Avoid the credit card blacklist

UK Credit Card companies are to start sharing personal data in the spring that will help them weed out prudent and therefore ‘unprofitable’ customers for the first time.

Banks have been talking to industry bodies for several months about new initiative that will enable them to identify consumers who clear their balances in full every month, or who constantly switch to 0 per cent deals. Such customers make the banks no money because they do not pay punitive interest charges of up to 28%. Read more

FSA will take tougher stance on inside dealing

Senior management in investment banks face a greater chance of being prosecuted for maintaining weak defences against insider dealing, even in the absence of specific instances of market abuse over the past year.

Last month it launched it first criminal prosecution, having previously relied on civil proceedings. Read more

Growing concerns over property defaults

There recently has been a growing risk over defaults commercial property loan this year. In a trend that could knock down real property estate values and create more jitter in the credit world, city analysts and bankers have warned.

Us property firms in particular have took big-short term loans to finance acquisitions in recent years at very low-interest are now struggling to refinance this debt, as banks curb lending and continued commercial property falls. Read more

The fixed rate loan rip off

UK banks are reaping an extra £3.5 billion a year on fixed-rate mortgages after raising margins to 25 times pre-credit crisis levels.

More than half of all borrowers were taking out fixes as recently as September, despite expectations that rates would fall, because many loan lenders had in effect pulled out of the tracker market. Read more

Concerns over online banking checks

Security extras such as number fobs, card readers and password checks might make consumers more wary of net bank websites, they fear.

The warning comes as research shows how phishing gangs are targeting attempts to grab customer login details.

But the UK body overseeing net banking says figures show criminals are getting away with less from online accounts. Read more

Homeowners face mortgage shock

Hundreds of thousands of UK homeowners could pay more for their mortgages during 2008 even though the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to at least 5.50%.

Around 1.4m will come to the end of cheap fixed rates over the next 12 months. While failing rates for new mortgage borrowers, analysts warn many will see a leap in repayments as the credit crunch fallout continues. Read more

Compare Payday Loans

Life is certainly not static. You might be happy for a minute but can not predict when this happiness will be replaced by sorrows. But braves are those who remain ready to face every situation in their life.

To help those braves, loan market has also come up with several financial helps which is meant to offer relaxation while financial urgency or crisis. One of such financial helps is payday loans. Because of their distinct features, these loans are rapidly garnering trust of the UK residents. Read more

Brazil’s emerging investment opportunities

Brazil is the country of the future and always will be, suggests the old joke.

Previous periods of strong growth in Brazil have ended in turmoil, but the country has come a long way over the last few years and finally seems set to fulfils its potential and develop into an advanced economy.

Over the past decade, inflation has been tamed, with an operationally independent central bank keeping it below 10% for almost all of the past decade, compared with 2,600% in 1993. Read more

How to spot a payment protection con

Mortgage borrowers who have taken out insurance with their loans and credit cards have been seemingly overcharged by more than £1.4 billion a year according to a damning report by the Competition Commission.

But Which? Earlier this month suggested up two million had been mis-sold and could reclaim their premiums. So how do you know if you have been mis-sold, can you cancel your insurance and are there cheaper options? Read more

The Chinese raise energy prices

China raised energy prices across the board last week in a big policy shift that risks stoking the country’s already high inflation.

International oil prices fell immediately as Beijing said that petrol and diesel would go up by 18 per cent and electricity tariffs rose by just less than 5 per cent. Oil prices already under pressure as Saudi Arabia is expected to announce on Sunday an increase in oil production fell more than $4 a barrel to $132.32. Read more

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