Payday lenders lobby banks to ease off on credit punishment November 19, 2013 PAYDAY lenders are pushing for banks to treat their borrowers more fairly when they apply for mortgages, City A.M. has learned, arguing some users of the short term loans are unfairly treated. Some lenders will not give mortgages to anyone who has recently used a payday loan as they fear the borrower is often short [...]
Banks urged to cut premium rate phone bills for customers November 18, 2013 CONSUMERS are being ripped off by high rate phone charges used by their banks and credit card providers, said consumer group Which?, in a new drive to cut or end the premium rate bills. It comes at Barclays and RBS announced they will offer free or basic-rate phone lines to customers. “With two of the [...]
UK’s bad banks pay another £3bn back to the government November 14, 2013 THE REMAINING chunk of Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley is paying the government increasingly quickly, UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) said yesterday. It paid £3.8bn to the government in the first nine months of the year, £3.1bn of which were loan repayments. That compares with payments of £2.6bn in the same period of 2012 and [...]
Santander fears tough leverage rules could make banks riskier November 12, 2013 THE TOUGHER cap on leverage favoured by politicians could make banks riskier, not safer as intended, Santander’s UK retail boss warned yesterday. A group of MPs and peers has been pushing for a four per cent leverage cap, a tighter limit than the three per cent currently in place. Lenders like Nationwide, which specialises in mortgages, [...]
Banks say over 2,000 applied for Help to Buy November 11, 2013 HALIFAX and RBS reported strong interest in the first phase of the government’s Help To Buy scheme this morning, saying they had received more than 2,000 applications in the first month of the programme. Halifax recorded 1,309 applications under the scheme in its first month, while state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland also said today it [...]
UK must build 1.5m new homes November 6, 2013 Think tank calls for huge construction drive over next five years THE NEXT government must commit to build 1.5m homes by 2020 to stem an emerging social and economic crisis, according to a report released today. Westminster think tank Policy Exchange has calculated that the UK desperately needs to build 300,000 houses every year between [...]
Lloyds hopes for a 2013 dividend October 29, 2013 LLOYDS hopes to pay a dividend for this year after returning to profit, chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio revealed yesterday. The bailed out bank began its privatisation last month when the government sold a £3.2bn stake in the lender, and resuming dividend payments would be another key step on the return to normality for Lloyds. [...]
UK mortgage approvals hit a five-year peak October 29, 2013 BRITISH lenders approved the most mortgages in over five years last month as borrowing costs sank to their lowest in a decade, central bank data showed yesterday, setting the stage for further house price rises. Business lending also picked up – though only for larger firms – but the figures did little to dispel concerns [...]
Highest level of new mortgage approvals since February 2008 October 29, 2013 UK mortgage approvals were at their highest levels for five and a half years at 66,735 in September, marginally over economists' estimates of 66,000. Last month's figure was 62,22.6. The figure, reported by the Bank of England, provides, says IHS Global Insight's Howard Archer, compelling evidence that activity in the housing market was already gaining momentum even [...]
Santander gains current account customers but UK profits drop October 24, 2013 SANTANDER UK’s profits fell in the third quarter despite the success of a major advertising campaign to recruit new current account customers, the bank said yesterday. So far this year the lender has gained another 900,000 account customers, bringing its total on the brand up to 2.2m. However, pre-tax profits for continuing operations in the [...]