Finance News
Below you'll find helpful articles about all aspects of UK finance and loans.
Personal Tax Allowance increase due - Tue 13 May 2008
The UK's current Chancellor, Alistair Darling has revealed to the nation that the Personal Tax Allowance (PTA) for everyone is to be raised this year.
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Interest Rates Kept at 5% mark - Fri 9 May 2008
The Bank of England had its monthly meeting yesterday and announced at midday that after evaluating the current financial economy, they were going to keep the base interest rate at 5%.
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Money News - Fri 2 May 2008
The UK saw a small increase in the number of individuals declaring insolvencies according to The Insolvency Service. The Insolvency Service administer and investigate insolvencies along with offering information to the public with regards to it.
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Credit Card Fraud worse than expected - Wed 23 Apr 2008
Data detailing the amount of credit card losses through fraud in 2007 amounted to over £290 million. However after an investigation performed by the BBC there are now worries that this figure was drastically underestimated by as much as £500 million.
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Credit Card costs rise - Fri 18 Apr 2008
Whilst it seemed like a good idea 2 years ago for The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to get banks to cap their credit card charges at £12, it has now emerged that customers who have them and use credit cards are actually paying more overall anyway.
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Interest Rates Reduced to 5% - Thu 10 Apr 2008
The Bank of England have voted to drop the UK's base interest rate to 5%, dropping it by a quarter of a percent. One reason for this was because inflation had risen to 2.5%. This is the 3rd time it has been cut since December 2007.
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Mortgages more difficult to get - Fri 4 Apr 2008
It is becoming increasingly more difficult for homeowners and potential homeowners to even find a place offering mortgages to new customers, let alone being given a mortgage to buy a property with or remortgage your existing house.
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Debt Charities warn borrowers on bad loans - Wed 26 Mar 2008
Several debt charities, such as Debt on Our Doorstep, are warning about an increase in bad loan deals for people who are struggling with their finances.
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Mortgage Pressures for First Time Buyers - Thu 20 Mar 2008
The property bubble of the past few years is predicted to be ready to pop over the coming months, as Banks are finding it more and more difficult to find lenders willing to loan to them.
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The Budget at a Glance - Thu 13 Mar 2008
Alistair Darling, revealed the Budget for April 2008 yesterday. It can be quite an ordeal, working through the whole of the budget and what it actually means for us in our everyday life, so here is a rundown of the budget, at a glance.
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Stamp Duty for first-timers - Mon 10 Mar 2008
Stamp Duty is a tax paid on all land and property and any shares you may own. The amount of Stamp Duty Tax you will pay depends on the value of the land, property or shares involved.
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Base Interest Rate stays at 5.25% - Thu 6 Mar 2008
The Bank of England have come to their decision and decided to keep the UK's base interest rate at 5.25%, as predicted.
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Overdraft Fee Refunds in 2007 - Wed 5 Mar 2008
The court case last month that was to decide if banks and building societies should be punished for placing extortionate fees on overdraft charges, is still being mulled over by the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Smith.
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New IVA Rules - Mon 25 Feb 2008
An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (also known as an IVA), is a legally binding agreement that allows people in serious debt to have their debt frozen. It is an alternative to bankruptcy, that was originally designed for small businesses, but now is popular with an increasing number of individuals who face ever increasing debt. But it isn't always suitable for some people.
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Number of cheques written falls - Thu 14 Feb 2008
A revealing report regarding the use of personal cheques appeared today. Cheques are becoming less and less popular as cards and online banking take over our everyday payments.
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Bank of England cuts interest rates - Thu 7 Feb 2008
The Bank of England has just announced that it has cut the UK's base interest rate by 0.25%. The interest rate is now down to 5.25%.
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Are Sick Days Good For Us? - Thu 31 Jan 2008
According to some research, the very first Monday of every February is the most likely time for people to take a 'sickie'. At least 10% of us. The reason why is unclear, but it could be a mixture of post christmas blues as our credit card bills land on the doorstep, it's an age away before the next bank holiday and the miserable weather can get us down.
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Reduction of Mortgage Approval rates - Wed 30 Jan 2008
Our housing market is still showing an ever downward spiral as official statistics showed that the number of mortgage applications that were approved in December 2007 was lower than November, and October. In fact that's a fall for the 7th month in a row.
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Debt Free by 50 - Tue 22 Jan 2008
An interesting survey on personal finance was done by Your Money Matters recently. It revealed that on average we Brits owe on average £10,000 each in personal debt, which will only get paid off by the time we reach 50.
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Will Northern Rock be nationalised? - Wed 16 Jan 2008
Northern Rock shares have fallen to an all time low as rumours abound that Northern Rock is close to becoming nationalised. The final decision will ultimately lay in the hands of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling.
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The End of Free Banking? - Mon 14 Jan 2008
Today marks the start of a high court battle between our high street banks and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), along with a long list of customers waiting with baited breath to find out if banks will be charged for implementing unfair and overpriced bank charges.
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No change for Interest Rates - Fri 11 Jan 2008
The heads that be at the Bank of England have decided to keep the current base interest rate as it as, so it remains unchanged at 5.5% for the next month at least, if not longer.
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Hiding debt from partners - Thu 10 Jan 2008
It is shocking how many people feel so bad about their personal debt that they feel they have to hide the fact from their partners. It has been revealed through a survey that many couples who are married or live together keep secrets about the amount of debt they are in.
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Debt Awareness Campaign - Wed 9 Jan 2008
A new debt awareness campaign is being launched by the Church of England. Statistics show that 18% of adults living in the UK have debts over £10,000 and that doesn't include mortgages.
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Changes in the housing market announced by the CML - Tue 8 Jan 2008
First time buyers are showing an unwillingness to overcommit in today's current housing arena. At one time last year it was normal to borrow 3.3 times your income - if not more in some cases. Now it has fallen to 3 times their income.
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Credit Culture - Mon 7 Jan 2008
Unfortunately the past few months have made their mark on the financial markets. Gone are the days of easy credit where credit cards were thrown at you, loans were dished out as if there would be no tomorrow, mortgages were given without any investigation as to whether we could actually afford them and us, the consumer taking what we could when we could without thinking what would happen when it all ended.
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Another drop in mortgage approvals - Fri 4 Jan 2008
November 2007 showed just 83,000 people being approved for mortgages. That figure is less than the 89,000 mortgage approvals from October. The mortgage approval rate is now at the same level it was at the beginning of 2005.
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Savers suffer as rates drop - Thu 3 Jan 2008
The base interest rate for the UK was reduced last month by the Bank of England to try and stabilise the nations finances and regain some public confidence. This was great news for those with mortgages as many banks and building societies also dropped their interest rates for customers to benefit. Not so good for savers though.
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Latest House Price News - Wed 2 Jan 2008
The latest data is in and it reveals that house prices in the UK have dropped for the second month running, albeit only a slight drop of 0.5%. Despite this small downfall, the prices of property around the country still rose by 4.8%.
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More complaints against Banks - Sat 29 Dec 2007
Over the past few months there have been a large number of people who have felt they are being hassled and intimidated by their Banks. Many customers have been getting letters and phone calls from their Banks 'cold calling' and trying to get them to sign up to a 'managed loan' system.
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HIP's required for all homes - Fri 14 Dec 2007
HIP's - the dreaded Home Information Packs are now required for every single property that goes up for sale from today. The idea of HIP's was to actually improve house sales, reduce costs for buyers and provide important information for purchasers too.
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Ban Unwanted Christmas Gifts - Wed 12 Dec 2007
Oxfam Unwrapped have had a big campaign leading up to Christmas this year about banning rubbish presents for people. A recent survey revealed that many people cannot remember what gifts they received for Christmas last year.
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Banks reveal bad debt write-offs - Mon 10 Dec 2007
The bad housing market in the US has had effects that have resounded all over the globe. Not only have large companies like Citigroup suffered huge losses but the Swiss bank UBS seems to have suffered the worst of it.
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Halifax and Nationwide cut rates too - Fri 7 Dec 2007
Despite interest rates only being cut yesterday, 2 of the biggest UK lenders have already passed on the benefits to their customers, as of today.
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Interest Rates down to 5.5% - Thu 6 Dec 2007
There were huge sighs of relief all over the UK this morning as the Bank of England announced that they were cutting the base interest rate back down to 5.5%. This was after the base rate was raised to 5.75% earlier this year, the highest it has been in 6 years.
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Lack of funds for UK mortgage lenders - Wed 5 Dec 2007
The ongoing credit squeeze that is crippling the financial market, finds it has another obstacle to hurdle over. Unless the Bank of England agrees to loan money to several mortgage lenders next year, Britain could face a £30 billion shortfall in funds.
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The Bank of Mum and Dad - Tue 4 Dec 2007
Now a popular phrase, the Bank of Mum and Dad refers to using your parents as an easy way of borrowing money, usually interest free. It is becoming an ever more common way for people to get on the first rung of the property ladder.
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Are You Facing A Mortgage Increase? - Mon 3 Dec 2007
As many as 1 in 3 homeowners with a mortgage could be faced with financial problems. This is about 5.5 million people across the UK who may find any further increase in mortgage costs make it very difficult for them to keep up with rising monthly repayments.
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Change with cheques - Tue 27 Nov 2007
New changes in the way cheques work will please many bank account holders who have suffered from fraudulent cheques and cheques that have bounced in the past.
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Loans and mortgages the Tesco way - Mon 26 Nov 2007
Just 2 years ago Tesco launched its own mortgage package, however they have discovered that the one mortgage they offered was not competitive enough for the market and lacked choice for customers, so the Tesco group has changed tack and opted to go with a mortgage finder instead.
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Foreign Currency Loans - Thu 22 Nov 2007
A new high-risk money saving scheme in Foreign Currency Loans is currently taking the financial market by storm, but there are worries that whilst it can decrease debt quickly, it can also create debt within days too.
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Financial Services Authority Gets Tough - Tue 20 Nov 2007
Otherwise known as the FSA, the Financial Services Authority was set up by the government but is an independent company, whose role it is to regulate the Financial Services Industry, which include banks, building societies, financial advisors and mortgage brokers.
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The New Post Office Christmas Club - Fri 16 Nov 2007
The Post Office has decided to fill a gap in the Christmas Savings Club market that was left empty after the collapse of Farepak last year. People can start to deposit money into their Christmas Club accounts which will then become available to them from 1st November 2008.
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Mis-sold PPI's case goes to court - Thu 15 Nov 2007
After the recent news of the true cost of PPI (Payment Protection Insurance), we are now starting to see the first group of people to take several lenders to court.
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Investments with a clear conscience - Wed 14 Nov 2007
People looking at saving and investing in a more ethical, 'green' way is on the increase. And whilst a decade or so ago ethical saving and investing was deemed as being not particularly profitable, nowadays it has shown to be a fairly sound way to investment.
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Pension payouts dependent on postcode - Mon 12 Nov 2007
Legal & General, one of the largest insurers have announced a shock new tactic when it comes to arranging the pension payouts of their customers. The initial pilot stage has just finished, so only time will tell if this will affect the number of new customers they get.
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Abbey fixes its arrangement fee at a mere £9,999 - Fri 9 Nov 2007
Eek! Many people have been horrified at the announcement that Abbey have revealed their new fees for arranging mortgages for customers - a staggering £9,999.
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The true price of Payment Protection Insurance - Wed 7 Nov 2007
The Financial Services Authority has consistently said that Payment Protection Plans are more important than ever at a time when we, as a nation, have about £1.4 trillion worth of debt. Consumers need this type of financial protection service as our personal debt continues to increase.
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Credit Cards Pay for Christmas - Tue 6 Nov 2007
There is concern that many people this year are going to be splashing out this christmas and using their credit cards to pay for it. When in actual fact this is the worst way in which to fund your seasonal spending.
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House values predicted to fall in 2008 - Mon 5 Nov 2007
Predictions from experts within the property markets are forecasting what they think will happen with the value of houses in the coming year. Previously it has been predicted that property prices would drop from the current annual growth of 7% to just 1%.
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Number of bankrupties has fallen - Fri 2 Nov 2007
New reports have revealed that the number of bankruptcies in the UK has dropped this quarter. This is great news, especially when it coincides with the news that the number of houses being repossessed in Wales and England has also fallen.
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New Government Scheme to offer financial advice - Thu 1 Nov 2007
A new scheme has been proposed by the Government which could be available to the public as early as next year. The Generic Financial Advice idea is a service that would offer basic financial advice to people in the UK.
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Credit Card Refunds Reviewed - Wed 31 Oct 2007
Credit card companies are governed under the Consumer Credit Act and according to Section 75, all purchases between £100 and £30,000 are fully insured and covered by the credit card firms.
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Pound increases its strength against the dollar - Tue 30 Oct 2007
Today saw the UK pound(£) reach the highest rate against the American dollar($) for the first time in 26 years. It seems there has been speculation that the US will cut its interest rates next week and as such the pound has gained in value against the $ and the Euro.
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Mortgage lending on a downward slide - Mon 29 Oct 2007
The newest figures from the Bank Of England (BOE) prove to be a bit of a shocker. Numbers show that the amount of mortgages given out to new buyers has fallen significantly, by as much as 20%.
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More homes needed in UK - Fri 26 Oct 2007
There has always been a housing shortage in the UK. Despite expanding upwards and outwards with our property building prowess, we are still struggling to provide affordable housing to thousands of people.
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Sell your property the open house way - Thu 25 Oct 2007
As the property market starts to slow and take a slight downward turn, estate agents and homeowners have been looking at different ways in which to advertise and sell their properties. This latest idea has crossed over the transatlantic ocean. Known as Open House, this format of promoting your property is very popular and common in the US.
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Short ended Fixed Rate Mortgages - Wed 24 Oct 2007
Many homeowners are finding they have been caught short with their fixed rate mortgage deals. The most popular type of mortgage deal seems to be the 2 year fixed rate mortgage, however many people find themselves getting less than the 2 years they have signed up for.
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Credit Crunch Hits Mainstream Markets - Tue 23 Oct 2007
Shocking news report today says that 40% of banks and building society mortgage deals have been withdrawn. It seems that borrowing money to buy a property may be becoming more difficult, there is certainly less choice available than 3 months ago.
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Long Term Fixed Rate mortgages - Thu 18 Oct 2007
In his pre-budget report, the Chancellor Alistair Darling, announced that he wanted to increase the availability of a longer fixed rate term on mortgages. He reckons this is one of the ways of making home buying a more affordable process and create stability for those with homeowner loans.
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Finance sector needs to act greener - Wed 17 Oct 2007
Last month London hosted the Ethical Corporations' Sustainable Finance Summit. 2 bankers from large financial institutions, namely Barclays and HSBC, say that banks need to start to make a change with regards to more ethical investments and greener actions.
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Cosmetic Surgery Finance - Tue 16 Oct 2007
Abbey Loans' latest survey reveals that our obsession with looks and plastic surgery is growing each year and many people are opting to take out personal loans to fund the operations. Just shy of 1 million Brits want to borrow money in order to pay for cosmetic surgery - the total amount comes close to £1.5 billion.
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House prices are definitely falling - Mon 15 Oct 2007
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has reported a continuation of house prices falling. Not only are property prices gradually dropping but so to is the number of potential buyers. Enquiries about properties for sale has reduced for the tenth month running.
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Money - the big Taboo - Fri 12 Oct 2007
It used to be politics and religion that were our biggest taboo subjects. A survey has revealed that money has now overtaken both of these subjects to become the least discussed topic amongst people.
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Chancellor's pre-Budget Report - Wed 10 Oct 2007
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has just announced the governments spending review and pre-Budget Report. The main proposals were delivered to parliament yesterday and the general points are listed below along with their benefits.
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Mortgage Lending Becoming Static - Tue 9 Oct 2007
The latest figures show that the amount of money being borrowed for mortgages has remained at the same level as the month previous. Despite the slowing housing market there does seem to be a diversification going on though
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Problems if house prices fall - Mon 8 Oct 2007
The housing market seems to be changing day by day, well at least the reports we got to the current situation seem to be. The latest warning is for first-time buyers who are thinking about taking out a 100% mortgage to get on the property ladder.
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Interest rates stay the same - Fri 5 Oct 2007
There had been speculation that the Bank of England would reduce the base interest rate but yesterday they announced that the rate would stay the same at 5.75%.
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What Are Offset Mortgages? - Fri 5 Oct 2007
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Mortgage market less profitable - Wed 3 Oct 2007
The mortgage market is going through a rough time at present and there are speculations that the whole set up is due for a big change in the coming months.
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Minimum Wage and Annual Leave Raised - Tue 2 Oct 2007
As the annual leave for all employees who work 5 days a week is set to rise from the statutory 20 days to 24 days, so to is the basic minimum wage.
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New Guarantee Will Protect Savings - Mon 1 Oct 2007
The Northern Rock debacle, when it was announced that they had taken out an emergency loan from the Bank of England, caused our nations savers to panic and queue for hours to withdraw their money from what was thought to be a sinking ship. Desperate to hold onto their hard earned money, several billion pounds was withdrawn from accounts and consumers looked elsewhere to stash their savings.
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Drop in Mortgage Approvals - Fri 28 Sep 2007
Recent reports have told us us that house prices are still on the increase albeit at a slower rate than we have become accustomed to over the past few years.
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House prices still increasing - Thu 27 Sep 2007
Despite the rocky financial markets and worries about housing, house prices in the UK continue to increase. The annual rate of increase in house values was 9%, slower than it has been over the year, but still higher than the 8.8% predicted.
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Bank of England announces loans auction - Wed 26 Sep 2007
The Bank of England is hosting a one of a kind loan auction. For the first time ever the Bank will offer up to £10 billion of funding to financial institutions.
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Post Office to launch loans - Tue 25 Sep 2007
Royal Mail will add an extra string to its bow shortly. Its financial service branch is all set to launch its own mortgage deals with the help of the Bristol & West bank. For the time being though it is only available as a trial in the north east of England, obviously trying to fill the hole that Northern Rock seems to have left. If all goes to plan though, the service could be sent out across the UK in the coming months.
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Tax Deadline Close - Fri 21 Sep 2007
The date for tax returns is almost upon us. For those who do their personal tax either online or the old-fashioned paper way, the 30th September is a date pencilled in red in their diaries. For many it can be an easy task, a series of simple figures that are added together. For others it can be a more complicated event that is put off until the very last minute.
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Abbey offers 125% mortgage - Thu 20 Sep 2007
The current mortgage market is seeing problems at present, after so many months of offering sub-prime mortgages, many lenders have had to revise their lending criteria for their mortgage products.
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A Slow Down for Mortgage Lending - Wed 19 Sep 2007
According to the latest findings of the Council of Mortgage Lender (CML), the mortgage lending market has slowed down. As of the end August this year, lending was down by 3% than at the same time last year.
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Only 1 in 10 Chance of House Price Crash - Tue 18 Sep 2007
Simon Rubinsohn, a leading economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says there's only a 10% chance of a property crash like the one of the early 1990s.
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Bank of England Guarantees Northern Rock Deposits - Tue 18 Sep 2007
After the turmoil of the last few days, Northern Rock shares have risen around 8% as the government promises that the Bank of England will protect the deposits of existing Northern Rock savers.
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