Money Central - Times Online - WBLG

Are house prices heading for a 1990s-style crash?

At moments of crisis we turn to history to provide guidance to what lies ahead. With the housing market taking a turn for the worst, it is unsurprising that parallels are being drawn between the darkening conditions now and the last time price falls blighted the land in the early 1990s. We have taken a look at some of the key crash triggers then and now to assess what lies ahead for homeowners.

Banks still getting fat on PPI...

You might remember a few months back that a number of lenders were accused of running a “protection racket” by the consumer watchdog Citizens Advice. It made an official “super complaint” to the Office of Fair Trading about the way lenders were selling, or mis-selling, payment protection insurance (PPI), the cover tacked on to loans.

Finding the best mortgage - should you use a broker?

More than a million borrowers will be looking to remortgage as they come to the end of cheap two or three year fixed and discount deals in the next few months. I’m one of them, and in the process of searching out a new loan, I’ve learnt an important lesson.

See not the ATM...

About six months ago I managed to rid myself of that financial noose that is credit card debt.

The beauty of student loans

Looking through my finances last week I noticed a statement from the Student Loans Company about my outstanding £9,258.11.  I’d completely forgotten about this huge debt that many have said would be hanging over me like a dark cloud for years to come.  But it hasn’t quite been like that.

Hit by the rate hike

I am one of hundreds of thousands of borrowers hit by last week's unexpected quarter point rise in the base rate to 4.75%. I am afraid that greed overtook fear back in March 2005 and I went for a discounted rate rather than a fixed rate because the former were so much cheaper at the time.

Is bankruptcy really the only option?

Over 4.25 million people are concerned about managing their debts and of those 110,000 are considering declaring themselves bankrupt, according to One Advice, a debt advisory service. But is bankruptcy really the answer?

Beginning of the end for excessive charges?

In April the Office of Trading said credit card penalty charges of more than £12 were "significantly higher" than was legally fair and gave the card companies a month to respond. That deadline has now passed and Barclaycard, HSBC and Lloyds TSB have reluctantly announced that their fees will fall by the end of the summer. To compensate for its losses, Barclaycard announced that it would increase the interest rate for one in ten of its cardholders. Other major lenders such as RBS, Halifax and Alliance & Leicester have yet to act, claiming they are still in discussions with the OFT.

Is the punishment due for penalty chargers?

Most Britons do not find it easy to get back into the daily routine after a holiday away. Working your way through unpaid bills that have accumulated while you were on holiday is frustrating. Opening a credit card statement and discovering that you face a £25 penalty fine for not paying on time is infuriating.

Credit card details sold on the net

Are your credit card details really safe?

Jonathan Richards has delivered a thought-provoking report for The Times in which he found that the credit card details of thousands of Britons are being sold by criminals in internet chat rooms, after they have managed to hack into company computer systems to steal your financial identity.

The full shocking details of Jonathan's reports can be found on our Borrowing page.

A student speaks

In a few months time I will graduate from university, and, like thousands of fellow students, enter the dreaded world of work. I'm preparing for this shock to the system with a stint on Times Money.  But unlike thousands of fellow students, I will leave the campus with an account balance still in the black, and without a student loan bill in sight. Yes, I’m one of those rare birds, a debt-free graduate.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

Asking any of my family members or friends for financial advice would be like asking a vegetarian for  whether to go for beef or lamb: I just wouldn't do it. But apparently, 71 per cent of the British population do not share my doubts, for they admitted in a new survey by Alliance & Leicester that this would their first port of call - if they chose to seek any advice whatsoever...

Compare and save

Times Online has today launched an independent product comparison service listing the best-buy deals on mortgages, savings accounts, loans and credit cards

Student debt: character-building or soul-destroying?

A graduate kills herself because she could no longer face the £14,000 debt she had racked up as a student. A few days later, a report into student debt announces that students are less worried than ever about debt. In fact, they are becoming accustomed to it, according to the authors of the report, with more than 40 per cent taking part-time jobs to pay their way through university. But which story behind student debt are we to believe? The one that leads a 26 year old to suicide, or the one that suggests that for students, debt is a fact of life, and they should all just buck up and get used to it?   

Get your credit status checked - for free

Shoppers at Asda who find that they are refused the supermarket's credit card will be able to obtain a free copy of their credit file

Doing the decent thing

As new year's resolutions go, this will hardly go down as inspirational or unique

Nasty surprise for you on the (store)cards

Luckily, I did not fund my Christmas shopping on a John Lewis or Waitrose store card

Shopping can be bad for your wealth

The new year is almost upon us, which for many people means only one thing: the January sales. But before you join the throng of shoppers out looking for a bargain, make sure you cut up your store cards because they can officially “damage your wealth”

Students warned off web debt scheme

Applying the usual rule of thumb, that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, Times Online has spent this week investigating a web-based wheeze offering to clear the debts of a penurous student

Charity begins... on your plastic

If you want to make a regular contribution to your favourite charity, you can do so with a credit card or savings account

Halifax bows out

The days of the pure 0 per cent credit card deals may be numbered

Card sharp

Here at Times Money, we are bombarded by useless press releases from financial companies and their spin merchants. If a survey says brunettes buy more insurance on Tuesdays, we'll be the first to know. But how strange that not one word popped into our collective inboxes from Barclaycard about the rate rise on their credit cards.