Here’s what’s been going on in the world of personal finance and money today:
From Money Watch:
- What The Nationwide Takeover Means To Dunfirmline BS Customers – Following yesterday’s news that the Dunfirmline Building Society is going bust, we’ve since found out that Nationwide is to takeover the more “stable” areas of the business, whilst yet again us tax payers will bear the risk of the dodgy toxic mortgages Dunfirmline polluted its otherwise decent business with.How will this affect Dunfirmline customers?
From around the web:
- Tesco bank accounts: Why I am worried – Tesco financial products might be cheap, but they’re not always cheerful, says Jill Insley.
- UK property prices dropping like Gordon Brown’s approval rating – Anybody deluded enough to hope for a property market recovery sometime this year will be sorely disappointed by the latest figures from the Land Registry which show that actual selling prices of homes in the UK fell by 2% in February.
- Why house prices have further to fall – There is one simple reason why house prices need to drop: for decades, they have risen many times faster than wages.
- MPs’ expenses: the 10 most outrageous claims ever – As the row over the transparency of expenses continues, Money Central lists the 10 most outrageous expense claims ever made by MPs.
- 10 Winners in the Recession – A handful of industries, companies, and products are doing well in the recession.
- Tesco plans 30 new bank branches – Tesco plans to open 30 bank branches in its stores by the end of 2009 as it expands its personal finance brand. There has been a trial in Glasgow since 2006. New branches will open next month in Blackpool, Coventry and Bristol. Tesco currently offers insurance, credit cards, loans and savings accounts and plans to start offering current accounts within two years.
- Nationwide takes over Dunfermline – The Nationwide is to buy the Dunfermline Building Society’s branches, good loans and deposits, it has been confirmed.The mutual was put up for sale after incurring losses of £26m.The Nationwide will also take on Dunfermline’s 530 staff, according to the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston.