House prices are continuing to rise strongly according to Nationwide and Halifax. The 1.8% rise in February means the average annual rise is around 10%. The average UK house price is now around £192,000.
Higher interest rates were expected to slow house price inflation down but this is the strongest increase since October 2006. However, the [...]

Many Public Sector workers in shared ownership schemes are finding their rent increasing at way over the rate of salary increases. Considering these workers were told they’d benefit from these shared ownership deals, I find this deeply concerning. Workers are being paid by the government and involved in a governement funded scheme but the two [...]

Interest rates have remianed unchanged at 5.25% in March despite inflation being 0.7% above target at 2.7%. However, homeowners’ sighs of relief are sure to be shortlived as the Bank of England has indicated there’ll be at least one more rise in the near future. This is likely to be in April or May as [...]

The weekend is always a slow time for finance news, as the whole industry seems to shut down for two days. The only item of interest I’ve found this weekend is the latest concern over inheritance tax. With increasing house prices, more properties are qualifying for the tax that comes in when estates reach £285,000. [...]

The recent decision to freeze interest rates for February was a 7-2 decision, minutes from the Monetary Policy Commitee meeting reveal. It was decided that more time was needed to see the impact of the shock January rise before any further action was taken.

Don’t get too comfortable though as, with inflation 0.7% above the 2% [...]

Found quite a pertinent article on the FT site about financial blogs! Quite spooky considering I started this just last week. One of the main points of the article is not to solely use these blogs to make decisions on your personal finance - I’m sure people don’t really need to be told this…
Anyway, I [...]

Recent storms and bad weather could cost insurers over £350m it has emerged today. Although this is a far cry from the £3bn the 1990 storms cost, it could still mean increased premiums for customers in the coming year.
The storms hit most of mainland Europe and caused 47 fatalities. The overall cost of the storms [...]

MBNA has found another way to bleed customers dry by charging them for having a positive balance on their credit card. This is an absolute disgrace as it is a common occurance when customers set up standing orders for set a amounts.
They are handing out £10 fines to people who overpay, informing them in a [...]

Households in the midlands will see an average 5% rise in water rates from April. Severn Trent are citing increased investment in quality standards and reducing waste for the increases. “Customers tell us their top priority is the safety and reliability of their drinking-water supply, and we’ll never put that at risk.” says Director Martin [...]