Following my recent post on the Government’s urging banks to help reckless (sorry, ‘hard-pressed’) borrowers, a reader alerted me to this excellent article from Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats in The Independent pointing out that banks played their part in pumping up prices: British banks, in particular, lent too much, too quickly, too carelessly, [...]
Commentary
Not content with lending billions to the banks and bailing out Northern Rock, the UK government has set its sights on homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. According to the BBC: Homeowners will have enough support to ensure that their homes are not repossessed, the government says. The comments came after key mortgage [...]
Remember when Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, was all about applying ‘Moral Hazard’ to the banking system? You know, the idea that some banks had to fail to teach others not to make dodgy lending decisions? You can be sure King remembers making statements on risky lending like this: “The provision of [...]
The newspapers are full of stories about the rapid inflation in basic foodstuffs like rice and potatoes. We’re warned of social unrest, new global inequalities, and even the selfishness of speculation (which you can engage in via an agricultural ETF, although I prefer to think of it as insurance against my escalating grocery bill). Yet [...]
Things are looking ever gloomier for those who see the latest stalling in house price acceleration as more a speed bump then a socking great wall being hit by a Great British love affair that’s been drunk at the wheel for years. According to the latest Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey for March: [...]
Andy Brough, manager of the Schroder UK Mid 250 Fund, sounds pretty upbeat in this interesting commentary on the state of the market: Not quite sure why they had to interview him in an oil sheik’s bathroom…Still, there is something reassuringly blokey about Brough, given that the man in charge of billions (and undoubtedly worth [...]
This is the last in my series on changes to UK taxation. Gains on AIM shares now taxed at 18% This is more a sting in the tail of the changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime we looked at earlier in the week than a wholly new rule. AIM shares are listed on [...]
This post is one of a series on the changes to the UK personal tax regime introduced in the 2008/09 financial year. All Capital Gains Tax charged at 18% We all have a personal allowance, currently £9,600 (and distinct from your personal income tax allowance) before Capital Gains Tax is due. You are also allowed [...]
Just when peer-to-peer bank Zopa was getting interesting again thanks to higher rates, it’s somewhat annoyingly announced plans to limit the kinds of loans you can make with your savings. The new regime will see one, two and four-year loan terms scrapped, with only 36 or 60 month loans being offered to borrowers. This means [...]
This is the third article in a series on the key UK personal tax changes from April 2008. For the others, please see the introduction. Basic rate of income tax has been cut to 20% At last, something to cheer about! The world economy is in turmoil, banks are going belly up, and stock markets [...]
What to make of news that HSBC, the UK’s biggest bank, is offering new customers a mortgage matching deal from Monday 14 April, which will match expiring fixed-rate deals for another two years? Other banks are bolting and nailing shut closing their doors to business and putting their mortgage rates up. Have the senior bods [...]
This is my second article in a week long series on the key personal tax changes that came into affect in April 2008. For the others, please see the introduction to 2008 tax changes. 10% tax rate abolished Sunday saw the scrapping of the 10 per cent starter rate (also called the 10p rate) for [...]
In gloomy accord with Nationwide seeing UK house prices falling across every single region for the first time in 30 years, Halifax has now released monthly figures for March estimating UK house prices have dropped 2.5%. Some areas are down twice that. House prices have now fallen year on year. In March 2007, Halifax had [...]
This is the first in my special five-part series entitled Five big boring tax changes that will make you richer or poorer in 2008/09. For the others, please see the introduction to the series. From April 6th 2008, ISA rules for UK residents change as follows: Your annual total ISA allowance rises to £7,200, and [...]
Today is the last day of the UK tax year. Hurrah! Fair enough, the end of the tax year can’t really compete with this afternoon’s Grand National, the 172-year old steeplechase that will be watched by 600million viewers worldwide. But paying closer attention to your taxes will almost certainly leave you richer than betting on [...]
More evidence that house prices are really falling comes from the Nationwide building society, in its latest official house price index. While it tries to draw attention more to annual figures in the accompanying commentary, which are still very much up, the quarterly figures for January to March 2008 are dreadful. House prices haven’t fallen [...]