Interest rates are set to hit new record low

British Interest rates are set to hit a record low by the end of the week as the Bank of England struggles with a deepening recession.

The Bank’s official rate has never dropped below the current 2 per cent in its 315 year history, but financial experts predict a cut of as much as 1 per cent by Thursday as the Britain faces up to its worst economic year since the early 1990s. Read more

Home repayments are first priority

Homeowners within the UK are no longer cashing in on the value of their properties to fund spending, latest figures show.Quarterly figures released from the Bank of England on housing equity withdrawal showed a second successive negative reading during July and September. Read more

Credit card rates should not increase

Credit card interest rate charges should be capped to help smaller firms cope with the downturn, the small business industry body has said.

In its message for 2009, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said with the base rate currently held at 2%, the Chancellor and Bank of England must consider its next steps. Read more

Buy-to-let market remains resilient

Buy-to-let investors have shrugged off a slide in the value of rented houses with almost half of existing investors planning further purchases in the market.

Nine out of 10 landlords have no intention of selling their properties, according to the fourth-quarter survey of the Association of Residential Letting Agents. Four out of 10 expect to invest further in the private rented sector this year. Read more

Consumer pain looms with continued credit hikes

Millions of people are set for their biggest ever financial distresses in the new year as the squeeze on money markets hits households across the UK.

City analysts are warning that the last two weeks of November were the worst on record in the credit market as UK banks refused to lend each other money. Experts predict that this anxiety will be passed on to consumers during December in the form of steep rises in borrowing charges. Read more

The Art and Science of Saving

For most of us, putting aside a fixed amount of perfectly good money each month is hard work, but the fact is you can save, even if it’s only a small amount.

No matter what your age, gender, race or professional status, you should think of saving as a fixed monthly expense, a regular part of your budget, just like your car or mortgage payments. As a rule, you should aim to save at least 5 to 10 per cent of your pay each month. Read more

Banks fail to pass on interest rate cuts

Further cuts to UK interest rates will not guarantee cheaper mortgages, brokers have warned. Last month a number of lenders cut their standard variable rates (SVRs), including Abbey, Coventry Building Society and Standard Life. But only one of them Standard Life mirrored the most recent half per cent base rate reduction.

Since UK interest rates were cut to 4.5 per cent in late September, half of all mortgage lenders have resisted passing on any of the reduction in their variable rates. Read more

MBNA criticised over credit cash

Credit card firm MBNA has recently came under attack for encouraging its borrowers to withdraw more cash on their credit cards so they can splash out over the Christmas period.

MBNA the world’s second largest credit card provider has been sending letters to what it describes as its ‘best’ customers, announcing it has raised their credit limits

Read more

Landlords being prompted to run credit checks on tenants

As the economy falters and job losses increase, worried landlords are being advised to carry out credit checks on prospective tenants. Nearly three quarters of landlords say they expect rental arrears to be issues in 2009.

Evicting recalcitrant tenants can take up to six months and end up costing the property owner nearly £1,000. The easier option, say advisers, is to tighten up credit on prospective tenants before they move in. Read more

Tax Man to clamp Buy to Let Mortgage Investors

With the United Kingdom facing the most substantial budget deficit in the coming year than any other nation in Western Europe, HM Revenue and Customs has announced plans to extract additional taxes from approximately 80,000 landlords who may not have paid enough in taxes over the course of the past six years on their buy to let mortgage investments. Read more

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