Here at the Money Lion Castle we like to keep our fingers on the financial pulse, so here is a selection of the top stories from around the internet…
Banks
Lloyds Banking Group has made a loss of £3.5bn after earmarking £3.2bn to cover compensation claims from mis-sold payment protection insurance. It’s hard to mention the word ‘banker’ these days without ‘bonus’ tagged on.
However according to the BBC:
“Lloyds said its bonus pool for 2015 was £375m, down 30% against 2013… Earlier this week the bank, which also owns TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, announced it would not be paying £2m of the pre-announced bonuses to 13 executives.”
Payday loans
Okay, so most of us have been strugging financially one way or another over the last four years of the world economic crisis. Personal debt is a nightmare, and you can’t always wait til payday to settle your debts. How many of you have thought about that payday loan?
Well, the Office of Fair Trade has launched an investigation into the £1bn industry, which hands-out loans to people who will be unable to repay them.
The Daily Mail has latched onto this one:
“The watchdog will look at claims the firms that are actively encouraging people to roll up loans, generating punishing interest charges and fees… The short-term loans have become incredibly easy to take-out, with some firms even arranging to dish out credit via mobile phone text message.
Some of the payday loans have a nominal APR interest rate of as much as 3,000 per cent.”
Tax evasion
Nobody likes to pay tax, who does? If you’re a tax dodger, beware. HMRC is creating 30 dedicated task force to scoop-up all of your unpaid taxes.
Mike Down at Baker Tilly told The Telegraph:
“HMRC expects to collect over £50m as a result of 12 task forces launched in 2015/12 and anticipate that, with 13 criminal investigations under way, this figure is set to rise.”
“HMRC will also extend some of the task forces from 2015 to different locations, including the scrap metal task force launched in Scotland in November.”
These are some of the stories that stuck out in my mind. Say “bankers bonuses” at the dinner table and your mum will send you to bed without any pudding; that aside many of the banks that have in the last few days reported losses, a good chunk of that is for payment protection claims. That’s not a terrible thing, is it?
I don’t think anybody will be sad to hear about the payday loan investigation, especially if there are people already drowning in debt taking-on even more that’s nearly impossible to pay. Same for those tax dodgers; £50m is a huge chunk of money! If they get that, what economic crisis?
What were your top finance stories of the week? Tell me about them in the comments below!
Related posts:
February 24, 2023
business