Banking News
Council tax payments made easier
West Wiltshire District Council is teaming up with Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank to provide council tax payers with an additional 19 outlets at which they can make payments.
Free banking could ‘disappear within two years’
Defaqto predicts banks will switch to ‘Pay As You Go’ charges or flat fees for current accounts.
HSBC launches new guaranteed capital account
HSBC is tapping into consumer appetite for low risk investments by offering the bank’s best ever income rates on the latest tranche of its Guaranteed Capital Account.
Royal Bank of Scotland launches new mobile banking service in Yorkshire
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has today launched a new state of the art mobile banking service in Yorkshire.
A decade on, what have the supermarket banks done for us?
Ten years this month (February) since Sainsbury’s became the first supermarket to enter the UK financial services arena, price comparison site moneysupermarket.com analyses the real impact of supermarket banks on personal finance shoppers’ pockets.
Nationwide announce changes to valuation and home buyer report fees
Nationwide Building Society has announced changes to valuation and home buyer report fees for home buyers which will take effect from close of business on Wednesday 21st February 2007.
uSwitch.com comments on Barclays results
Barclays’ bumper profits announcement totalling £7.13 billion for the group (an increase of 35% since 2005) and overall write offs of £2 billion arrive amidst fears that the free banking era in the UK could soon come to an end.
Consumers urged to put pressure on the Big Banks
As this year’s ‘Bank Reporting Season’ kicks off, one of the only true alternatives to banks in the UK - Zopa.com - is encouraging consumers to take a stand against the excessive profits taken by the Big Banks in this country.
Save with M&S travel money and take off without the ‘tax’
British travellers could save £1.3 billion this year by shopping around for the best deal on foreign currency – a typical saving of more than £35 per travel money purchase which would cover the £5 increase in Air Passenger Duty from 1 February 2007 on seven European flights.
Halifax leads search for "forgotten" accounts
Halifax is launching today a campaign to reunite its customers with approximately £44 million held in around 110,000 old and unused savings and bank accounts.
Match banks’ world-class profits by world-class service
Previewing the announcement of the banks’ profits over the coming weeks, National Consumer Council Chief Executive, Ed Mayo, said,
FSA fines Nationwide £980,000 for information security lapses
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today fined Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide) £980,000 for failing to have effective systems and controls to manage its information security risks.
Sex, lies and financial adultery
All is not a bed of roses amongst British couples according to personal finance website Fool.co.uk. An online poll of 1,610 readers has unearthed evidence of money mistrust, financial adultery, secret bank accounts and furtive lifeboat funds.
Teenage attitudes towards debt
Educational charity the ifs School of Finance the only provider of GCSE, AS and A level equivalent qualifications in Personal Finance, has welcomed the results of a survey into young peoples views on debt and money in general.
Teenagers in debt by 17
Over half of England’s teenagers have been or are in debt by the time they are 17, and two in three (66%) think about money every day, according to research released today. In addition, 90% worry about their money and spending but tend to think of overdrafts and credit cards as easy ways to spend more than they earn, or to buy things they couldn’t normally afford.