Kicking off the global trend this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased rates to 6 percent. Concern has been raised that Australia could be pushed into a recession as local banks followed the increase, with Westpac announcing an immediate increase to its standard variable rate to household borrowers of 7.8 percent. Worse...
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Like most in the financial markets, the building societies were expecting rates to stay put. However, this afternoon the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Review Committee (MPC) announced a surprise increase in UK interest rates, setting the new rate up 0.5 percent to 4.75 percent. Today’s rise is likely to mean trouble for many...
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The Bank of England’s monetary policy review committee managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat this afternoon. In a move that most had discounted, the MPC announced at noon that for the first time in eleven months it would increase interest rates in the UK to 4.75 percent. Whilst the MPC has...
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The London stock market fell ahead of the announcement at noon of whether interest rates will remain at 4.5 percent or rise. The sentiment across the board is that the rates will be put on hold, though recent economic figures suggest that there may be reasons to act now and raise interest rates. Meanwhile...
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And while the banks make provision for bad debts, 20 percent of borrowers who owe more than £10,000 in unsecured personal debt are considering making themselves insolvent. According to debt consultancy Thomas Charles, the number has surged dramatically since March when only one in seven said they had considered insolvency as an option. Maybe...
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