 |  | By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer Friday, 4 April 2008 |
IT’S been a week of corporate news with the latest on Northern Rock boss Adam Applegarth, how the new bank codes could save you cash and the latest news on tuition fees. That and another top money tip from the best weekly money roundup written by someone called Kukiewicz on the web.
New Bank Code
THE new bank code which promises to make banks clean up their act comes into effect this week.
Under the new voluntary code banks must assess whether people will be able to repay their debts before signing them up to new loans or credit cards. They must also give help to consumers switching their accounts to other banks, provide customers with sufficient information before they purchase financial products and offer consumers advice on how to protect their accounts from fraud. They are also prevented from switching a customer from a free account to a fee-paying one without their permission.
The new code hasn’t pleased everybody. Quite apart from the fact that these are things that banks should be doing in any case organisations such as Help the Aged point out that there was no mention of age discrimination. Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at the charity, has called the practice, "unacceptable and indefensible".
Applegarth Stays Affluent
A good news week for ex-Northern Rock head honcho Adam Applegarth as it is announced that he will receive a £760 000 government payout over the next twelve months.
This is less good news, of course, for the thousands of shareholders, employees and consumers who lost out - and are continuing to lose out - as a result of Applegarth’s irresponsible policies.
On balance, of course, someone might have considered that rewarding the boss for a failure of this magnitude might be grossly insulting to almost everyone else involved and the taxpayer who ultimately has to foot the bill. Not Applegarth’s collegue Ron Sandler, the executive chairman of Northern Rock, however, who blamed: "the impact of deteriorating market conditions." Really Ron would those be the same ‘market conditions’ that were precipitated by irresponsible lending in the first place?
Expect Applegarth to be only one of the first big businessmen to valiantly hold on to ‘their’ cash as credit crunch continues.
Tuition Fees Set to Rise
PARENTS around the country dropped down into a dead faint today as it was announced that tuition fees for university students could be set to double to £7000 a year.
The report from the Higher Education Policy Institute warned that a rise in the fee cap –currently set as £3300 – could lead to students having to take out mortgage-style loans to pay for their education.
For those in the know the news was less of a shock. It’s been clear for a while that the current system of subsidising the interest on student loans cannot last forever. Its ethics – that since no student pays up front no-one is excluded – are admirable but by not charging interest the government will have to pay 2.5 billion per annum, around double its 2003-4 budget.
Even the NUS has given up on the idea of free education. It voted to stop campaigning for an end to tuition fees at its annual conference on Wednesday.
Looks like their no option but to start saving up those pennies...
And Finally, if you only do one thing this week...
And finally if you only do one thing this financial week check out the jaw-dropping savings you could make on credit cards.
Figures due to be released today will show that more Brits than ever are taking advantage of great rates to such as Virgin's 15 month 0% balance transfer and then switching to save. Don’t miss out!
|
