The Government is embarking on a banking market bail-out of an ambition we haven’t seen since at least the early 1970s. Will it help? Tim Bennett reports Why are mortgages hard to come by? Following …
The great bank bail-out
Category: Personal Finance
Why the housing crash will topple Gordon Brown
The current government has done a lot of stupid things in its time. Doing stupid things is what governments around the world and throughout history have always specialised in, so we shouldn’t be surprised. But …
Why most sickness and unemployment insurance is a waste of your money
This article is taken from Merryn Somerset Webb’s free weekly personal finance email, Money Sense. Click here to sign up now: Money Sense “You can buy yourself insurance against almost any conceivable risk – even …
How to make a holiday lighter on the pocket
With house prices falling on one hand, and rising food prices and energy bills digging deeper into our pockets on the other, it’s little wonder that one in five families are planning to put off …
Why £50bn isn’t enough to make banks cut mortgage rates
Well, as I suspected, it doesn’t look like the Bank of England’s £50bn injection is going to bring down mortgage rates any time soon. Mervyn King has been broadly applauded for the way he’s put …
Tax dodge of the week: paired up? Then pay less
According to Independent Financial Advice Promotion, couples unnecessarily hand over £224m of tax to the Inland Revenue each year. Take income. Many types of income can be shared between a couple – from pensions and …
Why cutting back on saving is unwise
According to the latest survey from Axa, 75% of households plan to cut back this year as the credit crunch bites. Sounds sensible – until the survey then reveals that most are stuck as to …
How a budget could save your finances
This article is taken from Merryn Somerset Webb’s free weekly personal finance email, Money Sense. Click here to sign up now: Money Sense Looking back on my school days, I remember absorbing huge dollops of …
The base rate falls – yet mortgage rates are still rising
The Bank of England cut the base interest rate by 0.25% to 5% yesterday. So naturally, mortgage interest rates went up. Nationwide, Alliance & Leicester and Britannia all raised the rates on their fixed-rate deals, …
Three good homes for your savings
This article is taken from Merryn Somerset Webb’s free weekly personal finance email, Money Sense. Click here to sign up now: Money Sense As the economy continues to stumble and banks make loans tougher to …