82 percent of households in Britain are changing their behaviour in response to rising costs and future economic concerns say Legal and General.
With Summer holidays topical right now it is revealing to see that over a quarter of households have changed their holiday plans because of their uncertainty about the future. Lots of people have also cut down on how often they go out, with nearly 40 percent of people saying they now spend more time at home.
One of the biggest concerns from the Legal and General survey was the fact that about half the households spoken to are cutting back on food in order to manage their finances, with over a quarter of them also looking at selling possessions in order to manage. Lets hope the government sees the survey and does something about it, starting with fuel taxation, something that affects the cost of everything in the UK.
In 2007 approximately 18,000 unsecured personal loans were taken out to pay for school fees, with a total value of around GBP165 million according to Sainsburys Bank.
Looking at the historical data Sainsburys Bank also found that over GBP2 billion extra was spent on school fees in 2006 compared with just 2 years previously. This is a massive additional amount to cover and explains the increasing use of unsecured personal loans and other forms of borrowing to fund childrens educations.
Looking ahead Sainsburys Bank also expect the trend to continue. With a rising cost of living, more children enjoying private education and also the fact that school fees themselves rise at levels well above the rate of inflation they are predicting more borrowing.
Citibank is providing Euro transfers and third party account payments with no fees to its customers.
Covering 31 European countries the Citibank initiative will get money into any bank account in Europe within 3 days. The fee free element applies to Citibank current accounts and savings accounts that use the Euro as their currency. Accounts that use a currency other than the Euro will have a charge of 2 percent levied for currency conversion.
A spokesperson from Citibank saw this new initiative as one that would speed up the whole banking process in Europe and make the transfer of money inexpensive and safe. It is expected to be especially popular with customers who have overseas properties and also those who send payments to bank accounts in different European countries.
Check the best current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs at Moneygossip.
