Sensible Banking Advice From Paul Lewis
Radio 4’s money expert, Paul Lewis, has just said this in the wake of more banking problems from RBS and Natworst.
Make sure your girlfriend or boyfriend uses a different bank to yourself.
Now there’s a question for on-line dating sites!
RBS Show Their Standard Of Customer Service Again
Yet again RBS and its subsidiary, NatWorst, have stopped customers from accessing their money, as is reported here on the BBC. They had a similar computer disaster last year.
I’m actually surprised that they’ve still got any customers left to annoy!
Peer-To-Peer Lending On The Up
This article from the Independent is a good summary of the state of the peer-to-peer lending market at the present time. This is the first couple of paragraphs.
Many people were sceptical about peer-to-peer lending and questioned whether it would ever take off in the UK, but with savings rates from banks and building societies suddenly hitting rock bottom this new sector is becoming increasingly popular.
With traditional savings rates having fallen by more than a third in the last six months, returns on offer from the peer-to-peer providers are looking even more attractive.
Compared with mainstream banking, this new breed of finance is still in its formative years, with Zopa launching as the UK’s first peer-to-peer marketplace in 2005.
But read it all, as there is some very useful information.
I suppose savers’ biggest question, is would you lend your money in an industry, that is just eight years old?
I’ve been on board Zopa, for around five years and can say it has been an enjoyable and profitable ride for myself.
Another Useless Piece Of Information From Nationwide
A couple of days ago, I paid a plasterer, who had done some work on my bathroom. I paid by direct transfer and by chance, his bank account was also with Nationwide.
This morning, when I checked my bank account, it was labelled as an Internal Transfer. Surely, their system could do better than that!
On-line bank statements could be a lot better and would probably lead to all kinds of good secondary effects if they were.
For instant this morning, if I didn’t know the plasterer, I might have to contact him to make sure he got the payment.
I’d give Nationwide’s on-line statements three out of five at most.
I sometimes think about changing, but all the banks are probably as useless as each other and how many would let me have an account for a month say to try them out?
A Clever Funding Route From Huddersfield University
Huddersfield University has teamed up with peer-to-peer lender; Funding Circle to create an interesting route to finance and develop small businesses. It is described in this article. These paragraphs sum up the essence of the scheme.
Known as the Business Lending Partnership, Funding Circle’s recently-announced scheme alongside the University of Huddersfield has set a precedent for commercial and alternative lenders to start providing capital for non-traditional institutions.
Using Funding Circle, the university will lend an initial tranche of £100,000 to small businesses across the UK. The initiative seeks to support SME pioneers of the present and future, with all interest earned by the university’s investments to be put towards student scholarships for the University’s ‘Enterprise Development’ degree. Over the next five years, it is expected that more than 200 students from socially deprived backgrounds will gain access to the course.
Both Funding Circle and the university will also develop a series of seminars and internship opportunities with borrowers to ensure that the upcoming generation of business leaders can gain hands-on experience with flourishing British businesses as part of their degrees.
Obviously, not all partnerships will use the same model, but Huddersfield University and Funding Circle have used a clever model that can be cloned and/or adapted for other partnerships.
It will be interesting to see the nature of partnerships that develop in the next few years.
If Lloyds Can Do It Why Can’t RBS?
Lloyds Banking Group’s figures these days as reported by the BBC contrast strongly with those reported yesterday by the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers.
How can Lloyds make a loss of only £570 million, whereas the state-owned dead parrot loses £5.2 billion?
It strikes me there are three reasons.
The first is the quality of the management in the two banks. I suspect, if you were one of the stars of RBS ten years ago, you have taken the money and ran. so all the bank is probably left with is dross and the world’s best collection of neck-enders.
Secondly, when did you ever here a financial commentator you trust, last recommend that you buy a financial product from RBS. Yesterday, the guy from MoneySaving Expert was recommending which credit card to use abroad. One of Lloyd’s products was mentioned, but RBS were only notable by their absence.
But I also think, that most of their customers, or at least the ones who can have moved their accounts elsewhere. After all, I’d never bank with a state-owned bank and I suspect many others wouldn’t either. You just can’t stop politicians from fiddling! It has been some time, since I’ve noticed anybody with an RBS bank account or credit card. I suspect, the only thing in their favour is that if you want to keep money in a bank deposit account, then RBS is as safe as any, as no government would let you lose your money. But you wouldn’t get paid much interest.
So all of today’s news just says that the sooner we liquidate the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers, the better for all.
The Royal Bank Of UK Taxpayers Posts Another Big Loss
Gordon Brown’s folly of rescuing Scotland’s failed bank is now becoming more than a millstone around the neck of everybody in the UK.
So the loss of £5.2 billion, works out at nearly £67 each for every man, woman and child in the UK.
I think I’d have had more fun taking a few notes and setting fire to them in a branch of the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers.
It would be a lovely way to get arrested!
Seriously though, the bank is the deadest of dead parrots and keeping it alive is a fraud on the UK Taxpayers and most of those that appear to work for the bank. If it had been a manufacturing company or a retailer, it would have been liquidated years ago!
PPI Pests Annoy A Lift
W all hate those callers trying to sort out our non-existent PPI problems. If I get one, I give them the number of the mini-cab firm, that fills up my letter-box with junk, as obviously they deserve each other.
according to The Times and The Telegraph, they are even calling the emergency line in the lift at Secure Trust Bank. Here’s the story in the Telegraph.
The ISA Rip-Off
It’s the cash ISA time of the year and I’ve just been looking at the rates. As to what an ISA is, it’s probably best summed up by this page in Money Saving Expert. Here’s the first paragraph.
A cash ISA is just a tax-free savings account. You don’t need to lock the cash away, many are easy-access. Each tax year EVERY person over 16 in the UK can put a new £5,640 in these accounts that pay up to 2.8%. And once in there, the money stays tax-free, year after year.
The rates are derisory and are very poor compared to what I get from Zopa.
Admittedly, there are tax advantages, but why can’t I get those with a peer-to-peer lender if I agree to lock my money away for several years?
Santander: The Worst Bank?
This headline is in the Money pages of The Times.
I can’t judge them, as my only dealings with the bank are the occasional cash machine withdrawal and money sent to my account from people who have accounts there.
But they do fit my great friend’s David’s criteria of someone you don’t bank with! And that is they are not head-quartered in the UK. Or the last time, I looked Spain wasn’t part of the UK.
That doesn’t make them the worst, but it does mean, I’m never ever going to find out.
The Anonymous Widower 