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Fri 29th Sep, 2006
Posted in Banking, Consumer debt, Savings, UK Finance at 9:50 am by Steve Smith
With recent reports of UK indebtedness in the news, Scarborough Building Society has launched a campaign to encourage children and young people to save. Starting good savings habits now will make it easier for them to pay for university education and to take the first step onto the property ladder.
The campaign, which promotes Scarborough’s Smart Kids savings range, aims to give saving some street cred and to encourage families as a whole to think about financial priorities. Tony Burdin, head of marketing, said: ‘With growing concerns about record personal debt levels and people’s lack of provision for the future, we believe financial services providers like ourselves have a responsibility to encourage people to take stock and start saving.’
He added: ‘Because there are so many worrying statistics out there though, we felt it was also important to get these messages across in a fun way – hence the reason for a sticker campaign which we hope will both appeal to parents and communicate directly with children in a language which will be meaningful for them.’
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Posted in Bad Credit, Consumer Credit, Credit Card, Homeowner Loans, Personal loans, Remortgaging, UK Finance, mortgages at 9:47 am by Steve Smith
An article in The Times Online warns against allowing people to ‘borrow in haste and repent at leisure’. Writer Camilla Cavendish is commenting on the recent news that the average Brit has twice as much consumer debt as the average West European, to the tune of £1.25 trillion. While Cavendish says that not all debt is bad, citing the millions of people who have acquired their own homes through mortgages, she bemoans the scarcity of sound financial advice.
Cavendish notes how easy it is to transfer balances and rack up debts, with one couple in Glasgow recently reported to have remortgaged their home eight times to the tune of £300,000. She also says that many people are ignorant about the true nature of the financial products they buy and wonders how many people have been mis-sold credit cards and other debt products.
She comments: ‘It is lunatic that the law makes it much easier to entice people into debt than to encourage them to save,’ adding: ‘Cheap money has helped to keep the economy going. But only for so long. When people fall prey to loan sharks, or default, they hurt not just themselves and their families. They will also cost us all in the long run, because they are making wholly inadequate provision for their old age.’
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Thu 28th Sep, 2006
Posted in Bad Credit, Banking, Consumer Credit, UK Finance at 11:08 am by Steve Smith
Nationwide Building Society has urged students to plan their cash withdrawals carefully to avoid expensive charges to withdraw their money. Nationwide’s research shows that half of the 400 cash machines on university and college sites charge for taking money out.
With the average student withdrawing small sums of £10 or £20 a time, a typical fee of £1.50 could be a 15 per cent charge on a £10 withdrawal. Cash machine charges on university and college sites range from 70 pence to £1.85. This can have a significant impact on student finances.
Stuart Bernau, executive director at Nationwide, said: ‘Students need to be particularly alert when they are withdrawing cash as charges to access their own money quickly add up and hit hard in the pocket of people already facing the challenge of making ends meet while they are studying.’
He added: ‘As the number of charging machines grows it is becoming ever more important that all machines that levy charges are clearly marked so that consumers have the choice to avoid these unnecessary fees.’
Nationwide has fought against cash machine charges for some time and all of its cash machines are free to use. There are also no charges for withdrawing cash abroad for Nationwide card holders.
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