- Scarborough Building Society Guaranteed Bond introduced
The Scarborough Building Society Guaranteed Bond has been launched which guarantees that customers see a ‘competitive’ rate for at least two years. - New mortgages launched by Woolwich
Woolwich has introduced a new mortgage that is a combination of both fixed-rate and tracker mortgages in order to aid customers in the wake of the recent Bank of England base rate rise. - Card firms ‘interested’ in imposing charges
Credit card customers could now face rising interest rates should they consistently fail to make their payments on time, new research from Defaqto suggests. - Skipton Guaranteed Triple Asset Bond launched
performing housing and stock markets. - Homeowners told, ‘check insurance policies this Christmas’
Customers are being urged to check the small print of their insurance policies to ensure that their Christmas presents are fully covered this yuletide season. - Extra Christmas cover offered by Tesco
Tesco Home Insurance has declared that it is to spread the Christmas cheer in terms of rewarding its customers with the announcement that it will increase contents cover over the festive period. - Families persuaded to save by Scarborough
In a move designed to encourage more families to save, Scarborough Building Society has introduced its new family savings account. - Mortgage approvals down in October
The number of mortgage approvals during October decreased by nine per cent, says the Building Societies’ Association (BSA), possibly pointing to the effect of higher borrowing costs. - Save regularly for ‘brighter future’
The merits of using regular savings accounts have been extolled by Hargreaves Lansdown, a UK asset management provider, highlighting the benefits that can be gotten by young people saving regularly. - NatWest Fixed-Rate Bond introduced
The NatWest Fixed-Rate Bond has been launched by the bank aimed at those customers who are wishing to see a guaranteed rate on their investment during next year. - First-time buyers could turn to ‘gazundering’
With first-time buyers facing the prospect of rising house prices and increased mortgage rates, they may feel it is time to begin ‘gazundering’ house price offers says Capital Economics. - Scottish Widows Own Overseas remortgage launched
Scottish Widows has introduced a new remortgage product to the market aimed at UK citizens who are planning on purchasing property in Spain. - CTFs could get a boost this Christmas
Children with Child Trust Funds (CTFs) are expected to reap the benefits of a lucrative Christmas in terms of receiving money to investment, according to the Children’s Mutual, a CTF expert. - Newcastle Building Society Guaranteed Property Bond launched
The Newcastle Building Society Guaranteed Property Bond has been launched which has a five-year term and its performance is linked directly to growth that occurs in the Halifax House Price Index (HHPI). - Leicester two-year fixed-rate mortgages launched
Leicester has announced the introduction of two new mortgages following the Bank of England’s decision to raise the base rate by 0.25 per cent. - Card fraud in UK ‘worst in EU’
Card-spending Brits are proving a hit with the fraudsters due to their propensity for paying with the plastic, according to a spokesperson for credit reference agency Equifax. - Scottish property prices on rise again
Property prices in Scotland are continuing to increase, prolonging the house price boom in the country, according to the Lloyds TSB Scotland House Price Monitor. - Privilege Insurance to cover downloaded music
Privilege Insurance has announced that it plans to incorporate people’s downloaded music collections within their home insurance at no extra charge. - Biba warns of uninsured drivers raising premiums
Drivers that are uninsured are not only endangering the lives of other road users and themselves, they are also forcing the price of premiums up, according to a spokesperson for the British Insurance Broker’s Association (Biba). - Hedge fund demand to grow, says expert
Following on from the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) consultation on hedge funds next year, more people will be likely to want to invest in them, says the chief executive of IFA Promotion. - Reduced tax perks puncture investor demand
The season to invest in new shares of venture capital trusts is almost upon us. However, demand for these tax-privileged investment funds is likely to slump this winter because of a reduction in their tax perks, a survey by a top tax advisory group indica - Social forces change the very fabric of house market
Bubbling below the financial credentials of a buoyant economy are a wealth of social and demographic factors which are also providing significant support for house prices. - Parents will be able to roll Child Trust Funds into Isas
Parents will be able to start building up Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) for their children from birth following an announcement by the government this week that it will soon be possible to roll Child Trust Fund accounts into Isas. - Tractor test shows rural commitment
In 21st century Britain, country estates are snapped up by City bankers and other wealthy urbanites. A high-profile example is Marc Jonas, the founder of Punch Taverns and now a private equity executive, who this summer bought a 4,000-acre estate in Wilts - A hands off approach to absolute returns
Investors who want exposure to spread bets and CFDs but do not want to shoulder the responsibility for the investment decisions can hand over their money to investment managers. - Buy-to-let beauties show their ugly side
Large numbers of buy-to-let investors are having their properties repossessed and sold off at auction as growing numbers of property investors are unable to meet interest repayments. - Borrowers urged to prepare for another rise
The Bank of England took no-one by surprise when it raised interest rates by a quarter point to 5 per cent this week. But banks may still not be quick off the mark to pass the rate rise on to savers. - Off-piste perils of owning a home in the snow
Whether they fancy the thrill of racing down a black run themselves or just want to rake in a healthy rental yield, UK investors are piling into property in ski resorts across Europe and the US. - Industry draws up reforms to ward off annuity U-turn
The pensions industry is lobbying the Treasury in a last-ditch effort to persuade the government not to axe Alternatively Secured Pensions, the new vehicles which allow investors to avoid purchasing an annuity at retirement. - Web puts private investors on par with professionals
The internet has revolutionised share buying for the private investor, bringing instant access to an avalanche of free information. This proliferation of information is spurring growing armies of hobbyist investors who are making investment decisions with - Lenders give the green light to mortgages
A derelict church or a new timber chalet might sound attractive to an adventurous homeowner but mortgage lenders have traditionally steered away from unconventional properties. - Crackdown on those working here and there
Not many people feel sorry for City high-fliers earning six-figure salaries and often even bigger bonuses. But one place where this small but high-profile group is particularly unlikely to get much sympathy is HM Revenue and Customs. - City bonuses and foreign cash lead to mansion-mania
First-time buyers may be scrambling for all the help they can get for a foothold on the property ladder but at the opposite end of the market the landscape looks remarkably different. - Court ruling says the days of tax exiles are numbered
Accountants are reviewing the advice they give to tax exiles on how best to achieve the tax perks of UK "non domiciled" status in the wake of a groundbreaking court ruling this week.