News - July 2012

cardsinwallet_home more
27 Jul 12

Customers put off moving accounts

Few customers are moving their current account despite new polls suggesting that people favour smaller, more ethical, financial service providers.

Citizens Advice more
27 Jul 12

Citizens Advice criticise move to restrict basic bank account services

A new report Citizens Advice: Access to Cash Dont Bank on It has expressed its concern about the future of basic bank accounts and users access to cash. Two surveys were conducted, one by Citizens Advice (CA) and another by IPSOS Mori, and both address how and where people access their cash as...

Deal Main more
16 Jul 12

New Bank finance scheme designed to increase lending

The Bank of England has today released details of its plans to stimulate lending by banks and building societies by making cheap finance available to banks on the provision that they commit to lending to help small businesses and consumers.The Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) was announced by Sir...

high street more
16 Jul 12

Proposals for ‘bill of rights’ for shoppers

The Government is consulting on a new customer bill of rights as part of a move to provide stronger protection for shoppers that will also take into account e-commerce. The proposals seek to address issues that are the result of laws not being updated for a number of years and not reflecting...

Bank card - close up th more
16 Jul 12

Banks to undergo current account check-up

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to assess how UK banks operate current accounts for their customers and how much progress they have made since the OFT review in 2008. The assessment will look specifically at whether banks have made it easier for people to switch accounts and if there has been...

Children walking through a field of long grass more
12 Jul 12

£36k for a family of four to have “decent standard of living”

A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on minimum income standards, calculated that a family of four with two children require a household income of 36k a year to meet their acceptable standard of living threshold.

Housing more
12 Jul 12

A payday loan could stop you getting a mortgage

GE money, a mortgage, loan and insurance seller, announced this week that they would not approve home loan applicants who had taken out a payday loan in the past three months or twice in the past year.

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10 Jul 12

Farepak customers to receive half of money lost

Liquidators BDO have confirmed that customers and agents of Farepak will receive their final payments by the end of August. People who lost money when the Swindon-based Christmas savings firm went bust in 2006 had been waiting for the end of the various court cases surrounding the insolvency to...

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06 Jul 12

Twelve airlines to become more transparent with ticket pricing by removing last minute card charges

Ryanair and Easyjet are among twelve airlines which, in a move to make their charging system more transparent, will now include card surcharges as part of their overall headline ticket price. The current practice for many airlines has been to add surcharges towards the end of the ticket booking...

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06 Jul 12

Wonga escapes ad ban from advertising watchdog

Payday loan lenders Wonga have avoided an advertising ban, despite more than 80 complaints that their TV advert had mislead viewers to the true cost of loans. The complaints focused on Wongas omission from their advert of the annual percentage rate (APR) attached to their loans. These rates can...

Loan Shark more
06 Jul 12

Victim triumphs over loan shark after 17 years of torment

Loan shark victim Mike received the Heros Award at the Trading Standards Institute conference in June, for helping to imprison his loan shark, who had extorted him for more than 90,000 over 17 years.

Student debt more
06 Jul 12

Credit Action debt statistics suggest household debt continuing to rise

Credit Action today (July 5) released their national debt statistics for July which show a continuing upwards trend in average household debt in 2012. Until the turn of the year the amount of household debt, excluding mortgages, had been on a steady, if slight, downward trend dating back to...