http://www.financealley.com en-us editorial@financealley.com Continued… The bank should send you a reply within two weeks. If it doesn't, write again and make a phone call straight away. The best result at this stage is the bank deciding to give you a full refund, if it offers only a partial refund, refuse it... http://www.financealley.com/article_189192_19.html 24th July 2007 This week Peter Hain was announced as the new Work and Pensions Secretary, replacing John Hutton. One of the first issues the new Minister will need to tackle is the growing regulatory burden currently facing workplace pensions schemes. Many put the b... http://www.financealley.com/article_189189_74.html 24th July 2007 With interest rates now up to five point five percent and another interest rate hike expected in August, it is not surprising that only one in ten first time buyers are currently making it onto the property ladder. The situation is further confounded ... http://www.financealley.com/article_189188_19.html 24th July 2007 When a person opens a bank account or takes out a credit card they enter into a contract. Bank charges for going overdrawn or for bounced cheques are the equivalent of a charge for breach of contract, known as liquidated damages, and the courts can enforc... http://www.financealley.com/article_183773_19.html 05th July 2007 Continued… The bank should send you a reply within two weeks. If it doesn't, write again and make a phone call straight away. The best result at this stage is the bank deciding to give you a full refund, if it offers only a partial refund, refuse ... http://www.financealley.com/article_183772_19.html 05th July 2007 In the last year Brits have been landed with almost £49 billion of bills they weren't expecting, costs that could be covered with secured loans. Four in five of us were hit by a bill we didn't see coming, according to Abbey, with half of us covering t... http://www.financealley.com/article_183134_19.html 05th July 2007 To pay for their summer holiday, twelve million Britons will slip into debt, with more than the a quarter using credit to pay for their break. For some they would rather get into debt than not have a holiday at all and will take out a loan, use their ... http://www.financealley.com/article_182971_19.html 05th July 2007 Mortgage Approvals Fall The number of new mortgages being approved has fallen to a twelve month low. One hundred and seven applications were approved in April down from one hundred and eleven thousand in the previous month. High interest rates have... http://www.financealley.com/article_182969_33.html 05th July 2007 In today’s climate of high house prices, many homeowners are considering releasing the equity in their homes with a secured loan on the value of their property. But as popular as they maybe to fund home improvements, holidays, cars or consolidat... http://www.financealley.com/article_182967_19.html 05th July 2007 The average cost of getting married now stands at £17,500 and is rising by 10% every year. For most couples seeking financial assistance is a normal constituent when planning a wedding, either traditionally through relatives or friends. But many decide t... http://www.financealley.com/article_182965_19.html 05th July 2007 With interest rates now up to five point five percent and another interest rate hike expected in August, it is not surprising that only one in ten first time buyers are currently making it onto the property ladder. The situation is further confounded ... http://www.financealley.com/article_182964_33.html 05th July 2007 This week Peter Hain was announced as the new Work and Pensions Secretary, replacing John Hutton. One of the first issues the new Minister will need to tackle is the growing regulatory burden currently facing workplace pensions schemes. Many put the b... http://www.financealley.com/article_182962_19.html 05th July 2007 A recent report has found that there are drastic differences between unauthorised overdraft charges levied by UK banks. For example going £60 overdrawn will result in charges of £25 to £133 depending on the bank. The lack of consistency in charges be... http://www.financealley.com/article_182959_19.html 05th July 2007 Estate agents have long been the bane of home sellers who are wary of the value of service that they, the estate agents, offer. With the proliferation of the internet (it is estimated that eighty nine percent of buyers use the internet when conducting... http://www.financealley.com/article_182957_33.html 05th July 2007 Gordon Brown has announced that he plans to commission the building of five ‘eco towns’ on former industrial brownfield sites to avoid swallowing up the countryside or green belt land. The proposed new developments will provide up to two hundred thous... http://www.financealley.com/article_168838_33.html 04th June 2007 Barclaycard are the latest company to offer a ‘green’ product to its growing ethically concerned customers who want to lower their carbon footprints. They have announced that their new eco-friendly credit card will be called ‘Breathe’. To ensure i... http://www.financealley.com/article_168835_19.html 04th June 2007 One month house prices are up are a record level, reports in April showed that asking prices rose to £8,000, and the next month, May, asking prices drop by around £900 whilst the monthly house price inflation has seen annual house price growth drop to 1... http://www.financealley.com/article_168834_33.html 04th June 2007 The number of new mortgages being approved has fallen to a twelve month low. One hundred and seven applications were approved in April down from one hundred and eleven thousand in the previous month. High interest rates have begun to put pressure on p... http://www.financealley.com/article_168832_19.html 04th June 2007 More than one in seven people will be left struggling to pay their mortgage after the Bank of England raised interest rates by another 0.25 percentage points, to 5.5 per cent in May. Research carried out by an independent online mortgage broker, repor... http://www.financealley.com/article_168830_19.html 04th June 2007 The attractiveness of taking out a secured loan has never been so high, with house prices, especially those in London going, metaphorically, through the roof. Despite four interest rake hikes, which have slowed down the housing market, house price infl... http://www.financealley.com/article_168828_19.html 04th June 2007 If you’re looking for a loan you maybe deciding whether to get a personal loan or a secured loan, it may be useful to know the differences between the two. A personal loan, generally known as an unsecured loan and can take the form of a credit card ... http://www.financealley.com/article_168826_33.html 04th June 2007 The rise of interest rate in May could mean that £16 a month will be added to the bill of a family with a typical £100,000 home loan. When added to the cost the previous three interest rate hikes in August, November 2006 and January 2007, it means mortg... http://www.financealley.com/article_168825_33.html 04th June 2007 A secured loan is money borrowed that is backed with collateral, or a marketable asset, meaning that if you fail to pay the repayments of your loan the lender may acquire your collateral to pay the debt. Many secured loans are taken out against the val... http://www.financealley.com/article_164109_19.html 24th May 2007 Before they have even come into force on the first of June, the Government’s home information packs HIPs have been widely criticised by, well, pretty much everyone. Last week the Conservative party failed in an eleventh hour bid to block the introductio... http://www.financealley.com/article_164045_33.html 24th May 2007 From June 1 2007, everyone involved in buying and selling a home will need to know about Home Information Packs (HIPs). If you are buying a new home the pack will offer essential information about the property you wish to buy. If you are a seller you w... http://www.financealley.com/article_161383_33.html 21st May 2007 They may be called tagged with a colour, brown and green, but that’s not the only thing they have in common. Both types of mortgages are ecological in their outlook. Brown mortgages are specifically targeted at buyers who wish to convert or restore ... http://www.financealley.com/article_161375_33.html 21st May 2007 A ‘green mortgage’ is a mortgage that is favorable to the environment. This means that lenders will plant a certain number of trees per loan; the idea being to offset its carbon footprint. They may also make a donation, on behalf of the borrower, to e... http://www.financealley.com/article_161363_33.html 21st May 2007 So, you’re going on holiday and with lots to organise, getting the foreign currency for your overseas adventure may slip down your list of things to do. But there is no need to worry because with such a competitive market it has never been easier or qui... http://www.financealley.com/article_161266_19.html 21st May 2007 Some commentators have been predicting house price falls in the UK for several months. But renewed house price growth in the UK this year inevitably raises the question of whether house prices have to fall. There are various reasons to suggest that hou... http://www.financealley.com/article_153904_33.html 30th April 2007 With the days getting longer and the sun more likely to be shining, we’re now entering the peak period for buying and selling houses and there’s much a seller can do to make there property more appealing to a buyer. So, after much research I’ve comp... http://www.financealley.com/article_153903_33.html 30th April 2007 Northern Ireland has the top ten fastest rising property hotspots in the UK. A regional survey looking at 489 towns in Northern Ireland found that property values have gone up 55% since last year – property in Craigavon in 2006 was an average of £118,5... http://www.financealley.com/article_153902_33.html 30th April 2007 The number of first-time buyers taking out a mortgage greater than the value of their home has risen 21% on last year, with one in ten buyers choosing to borrow the entire value of their property and more. The rise in borrowing highlights the problems f... http://www.financealley.com/article_153901_33.html 30th April 2007 With the average first-time property price reaching £156,000, six times the average wage of £26,000, renting a room out for extra income and sharing living costs is the latest way that first-time buyers are helping to pay off the mortgage. A new typ... http://www.financealley.com/article_153900_33.html 30th April 2007 House prices could fall by as much as 30% over the next few years, claim experts, which could trigger a recession as currently overvalued property prices (20% overvalued according to Goldman Sachs and the highest in 15 years) are corrected. Many watchers ... http://www.financealley.com/article_153899_33.html 30th April 2007 It may not be an ideal solution, but for some the unconventional alternative of co-buying a property and sharing the cost, sometimes with a stranger, is the only solution currently available to get onto the property ladder. But it is essential to know the... http://www.financealley.com/article_153897_33.html 30th April 2007 With the UK property market booming you may think that now is not the best time to invest in property, unless you’re a commercial buy-to-let investor that is. However, there are a few areas in the country that are still affordable and will certainly see... http://www.financealley.com/article_153895_33.html 30th April 2007 20/04/2006 With high expectations that the Bank of England are poised to raise the rate of interest, many lenders are beginning to withdraw their fixed-rate mortgage packages in anticipation, with critics saying that lenders are giving homeowners with ... http://www.financealley.com/article_151549_33.html 25th April 2007 Unhappy that many customers use their credit cards wisely, i.e. paying off their balance at the end of each month, and with an eye on adding more stress to those in financial difficulty, some banks are... http://www.financealley.com/article_150082_19.html 20th April 2007 We have all seen or heard the adverts on the television or radio for debt consolation, and home owner loans, in fact these adverts seem to be rotating more regularly, especially during daytime programmes. Unsurprisingly, and no doubt due to the money spen... http://www.financealley.com/article_150081_19.html 20th April 2007 I speak from experience. Once upon a time, a few years ago, my partner and I had an offer accepted on lovely top floor apartment over looking a park in Liverpool. But just as we were sorting things out with solicitors etc, we were told by the Estate Agent... http://www.financealley.com/article_150080_33.html 20th April 2007 It has never been a better time to buy a second home, or invest in the buy-to-let property market. The UK’s booming buy-to-let market is being boosted by immigration and the difficulty of first-time buyers to find suitably priced property. The UK is sec... http://www.financealley.com/article_150079_33.html 20th April 2007 UK homeowners are, despite higher interest rates, choosing to unlock money tied up in their property. In 2006 homeowners released £49.7bn of equity from their properties, mainly due to the continued rise of house values. Most commonly the mortgage equity... http://www.financealley.com/article_149217_33.html 18th April 2007 It was with a great sense of trepidation that my partner and I decided to, at last, start looking for our first home. My partner, always the more finically acute, was wary of paying for a property that had an inflated value due to the continued rise of ho... http://www.financealley.com/article_147464_33.html 13th April 2007 Despite widespread feeling that house prices were, at last, slowing, new figures released by the country’s biggest mortgage lender Halifax, suggest that house prices, are in fact, still rising on the back of a strong economy and shortage of homes for sa... http://www.financealley.com/article_147154_33.html 12th April 2007