June 18, 2012 / Posted in  Advice, Banking, bills, News

A growing number of new mothers in the UK are finding themselves with little choice but to take on debt to finance themselves in the months after giving birth. The pain is being felt by new mums in various ways as they get to grips with parenthood and there are many thousands of women apparently putting off having their first child primarily because they feel themselves unable to cover the costs involved with doing so.

We all perhaps intuitively understand that becoming a mother can be a costly business but the extent of the financial strains that can be caused has been laid bare in recent days in a report on the subject from the price comparison service uSwitch.com. The headline finding was that the costs of going on maternity leave, coupled with the rising overall cost of living in the UK means that close to a third (29 percent) or new mothers are now being forced into debt.

The average amount of debt accrued under these circumstances was roughly £2,500 at the time of the poll and the money problems faced by new mums often spill out to effect t&...

June 10, 2012 / Posted in  Advice, Banking, Borrowing, Europe, Money, News

The UK and European economies are struggling against some sternly testing headwinds at present and the impact is being felt by families right across the country and the continent. So perhaps it should come as little surprise that households in Scotland are feeling the financial squeeze to a significant degree as well.

Evidence if it were needed of just what families north of the border are having to contend with currently from a financial point of view came this month in a report from the Bank of Scotland...

June 5, 2012 / Posted in  Banking, bills, News

British parents with adult children are struggling to boost their pension savings pots as they otherwise might because they are increasingly making significant financial sacrifices to help out their grown-up sons and daughters.

A new survey on the subject suggests in fact that just below a third of all parents in the UK with adult children are helping their offspring out with major outlays and to repay their debts...

June 2, 2012 / Posted in  Advice, Banking, Loans, Money, News

Debt has become part and parcel of money management for many millions of British consumers but taking on too much can of course lead to serious financial difficulty. The question of quite what amounts to having serious levels of debt is an interesting one and it was posed recently in a survey by the financial protection company Bright Grey.

According to the study, a typical UK consumer only considers themselves to be in serious debt when they have racked up arrears in excess of £14,400. The company behind the research suggests that the figure reflects a rather worrying attitude towards debt that goes some way to explain why Britain is currently so heavily indebted as a nation.

And seriousness in the context of financial difficulty is per...

May 27, 2012 / Posted in  Borrowing, credit card, Finance, Money, News

You may or may not have noticed but the prevalence of contactless payment options across the UK is steadily on the increase. Barclaycard has announced its latest effort to promote the use of such technology in stores and outlets of various kinds in the shape of what it calls the PayTag system. The idea is that mobile phone users can attach a small PayTag sticker to the back of their handsets and pay in a matter of moments by touching it to a suitably equipped terminal.

The phenomena look set to catch on and its advocates are convinced that the contactless payment systems being introduced will serve to ease congestion within the busier supermarkets and other retail outlets around the country. The American-owned supermarket chain Asda recently became the latest business to opt in on the scheme, which is still in the pilot stage, with 25 of its stores soon to be equipped with PayTag technology.

Asda’s inclusion in the project follows the lead of its great supermarket rival Tesco, and sees it join the likes o...

May 25, 2012 / Posted in  Borrowing, Finance, News, Tax

Consumers from across the UK have been urged by a raft of experts to take a closer look at the way they are managing their money and to effectively have a ‘spring clean’ of their finances.

The national and international economic doom and gloom continues in large part and households right around the country are struggling to reign in their spending...

May 23, 2012 / Posted in  Mortgage, News, rent

There has been much said and written in recent months and years about the difficulties that many British couples and families are having as they aim to make their way on to the first rung of the housing ladder. Lenders are clearly and understandably less willing to agree to mortgage deals now than they were back in the heady days before the financial crisis of 2007/8.

Mortgages do seem more difficult to come by these days and generally those applying are obliged to stump up a hefty deposit before they can join the ranks of Britain’s homeowners. There have been efforts made by government to improve the prospects for would-be first-time buyers and positive stances taken by the still very pragmatic banks and building societies. Nevertheless, conditions for anyone hoping to hop on to the housing ladder remain rather challenging.

However, there has been some encouraging news from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) recently,...

May 18, 2012 / Posted in  Mortgage, News, rent

The number of people looking to defraud a prospective mortgage lender in the UK increased steeply last year, according to a new report on the subject from the information supply group Experian. The most common scenario in which mortgage fraud is being committed is one in which an individual aims to conceal certain facts about their financial past and particularly an adverse credit history.

Experian’s figures show in fact that the number of fraudulent mortgage applications submitted across the country grew by around eight per cent during 2011 and that the number has more than doubled since 2006. The significant increase is interesting because it would seem to point to a rise in attempted mortgage fraud as the UK’s economic situation at large became increasingly strained...

May 16, 2012 / Posted in  Banking, Borrowing, Europe, Money, News

British holidaymakers are often finding themselves paying out considerably more than they bargained for to access their own cash while enjoying some overseas sunshine. Spain of course is the biggest draw traditionally for British sun seekers but there are additional charges being levied as millions of holidaymakers use either their credit or debit cards right across the continent and beyond.

Setting off on holiday is generally a major outlay for households regardless of the circumstances but the latest figures on the subject have shown that foreign withdrawals cost UK tourists a collective total of around £263 million every year. On a one off basis, the charges for withdrawing cash in Spain or in any other European hotspot do not seem all that steep at £2.75 but the costs can easily mount up with repeated visits to the cash machine.

A researc...

May 14, 2012 / Posted in  accomodation, Mortgage, News, rent

The UK’s rental market continues to flourish as the housing market more broadly maintains a steady, not to say sluggish, rate of growth. According to figures put together by the financial information company Experian on the subject, there were 58,000 more properties added to the official rental market nationwide during 2011 as compared with 2010.

A booming rental market is positive in some sense because it means there are more properties available to those who need them around the country but the strength of the sector must also owe something at least to the struggle that many people are having in finding a suitable mortgage deal...