Finance News

Are There More Interest Rate Cuts On The Horizon?

Forecasts by over 50 economists who took part in a recent poll expect the base rate to drop to 5% by June, some predicting as low as 4.5% by year's end. The Bank says rates may not fall that low... Read More

Cheques No Longer Popular

APACS reports a nine percent drop in cheque use in 2007 as the popularity of cheques continues to decrease. Retailers soon won't accept cheques and utility companies offer discounts for paying by direct debit... Read More

Fall In UK Unemployment By 61,000

Unemployment, as well as the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance, dropped in the last quarter of 2007. However, analysts are predicting a rise in inflation which could affect statistics... Read More

Home Ownership Down To Lowest Level In 10 Years

Recent statistics produced by the Government have shown a decline in home ownership for a second year in a row, mainly due to the strong increase in house prices over the past ten years... Read More

Rate Cuts Should Improve Housing Affordability

It is anticipated that retail banks will offer lowered rates in line with the two recent cuts from the Bank of England. First-time buyers should see conditions improve according to the CML... Read More

Savings Accounts Safe From Rate Cuts

The credit crunch and recent rate cuts from the BoE have inspired retail banks to rely more on customers than money markets. As a result, we're seeing more high interest saving accounts on offer... Read More

Energy Bills Too Complicated For Customers

Consumer watchdog Energywatch is concerned about how the big energy companies can hit consumers with higher bills during mid-cycle. Methods can be confusing to customers... Read More

House Prices Still Cooling

Recent figures show that house price inflation continues to drop whilst others predict a "flat market" for 2008. The credit crunch plus a rise in fuel and food costs are hurting consumer confidence... Read More

Riskier Customers Mean More Profit

Several credit card lenders are said to be dropping responsible customers in favour of higher risk borrowers to capitalise on minimum payments and late fees... Read More

Demand For Further Rate Cuts

Despite two rate cuts in almost as many months, the Bank of England is still under pressure to cut rates further over concerns of economic growth... Read More