The Financial Blog

Which? The consumer guide says that people who shop and interact on social networking web site are at more risk of having their personal information stolen.

Neil Fowler, the Which? Magazine editor, found that there was a shocking amount of information available to a researcher who dug a little deeper, using his name and occupation, they found out the names of people in his family and floor plans to his house.

People who use social networking sites and complete the full profile information requested are most at risk, especially if they leave the settings on ‘default’ which means that they are publicly accessible. This obviously makes it very easy for fraudsters to gather basic information on people and then use it to attempt to get pin numbers for bank accounts and so on.

I remember this subject was covered on BBC’s Watchdog programme around a month ago and using one of the biggest social networking sites around the researcher was able to gather enough information to attempt to open a credit card or get a personal loan in somebody else’s name. It literally took a few hours of researching.

Companies that collect personal data must tell their customers exactly how the data will be stored and used. Which? Is concearned that Oyster card customers do not know that their journeys are recorded and that Virgin Mobile customers are not told exactly how their personal information will be used.

One of the problems is that it’s not compulsory or law for private companies to admit when personal data security is breached or when personal data is lost.

Neil Fowler, Editor, Which?, says: “It was a real shock to see how much personal information about me could be found online, which could potentially be used by crooks to commit fraud. We all need to take steps to protect our data – both online and offline - by being more aware of how our personal data could be used and taking care who we share it with.

“Which? is concerned that some private companies aren’t complying with the Data Protection Act and we urge them to tighten up their processes, so that consumers can be reassured that their data is in safe hands.”

The Which? checklist to reduce your risk of ID theft and fraud

• Regularly check your personal credit file to check it’s accurate
• Check bank and credit card statements to make sure there are no unfamiliar transactions
• Cancel lost or stolen cards immediately
• Use a shredder to get rid of documents you don’t need
• Never give personal or bank details to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly
• Don’t use the same password for more than one account
• Make sure you have up-to-date security software installed on your computer
• Don’t tick ‘yes’ to share your details with third parties
• Give away only the minimum details on social networking sites and make sure you understand the privacy settings

From this afternoon to 3rd March 2008 – new customers of Barclaycard’s 14 month 0% Balance Transfer Platinum Card, who spend £50 on their credit card within 60 days of opening their account, will receive £150 of Thomas Cook Discount vouchers

• 0% interest on balance transfers for 14 months from account opening (2.9% handling fee applies)
• 0% interest on purchases for 3 months from opening your account
• £150 Thomas Cook discount voucher for a holiday for a minimum of 2 for 14 nights when you spend £50 on your new Barclaycard within 60 days of opening your account.
• Pay for your holiday using your Barclaycard and Thomas Cook will waive the 2.25% credit card booking fee
• 14.9% APR Typical(variable) 

>> Click here to apply online before 3rd March 2008>>

The drinks industry warned that the average price of a pint of beer might hit £4 because of the rise in production and distribution costs.

Sound familiar? (British Gas!). The good point here is that at least we don’t need to drink beer to keep ourselves warm or power our homes. We can choose to avoid the pub, something I’d seriously consider if prices hit £4 a pint!

The British Beer and Pub Association said customers should not be surprised if the price of their pint increases by £0.80 in the coming months. The change in the use of farmland, originally used to farm hops is now being used to produce biofuels and other environmentally friendly fuels instead.

British Gas profits rose from £95 million in 2006 to a staggering £640 million for 2007.

So let’s just step back and think about this for a minute; British Gas increase prices by 15 per cent even though their profits were on target to increase by far more than 15%. Obviously the profit before their 15 per cent price increase was not enough and they simply decided to add an additional 15 per cent on for good measure!?

The average UK household spends 10 per cent or more of their monthly income on gas and electricity and the average bill is around £1,000. Tim Wolfenden of Uswitch.com said “The figures will inevitably cause a row and British Gas will struggle to justify the increases.

British Gas will need to give robust reasons for the rise in profits, not least that 2006 was a poor year.

This is acceptable to a point, but customers will see a big increase and they will want to know what is going on. Rising prices are really very serious for millions of people.

Consumers are not against suppliers making profits, but they feel it is unfair when price rises are coupled with such big increases in profits.”

In its defence British Gas said “In the last 6 months of 2007 higher wholesale gas prices have reduced British Gas operating margins to around 1 per cent.” They also said that at current wholesale prices they would be loss-making in 2008 without the increase.

We’ll wait and see then shall we!? I’d bet my mortgage they do not make a loss in 2008 and if they do I’m sure some of the £640 million profit from last year should help them out.

I’ve always thought the 100 per cent mortgage was a bad idea in the first place. It was something my parents warned me against taking out when I bought my first house with my girlfriend, and if your parents warn you to steer clear of something when it comes to finances you’d be advised to listen, because they probably know what they’re talking about.

And so the mortgages which let you borrow more than your property is worth are finally being scrapped by some of the biggest lenders in the UK.

Alliance and Leicester and Abbey have both pulled their 125 per cent loan to value (LTV) deals. The stats go something like this; before Christmas a third of UK lenders offered 100 per cent mortgages, some offered more than 100 percent as in the case of Alliance and Leicester and Abbey with their 125 per cent mortgages. Right now only one lender in ten does.

The general 100 per cent plus mortgages are usually taken out by divorcees or first time buyers desperate to get on the property ladder. The additional funds raised by over borrowing are used to cover legal costs, stamp duty and so on. This means people are instantly facing an uphill struggle because they start off their home buying lives in negative equity, borrowing more than their property is worth.

The temporary nationalisation of Northern Rock is going to cost us taxpayers £110 billion. It was revealed on Yesterday in the press that tax payers will be repaying the bill for years to come.

Northern Rock’s new boss Ron Sandler is paid £90K per month, he’s a former Lloyds TSB boss, no wonder he’s not with Lloyds TSB anymore if Northern Rock are coughing up £90K a month for him to run the company! Mr Sandler wouldn’t comment on the claims made in the press yesterday that up to half the 6,000 staff employed at Northern Rock may loose their jobs.

Mr Sandler said “Public ownership is not about running down this bank. It’s about stabilisation and building it back from a sound, solid platform”.

So the government’s idea is to privatise Northern Rock again, after the next general election in May 2010.

Hopefully we’ll all have been brain washed by then and have forgotten about the £110 billion we’re repaying for their mistakes by then Heh?…

Lloyds TSB Personal loan

The Lloyds TSB personal loan offers a specially reduced rate for Premier current account holders. Even if you’re not a Premier account holder 6.9% Typical APR is up there amongst the best personal loans available today. In fact I think there is only one other loan slightly more competitive in terms of APR.

Premier account holders;

6.4% Typical APR for up to 5 years on new loans of £5,000 to £25,000

If you’re not a Premier account holder;

6.9% Typical APR for up to 5 years on new loans of £5,000 to £25,000

If you are registered for internet banking you can login and apply online immediately, if not then you can call 0800 015 0071 Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am – 6pm to speak to a Lloyds TSB loans team representative for your quote.

If you click through the options ‘non premier account holder’ and ‘not registered for internet banking’ you can get a quote and using the loan calculator can tailor it to suit either your monthly repayment amount or the loan term.

>>Click here to apply online for the Lloyds TSB personal loan>>

HSBC personal loan

This is another new personal loan offer I’ve added today;

• 8.9% APR typical for Personal loans between £7,000 and £25,000 where the Personal loan purpose is for a car or home improvements
• Instant credit decision – apply online and HSBC will give you an instant credit decision, with no need to complete paper documents
• Get your money immediately – if your bank Personal loan is agreed online HSBC will put the money in your account immediately, available 24/7 365 days of the year
• Personal  Loan amount – bank Personal loans available from £1,000 – £25,000 for any purpose
• Need additional money – if you already have a Personal loan with HSBC and want to borrow more money you can now do this online
• Fixed repayment term – spread repayments equally over one to five years for Personal loans up to £15,000 or one to eight years for Personal loans £15,000 and over
• Deferred repayments – defer your Personal loans repayment for the first 3 months or take a repayment holiday every January for the life of the Personal loan

>>Click here to apply online for the HSBC personal loan>>

I’ve just add a few new products to the site today. Personally, I think this is one of the best credit card offers in the UK today;

MBNA Platinum Plus - Pay no interest until June 2009!

• 0% on balance transfers until your statement date in June 2009. A 2.9% handling fee applies
• 0% on purchases until your statement date in August 2008
• 0% on transferring cash into your current account until your statement date in June 2009
• 15.9% Typical APR, variable
• Online banking available, allowing you to transfer cash and balances.

>>Click here to apply online now!

MBNA will use your payments to reduce balances at lower rates of interest before balances at higher rates of interest. Where you have two promotional rates which are the same, MBNA will use your payments to reduce the balance with the longer promotional period first.

According to the latest housing market survey from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) the number of house buyers in January was up by 11 per cent.

Even though this finally sounds like some positive news for the housing market, a strong rise from December to January across any year is quite likely, I’d think. People generally do not think much about moving house in December and the people who do end up moving home have probably been in a chain of buyers and sellers for a good few months beforehand.

However, with 14.5% of all house sales in January generated from first time buyers, it suggests that maybe we’re at the beginning of a more healthy period for the UK housing market.

Chief executive at the NAEA, Peter Bolton King, said: “I am confident that we have just started to see the benefit of first interest rate cut in December and the latest quarter percent decrease in February will further help boost the confidence of all buyers and particularly first time buyers.”

There are more contradictory reports to this like the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) report which basically said that demand from new buyers fell at its quickest pace since October last year.

So it appears we’re still not out of the woods yet then. What I fail to understand is how 2 professional bodies like this can get 2 completely contradictory set of results!? Either house buyer numbers are up or the numbers are down…surely a simple calculation, you’d think.