The latest survey from the Nationwide on UK house prices has seen an annual double-digit fall for the first time since 1990.
Prices were 10.5% lower in August than they were a year ago. Prices fell by 1.9% compared with July. The average home now costs £164,654, which is more than £19,000 cheaper than the average [...]

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announced another fall in year on year mortgage lending.
Total lending stood at £24.8bn, up by 5% from June, but still 27% lower than a year ago.
The problem is that the number of house sales this year is 50% down on last year. This is in part [...]

 
In their first trading statement since being Nationalised Northern Rock has announced that it has paid back to the Government some £9.4b, leaving it owing £17.5b. It has also revealed that it will subscribe to some £3b in new shares to bolster the ailing banks balance sheet. Whether the tax power will ever see this [...]

Liverpool Victoria Banking Services have been fined £840,000 for serious failings in the sale of single premium payment protection insurance (PPI).
The fine comes as a result if an investigation into loans made to customers between January 2005 and August 2007. The investigation revealed that where telephone loan enquiries were made then Payment Protection Insurance [...]

 
The Pay Day Loan Revolution
It began in America and now it’s over here in a big way.
Last week I spoke to the UK’s leading Pay Day loan advisor. They claim to be growing month on month by 20%. They have 8,000 active loans in any month.
So what is it? You are short on funds and [...]

More Mortgage Doom
 
The availability of  mortgages continues to tighten with new figures confirming a further drop in lending. The fall in gross mortgage lending is accelerating, with a 3% dip from May to June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The CML said gross lending declined to an estimated £23.8bn in June, some 32% [...]

People buying Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) are being overcharged by £1.4bn a year, the Competition Commission has found.
Lack of competition has been blamed because PPI was sold along with the loans it protected. The commission suggests that firms may be banned from selling PPI policies to customers when they take out loans.
PPI is insurance for [...]

In a sign of continuing economic gloom Barclays has announced plans to stop selling new loans at its unit Firstplus, the UK’s largest supplier of homeowner loans, due to slowing demand.
Firstplus supplies secondary loans to those that already have mortgages, allowing homeowners to borrow based on the equity held in their property.
The group, employs more [...]