Interest rates have been kept on hold at 4.5% for the seventh month running, with no change likely in April. Paula John reports
The 9-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 8-1 to maintain rates, on the back of continued strength in the housing market offset by lower consumer spending on the high street.
Stephen Nickell was the […]

Will BT plump for profits or customers if Ofcom’s plans to remove price controls are put in place? Pauline McCallion looks at changes afoot in the ever-growing home phone market.

The UK debt problem is serious, with advisers increasingly unable to cope with the sheer volume of calls from debtors asking for help. Mike Collins reports
Debt solutions company One Advice is now receiving around 26,000 calls a month, 50% more than in the same period last year, revealing the true shocking extent of the […]

Cafe culture has spread into our homes, as each household admits to spending £3,113 on their kitchen, according to research from Churchill.
As well as the everyday electrical appliances such as washing machines and microwaves, Brits are also obsessed with buying specialist accessories such as popcorn makers, hi-tech food processors and pasta makers. An average […]

More detached property owners are potentially liable to pay inheritance tax (IHT) than five years ago with one in three (29%) detached property sales in the UK above the 2006/07 IHT threshold of £285,000.
Five years ago only 13% of detached properties were sold above the then IHT threshold of £234,000.
Halifax calculates that in London 82% […]

Property owners are leaving themselves vulnerable by not taking out mortgage payment protection policies – despite evidence of increasing repossessions, warns Paymentcare.
According to recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the number of properties taken into possession by mortgage lenders leapt by 70 per cent in 2005 compared to the previous year, with […]

Approximately 2.3 million unpaid carers have given up the option of paid work to look after families and the home. But Lincoln warns households that rely on the unpaid work to tide them over are taking massive financial risks.
Women account for the vast majority of the people classed as “economically inactive” while they are […]

For the first time, at £257,120, the average price of a residential property in London is now above the £250,000 threshold at which stamp duty is paid at 3%, according to the Halifax.  This means the average homebuyer in London would pay stamp duty of £7,714, compared with £1,535 five years ago.
More and more properties […]