FSA reveals sub-prime and lifetime customer experiences

The FSA has published the findings of the second stage of its Mortgage Effectiveness Review, which focused on consumer experiences in the sub-prime and lifetime mortgage sectors of the market.
The Effectiveness Review was designed to measure whether the FSA’s mortgage conduct of business rules are delivering the intended benefits for consumers. The first stage of [...]

Interbank crisis aggravated by Northern Rock

Upward pressure on interbank interest rates has been aggravated by a flow of cash back to Northern Rock, according to New Star economist Simon Ward.
He said: “Other banks benefited from Northern Rock’s woes last autumn, as savers withdrew funds from the troubled lender and redeposited them elsewhere. Now, the reverse flow is occurring, with savers [...]

Landlords’ ignorance leaves danger of civil action

Almost 12 months on from its introduction, 40% of UK landlords are still unaware of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) leaving them at risk of committing a civil offence and being forced to pay tenants three times the deposit amount.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme was introduced by the Government on April 6 2007 to protect tenancy [...]

Now banks promise to Treat Customers Fairly

The new Banking Code and Business Banking Code contains an enhanced promise by banks and building societies to treat customers “fairly and reasonably”.
That promise is supported by eight key commitments and the standards of the revised Code. The new Codes take effect today following an independent review. Changes to the codes were made after consultation [...]

Customer Agreed Remuneration important to most IFAs

Almost all IFAs agree that Customer Agreed Remuneration (CAR) will be important in their business dealings with solicitors and accountants, a Winterthur survey has found.
When asked how important CAR is when working with solicitors and accountants, 95% of IFAs said that it was either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ important to their business, with 81% stating that [...]

Significant appointments at Connells

Connells Survey & Valuation (S&V) is expanding its management team. It is looking to meet the evolving service needs of clients and also to take a bigger share of the property surveying market. As well as increasing its surveying activity in the traditional lending markets, Connells S&V will also be extending its services into wider [...]

Interbank crisis aggravated by Northern Rock

Upward pressure on interbank interest rates has been aggravated by a flow of cash back to Northern Rock, according to New Star economist Simon Ward.
He said: “Other banks benefited from Northern Rock’s woes last autumn, as savers withdrew funds from the troubled lender and redeposited them elsewhere. Now, the reverse flow is occurring, with savers [...]

Link Lending moves to larger offices

Bridging and short term finance provider, Link Lending Limited, has moved from its St Albans office into 7,500 square feet of new office space within the Leavesden Park development in North Watford.
At around five times the space of its previous offices, the new premises reflects the business’s recent rapid business growth and also allows for [...]

House price growth slows to lowest level in 12 years

House prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in March according to Nationwide data. The price of a typical house fell by 0.6% during the month, bringing the annual rate of house price growth down to 1.1% – its lowest rate since March 1996.
A clear change in sentiment since the late summer has led to [...]

60 staff in consultation at Swift

Swift has put 60 staff into consultation regarding possible job losses. The lender has stressed that it hopes the number of potential staff redundancies may well be far fewer than this.
The staff affected by the consultation will come from the sales, marketing and new business teams. Swift currently has a total headcount of almost 140 [...]