Jul/090
Direct Mortgages - The best on the UK market
Mortgage brokers have been dealt a major as The Times Online report that 2 thirds of the mortgages on the market are available through the lender only and the previously commonplace practice of your mortgage broker contacting the lender on your behalf to negotiate a deal could soon be dead in the water. As if this news wasn’t bad enough, many of the deals are actually at a marginally better rate - especially if the consumer visits their branch to arrange it.
The statistics behind this story reflect a gloomy forecast for mortgage brokers. Last year over 70% of mortgages were only available through a broker but clearly the credit crunch has had a huge impact on the banking system and ideas and recommendations that would otherwise have taken years to come to fruition have now become the way of life.
Another reason why banks are doing this is to get a grip on the flow of mortgages being dealt out. They also believe that they can get a better feel over whether handing a mortgage to a consumer is a good idea.
Statistics from Moneyfacts.co.uk
Story from: The Times Online
Jul/090
What would Cristiano Ronaldo fee of £80m buy you?
As Portuguese football sensation Ronaldo made his switch from Manchester Utd to Spanish giants Real Madrid, we thought we would analyse the fees involved. The sums of money that have been mentioned have been widely been described as ‘astronomical’ and although public money has not been directly involved in the transfer - a deal of this size will undoubtedly affect the consumer. So, what exactly will Ronaldo’s fee of £80m buy your average consumer?
The Maltese Falcon, an £80 million yacht that its designers claim is the largest and fastest personal sailboat in the world. At almost 90 meters in lengths the yacht has/needs three masts of 57 meters in hight and 25+ tons in weighth, rotate depending on wind direction. To maximize speed, the sails are trimmed to the wind by rotating the mast – thus making the boat much more aerodynamically efficient.
Arguably the UK’s wealthiest artist is selling his diamond skull creation for £80 to an investment group. Damien Hirst’s business manager, Frank Dunphy, explained that the platinum skull, studded with 8,601 diamonds, had been on the market since mid 2008 when it was shown at the prestigious Cube Gallery.
If reports are to be believed, 80 million pounds could get you a football club - and a big one at that. When Mike Ashley took over Newcastle Utd in 2007, it was clear the fans were not taking to him the way he had wanted. After a serious of unfortunate incidents Newcastle ended the 07/08 Premier League season safely away from relegation. However, exactly 1 year later they found themselves with Championship status and a huge loss in value. Mr. Ashley must now accept a loss of almost 70% on his original investment as he tries to cut his losses.
The fee for the footballer, however, was not the only talking point. Ronaldo is not believed to be one of the worlds richest footballers with a salary of 170,000 pounds per week. We decided it would be ‘fun’ to break down his earnings to let you know exactly what he earns over a given time period. So here goes…
8,840,000 per year
736,666 per month
24,285 per day
1,011 per hour
16.85 per minute
28p per second
It’s alright for some… I’m happy in my job as a blogger staring at a computer screen all day every day. Thanks anyway!
Jul/090
Will Governments Mortgage Help Plan help or hinder?
The Government have launched a new £285million scheme to help those who are struggling to pay their mortgages in the current economic climate. The scheme allows housing associations to buy the house and then rent it back to the original owners for a fair price.
Since launching the scheme four months ago, only two homeowners have received help. And of the 1000+ people who applied for the scheme, only 452 are eligible.
To be eligible you have to have dependent children, be elderly, or be disabled, all with the risk of repossession.
Some are arguing that the scheme is just not working because the criterion is allowing some families who aren’t eligible for the scheme to lose their homes as a result. But housing ministers are arguing back that during the early months they are seeing a vast improvement and that the scheme is helping a lot of people who would have lost their homes.
Jul/090
Loan Approvals on the up and up!
Mortgages and home loans approvals have increased for the first time since the recession began. This is because more consumers are taking advantage of the low interest rates and the fall of house prices. However, mortgage lenders are being urged to keep their rates low to encourage more first time buyers and therefore aid the housing recovery.
Jul/090
Nationwide to Dent Housing Recovery
Nationwide has increased its mortgage interest rates twice in 2 weeks. Now other lenders are expected to follow suit and experts have warned that this will dent the recovery of the housing market. As if it wasn’t bad enough already for new home owners to get onto the property ladder, this increase can only make things worse.
The rates have gone up a further 0.23% from the 86% a fortnight ago.
Jul/090
Loan Sharks Re emerge as Banks Dry Up
As the recession hits all time highs, and regulated lenders tighten criteria for lending, loan sharks are remerging to take advantage of vulnerable borrowers.
Loan sharks are unregulated, illegal and charge high rates of interest. This is totally unacceptable in the current economic climate but more and more people are forced to turn to illegal sources of lending as the downward spiral of the recession causes banks and other sources of regulated lending to ‘dry up’.
The Government are urging people not to turn to loan sharks in their time of need, and are calling for councils to open their own banks or pump funds into regulated credit unions.
Jul/090
Britain Suffering Dangerous Recession
Brussels are accusing the British Government of not helping the recession. They say that the treasury’s forecast is wrong and that Britain, amongst other European countries will be ”dangerously hit by the cost of the crisis”.
They are urging Britain to do more to help by increasing taxes, reducing spending and consider more consolidation.
By developing plans to be more financially secure now will only improve the future financial situation.
Jul/090
Mint Back Debt Consolidation
The Financial service, Mint, have said that debt consolidation is the way forward for people struggling with debt. By putting all debts into 1 lump sum, debtors can concentrate on paying back the capital, instead of trying to pay the interest on top of the capital. Also, this will safe guard their credit ratings.
Jul/090
New Rules for Credit Cards
New regulations are forcing credit card issuers to stop increasing credit limits and sending blank credit card cheques without first assessing the consumer’s financial situation.
Blank credit card cheques do not protect the product bought with them if they are faulty like credit cards do, and they also have more expensive charges than the cards themselves. Without first checking the financial state of a consumer, it can cause serious levels of unpaid debt, the consequence of which falls to the consumer who has used the cheque or credit limit as a way of buying time against other debts they have.
The Government is now putting a stop to credit cards exploiting vulnerable consumers by bringing in a new legislation that stops credit cards issuers increasing credit limits without being requested to do so, or first checking the financial state of the consumer. They are also looking to ban unsolicited cheques by credit card firms being sent out to consumers. Both of which will hopefully decrease financial problems.
Jul/090
Police officers misuse credit cards
Some credit cards were issued to police officers for job expenses have been misused.
In 2003, the Metropolitan Police gave around 3,533 American Express credit cards to the staff and officers. However, 1,400 were then taken back after the met found they were being used for expenses that were not job related and couldn’t be accounted for. More credit cards were issued in 2006 to detectives in operations such as counter-terrorism and royalty protection etc.
In 2008, one sergeant detective was given a suspended 8 month sentence for 2 years after spending over £9000 on his credit card, and another was jailed for 10 months after spending £70,000 on his credit card. In both cases the money was not used as job expenses.
Now it seems that another 300 cases have come to light, 46 of which have turned into criminal investigations.
The Metropolitan Police Authority are appalled at the fact that police officers, who not only set an example to the community but are supposed to uphold the law, are actually breaking it and committing fraud.
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