- Chelsea improves mortgage rates
Chelsea Building Society has announced it has reviewed its interest rates, encompassing a range of products. - Halifax One card ‘could save you money’
Customers using the Halifax One card could save money by purchasing items such as clothing and footwear on their card, according to the bank. - Parents-to-be want kids to ‘pay their way’
Bingley. - Invesco launches investment training website
Invesco Perpetual has introduced an intermediary training website called Investment Intelligence Online and is free to use. - Banks step up overdraft charges
Customers are facing increasing charges when they go over their authorised overdraft limit, according to research by Moneyfacts. - 400k by 2011′
400,000 by 2011, according to the London Housing Federation (FHF). - ALIL Euro Savings increases rates
Leicester International’s (ALIL), Euro Savings account has been announced by the offshore savings bank. - Britannia sees rise in child trusts opened
An increase in the interest rate for Britannia Building Society’s tax-free child trust funds has seen a 20 per cent rise in the number of accounts opened. - Updated Abbey Guaranteed Growth Plan launched
A sixth issue of the Abbey Guaranteed Growth Plan has been introduced to the market, offering customers a guaranteed return of at least their individual investment. - Thieves more active in winter
Burglaries, especially forced entries to properties, increase in winter months highlighting the need for extra vigilance, says Halifax Home Insurance. - General launches mortgage with Platform
General Mortgage Club has teamed up with Platform, intermediary lender of Britannia Building Society, to offer customers an exclusive product aimed at the non-conforming borrower market. - Offset mortgages could be ‘best option’
Homeowners taking advantage of an offset mortgage could save themselves thousands in the long run according to new research. - Football fans counting the cost of support
1,000 a season supporting their beloved teams, according to new research. - House buyers ‘paying 60 per cent more’
Those attempting to step onto the property ladder are finding it 60 per cent more difficult than their parents, according to new research by Alliance Trust. - MasterCard offers companies VATrecovery
E recovery expert Meridian to offer companies the means by which to recover VAT in 36 countries. - Swindon online mortgage finder launched
Swindon online mortgage finder has been introduced by the building society in a bid to change customers’ habits in terms of selecting mortgages online. - Liverpool Victoria launches online system for mimi
Liverpool Victoria has introduced an online processing system designed specifically for its Flexible Protection Plan, mimi. - CML slams Hips
A government proposal to make home information packs (Hips) compulsory when a property is purchased has been dismissed by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) - Motorists – beware of clock change says Lloyds TSB
Britain’s motorists have been warned to have their wits about them when taking to the road between 15:00 GMT and 18:00 GMT this Sunday. - Ombudsman gets tough on banks over unfair charges
Bank customers who complain about unfair charges are getting record levels of compensation, in a growing sign of banks’ willingness to settle claims. - Taxpayers in the dark over the legality of some schemes
Taxpayers could face years of backdated charges because HM Revenue & Customs is failing to indicate whether or not certain disclosed tax-efficient schemes are legitimate. - Cash-strapped home-hunters get toeholds on property ladder
Many people who rent the house they live in do not do so out of choice. They see rent as dead money and would prefer to own their home and pay their own mortgage rather than pay the landlord’s. - Clear appeal of ‘the purest form of trading’
Private investors are set to enjoy cheaper equity trading as increasing numbers of stockbrokers offer a direct route straight to the order book of the London Stock Exchange. - Burgeoning debt industry loses its allure
If you watch television, listen to the radio or are an habitual reader of tabloid newspapers, you have seen or heard the advertisements. Sinking in debt? Clear your debts in three to five years. - Cash release schemes may make comeback
Home reversion plans, which used to be a popular way for homeowners to release cash from their property, could be set for a comeback as formal regulation of these schemes next April is likely to give them some much-needed respectability. - Bad habits can lead to a healthy income
Healthy individuals face shrinking pension incomes as the increased popularity of enhanced annuities, which offer better deals to people likely to die younger, is piling further pressure on to already low standard rates. - UK managers follow US model to offer high returns
There is a type of equity fund that is hugely popular in the US but has yet to take off in a big way in the UK. Known as a covered call fund, it combinestraditional equity investments with derivatives to generate higher levels of income. - Investors go in one door and out the other
Savvy institutional investors are pulling out of the UK commercial property market in droves just as record numbers of private investors are piling in. - Buyers flock to spread the cost of a home loan
More and more first-time buyers are willing to shelve their differences and share their living space for a more affordable step on to the property ladder. According to lenders, record numbers of 20 and 30-somethings are pooling their funds and taking out - Buffett ends sleepless nights for many Names
Warren Buffett’s offer to absolve Lloyd’s Names from future potential liabilities should put an end to decades of uncertainty for many of the 34,000 Names, not least in their inheritance tax planning. - Unpopular performers cry out for an invitation to the ball
Are UK small-caps the Cinderella sector of investment trusts? Like the fairy tale heroine, they have attractive qualities but are suffering from unpopularity. - How to make a big hit in one tax year
The new pension rules significantly lifted the bar on contribution thresholds. But a small group of high-flying executives and City workers are taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to pay even more into their schemes, at least for one tax year. - Alternative routes when Treasury splits heirs
The Treasury’s threatened clamp-down on Alternatively Secured Pensions is leading to a search by pensions savers and their advisers for other ways of obtaining comparable tax breaks. - Treasury may heed calls to raise ISA investing limit
Investors saving through Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) would be able to put in much larger sums of money than presently allowed, if industry proposals are taken up by the Treasury.