Important financial news, interest rates and other relevant information is provided for our customers. Please refer back to this page often to find the latest news that may affect your finances.
Finance House Base Rate
The Finance House Base Rate (FHBR) for January is still 6.5%. The last decrease of 0.5% was in November.
Bank of England base rate remains at 5.5% for January 2008.
Government Debt Reduction Initiative
The Government launches a range of initiatives to help people struggling with debt. Amongst them is a crackdown on loan sharks and illegal lenders, with £3m being provided to a new specialist team to hunt these people down.
More than 500 debt advisors have been recruited and over 66,000 people helped so far.
See full report here (a new window will open).
Fraud & Identity Theft
One reason people sometimes have problems obtaining credit is due to identity theft. This is where someone has obtained information on their victim such as Address, date of birth, bank details etc and used them to obtain credit in the victims name, which they have no intention of repaying. The first the victim may know about it is when they apply for credit themselves and are turned down.
The government have announced a new initiative to help make the UK the worlds hardest target for fraudsters. Click here for more info.
One thing that can be done to protect your self against identity theft is to shred all important documents before disposing of them.
Other Financial News
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