Cash, Cars and Babes

For 2008, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors have predicted 45,000 British families would lose their homes due to the increased cost of mortgage repayments. This estimation was tallied with a similar claim by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The Financial Services Authority raised the alarm on 840,000 mortgages whose holders were deemed risky.

Buying home was the easiest in 1996. If the cost to buy a house now is compared to 12 years ago, RICS said the bill has increased by 351%. If, for example, a British couple jointly earn £26,600 a year after taxes, they must save 104% of it (£27,700) to be able to afford the down-payment, duties and fees required to buy a house.

A RICS economist also said that First Time Buyers will find it hard this year to secure their own property, and the situation isn't set to improve any time soon.

Bought in 2003, and now part of the HSBC group, HFC have been fined £1million for failings over Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). The FSA said that HFC failed to ensure advice was given to customers between January 2005 and March 2007. Between these dates, the bank had sold 163,000 policies, representing 75% of the loans they agreed.

PPI covers repayments of loans, mortgages and credit cards in the event of the borrower being unable to pay them themselves, as a result of accient, sickness, unemployment or death. HFC put their customers at risk of buying PPI that was unsuitable, causing them significant financial impact, by recommending incorrect products.

A programme of improvements is well under way, to ensure their standards are to the FSA's liking. by doing so, they qualified for a 30% discount on the fine, without which, it would have been over £1.5million.

Consumers in the UK are struggling with their credit card payments, yet 40% admit they are reliant on them, reported a study conducted by the Post Office.

It was also found that 25% of respondents are more reliant on credit than a year ago.

If people struggle to pay their credit card repayments, why do they use them? Surely the sooner you pay the credit card debt off, the better your money would improve? Saying that, I still have a credit card debt. But I don't add to it, the card was cut up ages ago. I just have the payments to make, which will eventually clear it. But at least I'm not reliant on it anymore.

DSG International, who own Dixons and PC World, among others, have released a profit warning due to the report of falling sales in the high street stores. They announced that profits could fall by up to £50million after a poor holiday period.

Next, the high street clothing store, has also reported disppointing results over the Christmas period.

It seems the festive period wasn't so fruitful last year.