| DATA SNAP: UK Feb Mortgage Lending Slows; Approvals Pick Up
LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. mortgage lending fell for the third straight month in February, but the number of mortgage approvals picked up from the two-year low reported in January, the British Bankers Association said Tuesday. Gross mortgage lending totaled GBP14.949 billion, down from GBP16.636 billion in January. However, mortgage lending was 7% higher than the GBP14.028 billion reported in February 2006. Mortgage approvals for new home purchases totaled 54,659 in February, compared with 42,804 in January and 57,385 in February 2006. "The U.K.'s shortage of housing market supply is clearly evident in the mortgage approvals data," said BBA Director of Statistics David Dooks. "The last GBP50,000 rise in the average house purchase loan has occurred more than twice as quickly as the previous GBP50,000 increase," he said.
Please, Honorable Government, let us move to investigate “our ...
Using limited liability companies as vehicles to commit fraud on the public is relatively recent in Belize and may have occurred only within the last two decades or so. In countries like the United Kingdom though, fraudulent use of limited companies has been an all too common feature in practice. The devious methods employed by fraudsters have in instances pushed a reluctant UK court to lift "the veil of incorporation," (remove the distinction between a company and its members) to prevent fraudsters from getting away with their crimes. .
Reclaim Your Rip-Off Premiums!
Thanks to new rules introduced by the financial watchdog, lenders will find it harder to fleece borrowers who buy insurance to protect their personal loan or mortgage repayments. On Wednesday, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced that it had reached agreement with a number of trade associations to improve the fairness and transparency of refunds given to holders of payment protection insurance (PPI) policies. PPI is optional insurance which covers your monthly repayments if you are unable to work due to an accident, sickness or unemployment, and pays off your loan if you die. As I explained in this article, although PPI policies appear to offer valuable protection, they are massively overpriced, poorly designed, frequently mis-sold, and difficult to claim against.
Economists: Finance skills hit peak during middle age
Baseball players are said to peak in their late 20s. Chess players in their mid-30s. Theoretical economists in their mid-40s. But in ordinary life, there's an obvious tension between sheer smarts, often seen in the supple minds of the young, and experience, which comes only with age. Which one is more valuable in making personal-finance decisions? .
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