer engagement are the focus of a new Pensions Regulator

  Key points in the statement include:

  To help trustees ensure high standards in pre-retirement literature, we have updated our

  Today we have published our first analysis of the DC trust-based landscape, ‘

  The Pensions Regulator, chief executive Tony Hobman says: “It is more important than ever in these challenging economic times for members to make the right decisions to maximise value for money at retirement.

  “We know that our work on DC will enable trustees, employers, advisers and providers to improve the outcomes for DC scheme members. In the run-up to 2012 we are focusing on providing more education to assist employers with their pension provision and are looking at the standards in key processes for DC pensions. We are…

  Click to read the full article »
• 23Jul

  Mortgage lenders warn of ‘slow recovery’

  Mortgages No Comments

  From This is Money:

  Its downbeat assessment of the market comes against the backdrop of a series of rate hikes by banks and building societies.
  This has seen average fixed rates jumping and offers remaining on the market for just two weeks in June, according to a report compiled for the Treasury.

  While the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ monthly report forecast rising prices and Rightmove’s monthly survey suggested a steady recovery, mortgage lenders, who hold the keys to the property market, said potential buyers are struggling to secure mortgages and that this situation will continue.

  The CML report follows a recent Bank of England report showing an £8.1bn injection of equity into homes: taken as a sign that homeowners are using low rates to overpay mortgages….

  Click to read the full article »
• 23Jul

  Rightmove: Buyers have missed out on cheap homes

  Mortgages No Comments

  From This is Money:

  House price figures from Rightmove showed average asking prices rising by 0.6% to reach £227,864 in July. This followed a fall in June.
  The Council of Mortgage Lenders has also released figures, showing gross mortgage lending increasing to £12.3bn in June: a rise of 17% on the previous month.
  Rightmove claims that hindsight shows the best time to buy a property would have been last winter when ‘prices were in freefall’ and transactions were at a 50-year low.
  It says the rise in asking prices seen this year was when prices undershot, a scenario rectified in spring, with average rises of about 1% per month seen since then.
  But, while asking prices may be rising, major house price reports based on transactions still show prices falling annually, with official figures from the Land Registry showing a 15.9% fall to May.
  The economic picture also remains deeply gloomy with the fastest rise in unemployment since the 1970s revealed last week.
  Mortgage lending is down heavily…

  Click to read the full article »

« Previous Entries   Next Entries »