Jul/090
New Bill to stop Shares Short Selling
The Short Selling and Bank Accounts Bill is being brought to the commons for debate in June, and is hoped will stop short selling and under hand tactics by lenders. Those who sell shares in a bid to later buy them back at a cut price will hopefully be banned if the bill is brought in. Ministers who are backing the bill say that short selling is an immoral practice, and if the bill is brought in it will require banks to offer retail customers current and savings accounts free of charge for holding the accounts when they are in credit.
Jun/091
Ombudsman for Estate Agents bring in New Rules
The Ombudsman for Estate Agents has brought in some new rules to make their trading fairer for consumers. The rules now state that the estate agent must now confirm in writing to the potential buyer that their offer has been made to the seller. This was in fact an old rule, but has been reiterated within the new rules.
Also, if an offer has already been accepted on the property, the estate agent must now inform any other potential buyers, rather than letting them view the property none the wiser. And any higher offer must be passed on to the seller.
Also, if the estate agents fees are based on a percentage of the selling price this must be clearly stated to the seller, the percentage must be shown as an exact amount rather than a percentage and the seller must be aware that a change will be made to the estate agents fee should there be an offer higher or lower than the asking price.
Jun/090
New laws equals better protection but mediums and fortune tellers are NOT happy!
The new rules regarding consumer protection will mean better protection for consumers and hopefully banish rogue traders. It is set to ban 31 types of unfair sales tactics and enforce the new regulations on traders such as double glazing salesmen.
There will be no more loopholes for rogue traders, and those who do try to exploit vulnerable consumers could face prison sentences. This will be people who are aggressive in their sales pitches, and those using misleading statements such as phony closing down sales or limited time offers that go on and on and aren’t really ‘limited’ at all.
All that said, one of the leading groups who are opposing the new regulations are mediums and fortune tellers saying it will lead to the end of their business because they will have to tell consumers that their work isn’t experimentally proven” and is “for entertainment only”.
Jun/090
Warning to Consumers over Forged Notes
Some UK holiday makers are claiming to have been given forged currency through bureaux de change. One man told the BBC that he and his family only realised that they had been mistakenly given the notes when they arrived at their hotel. They were also unable to shop abroad.
A leading expert lawyer in these cases has urged the government to act now to protect consumers from this happening again. However, UK foreign currency providers deny they are the source and insist their security systems are secure.
Jun/090
Financial Stability Sacrificed for Consumer Protection
The Bank of England, the Treasury and the FSA were criticised today for the way in which they supervised the banking system.
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, responsible for looking into national economic issues, said the so-called ‘tripartite’ system had become distorted and confusion reigned to the debtriment of the economy. The failure of Northern Rock only served to back up this theory.
The report by the Economic Affairs Committee indicated that the Financial Services Authority had taken its eye of its ultimate responsibility for looking after the countries finances and paying too much attention to its consumer protection role obligations.
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