Financial news

• Low prices and no frills: can Tesco’s secret plan defeat Lidl and Aldi?

  15-09-2018 17:40 via theguardian.com
  All eyes will be on the launch of discount chain Jack’s for clues as to whether the UK’s biggest grocer can operate as well as its sharp German rivals at the cheapest end of the marketThe Tesco founder, Jack Cohen, was an enterprising market trader who brought modern supermarket retailing to postwar Britain. Nearly a century later, Cohen, nicknamed “Slasher Jack” because he liked to “pile it high and sell it cheap”, is making a high street comeback.On Wednesda
  
  Read more

• UK’s smart meter revolution at risk of being short-circuited

  15-09-2018 16:59 via theguardian.com
  The energy industry is struggling to meet installation targets after some embarrassing glitchesOne of Britain’s biggest national infrastructure projects in decades is coming off the rails, according to a welter of criticism from politicians, consumer groups and media outlets.The target of the carping is not the HS2 railway project or Heathrow runway expansion, but the government’s requirement for energy suppliers to offer all homes and businesses a smart meter by the end of 2020. Con
  
  Read more

• Need a £250 loan? Here are some options if you're broke

  15-09-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Payday lenders argue they provide a vital service, but these are some of the alternativesIf you were having a bad spell financially and urgently needed £250 for a short period, where would you go?In recent years, millions of people have turned to payday loans to help pay their rent or mortgage, deal with an unexpected emergency or even afford their weekly food shop. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• We're buying a house – should we pull out because of Brexit?

  15-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  My partner is worried that the property market could collapse if there’s no dealEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.We’ve found a decent three-bed terrace in Bristol for just below £300,000, and are selling our one-bed flat. But my partner is really nervous about a hard Brexit and reckons the house could collapse in price. But if
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘TSB cut my credit card limit by 95% over a missed £2.97 bill’

  15-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Customer sees limit slashed from £10,000 to just £500 after a tiny payment errorA TSB customer with a blameless credit record of more than 30 years has described her astonishment and anger after the beleaguered bank cut the £10,000 spending limit on her credit card to just £500, because she accidentally failed to pay a £2.97 bill.Deborah Greaves*, from Twickenham, says she put up with weeks without access to her accounts earlier this year when TSB went into IT meltd
  
  Read more

• 'I spend £200 a month on games such as Warhammer'

  15-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Beckie Blake, 38, on her hobbies – and how the cafe she manages helps homeless peopleIn my 38 years I have experienced wealth, poverty and the squeezed middle, where I am at the moment. Growing up, my family ran a pub in our Devon village and I had tennis lessons and everything I wanted. Then when I was 12 my father became ill and we had to squeeze into my grandmother’s council house in Yorkshire.Only after four years did my mother manage to scrape together enough money to rent a sma
  
  Read more

• Fraud victim: ‘I’m deaf but the bank refused to talk to us’

  15-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Louise Harte lost £8,000 to scammers, but says Metro Bank’s customer service was ‘atrocious’A profoundly deaf woman who lost £8,371 when fraudsters took over her mobile phone and used it to empty her bank account, says her faith in the banking system – and Metro Bank in particular – has been left in tatters.Louise Harte, who only uses sign language to communicate, says two months on she still has no idea how fraudsters were able to convince staff at the
  
  Read more

• A loan at less than 3%? It’s just fake news, says industry insider | Patrick Collinson

  15-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Banks and price comparison sites shouldn’t be allowed to mislead when advertising interest ratesWhen broadband ads promise superfast connections but Bodyguard still buffers constantly on the iPlayer, then it’s right that the supplier is pulled up. Just this week Vodafone adverts were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading customers over speeds. So why is every bank and price comparison site allowed to mislead customers when advertising interest rates on personal
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘Stab in back’ angers Ashley

  15-09-2018 03:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  MIKE Ashley’s relationship with the City reached breaking point after the Sports Direct founder accused shareholders of stabbing him in the back. His anger boiled over two days after the retailer’s chairman Keith Hellawell announced before the annual meeting that he was stepping down, having been the target of protest votes by investors over its corporate governance failings.
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!