British Gas customers should prepare for a rise in their electricity bills as the company reports that its profit margins have been squeezed to levels below ‘long run expectations’.
It would be the second price rise for British Gas customers in five months. British Gas raised its prices in January this year in response to a hike […]
Morgan Stanley recently delivered a grim warning that within the next 12 months UK house prices will fall by 15 per cent, and 1.2 million people will be pushed into negative equity as a result.
Many homeowners, particularly first time buyers, have borrowed 100% or more of their home’s value when taking out a mortgage over […]
There are high hopes that the Chancellor’s intervention by way of a £50 billion mortgage bailout will help to re-stabilise financial markets and bring about the end of the beginning of the UK credit crunch.
Yesterday the Bank of England unveiled a £50 billion scheme designed to restore confidence into the ailing mortgage market. The plan, […]
Many households will be pushed over the edge into bankruptcy this year as borrowing channels dry up as a result of the international credit crunch.Â
A report from the TDX Group, which provides detailed debt-collection information to lenders, claims that about one millions consumers are struggling with ‘problem debt’, at an average of around £25,000 each. […]
If you were to take a snapshot of UK consumer finances at the moment, you’d be excused for feeling less than chipper. The Centre for Policy studies has recently published a report that shows that the total cost of running an average home (with mortgage) rose from £9,837 during 2006, to £11,780 during 2007. This […]
With credit card companies purported to be preparing to begin sharing customer information come the spring, borrowers on both ends of the credit rating spectrum may find themselves being penalised. As can be seen in the case of Egg’s recent controversial decision to cancel the credit cards of 160,000 of its customers, lenders are becoming […]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to reduce interest rates to 5.25% this morning. The second rate drop in three months, today’s vote was in response to growing evidence of an economic downturn, combined with the increasing risk of inflation in the coming months as global financial markets face further uncertainty and […]
Thousands of Egg credit card customers have had their credit cards cancelled following an extensive one-off credit review. Egg wrote to around 160,000 customers last week, informing them that their Egg credit cards were being cancelled. Affected customers will no longer have access to credit through Egg, but are able to continue repaying their debts […]
Consumers make many excuses for the - often unhappy - state of their finances. The sub-prime mortgage market fiasco in the US has highlighted the importance of responsible lending, but has also drawn attention to the importance of consumer responsibility. Here in the UK where consumers enjoy a collective multi-billion pound relationship with credit, it’s […]
According to British Psychologists, today is Blue Monday – the most depressing day of the year. Apparently the foul weather, lack of daylight and feelings of guilt over failed New Year’s resolutions accumulate suitably by mid-late January to have us all at our lowest emotional points. And then, as if your failure to have as […]
