Financial news

• High-cost credit firms exploiting Wonga's woes, says Stella Creasy

  28-08-2018 18:32
  MP says ‘consumers continue to be exploited by these forms of lending’New lenders are exploiting the gap in the market left by the decline of Wonga, according to the Labour MP Stella Creasy, as the former payday loan giant teeters on the brink of collapse.Wonga is understood to have lined up administrators from the accountancy firm Grant Thornton after it was revealed at the weekend that a surge in compensation claims could cause it to collapse. The firm has said it is “conside
  
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• Smaller homes make developers rich – but they are shrinking our lives | Wayne Hemingway

  28-08-2018 15:55
  The average house has lost 20% of its space since the 1970s as austerity warps planning processes and greed rules the marketOn any given week, if you can bear to look, you’ll see dispiriting news about the state of housing in Britain. Last week brought research suggesting that the average home in Britain has shrunk by 20% since the 1970s. Elsewhere, Persimmon, the UK’s second biggest housebuilder, announced half-year profits of £516m, up 13%, thanks in part to the government&rs
  
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• The housing crisis will not be solved by curbing speculation alone | Anne Perkins

  28-08-2018 12:53
  The IPPR’s call to freeze land prices is right – but it will take more than a tweak of land supply mechanics to fix the messThe increase in the value of land that has, or just might get, consent for housing verges on the incredible. This is not any old increase in value. It’s way beyond the increase in the value of your one-bedroom flat, even back in the day when it earned more in a week than you did. No, farmland with planning permission goes up at least a hundredfold, and in
  
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• If payday lender Wonga collapses what will it mean for customers?

  28-08-2018 11:17
  Your rights explained over loans and compensation claims as the firm assesses its optionsBritain’s biggest payday lender, Wonga, is teetering on the brink of collapse following a surge of customer compensation claims in recent weeks that could cause it to call in administrators.The flood of claims relates to loans taken out before 2014, when Wonga was the poster child for outrage in the payday lending industry that resulted in rules capping the cost of borrowing. Continue reading...
  
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• Call to stop UK landowners making huge profits from speculation

  28-08-2018 08:01
  Thinktank identifies issue as the driving force behind the UK’s broken housing marketBritain should limit the windfall gains of landowners by freezing the value of plots newly designated for housing, according to a thinktank urging sweeping reforms to tackle a national shortage of affordable homes.Calling on the government to pursue land market reforms similar to the German model, the Institute for Public Policy Research said planning authorities should be given new powers to zone land for
  
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• Brexit economy: turning up the heat on household finances

  28-08-2018 08:00
  The latest monthly Guardian analysis finds the UK economy failing to deliver on wage growthTalk of no-deal Brexit dampens economy – experts debate data
  How has Brexit vote affected UK economy? August verdict
  The British economy is failing to deliver stronger growth in workers’ pay, as the mounting risk of a no-deal Brexit turns up the pressure on household finances, according to a Guardian analysis of economic developments over the past month.Pay growth in Britain has dropped to its
  
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• Why did Airbnb charge me £1,500 for a shattered glass door?

  28-08-2018 01:00
  A host claimed I was responsible for the damage, but it had nothing to do with meIn May my girlfriend and I went to Bologna to celebrate my 26th birthday, staying in an Airbnb apartment. It was my first break abroad after finishing chemotherapy two years ago. One morning, as we were leaving the apartment, we heard a loud bang from the bathroom; the tempered glass door to the shower had shattered. Without the slightest thought that the finger of blame would ever be pointed at us (we weren’t
  
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