With the cost of living in the UK rising at a higher rate than it has for some considerable time the people of the UK are feeling the need to cut back on their spending.
A survey carried out by the Alliance and Leicester found that over half of those surveyed had already started cutting back on spending. One of the most popular steps taken to save money has been to change gas and electric suppliers. Around 20 percent of those surveyed have done this already. Behind that comes sourcing low or zero interest credit cards, enabling people to cut the amount they pay on their borrowings.
There will be more and more people looking at ways to cut back on their spending as costs keep rising, so being aware of areas where savings can be made can only be helpful. As an Alliance and Leicester spokesperson commented, it is sensible to look for the best offer in all areas of living, since a saving is a saving.
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Representatives from Virgin Money have been discussing the potential purchase of troubled Northern Rock, they being part of a larger consortium.
The plan, if accepted, will be to make an initial GBP 11 billion payment, via commercial debt providers, and then put in a further GBP 1.3 billion for fresh capital investment. At the moment Northern Rock appear to accept the proposal put before them although there are questions over the longer term risk that taxpayers would face on the outstanding debt position.
The government will no doubt acknowledge this risk but it will be mitigated in some way by the interest rate they will earn on it, bringing extra revenue in to cover the risk, to a certain extent anyway. Right now Virgin Money look like firm favourites to take the Northern rock situation on, though only time will tell if that is the case.
According to the Lloyds TSB Business Unit the economy in Scotland is growing, albeit at a lower than hoped for rate.
Looking at the last three months almost 40 percent of businesses in Scotland reported that turnover was up, a third remained unchanged whilst 28 percent had seen a reduction. When combined these figures show a net gain of 11 percent – better than the quarter before but much less than the same time last year. A Lloyds TSB economist reported that Scottish businesses were expecting their figures to reduce in the next 6 months though their actual performance was better than the rest of the country.
Both manufacturing and service industries had enjoyed growth over the last quarter, which is a very healthy situation, though some business owners were telling the Lloyds TSB survey that they were beginning to notice the access to credit tightening up which could be a concern in the future.
