- Thursday, December 9, 2010, 17:50
- Mortgages
House prices fell for the third month in a row in November according to figures released today by the Halifax.
The cost of the average house in the UK fell 0.1% last month to £164,708 according to the lender as sluggish demand and the high number of properties on the market continued to put ...
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- Thursday, December 9, 2010, 17:31
- Featured
The gender pay divide narrowed in 2010 with women in their twenties earning more than men for the first time according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The overall gap between the median pay of men and women fell to 10.2%, the narrowest since official records began in ...
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- Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 13:23
- Personal Finance
One in ten homeowners over the age of 75 is being forced to carry on working to pay off a mortgage or unsecured debt.
Research published by the insurance company Aviva shows that the average level of debt among those in this position is £72,500 and highlights the difficulties some pensioners with no savings and inadequate ...
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- Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 13:13
- Featured, Household Finances
UK banks are considering introducing a new paper-based payment method if cheques are phased out by 2018 as planned.
The UK Payment Council recommended last year that cheques be abolished but only when a suitable alternative has been established to replace them.
The plans have raised concerns from charities, consumer groups and the elderly who ...
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- Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 18:46
- Featured
Overdraft charges are the highest since records began despite historically low interest rates.
The Bank of England have said that the average rate of interest charged to bank customers going into the red hit 19.09% in October, some 38 times higher than the base rate of 0.5%.
Lloyds TSB, which is partly owned by the ...
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- Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 18:43
- Economy
Some £831,000 was spent online in just one minute yesterday in what retail marketing gurus have dubbed the real “Mega Monday”.
Some marketers predicted that last Monday would be the busiest trading day of the year for internet retailers in what appears to be a new PR tool designed to whip online shoppers into a frenzy ...
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- Monday, December 6, 2010, 18:19
- Personal Finance
Levels of child poverty are rising among families with one or two wage earners whilst those claiming unemployment benefits are better off.
Researchers from the New Policy Institute (NPI) today published a report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) that says over half of the 3.7 million children deemed to be living in poverty are from households with at least one wage earner. The figure of ...
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- Monday, December 6, 2010, 18:14
- Featured, Personal Finance
The British pay more for childcare than any other country in the world.
A family in the UK earning 167% of the average wage will spend 33% of their entire annual income on childcare costs according to figures published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This compares to the ...
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- Friday, December 3, 2010, 12:48
- Household Finances
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned retailers and manufacturers about their use of sales gimmicks such as “buy one, get one free”, or “bogofs”, and “offer ends today”.
The regulator said that these “baiting” techniques could lead customers to make purchases they might not otherwise consider and could, in some cases, be breaking the law.
The OFT is launching a crackdown on these “harmful” pricing ...
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- Friday, December 3, 2010, 12:46
- Featured
Debit cards are now used to pay for goods and services more frequently than cash in the UK.
Some £272 billion was spent on debit cards in the 12 months to October according to figures released by the UK Payments Council. This compares to the £269 billion worth of purchases made in cash over the same ...
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