Unsecured Loans - From the 'papers

23 August 2010 - Mortgage lending in the UK increased by 5% in July

The latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed that gross mortgage lending in the UK increased by 5% in July, compared with June, to £13.6 billion. This still represented a fall of 3%, compared with the same month a year ago, the CML advised.... More

16 August 2010 - Housing prices in July fell for the first time in a year

On Tuesday, the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealed that housing prices in July fell for the first time in a year. Read more on this aswell as the rest of the weeks news.... More

9 August 2010 - Good news for the banking sector

The largest bank in the United Kingdom, HSBC, reported that its profit in the first six months of 2010 more than doubled, to £7 billion, compared with the same period last year.... More

26 July 2010 - Public sector borrowing in the UK in June was £14.5 billion

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that net public sector borrowing in the UK in June was £14.5 billion, down £0.2 billion year-on-year, but still significantly higher than the £13.1 billion forecast by analysts.... More

19 July 2010 - 42,000 mortgage loans were approved in May

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported that a total of around 42,000 mortgage loans were approved in May, an increase of 2% month-on-month and 15% year-on-year.... More

12 July 2010 - Housing prices in the UK continued to fall in June compared with May

According to the latest figures from the Halifax, housing prices in the UK continued to fall in June compared with May. A fall of 0.6% compounded a fall of 0.5% in the previous month, meaning that housing prices in the second quarter of the year were 0.1% lower than in the first quarter.... More

5 July 2010 - Data Roaming ends with £38,000 bill for downloading a film in France

Bills of this magnitude will no longer be possible, because users will be sent a text or email message warning them when they reach 80% of their monthly Internet limit abroad and service will be denied automatically when the bill reaches (£41). ... More

28 June 2010 - Public spending cuts could stifle economic growth

On Monday the Labour Party, trade unions and employer groups warned Chancellor George Osborne that "deep" and "senseless" public spending cuts could stifle economic growth and send the UK back into recession.... More

22 June 2010 - BP shares recovered some of their losses after oil spill

BP shares recovered some of their losses on Thursday, rising 9% after the company agreed to pay $20 billion (£13.5 billion) in compensation to victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.... More

21 June 2010 - Cameron announce "painful" cuts

Prime Minister David Cameron was expected to announce "painful" cuts as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government attempts to tackle Britain's £156 billion budget deficit. The government has already outlined plans for £6.2 billion in public spending cuts before the end of this year.... More

7 June 2010 - Financial Services Authority (FSA) had imposed a record fine

It was revealed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had imposed a record fine of £33.3 million on JP Morgan Securities after the firm was found guilty of failing to keep customers' funds separate from its own for almost seven years. ... More

1 June 2010 - BP still affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

BP's share price continues to be affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. With liability bills expected to reach at least £42bn and no end in sight to the broken well being capped, there are fears that other drilling operations could be halted on safety fears.... More

26 May 2010 - Government Allowing Privatised Parts of Royal Mail

The government announced that it would be seeking what it called "an injection of private capital" into Royal Mail, effectively allowing parts of the struggling postal services group to be privatised.... More

17 May 2010 - David Cameron, appointed his cabinet and revealing policies of the new government

The "shape of things to come" provided much of the news and speculation for the rest of the week as the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, appointed his cabinet and set about revealing the immediate policies of the new Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government.... More

11 May 2010 - Election Results 2010

The outcome of Thursday's General Election obviously dominated the new headlines on Friday. A 6.2% swing away from the Labour Party nationally, cost them 91 seats, but this was still not enough to give the Conservative Party an overall majority.... More

4 May 2010 - General Election

A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), published on Tuesday, suggested that, whichever party wins the General Election on 6th May, spending cuts in the next five years or so must reach levels last seen in the late Seventies.... More

27 April 2010 - Volcanic Ash airspace closure costing up to £20 million a day

British Airways said on Monday that volcanic ash emanating from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which had closed airspace not only in the UK but also in most of northern Europe, was costing it somewhere between £15 million and £20 million a day.... More

13 April 2010 - British economy continued to grow

The latest survey by the British Chamber of Commerce (BBC), published on Wednesday, suggested that the British economy continued to grow during the first three months of this year, hence avoiding the double-dip recession that had been feared in some quarters.... More

6 April 2010 - British consumers are borrowing again

A return to a spend and borrow mentality for many British consumers. At the end of 2009, consumers were borrowing 62p for every £1 they saved, compared with repaying £1.68 for every £1 they saved at the end of 2008. Savings for 2009 as a whole were down 50% on 2008, at £71.6 billion.... More

29 March 2010 - British economy would remain fragile for the rest of 2010

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the largest employers' group in the country, said on Monday that the British economy would remain fragile for the rest of 2010 as Government stimuli are phased out.... More

24 March 2010 - Unite Union to return to the negotiating table with British Airways (BA) over the weekend

Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself joined the fray on Monday. Mr. Brown was quoted on the BBC website saying, ""We should not have a strike. It's not in the company's interest, it's not in the workers' interest and it's certainly not in the national interest."... More

15 March 2010 - CBI reportedly criticised the government for "resorting to damaging tax rises"

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has reportedly criticised the government for "resorting to damaging tax rises" to balance public finances and called for a "convincing plan" to do so by 2016, according to the BBC website.... More

19 October 2009 - nvestigation into online pricing practises

Weekly Financial News Roundup There was another blow for Sterling, on Monday, with the announcement that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell to its lowest level for five years, at 1.1%, in September. The pound fell to six-month low against the euro, at €1.0628 and a five-month low against the ... More

14 September 2009 - Gold is an attractive investment in times of inflation

Weekly Financial News Roundup British confectionery company, Cadbury, was the subject of a bid worth $16.7 billion (£10.2 billion) from Kraft Foods, Inc., on Monday. Kraft is the second largest food company in the world by annual revenue and the move would, potentially, create a company with ... More

13 July 2009 - plans for financial reform

Weekly Financial News Roundup The motor industry, on both sides of the Atlantic, was at the heart of the financial news on Monday. In the US, a bankruptcy plan for General Motors (GM) was approved, allowing its profitable assets to be transferred to a new firm, backed by the US government, ... More

2 June 2009 - Unemployment, above 2 million for the first time in 12 years

Weekly Financial News Roundup Despite earlier moves by Marks & Spencer to quash speculation that its Executive Chairman, Sir Stuart Rose, would be stepping down before July 2011, Sir Stuart himself said for the first time in public on Monday that he hopes to step down before that date. He was ... More

27 April 2009 - All about the Budget

Weekly Financial News Roundup Unusually, some sporting news to start the week, as Barclays Premier League football clubs Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United – all heavily indebted – were criticised by the All Party Football Group for what it described as "ludicrous levels of borrowing", ... More

26 January 2009 - Rescue Plan for British Banks Weekly Financial News Roundup

Weekly Financial News Roundup The opening gambit of the financial week was the announcement on Monday of a second rescue plan for British banks. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling are proposing to pump hundreds of billions of pounds into banks in an ... More

19 January 2009 - Weekly Financial News Roundup, Get the UK Lending

Weekly Financial News Roundup The start of the week produced a glimmer of hope for homeowners, and prospective homeowners, when it was revealed that one of the plans under discussion at a meeting of leading British bankers – held at Chequers, at the weekend – was for the implementation of the ... More

12 January 2009 - Lending in 2009, "Weekly Financial News Roundup

Weekly Financial News Roundup The first full week of 2009 was characterised by gloomy trading updates with few exceptions, from the retail sector and the announcement of a further 0.5% cut in the Bank Rate. Taking it to below 2% for the first time since the Bank of England was founded, 315 ... More

16 December 2008 - News from the week "all this gloom just before Christmas"!!

An optimistic start to the week, with the announcement of financial stimulus plans in the United States, and elsewhere, providing the impetus for share price rises on stock markets across Europe and Asia. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the Nikkei in Japan, rose by 5% and 9% respectively, while ... More

8 December 2008 - Base rate cuts, Job Losses and we are told to spend?

Weekly Financial News Roundup Following its record 13.4% rise during last week – which, nevertheless left it 34% lower for 2008 as a whole – the FTSE 100 opened 30 points or 0.8% lower on Monday morning. This was due in part to a fall in mining stocks, and retailers were also under close ... More

1 December 2008 - Whats happened in the news this week? More borrowing

The main financial news at the start of the week was a significant change of direction by the Labour Government, in terms of economic policy as announced by Chancellor, Alistair Darling, in his pre-Budget report at 3.30 p.m. on Monday. As widely anticipated – but nevertheless perceived as a ... More

17 November 2008 - More Job Losses Throughout the Financial and Telecom Sectors.

Weekly Financial News Roundup The week began with news of preparations for a meeting of the "Group of 20" (G20) – a forum of finance ministers and governors of central banks from industrial, and developing nations, including Australia, China, India and South Korea, for example – in Washington ... More

9 August 2008 - Moving On - Cost of New Mortgages Begins to Drop

Although house prices continue to fall, there is a glimmer of hope in the housing market as the cost of new mortgages slowly begins to fall. New figures out from Nationwide earlier this week showed that house prices fell once more in July and recorded their largest year-on-year drop since the ... More

9 July 2008 - Ouch! How to avoid that Christmas Debt Hangover

Christmas can be a very expensive time of the year, as we all know. The UK spends £20bn on celebrating Christmas. During the festive period around 10 million turkeys and 25 million Christmas puddings are eaten, and 35 million bottles of wine opened and drunk. £1.6bn is spent on food and drink ... More

7 July 2008 - Sleepless Nights as Loans Squeeze Tightens

More people than ever are lying awake at night worrying about money, with the housing market and rising fuel costs being the main areas of concern. Thousands of homeowners are facing negative equity, whilst those looking to borrow money are finding it more and more difficult. The rising costs of ... More

30 June 2008 - We’re all going on a Christmas Holiday

Although most of us spend Christmas at home with the family in front of the TV, a significant number of Britons now decide to go abroad for Christmas. Over 2.5million Brits are expected to travel abroad for the last ten days of the year. The Christmas holiday exodus is rivalling the great Easter ... More

25 June 2008 - A Perfect Christmas?

What makes your perfect Christmas? Is it the sight of their excited faces as they wake up to see what Santa brought them? Or maybe it’s seeing the whole family sitting round the table pulling crackers and reading out the silly jokes? Or perhaps for you, it’s a romantic meal for two sat in a log ... More

28 January 2008 - Hey, Big Spender!

A report out this week shows that one in ten Britons are regularly spending more than they earn. According to financial comparison site, Uswitch, 5 million of us have an expenditure that exceeds our income on a monthly basis. Another 1 in 5 have no spare money left at the end of each month, and ... More

24 December 2007 - 'Tis the season to start spending

As the Christmas shopping frenzy escalates, hundreds of thousands of families in the UK continue to take out unsecured loans to finance their spending spree. Many are already trapped into a relentless cycle of debt as they borrow money and use credit cards to fulfil the 'Christmas Dream'. Reports ... More

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