Melanie Bien, director of Savills Private Finance mortgage brokers and a trusted contact, is always a good source to turn to with questions on mortgages.  In an email, she notes that RBS, Coventry Building Society and other lenders who are keen to ramp up business are introducing more flexible deposit requirements.  Excellent news for those of us with pitiful bank balances.

There is more happening at high LTVs with RBS launching its 90 per cent deals today….And Coventry BS introduced measures this week to allow existing borrowers with a maximum LTV of 125% to move home….The measures will apply to existing customers who have an “excellent credit history”, but have been unable to move home as lower house prices have pushed down the level of equity they have available….

Read more on the deals in Tanya Powley’s articles on RBS and on Coventry. Continue reading "Smaller deposits are acceptable again"

The news out today from AT Kearney that most people didn’t lose much in the stock market crash according to a new study is obviously good. The bad news is that it’s because most of us didn’t have much wealth to lose in the first place.

“The global financial crisis triggered a barrage of dramatic headlines about ‘$30tn in market value wiped out’ and ‘millions set to suffer as financial crisis ravages retirement nest eggs’ ,” says Neil Dennington, a principal at AT Kearney the global management consulting firm. “But the actual impact on household wealth was much lower than the stock market losses, especially since equity markets have started to recover.”

The real story is more about how little people have in savings in the first place. The analysis from AT Kearney show that 90 per cent of UK households have an average of £7,000 in financial assets, including their defined contribution pensions. Continue reading "You can’t lose what you don’t have"

If all else fails, let’s just learn to love the deficit.

It’s not a widely supported solution, concedes Andrew Smith of KPMG, but as long as interest rates remain low, it might just work.

Smith’s gloomy outlook for the government’s massive deficit drew snickering from his team. “The only time he smiles is during Christmas,” said David Kilshaw, head of private client advisory.

But those who expect groundbreaking changes in December’s pre-Budget Report (PBR) might be disappointed (or thrilled) to know that the experts from KPMG don’t foresee anything drastic.

If anything, they foresee a long speech with little content.

Kilshaw later ended the meeting in the hope that the only clauses he (and many tax advisers) hope to see in the tax legislation are “Santa Clauses.” But for now, we can only ho ho hope that the worst of the recession is behind us.

Here are some of their predictions:

Continue reading "Learning to love the deficit"

In these hard times every penny counts and yet so many of us are not taking full advantage of the rules to reduce our tax bills.

I receieved this simple guide to how to save tax from Malcolm Cuthbert at Killik & Co a few minutes ago and I’ve picked out the best bits for this blog.

Continue reading "Top ten ways to save tax"

Last night, I met Bernard Madoff. Well, not exactly. I met a portrait of him - made of wax - hung on a wall in a separate but dark room, surrounded by a faint glow. During the private viewing, Tot Taylor, director of the exhibition joked, “Don’t get too close to the aura!”

Madoff was only one of 100 portraits on display at Riflemaker’s exhibition of José-María Cano’s The Wall Street 100. Hosted by London & Capital, the exhibition showcased portraits of subjects who have had both a positive and negative influence on the global economy. It included Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Roman Abramovich and many fund managers I had never even heard of.

I don’t know how much Madoff’s portrait is worth, but I’ve heard there have already been enquiries. I’m not surprised. With his charming gaze, I’m sure someone will want it in their dining room. Maybe even as a memento. Continue reading "Portrait of Bernard Madoff"

We’ve just heard that the judgement on the bank charges test case will be given at 9.45am at the Supreme Court’s  Parliament Square HQ, London, next Wednesday 25 November 2009. So if you’re one of the thousands of individuals to have been charged high fees from your bank watch out for the result of the case on our homepage.

The case has been followed closely after it was revealed that the banks have made an estimated £2bn a year by charging customers hefty fees for unauthorised overdrafts, bounced cheques and direct debits. The major legal challenge is examining whether these are legally “fair”. If the supreme court justices rule against the banks, it could open the door for billions of pounds worth of charges to be paid back.

Continue reading "Date set for bank charges court case"

A few weeks ago, I asked managers of natural resources funds  whether they were more keen on buying into mining shares or gold bullion. Mining shares, they said.

But with the weakening of the US dollar  and the price of the yellow metal hitting $1,140.85 a troy ounce,  their opinions have changed.

Continue reading "Buy bullion. Sell miners."

House price indices. Dontcha just love ‘em? Six months of sizzling soaraway surges! Howard from the Halifax? You can bring your ‘For Sale’ sign round any time, with your 1.2 per cent rise in October, and your 7.1 per cent uplift since April!!! Nationwide? After six consecutive price rises, and the first year-on-year increase since March 2008, the feeling is most definitely mutual!!! FT-Acadametrics? Hearing you say “the worst is over“, has certainly left me in the in the pink!!!. Geddit!!?

House price indices? Arentcha sick of em’? A-whingin’ and a-whinin’ about their seasionally adjusted declines. Rightmove? Wrong move more like - with your report yesterday of a -1.6 per cent fall in November, and your forecasts of another three months of falling prices as new sellers drop their asking prices!!! Savills? We’d be better off asking Jimmy to Fix It, after your -6.6 per cent forecast for 2010!!! Fitch? A 30 per cent plunge from 2007 levels? How low can you go, with your dreary house price-to-income ratios??? Yawn!!

Sometimes, house price analysts spout more hysterical contradictory nonsense than Private Eye’s tabloid hackette Glenda Slagg. So who should you listen to? Continue reading "House price indices? Arentcha sick of em’?"