Financial news

• Four of Britain’s biggest lenders cut rates on fixed mortgage deals

  09-08-2023 20:14
  
  Halifax, HSBC, Nationwide and TSB reduce rates, easing pressure on hard-pressed homeowners Four of Britain’s biggest lenders have cut rates on their fixed mortgage deals, easing some of the pressure on hard-pressed homeowners.Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group – the UK’s biggest mortgage lender – is reducing rates by up to 0.71 percentage points from Friday. That means a five-year fixed rate currently priced at 6.10% will be offered at a rate of 5.39%. Continue reading
  
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• Tell us: what’s your experience with buy now, pay later schemes in the UK?

  09-08-2023 18:16
  
  We want to hear from people using companies like Klarna and Clearpay and if they worry about debt issuesBuy no, pay later schemes like Klarna and Clearpay have surged in recent years, with people in the UK spending £5.6bn in the first six months of 2022 alone.A YouGov poll commissioned by anti-debt charity StepChange in 2021 found that 49% of people of those with a BNPL loan find it difficult to keep up with household bills and credit repayments. Continue reading...
  
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• Housing costs making UK households much poorer than US peers, study finds

  09-08-2023 17:26
  
  Report says wealth gap would be wider if not for over-priced or ineffective services such as healthcare in USThe average US household is almost a third richer than its UK counterpart and most of this difference is down to housing being cheaper in the US, according to a study by a leading thinktank.If it were not for the fact that homes are 40% less expensive a square metre on average in the US – allowing them to live in much larger properties for the same outlay – US households would
  
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• After an HMRC error, my daughter’s childcare cash was frozen

  09-08-2023 08:00
  
  Five months on, I still can’t get the cash to pay her nursery feesIn February, the government’s tax-free childcare account system had an issue which meant payments into some accounts were duplicated. In my case, a payment of £779 into my daughter’s account was credited five times. The affected accounts were frozen while the extra payments were reclaimed. Five months on, my daughter’s account remains frozen, and I am unable to get the funds to pay her nursery bills.
  
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• RAC reminds British drivers they must show clean air sticker in French cities

  09-08-2023 07:00
  
  The Crit’Air vignette must be displayed to enter Paris, Rouen, Strasbourg, Lyon, and many other cities to avoid a €180 fineBritish drivers taking their car across the Channel to France this summer have been reminded that they will need to display a clean air sticker if they plan to enter one of several cities, or face a fine of up to €180 (£154).In a similar move to the clean air and ultra-low emission zones that have been introduced in the UK, France has more than 12 zones
  
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• Public could receive hundreds of millions as water firms face sewage lawsuit

  09-08-2023 01:01
  
  Class action legal claim on behalf of 20 million householders in England and Wales could top £800m in compensationThe public could receive hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation in the first class action against water companies which are alleged to have failed to reveal the true scale of raw sewage discharges, and abused their position as privatised monopolies.A collective case against six water companies alleges they have failed to properly report sewage spills and pollution of ri
  
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• Khan tells people to shun ‘nonsense’ TikTok craze on Oxford Street

  09-08-2023 00:38
  
  Metropolitan police sending extra officers to central London street after speculation of ‘crime opportunities’Sadiq Khan has encouraged people not to travel to Oxford Street to take part in a social media craze that he has described as “nonsense”.The Metropolitan police has said there will be a heightened police presence in the central London area after speculation about an event on Wednesday afternoon advertised on TikTok. Continue reading...
  
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