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[jim_bently davis] 28/11/2006 14:55

I wonder who is really pulling our strings?

Full Details Of Party Loans Published
Sky News - Labour had debts of almost £23m at the end of September, the Electoral Commission reveals in the first mandatory publication of loans to political parties. The Conservative Party had loans amounting to more than £35m, while the Liberal Democrats had just over £1.1m of loans outstanding

[divinausa1] 27/11/2006 15:45

Im embarressed to call myself British

[bikersurv] 27/11/2006 14:35

I think we are being perceived as that NOW!

[jim_bently davis] 27/11/2006 13:00

I am affraid your children will not be able to polish the family silver, as during 10 uears of Blair it has all been thrown and/or frittered away.

In ten years time we we be a third rate, third world country.

[jim_bently davis] 23/11/2006 10:22

Now cons can expect to have drugs in jail, or get £750000.

Now British troops in Afganistan have to fire rounds that just dont shoot from guns that dont want to work.

Britain is the highest user rate country in Europe of COKE, and if you rib some poor old barsteward who has worked hard all their lives in the hope of having a decent pension to live on, get caught go to jail to dry out you are set free with 750000 pounds for your trouble.

Am I missing the point here or what?

[jim_bently davis] 13/11/2006 11:09

And even more agony for the debt laiden average Brit.

Credit card charges to rise
Simon Moon, This is Money
13 November 2006

Credit card companies look set to put a squeeze on their customers. Annual fees, higher charges and measures to root out people who 'tart around' in pursuit of 0% deals are all on the cards, says a report by leading financial consultants.


PRESSURE ON PLASTIC: Card users face the threat of higher charges



PricewaterhouseCoopers says rising bad debt and a clamp on penalty charges by the Office of Fair Trading have undermined profits. And it predicts that card issuers will seek ways to recover £1bn a year.
The report's authors say the average revenue earned per card has halved over the past five years. One reason is the rise of the so-called rate tart – customers who constantly switch debt from one cheap deal to another.

'Over the past year, many card issuers have introduced a 2% fee for balance transfers. Despite the introduction of fees, and the likely consequent impact this has had on the volume of balances being transferred, PwC estimates the lost revenue to the industry of balance transfers is currently in the region of £600m per annum,' says the the Precious Plastic report, which PwC produces each year.

It goes on to say that some card companies are unlikely to worry if the introduction of an annual fee means some unprofitable customers will desert them. However, it adds that other card issuers that hope to sell other financial products to customers will not want to upset them and are likely to take a more cautious approach.

One of the report's authors, Richard Thompson, said it was difficult to see how banks could absorb £1bn in lost revenues. 'We are likely to see a waterbed effect, whereby charges pushed down in one area pop up somewhere else,' he said.

And he added: 'Card issuers would have to levy annual fees costing the average credit card user £35 a year to recoup the potential £1bn loss. If lenders tried to recoup this through interest rates alone, we would see APRs increase by 2 percentage points on average.'

Thompson says we are already seeing the beginning of this effect. After the Office of Fair Trading capped charges at £12 in April, 19 card issuers raised their rates.

'Ultimately, the impact of regulation could hasten the return of annual charges as the norm - something the industry has so far managed to do without,' he said.

[jim_bently davis] 10/11/2006 19:50

MEERY XMAS ONE AND ALL, RING IN A NEW YEAR FULL OF MISERY FOR A LOT WHO HAVE BEEN SUCKERED INTO CRAZY HOUS PRICES.

Halifax hikes mortgage rate
This is Money
10 November 2006

Halifax, the UK's largest mortgage lender, has disappointed borrowers by bumping up its mortgage rate following the Bank of England's interest rate hike.



The bank will now charge borrowers on its Standard Variable Rate 7%, up from 6.75%. The change will add £384 to the annual bill of somebody with a 25-year £200,000 mortgage.


Halifax is the first major lender to move its SVR and it is likely that competitors will now follow its lead.


Amazingly, an estimated third of homeowners are paying the lender's SVR, even though there are more competitive fixed and tracker rates available.


Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said: 'My advice, if you will not incur a penalty to switch mortgage products, is to shop around urgently. Any borrower paying their lender's standard variable rate of around 6.75 per cent really should take action now to review their borrowing.


'They should approach their existing lender to see if they can transfer onto a more competitive rate. If that's not possible, they should consider a remortgage to negate the effect of this base rate rise and 'future proof' themselves for potentially more upward movement.