More and more lenders are putting up the mortgage rates on their own standard variable rate mortgages, despite the base rate staying at 0.5%. This is despite the fact that traditionally, Lenders apply have always used the base rate as a measure of their own rates. This increase has gone unnoticed by thousands of homeowners who are unaware that they may be paying over the odds for their SVR products.

Skipton building society is one of the lenders who increased the mortgage rates on their SVR products from 3.5 to 4.95%, despite the base rate not changing. This change will cost people a significant amount of money. A Skipton spokesman said that the rates were still competitive at 4.95%.

Many other banks and building societies may well follow suit and there is a snowball effect from then on. The more that do increase their mortgage rates, the more will follow due to increased pressure in the marketplace.

The remortgage sector has seen a rise in the amount of people moving from their banks current SVR and onto fixed rate products, a move which is recommended by Clare Francis of Moneysupermarket.com.

The problem with being on the banks SVR is that they can increase it at any time, a fixed rate mortgage will be more expensive in the short term but may save you money in the long term.
There are still fixed rate mortgages in the market place with rates of under 3%, it is just a case of looking around on best buy tables on sites like Moneysupermarket.com to see who is offering them.

Your own bank will not tell you about other, cheaper rates, for obvious reasons, so it pays to shop around. Some experts believe that remortgage rates may return to the highs of the past and possibly reach 8% in 3 years. This would be disastrous for those who stayed on flexible mortgages, should it come to fruition.

Whilst the base rate stays at 0.5% it creates a false sense of security, people would be well advised to save for the future increase or to look at fixed rate mortgages as a viable option.

It is well worth getting independent mortgage advice from a qualified adviser. Make sure that they are independent and that their fees, if any, are transparent.

The recent news about the Pakistan Cricket team match fixing allegations appears to be more shocking than first thought. It now appears that the alleged match fixers may have made up to £20 million for their co conspirators, whilst securing a share of around £6 million for themselves.
Mazhar Majeed was filmed by a Sunday paper giving details of no balls and their timings reportedly for £150,000. Subsequently, no balls in the match came at the right times and were very blatant.

Police and fraud squad detectives are now investigating every match that the Pakistan Cricket team have played in the last two years. They will assess bookmaker’s accounts to see if there are any other suspicious betting patterns that may lend themselves to potential fraud.

The cricket world has been saddened and shocked by the scale of the scandal and even the president of Pakistan, Yousef Raza Gilani, said that the country should “bow its head in shame.” There have been previous cricket betting scandals but none at this level. Where millions of pounds are bet on cricket daily, this sort of activity is inevitable. It is a certainty that if found guilty, the players will face a lifetime ban at least.

There were many raised eyebrows when Amir was awarded player of the series with England and was awarded a cheque for £4,000. This followed extended booing from England cricket fans who were appalled at the allegations. Imran Khan said that Pakistan should still be allowed to compete, even if the allegations are found to be true. Pakistan is very proud of its cricket heritage and to not compete would be a huge setback for the country.

Other sports have recently had similar scandals, particularly snooker which is still deciding if John Higgins is guilty of match fixing and accepting bungs. Betting syndicates are set up worldwide to take advantage of these stings, betting on intricate parts of matches can be hard to detect.

Firmer action needs to be taken with guilty parties as the threat of a ban is not enough to deter foul play. It is important to remember that inadvertently, fraud in sport takes money away from honest punters, with a huge amount of it taking places on public betting indexes like Betfair.

A new computer system has found that 6 million people have paid the wrong amount on their taxes and 4.3 million have actually overpaid and will be due rebates. The errors were found due to a newly implemented computer system that checked employer’s payments in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) pay as you earn system (PAYE). Those employees who changed jobs were the most likely to have tax payment errors.

Of those underpaying taxes 1.4 million owe an average of 1,400 pounds. This could amount to a difference of over 100 pounds less per month each year as the correction is made with higher deductions from pay to correct the underpayment. The HMRC will consider writing off the difference underpaid if the person can prove they provided the correct information in good faith to correctly calculate their tax.

There are 4.3 million people that will be due rebates because of tax overpayment. The total amount of overpayments amounted to 1.8 billion pounds. This averages out to 418 pounds per person.

The HMRC is mailing out letters to those involved in the tax error. The first are expected to arrive by post on Tuesday. The first batch of letters covers only 45,000 of the estimated 6 million involved in having tax errors so the letters will be coming in intervals over the next few months.

Prior to June the calculations were checked manually between information on the PAYE system and amounts deducted by employers for tax and national insurance. The computer system implemented in June found the errors. The system should ensure fewer mistakes are made in the future concerning tax payments.

A HMRC spokesman said: “The vast majority of the 40 million people who pay through PAYE deductions are correctly taxed, but because circumstances change during the year there will always be a minority who have paid either too much or too little.”

Those who receive letters are encouraged to check the HMRC’s new calculations matches information on the P60 for that same year. If you believe there is an error, you can dispute the extra tax, especially if the HMRC made the error through manually calculating the tax. In some cases the bill of tax due will be dropped. Phone lines are expected to be especially busy at the HMRC offices so you may consider writing if you find it difficult to get through by phone.

The warning of a possible double dip recession seemed closer to reality with the latest insight to the state of the economy. The construction industry showed a slowdown in business. Also the service sector cut jobs and housing prices fell. It could be that economic growth will soon disappear and the economy will see another recession.

Service sector jobs are being lost at a rate not seen since last October. Unfortunately this was one of the private sector divisions that were to supply jobs to keep the economy in growth. It is unlikely that hiring would increase in this division over the next few months. It would therefore appear that the private sector will be little prepared to supply jobs to counteract those lost due to government budget cuts.

The Office for National Statistics reported that orders within the construction building sector had fallen in the second quarter by 14 per cent. Analysts believe this slowdown can be attributed to the slowing pace of the housing market. Private housing orders for the second quarter of the year fell by 24 per cent.

The housing market is seeing an influx of houses being brought to market and very few buyers obtaining mortgage approval. First time buyers are finding it hard to qualify. Without those buyers coming into the market to buy homes on the bottom of the ladder, so called “starter homes”, there are no buyers to allow others to upgrade.

According to the latest survey by Nationwide the average value of a home in Britain fell by 0.9 per cent in August. That means that the average British house is worth 166,507 pounds, which amounts to a loss on average of over 3,000 pounds off the value of a home. August was the third consecutive month to see declines.

With employment taking a hit and an even bigger hit in the months ahead due to budget cuts, the housing market slowed, and construction industry seeing a slowdown it could signal the economy is about to see another dip into recession status.

The AA has reported that due to the increased number of fraudulent claims, car insurance premiums have increased 11.5 per cent over the last 90 days.  The average price of a normal, comprehensive coverage, car insurance premium for the year is just over 700 pounds.  This cost has increased more than 30 per cent over the last 12 months.  It is quite possible that the basis for the increase in premium is comparison websites encouraging fraud.

Simon Douglas, director of the AA, said that insurance companies have to compensate for the possibility of fraud, due to websites making it possible to provide inaccurate information at the onset of acquiring insurance policies.

He commented on how dishonest applicants could manipulate information, saying: “The growth of price comparison sites has encouraged fraud, although most people wouldn’t see it as such. It is much easier to manipulate information on a computer screen to find the cheapest price – for example, by changing the facts about past driving experience, than attempting to do so in a conversation with insurance sales staff.”

He also warned: “Those who are caught will find it extremely difficult and expensive to find an insurer willing to take them in the future.”

Industry insiders have reported this unsettling piece of data; for every 100 pounds paid in premiums, 122 pounds have been paid out.

Paul Lawler, spokesman for Moneysupermarket.com, disputed the AA claims, saying: “Like all players in the insurance industry, we monitor every application that is submitted by a user on our website and the details are kept on record.  If they then reapply with drastically different information, we are notified.”

He added, with emphasis on what he felt really was to blame for increased premiums, saying: “The rise in ambulance chasers and personal injury firms is what is causing the increase in premiums.”

In today’s shady economy, the financial wolves have turned to life insurance as a main hard sell. Lending is right down, house prices are dropping, first time buyers cannot get on the property ladder and people find it hard to get credit cards. Mortgage brokers are going to the wall daily, mostly due to the over lending of the early 2000’s coming back to haunt the economy. Belts are tightening all around and so could the saviour be life insurance? It seems that many brokers think so, and how wrong they are.

As i write this, i have had an email asking me to change my life insurance and i could get it for under £5 per month….hmmmmm if only. We get sold life insurance off the back of email, newspaper campaigns, phone calls and with almost every conceivable financial product. Your bank will want you to use their preferred life insurer, as will your mortgage adviser as will your friendly Indian cold caller. The truth is that life insurance is the last thing that many people will cancel, even in a recession, and as such commissions for it have not dropped.

Average commissions online to a broker for a life insurance policy are £450-£500 for doing very little work. This has enticed many mortgage companies to switch to life insurance and critical illness cover. What many of them have not accounted for is CLAWBACK. Clawback is where the customer takes out a policy and subsequently cancels it; the insurance broker then has to pay back the commission he received. Clawback is putting many brokerages who thought that life insurance was easy picking, out of business.

In this economy, life insurance has become a product that is so over sold, and incorrectly sold, that companies are facing cancellations of up to 50%. Not accounting for this sinks many fledgling businesses.

Yes you can get life insurance (maybe)from £5 a month, just make sure you know what it covers and what it does not cover. The companies that do well in life insurance are the ones that sell it once but sell it right, that means the correct cover at the correct price for the correct amount of time.

Scott Stout of lifeinsurancequotes.co.uk said “we find that our clawback is lower because we tend to sell the product less aggressively and more thoroughly. If we got 40% clawback, we would be out of business very fast.”

Next time you get asked to review your life insurance as they want to “save you money,” make sure you do it once, and do it right. Know what you are covered for and what you are not. Prudential recently launched a new product called Pruprotect which plays on the fact that most other insurers will not cover women against certain types of breast cancer. It also covers 128 serious illnesses where others tend to cover many less, sometimes under 30.There would be no way of knowing this for the average person without asking.

Ask for a discount too, brokers can discount your policies up to 20% in a lot of cases but people rarely ask. Also know that there is a fair chance that the broker who sold you the policy may be going under any time soon if he or she has not been prudent.

The government’s Banking Commission, chaired by former Bank of England economist John Vickers, has publicly announced that a decision may be forthcoming requiring that banks split up their investment and retail sectors. This requirement would be for all UK banks and not just those that received government bailout money. HSBC has issued a strong statement that if required to split the bank, they would relocate out of London.

The Banking Commission’s reasoning it to prevent a bank from getting so big that should they become financially unstable it would not threaten the economic health of the country. HSBC however believes that the commission should leave their bank alone and others, especially those like HSBC that did not need government bailout funds. While insisting HSBC would prefer to remain in London, relocating is definitely an option they would consider.

The strong statement concerning the Banking Commission was issued by Stuart Gulliver, HSBC’s head of their investment banking unit. Gulliver is considered the predecessor to Michael Geoghegan, HSBC’s chief executive. Gulliver mentioned that relocation options could involve Hong Kong or the US, and Geoghegan is already located in Hong Kong as HSBC has been seeking to expand into emerging markets.

Gulliver said: “I want to be crystal clear; our preference is to be headquartered in the UK. We would hope that there isn´t a conclusion that causes the banks that didn´t actually take any money from any governments anywhere in the world to have to move their headquarters.”

Last month, HSBC rival, Standard Chartered, warned that its consideration of keeping its headquarters in London was being questioned as well due to disadvantages that would be imposed on banks concerning regulations.

Monday may well be a test in patience for many trying to get to work and about in London due to a union walk out by thousands of Tube workers. The 10,000 union workers plan a 24 hour walkout in protest over the planned cut of 800 ticket office jobs. Talks to avert the strike failed on Thursday to prevent plans for a walkout from going forward.

Up to 100 extra buses will be available for those seeking transportation that would have normally used the Tubes. Other provisions to add 10,000 more Thames river boat passenger places and additional taxi and escorted bike rides will be available. It is expected that the disruption will take place from Monday afternoon till Tuesday afternoon according to Transport for London (TfL).

Mayor Boris Johnson assured the public by saying: “The extra measures we have put in call for a team effort and people will need to consider buses, boats or bikes as an alternative to their usual journeys.”

Other 24 hour walkouts are scheduled by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA) for October 3, November 2, and November 28. Ticket sales office personnel, maintenance and engineering staff, Tube drivers, signalers, and station staff are all planning to participate in the walkout.

Walkouts are also planned by TSSA due to salary disputes for next Tuesday and workers at Alstom-Metro depots on the Jubilee and Northern lines plan walkouts for September 5, October 2, November 1, and November 27 starting at 1900 BST and lasting for 24 hours.

Bob Crowe, RMT’s general secretary urged Mayor Johnson to take the walkout seriously saying: “The action is on and our members are finalising plans for picket lines across the network. It’s down to LU to pull back from the brink of their ill-conceived cuts plans and to clear the way for meaningful discussions that protect safety and safe staffing levels.”

Last year Rochdale announced their plans to redevelop the town centre to become an impressive centerpiece to the town and the largest in England. A portion of the wider scheme has just secured 100 million pounds in funding. Genr8 Developments, the town council’s partner in the regeneration project, secured the funds after closing a deal with the real estate investor company Kajima Partnerships.

The plans call for a department store, numerous retail outlets and a hotel to be a part of the redevelopment. Overall the wider redevelopment plan for the town centre is estimated to cost 250 million pounds. All will center around Rochdale’s famous town hall which was built in 1871 and is considered one of the UK’s best examples of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture.

Irene Davidson, Rochdale Council Leader said: “This is another important milestone for Rochdale town centre, with construction of the Sixth Form College complete, the building of the new civic offices under way and the Metrolink due to arrive in the town.

“We very much welcome the funding partnership and we look forward to working with Genr8 to progress a scheme through to planning application stage.”

The plans will be presented for public consultation and then afterwards will be presented to the Rochdale Council in 2011.  The development of the plans could begin as early as 2014 once they are approved.

In August plans were approved to improve Rochdale’s public transportation needs by adding several Metrolink extensions to the town by no later than spring of 2014.

Tycoon Asil Nadir, now 69 years old, has finally returned to the UK to face allegations of mass fraud. The owner of multi the folded billion pound Polly Peck Empire is accused of stealing 34 million pounds from it. Nadir left it rather late to return to face justice, 17 years to be exact! As there is no extradition treaty between the U.K and Northern Cyprus, bringing Nadir to trial had not been possible. This was changed by some legal loopholes that allowed his return.

Nadir maintains his innocence and says he will shed light on why he fled for so long. He is due to face trial at The Old Bailey, but due to the time passed it is unlikely that he will go to full trial before 2012. He was granted bail on the condition that he returns to court the next day.

Nadir has obviously managed to save some money; he is staying in a top Mayfair property which costs him £20,000 a month. He faces 66 counts of fraud, which he says are “gross injustices” and he is excited to clear his name after the “injustices” he has had over the last 20 years.

His fall from grace was a dramatic one in 1993, he had previously been named 36th on the Times rich list and even owned an Aegean Island. Ill health was cited as a main reason for his flight in 1993, only time will tell whether it is possible to hold a serious trial after all the time that has passed. This is underlined by our legal expert who stated “it will be very hard to prove either Nadir’s guilt or innocence with 17 years having passed since the allegations took place.”