Things you might have missed this week

by Simon Ward on 21 January 2012  |  3 comments
Tweet

A round-up of some other stories and announcements that have caught our eyes over the past seven days.

Welcome to our bite-sized look at some of the other money stories that caught our eyes this week.

Direct Line and Churchill fined
Direct Line and Churchill, who are both owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, were fined £2.17 million by industry watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA). They had tampered with customer complaint files before submitting them for review. The FSA said that no customers were affected by the tampering.

George not sure on growth
Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC that the UK’s growth figure for the final quarter of 2011 may be negative. “I don't know what next week's GDP number is going to be. Our independent forecaster, the OBR, has warned us that it may well be a negative number. That was their forecast in November, but they didn't forecast a recession,” he said. The magic number will be revealed on Tuesday 24th.

PPI payouts boost pockets
But the economy could get a boost from a somewhat unlikely source – payment protection insurance compensation payouts. Around £5 billion will be paid out in total, giving some of us an unexpected windfall.

How to claim your PPI compensation

House prices fall...
UK house prices fell by 0.3% in the year to November, according to figures by the Department for Communities and Local Government. And the prices paid by first-time buyers were 0.7% higher on average than the year before.

...but mortgage lending rises
Meanwhile, mortgage lending rose by 4% in November last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). And that in turn was 3% up on November 2010. But the CML said that sales are still at half the level they were at before the banking crisis of 2007.

Half a million to switch energy
And 500,000 of us are going to switch energy providers this month following the recent round of price cuts, says price comparison site Energyhelpline.com.

The phoney gas and electricity 'price war'

Rents still rising
The cost of renting a home in England and Wales fell by 0.8% in December, according to LSL Property Services, the UK’s largest lettings agent network. But, overall, average rents have increased by 4% over the past year.

Tax staff strike
Around 20,000 public sector staff manning tax return advice lines and enquiry centres staged half-hour walkouts on Monday. The Public and Commercial Services Union said the staggered strikes were in protest at alleged Government plans to outsource jobs to private companies.

For the latest news and comment on the stories that affect your money throughout the week, follow us on Twitter

Top stories from last week
Post Office launches new issue of inflation-linked bonds
Car and home insurance premiums jump sharply
New 5p and 10p coin chaos predicted
Ministers: elderly should downsize and save for care