parents finance guidance

Every new mother is to receive guidance about money from this summer, under a scheme run by the UK finance watchdog.
The Financial Services Authority will distribute packs giving information on topics such as budgeting, benefits and childcare options.

The FSA thinks some families could save themselves hundreds of pounds by using the guides, which are being rolled out UK-wide after successful trials.

Midwives will pass them on in the early stages of pregnancy.
——————————————————————-

barclays profits drop

Barclays has seen annual profits drop to £7.08bn, including a net loss of £1.6bn stemming from turbulence on the global credit markets.
Profits fell by 1% from £7.13bn a year earlier, but met market forecasts.

Barclays’ shares have fallen 40% in the past year on uncertainty over its exposure to US sub-prime mortgages following the US housing slowdown.

However, Barclays - which announced it would increase its dividend by 10% - said it was “confident” looking ahead.

Shares in the firm were 3% lower at 447 pence in early trade. However, analysts highlighted that this was part of a wider fall in banking shares, after Credit Suisse said quarterly profits would be $1bn less than forecast.
———————————————————————-

adverse credit loans

  Eurocredit are an on-line Loan Broker, offering unsecured loans for tenants, home owners and adverse credit. Welcome to eurocredit, the UK’s premier online loans specialist. Unlike many brokers, eurocredit will not charge you a fee for sourcing your personal loan and we can give you an in-principle decision within a few minutes of your application! 

homeowner loan

Are you paying too much?

Do your current outgoings exceed your income?

Would you like to consolidate all of your credit (IE loans, credit cards, car finance etc) into one, easy, affordable, repayment?

ABC home owner loans could offer you the option you are looking for…

If you own your own home and you would like to find out more please click here.

post office broadband

Say Hello to the Post Office Broadband and home telephone deals.

We offer simple phone and broadband packages to help you get talking and surfing. And if you take both Post Office Homephone® and Post Office® Broadband, we’ll give you great discounts.

Here are just a few of the great things you can expect from Post Office® HomePhone and Broadband:

• simple packages to meet your needs
• free evening and weekend calls with our HomePhone packages**
• easy to set up broadband with 24/7 technical support
• high-speed broadband connection up to 8Mbps*
• line rental included in monthly fee 
• one bill for and simple and flexible payment options

Brown grilled over northern rock

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a political and public backlash on Monday after his decision to take ailing bank Northern Rock into public ownership, the first UK nationalisation since the 1970s.

The government will announce new legislation allowing it to take over Britain’s fifth-largest mortgage lender after rejecting two private sector-led bids on Sunday and ending five months of uncertainty over Northern Rock’s fate.

Even temporary nationalisation, however, will carry political and financial risks for a government already tarnished by the debacle, as it links its fate to a mortgage bank at a turbulent time for Britain’s housing market, with home repossessions, bad loans and job cuts all set to rise.

It is also facing the threat of a drawn-out legal battle with shareholders, who stand to lose most or all of their investment.

Northern Rock has borrowed about 25 billion pounds from the Bank of England since the global credit crisis last year wrecked its funding model, sparking the first run on deposits at a British bank for some 140 years.

With a national election due by May 2010 at the latest, turmoil over the past five months has dented both the Labour government’s popularity and the prime minister’s reputation as a guardian of financial stability.

Shareholders reacted with anger as the suspension of Northern Rock shares left them unable to sell their stock.
——————————————————————

law firms to sue investment banks

An increasing number of City law firms are breaking one of the profession’s greatest unwritten rules by positioning themselves to sue investment banks, confident that the first of an expected wave of lawsuits arising from the credit crunch will emerge in Britain within weeks.

It is commonly held that commercial litigation increases during any period of financial instability, as companies and investors face greater pressure on their bottom line, but some lawyers claim the legal fallout that will result from the collapse of the American sub-prime market will dwarf that of even the Enron scandal. Lawyers are counting on plenty of work as investors, particularly hedge funds, target investment banks in an effort to recover substantial losses.

—————————————————————–

sharp fall in profits for Bradford & Bingley

Lender Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has reported a sharp fall in profits after cutting the value of risky assets following the recent market turmoil.
Pre-tax profit almost halved to £126m in 2007 from £246.7m the year before, after the bank wrote down assets including those tied to US mortgages.

B&B’s shares tumbled in London on the news, sliding 12% to 214.5 pence.

Banks worldwide have been reporting massive losses related to problems in the ailing US housing market

——————————————————–

Northern Rock nationalised

Northern Rock is to be nationalised as a temporary measure.Neither of the two private proposals to take over the beleaguered bank offered “sufficient value for money to the taxpayer”, Mr Darling said.

He said the public would gain if the government held on to Northern Rock until market conditions improved.

Ron Sandler, nominated by the government to run Northern Rock, said savers’ deposits would be secure.

Free Pen

  Thank you for your visit today. We are passionate about getting things just right! Tell us how we are doing and if you are one of the first 500 we will post you a free pen.

Credit4everyone are giving away 500 free pens as a thank you for your visit today. No purchase is required. All you have to do is click contact us, complete your details and if you are one of the first 500 you will receive a free pen worth £5.99. It’s as easy as that and we all know how useful extra pens are….  Click here to claim (remember to enter your address and postcode and tell us what you think of our website).

No p&p or purchase required. Open to Uk residents aged 18+ only. One per household. Limited to 500.

Next Page »