An increased number of Brits are now turning to Consolidation as a means of Debt Relief As a nation struggling to manage our finances, it is estimated that approximately 6.5million of us here in the UK are turning to the idea of consolidating our debts. Figures from MoneyExpert.com show that over the last 3 years some 14% [...]

Jane Croft, a Retail Banking Correspondent has a great article in the FT about the UK liquidity issues in the Home Loan sector. A growing number of mortgage lenders are restricting home loans to customers outside certain geographic areas or are capping the maximum amounts homeowners can borrow at £350,000 as the credit squeeze intensifies. Nationwide, one [...]

Brits juggling many credit cards According to a recent report many Brits are juggling multiple credit cards and continuing to get themselves into debt despite the credit crunch and despite the financial woes that many households are facing due to higher energy, food, petrol, and mortgage costs. Figures show that over three million Brits have five or [...]

Judith Heywood at the TimesOnline recently dissected the Bear Stearns credit crisis and how it will/could affect our UK Home Prices. Why is the outlook suddenly more gloomy? The sudden demise of Bear Stearns has revealed that the credit crunch crisis is deeper and more damaging than was previously thought. The emergency takeover of this US bank [...]

Since at least the turn of the century, the twin booms in the housing market and the high street have seen Britain’s seemingly unstoppable army of consumers spending with abandon. In a “What the hell?” culture of “Buy today and worry tomorrow” that has gripped the nation, households have run up mountainous debts that now [...]

Home Buyers Get No Relief From Stamp (from Sunday Herald) ALISTAIR DARLING has been accused of failing Scottish homeowners in his first Budget because he refused to increase the thresholds for stamp duty in line with property inflation. Bank of Scotland estimates that more than half (52%) of home buyers in Scotland paid at least 1% stamp [...]

Borrowing costs rise despite base rate cuts | Money | guardian.co.uk The cost of borrowing £1,000 through a personal loan has risen by 4.5% since last March, as the credit crunch has forced lenders to increase interest rates, latest figures show. The statistics from financial information provider Moneyfacts show the average APRs on unsecured loans of all [...]

March 11 (Bloomberg) — U.K. banks raised the cost of borrowing for homebuyers with the smallest deposits to a seven- year high, declining to pass on two interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England. The average rate offered by lenders on loans for 95 percent of the price of a property, fixed for 24 months, rose [...]

March 10 (Bloomberg) — Northern Rock Plc, nationalized by the U.K. government last month, will stop selling subprime mortgages in Britain. The bank will stop selling the loans today, though applications submitted before will be processed, the Newcastle, England-based lender said in a statement today. Northern Rock, bailed out by the Bank of England after it ran [...]

FinanceDaily – 70 Days of Salary to Clear Debt Interest Alone With personal loan debt almost four times higher than last year, even our combined January and February earnings are not enough to pay off the interest on our debt – without actually even reducing it, new figures reveal. As a nation, we have worked the last [...]