Building societies enjoy an increase in deposits
June 27, 2008
According to recent reports many building societies are enjoying a huge increase in business following the chaos at Northern Rock in September, when many customers withdrew a combined total of over £2 billion amidst fears that the bank was on the verge of collapse. The fears came after consumers found out that the bank, which was the fifth largest mortgage lender in the nation, had taken an emergency loan from the Bank of England. Read more
Will government’s fuel poverty assistance really help?
June 25, 2008
With the cost of energy usage already having gone up, and with expectations of further price hikes in the autumn, the government has been taking measures to try and reduce the risk of fuel poverty for the more vulnerable, which includes reforming data protection laws so that consumers can be contacted directly and offered help should the need arise. Other moves that the government has planned to try and reduce fuel poverty include providing assistance for consumers to ensure that their homes are energy efficient and to make sure that they are with the most suitable and affordable provider. Read more
Drivers without insurance could be heading for trouble
June 24, 2008
Officials are warning drivers with no insurance to watch out for increased scrutiny and penalties from authorities in the UK. According to a recent report police authorities across the UK are getting increasingly tougher on drivers that do not have insurance cover on their vehicle, and many could end up losing their vehicles to the crusher if they are caught and are unable to pay the hefty fines and penalties that will be imposed on those without cover. Read more
Chancellor responds to questions from the Treasury
June 22, 2008
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has been responding to questions from the Treasury Select Committee recently following the chaos that occurred at Northern Rock in September. Along with the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, Darling is part of the tripartite authorities that were handling the Northern Rock situation. Darling answered questions from the committee and also stated that increased regulations in the banking sector were needed. Read more
Faster bank transfers could mean increase risk of fraud
June 22, 2008
Fears have been raised over the new faster bank transfer system that was launched earlier this week, with some officials claiming that the system could put consumers at increased risk of becoming victims of fraud. The new system means that the clearing period on one off transactions made by phone or online will be reduced from three days to a matter of just hours. Read more
One in four T-mobile customers takes out mobile broadband
June 22, 2008
Officials from T-mobile, the communications giant, have recently released their first quarter figures for this year, and state that around twenty five percent of new customers are taking out mobile broadband, which reflects the popularity of this up and coming technology. The company has already revealed an increase in customer numbers, and officials predict that figures will quadruple by the end of the year. Read more
Look out for hiked up packaged account fees
June 20, 2008
Consumers are being urged to look out for hikes up fees on packaged current accounts from banks, with a number of banks having recently increased the fees on these accounts in preparation for a possible cap on bank charges following the recent victory for the Office of Fair Trading in the High Court test case into bank charges. Many officials have been speculating as to whether banks will now start charging monthly account fees on all current accounts in order to try and recoup some of the losses, and whilst this is a strong possibility there are some accounts for which banks already charge fees, and these are known as packaged current accounts. Read more
Switching banks was rife this year
June 19, 2008
General dissatisfaction with the services and policies offered by many banks in the UK has been reflected in the number of people that actually switched their bank accounts over the course of the year. According to a recent report around eight million banking customers have switched their bank accounts this year, many of whom were very unhappy with the service, policies, and customer service that was provided by this existing bank, prompting them to switch to another. Read more
Water services’ complaints on the rise
June 17, 2008
According to a recent report the level of complaints relating to water services has been rising significantly over the 2006/2007 financial years, with a rise of 30% from the previous financial year. Figures come from the water watchdog for England and Wales, which shows that over 240,000 complaints were made in the 2006/2007 financial year, with the majority from customers of Thames Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent. Around 50% of the complaints are said to be about charging and billing issues. Read more
Number of consumers subscribing to broadband falls
June 16, 2008
According to recent reports the number of people that are subscribing to broadband within the UK is on the fall, with a far lower number of people subscribing to broadband as new customers over the third quarter compared to the second quarter. The report shows that there were around 460,000 new broadband subscriptions in the UK between July and August, which was 40,000 drop on the 510,000 new subscriptions that took place in the previous quarter. Read more