The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) announced recently that levels of 'extreme debt' in the UK are worsening. According to the report 280,000 CCCS customers who were aged between 40 and 59 were shown to be in possession of the highest levels o...

Sporting fever has beset the country. With the dates of the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Formula One Grand Prix season, and the Cricket Open coinciding, it seems that this summer has become a boom time for sports fans. The mass of high profile spor...

These days there are hundreds of different types of mortgages: fixed, variable, capped, discount, base rate tracker, offset, repayment only, interest only, and these can also include a variety of options such as the ability to take payment holidays, or av...

Recent talk within the housing market of a possible slow down, marking an end to the mini boom which has been gradually pushing house prices up across the country, seem to have been premature. The latest figures from the British Bankers' Association (BAA...

It seems the trend for well dressed and stylish mums could be drawing to a close with the news that many mothers' wardrobes are seriously depleted as they spend all their funds decking out their tots in expensive clobber. Research from financial ...

While the population of England tipped over 50 million recently, a recent survey suggest that around two million households are living on the edge of financial difficulty, and a further half-million are already in difficulty. The survey, from the...

Generating equity from your property is becoming more popular amongst homeowners in the UK, Bank of England figures released this month show. The final quarter of 2005 showed a sharp increase on the previous quarter, as £11.8 billion was released compared...

Since the 1990s, when the average homeowner owed around £31,000, levels of personal debt have nearly trebled to £84,000. However, according to the Alliance & Leicester, UK personal borrowing levels are at present "comfortable". At a time when per...

According to recent life assurance research by Sainsbury's Bank, many ex-smokers may be paying too much for their life insurance. They assert that during the past 5 years approximately 6.78 million people have given up smoking, however only a quarter of ...

We take a dynamic approach to our lives, but it's rare that this dynamism extends to our personal finances. Perhaps it's the nature of the beast but, at least in the UK, personal finance is a topic that is off limits in conversation and pushed to the back...

The Office of Fair Trading has issued a demand for a change in the law restricting the use of credit card cheques. These cheques have been around for about 10 years and are designed to allow people to transfer funds into another of the cardholder's accou...