Savings
Customer details lost by high street bank
One of the UK’s leading high street banks, HSBC, recently admitted that it had lost the personal details of around 370,000 customers, after a disc went missing. The bank faced an investigation by the Financial Services Authority after it admitted to losing the information. The disc was being sent to reinsurance offices via an external courier in March when it went missing. The bank admitted the loss to the Financial Services Authority.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Customers want to see more financial products at the supermarket
According to the results of a recent survey customers in the UK are eager to see a wide range of financial products being made available from their local supermarkets, as many feel that the supermarket can offer far better service and far better value for money on these services and products compared to traditional banks. Many supermarket giants, such as Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, already offer a range of financial products and services such as insurance, loans, savings, and most popularly credit cards.
Popularity: 34% [?]
ICICI tumbles on best buy tables
Having enjoyed a high position on the best buy tables for some time, the Indian bank, ICICI, which stormed into the UK markets recently has now decided to reduce the interest rate paid on its HiSave account following the Bank of England’s most recent interest rate cut in February. The bank did not announce its decision to cut the rate for some time following the announcement of the base rate cut, but has now confirmed that the rate on the account is being dropped to 6.16%, which is a cut of 0.25% in line with the base rate cut.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Difficult retirement for those in their thirties
Many consumers in their twenties and thirties give little or no time to the thought of how they will fund their retirements, and a recent report has shown that those in their thirties could be heading towards a very bleak retirement due to lack of money fuelled by frivolous spending and failure to put any money aside for their futures. Hundreds of younger people were polled in a survey for the Skipton Building Society, and the result showed a worrying trend amongst consumers in their thirties.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Customers flocking to put savings with Icesave
Many UK consumers are now taking action with regards to making their savings work harder for them by placing their money into an Icesave account, which pays an impressive interest rates, enabling savers to earn more in interest than they may be getting with their existing provider. Icesave is part of Iceland’s Landisbank, and was launched in October 2006, under one year ago. Since its launch Icesave has enjoyed great success with billions of pounds being invested by savers.
Popularity: 34% [?]
Savers wondering if they will benefit from the latest rise in interest rates
Banks in the UK have come under fire from savers who have not yet seen a change in the interest on their accounts due to the increase in rates. The controversy arises from the fact that the increase in interest rates was applied by the Bank of England about four weeks ago, but savers have not yet seen it applied to savings accounts. There have been several increases in interest rates during this past year and while banks have been very quick to apply them to loan accounts they are not so fast to apply the same increases to interest on savings accounts. In the past, some savers have not seen only a partial rise in the interest on their savings account, if they saw any change at all.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Can the Rock win over consumer confidence?
Since the crisis that surrounded Northern Rock last year, when it was discovered that the Rock had taken an emergency loan from the Bank of England, things have gone from bad to worse for the stricken lender. First share prices plummeted, then customers withdrew over £2 billion in savings over the space of a few days amidst fears that the bank was on the verge of collapse, and then talks with private buyers relating to the sale of the bank proved to be fruitless.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Interest rate rises mean more good news for savers
Although the latest interest rate rise has dealt yet another blow to homeowners and those with variable rate loans, it could prove very fruitful to those with savings accounts, as a number of banks have decided to apply the full rate rise onto savers, which means that customers could start seeing a healthy profit rolling in from interest, particularly on larger deposits.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Bill suggests that other banks could be nationalised if problems arise
The emergency Bill that was recently rushed through parliament in order to allow the nationalisation of the ailing bank Northern Rock is causing concern amongst some industry professionals with many worries that the nature and wording of the Bill means that other banks that experience similar problems to Northern Rock could also end up passing into public ownership, which could result in further negative impact on taxpayer’s money.
Popularity: 37% [?]
Find the right savings account for you and your kids
Although the four interest rate rises that have been applied by the Bank of England over the past year have spelled bad news for borrowers on variable rates, for those with saving these rises should be good news. However, according to recent research this is not always the case, with banks and financial institutions acting very quickly to apply any interest rate rises to borrowing but acting far more slowly when it comes to applying rate rises to savings. In some cases interest rate rises are not passed on in full or even at all when it comes to savings accounts.
Popularity: 35% [?]