Sep/090
Massive rat found on BBC expedition
A new species of Giant Rat has been discovered in the deep and dense jungle of Papua New Guinea.
The Giant rat which is the size of a large domestic cat,which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.
The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.
It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team.
Aug/090
Video Recordings Act 1984 deemed unenforceable
Films which have not been properly classified by the British Board of Film Classification (under the 1984 Video Recordings Act) can attract fines of up to £20,000 per tape or a prison sentence.
On the 24th August the 1984 Video Recordings Act was found to be unenforceable after it emerged that the then British Government failed to notify the European Commission under the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive of the existence of the new Act.
Current situation
- All pending prosecutions have been abandoned.
- Anyone can sell unclassified films until the problem is rectified.
Aug/091
Problems Getting Credit? Remove a Default from your Credit Report
There are 3 ways in which you can repair your credit rating to achieve the ultimate result of getting that car or mortgage that you really need. These options are as follows:
1. If your default/delinquent balance is over £300 you should write to the bank in question to claim that you did not receive a notice letter of the bank’s intention to serve you with a default. It helps if you have actually got the letters of correspondence to refer to in your argument but don’t worry if you do not.
2. If your default/delinquent balance is under £300 you should take a softly softly approach and politely ask the bank or financial organisation to remove the default from your report. Use the angle that you feel it is extremely harsh and that you are struggling to provide a good life for yourself and family because you cannot get a mortgage or loan to pay for necessities.
3. Finally, if you have exhausted all possibilities and have written and replied to all letters sent to you, the only choice left is for you to start a programme of repair for your report. This isn’t 100% effectively but it does leave plenty of consumers happy. This basically involves starting up credit agreements where possible (if needed anyway of course) and settling existing agreements in the proper way (avoid early termination arrangements).
Default balance over £300
This is a fairly significant amount of money and if you put yourself in the bank’s shoes for a second you will realise that – unless a genuine mistake was made – this boils down to theft. This is basically why banks take a tough stance over this and throw defaults around like grains of sand. However, if the banks do not take the proper course of action in serving you with a default then they are robbing YOU in the sense that you are unable to purchase a house for example. That is why their practice needs to be scrutinised in the same way as your credit report is search.
Ask the bank if they can prove that a letter warning of a default was sent to the registered address before the default arrived on your credit report. After 2006 the banks tightened things up quite substantially but before this time their operations were quite unprofessional and filled with ambiguity. The bank should then respond to your letter with a reply – probably a standard template reply – but never the less you have you starting point.
From this point you can keep replying until they send you proof that a notice was served and also that the agreement that you entered into is enforceable. At that point you can give up and take the emergency repair steps for improving your credit report.
Default balance under £300
Most success stories in writing off defaults are usually found in cases where the amount is much smaller. This is because the agreements tend to be of a more trivial nature such as mobile hone contracts etc. Having a mobile phone and forgetting to cancel the contract after the 12month period (which you made payments for without problems) should not prevent you from buying a family home. Okay, so this is an extreme example but one which we have heard on more than one occasion.
Be nice, be polite, get to the point, don’t waffle, address it to the bottom of the company pyramid and work your way up until you get a reply from the very top. Hopefully by this point you will have received a positive response but if not following the following last resort to repair your credit rating.
Repair your Credit Rating
Your credit rating is key to a progressive life. Without a good credit rating you will get nowhere unless you are already there – if that makes any sense! You need to make sure it is as immaculate as it can be and no matter what the state of the economy (eg. If there is a credit crunch of any description) you can assure the financial establishments that their money is safe with you.
Step 1
Open an account similar to the Natwest Step account which offers you the opportunity to open a basic account and as you prove your worthiness of managing your account they will offer you debit card, then an overdraft, then an overdraft extension, etc. etc. such progression looks very good on your credit profile.
Step 2
Be smart, realise that a credit card is being used here for a very specific purpose and is not meant for borrowing money over many months or even years. Do not use it as an alternative to a loan.
Step 3
Do not buy a load of new gadgets. Instead buy 1 or 2 and get credit for them choosing to pay the balance over as long a period of time as possible. The more small agreements you have over long periods the better.
Aug/091
Sports Direct Announce Huge Dip in Profits
Sports retail giants Sports Direct have today announced their 12 month financials and they made bleak reading. Sports Direct, who own popular brands such as Slazenger, Lonsdale and Dunlop along with high street division Sports World, saw their profits drop by 91% from the previous 12 month period.
Unlike many of the larger high street and retail park based stores, Sports Direct have not been able to blame the credit crunch for their poor performance as their sales figures had increased. However, their particularly bad performance in investments along with the weak pound culminated in this surprising result.
The exact profit for the last 12 months totals £10.7m whereas the previous 12 months saw a £118.9m profit.
The Sports Direct group are headed by Newcastle United outcast/owner Mike Ashley and a statement on behalf of the company read: “The second half of the year remained challenging, but we are pleased with these solid full year results that reflect the resilience and relevance of our flexible business model, focused on the core principles of retailing,” said chief executive Dave Forsey.
Aug/090
Consumers Foot the Bill for Electricty Network Upgrade
UK Consumers have suffered a lot over recent years with huge price hikes to the cost of all types of energy - including electricity and now ofgem regulators of energy suppliers have announced that electricity bill are on the increase again. It is reported that bills will increase by an average of 5% over the next 6 years to raise the £6.5 billion required to drastically improve the UK’s electricity network.
Consumer Help first heard the news after scrolling through our long list of sources and immediately thoughts of fairness (or unfairness as the case may be) sprung to mind. Only in some parts of the UK is the network in need of improvement and only in these specific areas has it been starved of investment. However, if we turn back the clock to the last time there was a major project to improve the network we can see that it was those individual local councils which part funded the work. So is it really fair to expect the whole country to contribute this time around?
In many ways it seems that the UK electricity sector has been privatised and sold off although when companies need money to upgrade networks it is always the consumer who pays the price.
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
Save the Children: Child Poverty on the Increase
As you would expect, over a half of children living in poverty in the UK live in either single-parent households or homes were neither parent is employed.
Save the Children (a well respected organisation protecting UK kids) carried out research which shows that almost 200,000 more under 16’s across the nation live in poverty compared to this time last year.
According to the organistation, a rise in children residing in ‘unemployed homes’ has taken place in recent years on an unprecedented scale. This has no doubt been compounded by the fact that we are in the middle of a deep recession but nevertheless the figures look particularly bleak especially when compared to an earlier similar period.
Out of all the UK countries, Wales is experiencing the worst problems. Bridgend, Flintshire, Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire are the areas pinpointed by Save the Children as the main culprates.
The choices between food, heating and transport costs that these families need to make is a tough one which is putting pressure on their lifestyles to change.
Jul/091
Important! Tax Credits Deadline Approaches
As the Friday 31st July approaches, claimants of all types of tax credits could soon be facing a further financial blow in the credit crunch. If consumers do not apply for their credits then they could face huge reductions in income when HMRC get around to recalling their overpayment.
UK pensioners - many of whom are struggling because of their pensions deteriorating in the credit crunch - are worrying over the prospect of facing further cuts to their weekly income through tax credits. However, pensioners do not have to renew by the end of this month so worry not. This would have otherwise affected over 3 million pensioners throughout the country.
Jul/090
House of Commons transport committee: Higher ticket fares on the way
The House of Commons transport committee has criticised privately owned rail franchises for increasing ticket prices, up to 11% in the recession. The consensus amongst the committee was that the current relationship between rail companies and commuters is unfair, with passengers being treated unfairly. The franchising system means companies bid to run trains on a particular route and those that bid the highest premium payments win the contracts. The rise in ticket costs on regulated rail fares including all season tickets rose on average 6% which is contrary to negative inflation and disproportionate to the real economy.
Lord Ardonis, Transport Secretary reiterated that the report backed a policy by the government to limit fares to no more than 1% above inflation. The consequence being lower fare rates by January 2010. In reply to the criticism the Association of Train Operating Companies stated that the existing system offers a punctual service and that passengers are satisfied.
Jul/090
Ban on IVF donors leads to shortage of eggs
A review in the sale of sperm and eggs for use in fertilisation treatment has arisen in the attempt to increase donations. Currently many childless couples are forced to seek treatment abroad due to a shortage in donations. Lisa Jardine, of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority suggests an increase in the expenses payment of £250 to donors to encourage women to donate their eggs. Furthermore the loss of anonymity of sperm donors was also highlighted as having a possible negative effect.
Concerns have been raised as to the exploitation of poorer women donating eggs to raise money if a higher rate is set. However Jardine argues that the higher rate should exist for women donating their eggs as the procedure is more invasive than sperm donation. Although it is generally agreed that the sale of eggs and sperm raises a number of ethical questions Jardine believes it would create a more transparent system. The authority is also set to discuss the guidelines surrounding donations within a family.
One such case was that of a 72-year-old man who donated his sperm to his daughter-in-law and the rules with regards to brother and sister donations.
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