At the moment it seems as though the UK financial sector is lurching from one disaster to another, with thousands of claims being filed for the return of historical charges, mortgage fees under pressure as well as allegations of mis-selling by a major high street banking establishment. But is there more bad news around the corner?
Hot on the heels of the much publicised demise of US mortgage provider New Century Financial, which is rumoured to be about to default on millions of dollars of funding, it seems as though the UK market has caught a cold from the US sneeze!
While there has been speculation about the trading of so called “sub-prime†mortgage providers, i.e. those companies offering mortgages to people with bad credit ratings, the recent announcement by stock market listed Kensington Group was not well received. The company have stated that profits for the future will be lower than current market expectations, due to a mixture of competition for business and a rising defaulters list.
Over the last few years we have all seen a major increase in the number of “cold calls†from companies in the finance industry, whether a visitor to your door, a telephone call or a letter through the post. Companies are being more and more direct in their marketing approaches as the clamour for business continues to grown.
Are you being taken in by their aggressive marketing techniques?
As we are all being bombarded with feedback from Gordon Brown’s last budget, we thought it may be interesting to actually detail how much tax is raised by the UK government, and where it all goes.
Using figures released by HM Treasury for the 2006/07 tax year, the total spend by the government was some £587 billion. The figure was raised from a number of different areas which included :-
The Chancellor Gordon Brown has today delivered what many expect to be his final Budget speech, before taking up the role of Prime Minister. Mr Brown did not disappoint the masses with a flawless performance, which highlighted many positive factors in the budget, while glossing over some of the not so helpful changes. One phrase to best describe today’s changes - “Smoke and Mirrorsâ€.
The highlights include :-
As unbelievable as it may sound, the government are putting in place a process whereby bank accounts which have not been “touched†for 15 years or more, will be transferred to a central fund and distributed to “worthwhile charitable causesâ€. This is the first time any such arrangement has ever been discussed, not to mention acted upon.
