30/11/2007 by Dave.

The Government has announced that Home Information Packs (HIPs) will be required for all properties being sold in England and Wales from December 14th. Since September, only properties with three or more bedrooms have required a HIP before they can be sold.

The Government claims that first time homebuyers will see their upfront costs drop and all home buyers will, for the first time, receive A-G green ratings for their properties, which will help cut fuel bills and carbon emissions.

Buyers whose homes score poor energy ratings of F or G (currently around one-fifth of all homes) will receive an offer of a discount or free help with energy efficiency measures from the Green Homes Service, which will be established, as announced by the Prime Minister earlier this week.

House hunters will get detailed information about the energy efficiency of their home with a green rating of A-G, similar to consumer friendly fridge ratings, in an EPC.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: “HIPs and EPCs are already helping consumers to save hundreds of pounds off their fuel bills and are cutting search costs too.

“All home buyers will be able to benefit from energy efficiency advice, with those receiving low green ratings of ‘F’ and ‘G’ especially targeted for support and grants to make improvements to cut their costs and carbon emissions.”

Early monitoring of the scheme shows the average cost of a pack is £300 to £350 - costs which apart from the new information included in the EPC, are already part of the home buying and selling process.

Packs include: An energy performance certificate, local searches, guarantees for any work on the property, and copies of planning, listed building or building regulations consents.

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29/11/2007 by Dave.

Rising interest rates and the current state of the financial market has meant that for many debt consolidation is a sensible choice, one expert has suggested.

A spokeswoman for Chiltern Debt Management (CDM) said this week that more people were turning to debt consolidation and secured loans to regain control of their finances following a period of market instability.

Joanne Gill from CDM said the recent credit crunch had tightened the credit market and had followed a period of sustained interest rate rises adding that this had generated a great deal of interest in debt management.

However, she also suggested that not enough people were aware of what services were available to them and that this can have a damaging effect on their finances.

“Too many consumers are still struggling with their debts and not fully aware of the options open to them when they can no longer afford to pay their unsecured creditors,” she said.

Earlier this year Steven Baillie, head of loans at Sainsbury’s Bank, said that debt consolidation was one of the three most popular reasons people give for seeking finance along with home improvements and car finance.

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27/11/2007 by Dave.

Millions of Brits have issued a ‘payday mayday’ as they run out of cash in their current accounts. According to a new report from Abbey Banking, 64% of Brits regularly have to make sacrifices in the days preceding their pay packet, due to bad budgeting.

On average, these poor planners run out of money five days before they receive their pay cheque - this month that will most likely have happened on November 25th, as most people get paid on the last day of the month.

With Christmas fast approaching, up to 29 million people will have to make sacrifices over the coming months in order to get through this expensive time of year.

First to go is likely to be our social lives as 43% of us give up going out as funds start to run low. Meanwhile, 17% of us are likely to stop buying new clothes, followed by cosmetics (6%). However, 3% of people are prepared to go hungry at the end of the month rather than sacrifice anything else.

31% of Brits rely on their overdraft when they run out of money in their current accounts, 25% use their credit card to fund additional spending and 25% dip into their savings. A further 11% rely on friends and family to bail them out when they’re short of cash.

Regionally, those in the North of England are the worst at budgeting, with 67% regularly running out of money in their current account before the end of the month.

The Scots, on the other hand, are the best budgeters, with just 48% having to forgo purchases towards the end of the month.

Unsurprisingly, youngsters are the poorest planners, with 81% of 18-24 year olds regularly running out of money in their current accounts before the end of the month (74% for 25-34 year olds). 55-64 year olds are the better budgeters, with just over half (51%) running out of money before the end of the month.

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26/11/2007 by Dave.

Millions of families have raced to change the passwords and PINs that protect their bank accounts in the wake of the loss of personal data on everyone receiving child benefit. But that isn’t enough to protect their identities from thieves.

Criminals could use the information, which includes names, addresses and dates of birth for parents and their children, to impersonate them, borrow money in their names and apply for benefits.

Identity fraud is one of Britain’s fastest-growing crimes and the key to protecting yourself from it is to monitor your credit report regularly.

Your credit report is the personal history of the money you have borrowed, such as credit cards, loans and mortgages. It also includes items such as mobile phone contracts and catalogue shopping accounts - anything that involves lenders granting you credit and trusting that you’ll repay it.

It details your repayment history, any recent applications for credit, plus any court judgments against you for non-payment of debts, bankruptcies and IVAs. If you have any joint credit accounts, such as a shared mortgage, the name of the person or people with whom you share these accounts will also feature. They are known as your financial associates.

Finally, it includes full details of your current and recent addresses and whether you are registered to vote.

Lenders use this information, along with details in your application, to assess the risk that you won’t repay them. They use the electoral roll as a precaution against fraud, to double-check that you are who you say you are and live where you claim to live. If you have any financial associates, they may check their credit reports too, as their financial status could affect your ability to make repayments.

Regular checks on your credit report offer invaluable protection against ID fraud because they allow you to spot unfamiliar accounts or applications for credit that you know you didn’t make. You can then contact the relevant organisations to explain your situation and stop problems from developing.

As well as changing the passwords and PINs of compromised bank accounts and monitoring your credit report, there are some simple precautions you can take to ensure that ID criminals don’t gather more information that will enable them to impersonate you.

For example:

Register to vote at your current address - contact your local council or download a form from www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.

Always check your credit card and bank statements. An unidentified or suspicious transaction is often the first sign of fraud.

Don’t throw away anything that could be used to steal your identity - even direct mail offers with your name and address on them. If in doubt, shred it.

Don’t share confidential information, such as PINs, bank account details and passwords. Be especially wary of unsolicited calls, e-mails and market research surveys - they may be criminal ploys to get hold of your personal details.

Don’t carry important documents around. Your passport, driving licence, payment cards and even address can be used by criminals if they are stolen.

Report thefts to the police and any other relevant organisations, such your bank or credit card issuer, to warn them about potential fraudulent approaches in your name.

Get mail forwarded when you move and notify the Post Office immediately if any of your mail is going missing - thieves may be intercepting it.

Limit the amount of personal information that can be viewed by others on social networking sites.

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23/11/2007 by Dave.

With the Government having recently performed yet another U-turn when it comes to HIPs (Home Information Packs) - this time by extending the deadline requiring new build properties to have an Energy Performance Certificate to April 6th 2008 - a new survey from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) shows just how contentious HIPs have become, given the record response rate to the survey from its members.

Members were asked in October to compare the market to the same time last year. The results showed that 83% of agents found that requests for market appraisals dropped with 9% of respondents finding a reduction of more than 50%.

When asked about the change in the number of instructions for 3 or more bedroom properties, 76% stated that they’d seen decreases in excess of 10% of which 46% had seen a drop in excess of 30%. This compares with a much smaller reduction for 1 or 2 bedroom properties with 37% of respondents finding a drop of more than 10%.

Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive of the NAEA, comments: “Clearly everyone accepts that there are a number of financial and economic factors that have caused the market to take a breather after 7 hectic years.

“However, these figures show that there is an anomaly between instructions on properties where a HIP is required and where one is not.”

Bolton King added that he’d heard of many examples where potential sellers had decided against putting their property up for sale because they didn’t want to risk wasting £300 or indeed much more, if they decided not to sell.

“It has been correctly stated previously that many sellers decided to ‘beat the HIP’ by marketing their property before August 1st 2007. It would therefore be reasonable to think that there would be a lull for a few months thereafter.”

When members were asked how available stock levels were year on year - 76% of the 1050 respondents stated that their stock was either the same or less.

“At this stage of the market cycle, with sales slowing and normally a traditional autumn bulge in instructions, it would be normal to expect stock levels to be significantly higher.

“The fact that only 24% are saying that this is the case should worry the Government as this is just not normal. This once again appears to show the adverse effect HIPs are having on the market, the lives of consumers and indeed the overall economy,” Bolton King added.

The survey then went on to ask the question of what should happen to HIPs next? It gave several options of ways to move forward including the full roll out of HIPs. However, only 6% felt that this was the right option with 76% stating that HIPs should be scrapped but Energy Performance Certificates should instead apply to all properties.

“Despite the fact that agents have now had an opportunity to work with HIPs it is clear that the vast majority of respondents do not believe that they add value to the process and are finding it hard to get purchasers to take interest in them.

“We feel very sorry for the many Domestic Energy Assessors who are waiting for the opportunity to earn a living,” Bolton King noted.

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22/11/2007 by Dave.

Hard-pressed homeowners can look forward to three cuts in interest rates next year, City economists predicted today.

A downbeat assessment of economic growth from the Bank of England will allow mortgage bills finally to start falling.

A big downturn would enable the base rate to be cut to 5%, bringing much needed relief to millions of borrowers who have seen rates soar from 4.5% to 5.75% since summer last year. Many face crippling jumps in their monthly mortgage bills of up to 40% after cheap fixed-rate deals come to an end.

In its quarterly inflation report, the Bank said it had become more concerned about the slowing pace of the British economy because of turmoil in the world’s financial markets.

Governor Mervyn King said there was a risk of a ‘bigger downturn’ than previously expected after the global credit crunch triggered by the meltdown in the US sub-prime mortgage market. The City interpreted the report as a signal that interest rates will start to come down early next year to boost economic growth and will continue to fall into 2009.

Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas, said: ‘Crucially the Bank has validated market expectations that we are going to see two or three interest cuts in 2008.’

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at forecasters Global Insight, said: ‘The report is markedly more doveish and indicates that at least two interest rate cuts are likely.’

Most forecasters expect that the first 0.25% cut will come possibly as early as February. However, they also cautioned that the timing depends on official economic data continuing to point to a slowdown, particularly in the housing market.

The report downgraded GDP growth forecasts for next year to around 2.2% as the impact of five rate rises in 15 months, the current strength of the pound and the recent uncertainty in financial markets slows the economy.

This brings the Bank into line with most economists’ predictions as well as the Treasury, which downgraded growth forecasts in October’s pre-Budget statement.

However, Mr King said the economy would overcome the blow to confidence from the woes of Northern Rock with inflation expected to return to target.

Unemployment figures also published today indicated that the economy has not yet been badly damaged by the credit crunch. The jobless total jumped by just 6,000 in the three months to September to 1.67m, although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4%.

The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance fell by 9,900 in October to 824,800, the 13th consecutive monthly cut.

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21/11/2007 by Dave.

More than 80 per cent of UK adults will waste £7.9 billion in unnecessary tax, according to figures in Unbiased.co.uk’s fifteenth annual TaxAction report. This is a massive £300 million increase on last year and the highest ever since their campaign began in 1992.

For all UK adults, over the past 20 years, personal tax levels have also soared from a collective £40.5 billion to £149 billion. This means UK adults are currently spending an extra £160 each on tax in 2007, a rise of 68 per cent in five years from £95 per person in 2002.

Although 27 million people resent this rising tax bill, 74 per cent admit to not taking steps to reduce it. But there are legal ways to avoid paying tax; some of are taken full advantage of by members of the current government.

While paying into a pension, using your full ISA allowance, giving away money before you die and giving to charity are the obvious ones, there are other less well-known golden nuggets of tax saving. Writing your life insurance policy in Trust and taking an offset mortgage could provide equally water-tight shelters from the taxman.

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20/11/2007 by Dave.

Property website, Rightmove is forecasting a house price standstill in 2008. New data (November) shows a 0.7% monthly fall in the average property asking price to £239,986. The fall equates to £1,656 and has affected all regions - with the exception of London - to varying degrees.

It notes the early onset of a winter sales slump that has forced sellers to drop prices and led to the highest November time on the market for 5 years. And things don’t get any better with the firm now forecasting that prices overall, will remain flat at 0% in 2008, with the market requiring an early cut in interest rates to prevent stagnation.

However, major price falls are unlikely as the majority of sellers won’t be forced to sell. In addition, the market will continue to be underpinned by long term increasing demand outstripping inflexible supply.

Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove comments: “Prices are set to flatline in 2008. While we do not expect a price drop overall, there will be parts of the country that are over-priced and over-supplied for the likely levels of affordability and demand next year.

“In these areas, motivated sellers are starting to cut their prices and will need to be the cheapest on the street to sell. Whilst bargain hunters will be paying less for these properties, prices will rise where demand continues to outstrip supply in quality areas close to major conurbations, especially London.”

With fewer properties selling in these tough conditions, the average time on the market has jumped from 85 days to 92 days in the space of one month, the highest November figure since Rightmove started keeping records five years ago. This fall in sales activity isn’t yet fully reflected in mortgage lending figures, and Rightmove expects these to continue to show substantial falls over the next few months.

Meanwhile, average stock per estate agency branch is 65, down slightly from last month’s 66, with many estate agents reportedly surprised by the extent of the drop in activity.

Shipside adds: “If you have to sell, then seriously consider dropping your price and taking an offer now rather than holding out. You could end up being offered even less in a few months time.”

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16/11/2007 by Dave.

Credit card debt can be particularly damaging due to the exceptionally high levels of interest involved, it has been suggested.

A spokesman for Thomas Charles, a group that advises on credit and debt consolidation,  said that consumers are becoming better educated about credit cards and turning to alternative forms of finance - such as secured loans.

James Falla, director of Thomas Charles, said: “The cost in terms of interest rates on credit cards is very, very high - probably the highest of all the types of credit you can go for.”

He added that more consumers were turning to debt consolidation to clear their credit card debts but added that it was important for people to understand that they must also change their spending habits.

“I actually think that people are starting to wake up a little bit, to take a little bit more responsibility for their spending … [They] think: ‘what am I going to do when it comes to paying this back?’”

Recent research from Thomas Charles, in conjunction with YouGov, found that around a quarter of people in the UK are likely to avoid credit card spending this Christmas to avoid further debt.

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15/11/2007 by Dave.

A new survey from Which? Magazine shows that 79% of consumers would switch banks if their existing one introduced current account fees. The thought is that banks will try to recoup lost revenue in the form of higher monthly or annual current account fees should a test case in the High Court go against them.

That case was launched jointly with the Office of Fair Trading back in July in order to establish whether or not the current level of unauthorised overdraft charges is fair.

In the meantime, 73% of those polled said they thought it would be unfair for banks to charge extra fees for the services they currently offer. And 87% of people thought that if this happened the Government should intervene to ensure that charges aren’t excessive.

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