Archive for July, 2009

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Soggy start bogs down England in the third Ashes test


Friday, July 31st, 2009

A little off subject but let’s look at how the third Ashes test has gone so far. After eking out a ‘morally victorious’ draw in Cardiff for the first test and securing a triumphant win at Lords for the second, the first win there for England against Australia since 1934, England are leading the series 1-0 and are in a great position going into the third test at Edgbaston. The crucial test got off to a wet start yesterday when rain prevented play until 4:30pm, when the captains eventually tossed up.

Play started with only 30 overs left in the day. England got off to a disappointing start as their seamers struggled to get back the fire they had bowled in Lords in the last confrontation. Flintoff, despite bowling fast, reaching 94 mph at times, kept finding himself putting balls too short. Anderson also looked threatening at times but again an inconsistent radar meant putting too much too wide, and not troubling the Australian batsmen who happily obliged and punished them.

The Australians capitalised on the inconsistent bowling; Shane Watson came in to replace Phillip Hughes (who slipped the replacement before the game via Twitter to the anger of the Australian hierarchy), and hit a fine unbeaten 62. Simon Katich was the first to fall after off-spinner Graeme Swann got one to straighten a little and beat the left-hander’s attempted pull in Swann’s first over, Katich went with a swift 46. Ponting got off the mark with a steady drive through the covers for four, which brought up the Australian 100, settling down to see the match into the night without drama.

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Car insurance inflation at its highest since 2000


Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Not more price rises! Yes, unfortunately further price rises are expected this year as car insurance companies argue that the high costs they are facing have to be transferred to motorists, reports BBC Online. Insurance companies are facing higher costs from more personal injury claims, such as whiplash, and more cases of fraud, which has forced them to increase premiums, claims AA Insurance.

Simon Douglas, the director of AA Insurance, stated that the ‘underlying premiums are rising more steeply than they have since 2000 because of rising costs’, and he doesn’t predict that this will ease. Already, last year’s prediction made by him has come to fruition, as premiums have increased by 10%.

He concludes that companies in the industry needed to turn around underwriting losses and pay the costs of better detection of fraud, as well as help clamp down on uninsured drivers, and that these were the main factors behind the greater costs.

Premiums are rising at a faster rate than at any time since the start of the decade. The average annual comprehensive car insurance policy rose to £778 between April and June, a rise of 3.5% compared to the previous three months, while the year on year increase reached 11.3% in June.

Others hit by the increases include those taking out third party insurance policies, namely young drivers, who already pay astronomical premiums due to the high-risk nature of these policies.

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Ofwat puts its foot down to alleviate hard-pressed consumers


Monday, July 27th, 2009

Great news for consumers’ water bills - we can expect our water bills to fall significantly over the next couple of years, nullifying many water companies’ plans to increase prices by - in some cases - as much as 17%, reports Times online.

Ofwat has decided that the monopolistic position of many water companies has allowed them to get away with price rises, whereas in other markets consumers can shop around for better value, and has thus mandated that prices will fall over the next couple of years.

Water companies will have to juggle lower revenue with an expectation for the same amount of investment, which has lead to criticism that neither can be achieved simultaneously. The chief executive of Water UK, Pamela Taylor, has voiced concerns that the propositions will undermine investment, alluding to Ofwat’s myopia and stating that they had ‘lost their longer term imperative’.

The announcements to curb revenue obviously led to a steep fall in the share prices of the bigger water companies, in particular Severn Trent and United Utilities.

Water companies will be expected to further invest in network improvements, reducing leaks, improving flood defences and replacing antiquated Victorian sewerage networks. Regina Finn, Ofwat’s chief executive, assures that there will be £21bn still available to fund the investment despite price and revenue cuts.

The announcements came as part of the draft recommendation for the period 2010 to 2015, in which Ofwat decides on how much should be invested and how much they are allowed to earn for their shareholders.

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Swine flu’s continued rise during usual ‘dormant period’ baffles Britain’s health officials


Friday, July 24th, 2009

Swine flu, along with the continuing increasing rate of flu-like illnesses throughout the summer months, has been perplexing for Britain’s top doctors, reports The Guardian. Most viruses similar to the H1N1 strain usually go dormant during the long summer holidays.

Infection rates have almost doubled from the initially estimated 50,000, proving erroneous the predictions that the virus had peaked. It is suggested that the infection rate will slow down now that schools have broken up until the autumn. Doctors stress that the virus has not become more virulent and that for most people the symptoms are relatively mild.

There is also emergency medical capacity ready to be used if the situation worsens, which has placated worries of a shortage of respirators. There has also been concern over fake Tamiflu tablets, the vaccine for the current strain of the virus.

The Government’s website, designed to give advice to people who feel they may be suffering from the swine flu, crashed within minutes after being opened yesterday. There has been much concern that the virus infection rate had sped up significantly, with 100,000 people being diagnosed as having caught the virus just last week, according to the chief medical officer.

The website was designed to take 1,200 hits a second, but instead reached up to 2,600 hits every second, leading it to crash and suspend service.

Findings from GPs have highlighted that the virus has moved out from the hotspots where it was initially concentrated, that those most at risk appear to be the under-14s, and that the virus has become serious for around 800 people who have been rushed to hospital.

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Fuel poverty pressure group condemns lack of action


Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Despite it being ages before you’ll ever need to switch on your central heating, its worrying to find that many people are going to struggle to keep their gas and electricity on this year. Some 4 million people are finding that rising costs of energy from high oil prices and expensive green measures has put them into ‘fuel poverty’, a situation where one tenth or more of income goes on gas and electricity bills - a huge increase from 1.2 million in 2004, reports Times Online.

Even more worrying is that close to 50% of these households are pensioners. Rising unemployment and the current unhealthy state of the UK economy has meant that more and more people are falling into this category.

A damning report from the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) has condemned the lack of response from the Government to try and tackle this issue. The FPAG want a number of radical measures to be taken in order to stay on track to achieve the (now unlikely) target to eradicate all fuel poverty by 2016.

One measure has been to introduce a separate rate for those vulnerable households to ensure they get the cheapest deal and to fatten the budget of Warm Front, which delivers energy efficient measures to people’s homes.

The target for eradication is looking counter-productive to the Government’s carbon budget, which will pass the costs of green initiatives such as building wind farms straight onto the consumers; the FPAG predicts that this could put another 1.7 million households into fuel poverty by 2022. The investment in new power stations that has been announced recently will probably also make its way to consumer bills.

The energy minister David Kidney has acknowledged that the rising costs and transition to a low-carbon energy supply has ‘reversed the downward trend on the number of households in fuel poverty’, but highlights that the Government has spent more than £20 billion since 2000 on policies and programmes to help tackle fuel poverty. He states that the Government will be continuing to ease the burden on low income households and provide the support required to be able to heat and power their homes at an affordable cost.

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O2’s new Visa card offers a lesson in financial control


Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Do you need to ring-fence your expenses? Then maybe you need a fee-free pre-paid card to help keep tabs on your finances. Times online reports that O2 has announced that it will offer pre-paid Visa cards that can be used online, in store or at cash points and works simply as a substitute to carrying cash. The card can even be claimed by children as young as 13, without their parent’s permission.

The ‘Load and Go’ card will be launched by O2 in partnership with Natwest and comes with no fees. O2 will provide users with balance updates on their phone. The pre-paid card has no overdraft feature as users can only spend what they have loaded onto the card. The card will in effect work as an easier and safe way to carry cash. Parents won’t have to worry about their children carrying or losing cash. The  card uses the Chip and Pin security feature and if the card is stolen it can easily be cancelled.

Pre-paid cards have been very expensive in the past, when banks have tried to charge users for a myriad of actions with the card - Lousie Bond from uSwitch has highlighted some of those charges, including up-front fees to take out the card, monthly fees, withdrawal charges and even a charge for loading the card. Bond sees the O2 cards as a good way to budget monthly expenses and keep tabs of your finances.

The Load and Go card is also designed to introduce children to understanding  financial control, as well as keep them from having to carry cash which could attract crime.

If you have taken all the steps to budget yourself and cut down your expenses but are still struggling to pay the rent or utility bills, then it may be time for you to consider getting yourself a payday loan from us at www.247Moneybox.com. Our team is waiting to advise you and help make a tailored cash loan solution to help you out of a cash-flow crisis until the next paycheque arrives.


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Posted in Credit Card, ID theft, Online shopping | No Comments »


Energy price war counteracts lofty oil price


Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Good news from the energy market today as an energy price war sparks up among energy giants, reports Times online. British Gas, the undisputed cheapest energy supplier, has now faced a new challenger from the likes of Npower, who have launched new online tariffs that make ‘high’ and ‘low’ energy users better off than with British Gas. However, British Gas remains the best option for the average consumer, but only by £1 per year.

To stay in the game, Scottish Power has been forced to follow suit joining the energy war, and Uswitch, the price comparison site, has shown a £192 fall in the standard energy prices.

The price war follows numerous criticisms that the energy companies had not brought their prices down last year, and it sparks good news in the face of high oil prices this year which jumped to as high as $60 a barrel a few months ago. Critics who attacked the lack of price cuts highlighted the fact that the price of energy had been cut in half since last year, whereas domestic energy bills have seen a cut of only 5%; analysts argue that a further 10% or 15% cut is justified.

There are many tips that have been given to consumers when it comes to energy bills. First, find out what type of energy user you are - high or low - and then shop accordingly. Use the internet, as there are a myriad of sites out there which can compare gas and electricity bills instantly, allowing you to pick the best deal for you.

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MPC ‘more worried about deflation’ as CPI hits 1.8%


Monday, July 20th, 2009

Good news about the price level today - The Guardian reports that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the measure of the cost of living, has seen a drop from 2.2% at the start of the year to 1.8% last week.

The fall has silenced calls for the Bank of England to change the policy of stimulus that has been adopted for the last couple of months. It is now expected that we will carry on in a period of ultra-low interest rates.

It is the first time that inflation has been within the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) target of 2.0% since September 2007, and which has since then  peaked at 5.2% last September following increases in oil prices. However inflation remains higher than the average EU level at 0.7%, and the 16 country Eurozone 0.15%. Analysts now worry we may experience deflation which could be damaging to the economy.

The driving forces behind the lower prices were food and non-alcoholic drinks, which fell to 5.4% last month from 7.8% the month before. Furniture has also seen price falls after there has been no impetus to put up prices before a summer sale, caution being spread by companies shaken by the collapse of MFI.

In the wider economy, Brendan Barber, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary warns of a period of deflation as having a detrimental impact on jobs, growth and investment. However, Adam Posen believes the British economy could soon return to growth by as soon as 2010, though he doesn’t expect it to be a ’smooth ride’.

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Industrial backlash following pension scrappage at Barclays


Friday, July 17th, 2009

Are you affected by the closing down of a final salary pension scheme? Barclay’s decision to get rid of its final salary pension schemes has led to outrage from the unions associated with the bank, BBC Online reports. The scheme was originally stopped for new members, but now new proposals will stop the scheme letting existing members receive a final salary pension, which has led to anger reaching  critical mass.

Unite, the union that represents 25,000 Barclays workers, will take a ballot for further industrial action at some stage during August, following a consultative ballot where 92% said they wanted to be balloted on industrial action.

Barclays has not been the only company to close their final salary pension schemes; many have seen the rising costs as too much to fund, and 18,000 existing staff will be taken off the scheme.

There has been a real variance in Barclays UK Retirement Fund, which two years ago recorded a surplus of around £200m compared with a huge deficit of £2.2bn last September. A shortfall of £200.1bn exists in the UK’s 7,400 defined-benefit schemes at the end of June, according to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

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Brits find pensions under further threat after prolonged Government gaffe


Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Have you been overpaid in the government’s latest gaffe? According to the National Audit Office (NAO) and BBC Online, £90m extra has been paid to public sector pensions. Retired soldiers, teachers, doctors and nurses have all been affected by the error, and 31,000 of them will see their income drop as a result next year. However, the number affected is expected to rise still further.

The overpayments have been sourced back to 1978 when there was a mix-up with the indexing of certain pensions. Some schemes did not have the required information recorded which meant that they did not apply the correct annual cost of living.

The real worrying issue is that the problem was highlighted years ago but the agencies who were involved refused to take responsibility for the situation. NAO pointed fingers at HM Revenue and Customs, the five pension schemes, and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service for passing the buck.

The NAO has urged these groups to work closer together as it feared there was the  continual risk of further payment errors. In particular, the NAO has suggested it wanted to have a review to see if the process can be simplified.

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