The number of homeowners in the UK choosing fixed-rate mortgages is increasing. This reflects consumer fear that interest rates will rise in February. Fixed rate mortgages accounted for 97 per cent of the market in November. Only 3 per cent of people opted for variable rates.
The number of borrowers opting for five year deals increased […]

There is a very strict practice in the UK banking industry known as banking exclusion. For most people this will not be an issue but if you have a very poor credit rating then it can become an absolute nightmare. Basically what banking exclusion means is that banks are no longer willing to allow you […]

The November Inflation Report of the Bank of England has stated that the impact of household debt ‘ has not changed substantially over the past year.’ While the problem is serious for those households with unsecured debt and repayment problems, the Bank of England feels that these households account for only a small proportion of […]

Many people complain about the cost of railway tickets. Trains have become a lot more expensive over the years and for many journeys these days, it is a lot cheaper to fly, drive or take a bus than it will be take the train. However, there are a lot of times when taking the train […]

You may have heard of cash back websites but are they really real and do they actually work. Well the first thing to answer is what exactly is a cash back site. Well these are business websites that have been set up to find customers for various companies. They have plenty of advertising on their […]

HSBC Banks does not predict a slowdown in the bankruptcy trend or the increase in Individual Voluntary Arrangements.  Many UK consumers choose these venues rather than pay off their debts.
This is a trend that will continue as consumers take out long-term mortgages, prepare to leave mortgage debt to their family, and live in the vacuum […]

It started with the gold card, then the platinum, and now the black card. The public’s belief that it is not what you buy, the how you pay for it, is sending the average debt management plan into the trash.  The new credit cards are in fact ‘fool’s gold.’ They charge higher fees and higher […]

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland warned last week, as the Bankruptcy and Diligence Bill negotiated, that more needed to be done. Legislation will modernise how personal debt is dealt with, ICAS insolvency director Anne Bryce fears it does not address the real problem.
“The problem of personal debt is becoming a huge issue, not […]

UK financial comparison service MoneyExpert reports that more than 4.2 million people continue to repay Christmas credit card loans from 2005.  UK payments association APACS estimates that GBP11.4 billion will be spent on plastic this Christmas.
MoneyExpert’s report states that it takes an average of 2.6 months to clear Christmas credit card debt, but a millions […]

British banks have made a 215 billion pound profit from unsecured consumer loans. U.K. consumer debt averaged 3,500 pounds per person in 2005, according to a Nov. 13 report by the New York-based accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Today, this number has almost doubled to £6,800.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King claimed that consumer debt is […]