This is Money Blog

Web Week: The last chance for a bank bailout

ANM Blog — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:12:00 +0100

Last week saw the nationalisation of Britain's biggest buy-to-let lender, a 100% guarantee for Irish savings banks and therefore for some British savers, doubts about the Lloyds takeover of HBOS and an on-off roller-coaster for the US bank bailout. Just...

Bank of England reveals mortgage winners

ANM Blog — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:35:49 +0100

Credit is drying up and borrowers are increasingly defaulting on their debts. That was the unsurprising conclusion of the Bank of England's quarterly Credit Conditions Survey today. But buried in the smallprint of the report was a thin silver lining....

1.35m readers and what they read in September 2008

ANM Blog — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:37:00 +0100

What an incredible month. Financial news moved on to the main news arena when the credit crunch began in August 2007. But in September 2008, interest in markets, banking, mortgages and savings surpassed anything seen before. Nearly 1.35m visitors came...

The investment panic test: Should you sell?

ANM Blog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:08:59 +0100

I loved this note from independent financial adviser Darius McDermott, which really sums up the decision for investors. He believes there are two key question investors need to ask... 'To be blunt, until the credit crisis, which is spreading like...

The great stock market ransom

ANM Blog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:04:57 +0100

Here's the deal... US lawmakers - approve our bank rescue package or we'll wreck your economy. That's effectively what the markets are telling us. American shares plunged a record 7% yesterday, so the UK's FTSE 100 initially plunged 3% (adding...

Savings compensation just got a lot more confusing…

ANM Blog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:37:25 +0100

Now that Bradford & Bingley’s savings book has been bought by Spanish bank Santander and 100% backed by the Government, the issue of savings compensation has got even more complicated. Great, just what we all need. When the Northern Rock...

Will HBOS and Lloyds merge? The share price suggests not

ANM Blog — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:02:35 +0100

Will the great bank merger happen? Well, HBOS shares are trading at a 12% discount to Lloyds TSB's offer, suggesting there is a reasonable chance it won't. And HBOS has broken with tradition of not using outside financial PR advisers...

Web Week: Top stories led by savings safety

ANM Blog — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:15:33 +0100

When Northern Rock collapsed last year, customers queued in the street. In recent weeks, with HBOS forced into a merger and B&B shares at an all-time low, concerns for banks may be greater: visitor numbers to Thisismoney have been around...

Money saving expert falls foul of fine

ANM Blog — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:55:29 +0100

Look what I found out about so-called ‘Money saving expert’ Martin Lewis on Companies House the other day (I clearly have way too much time on my hands). The guy has fallen foul of his own penny-pinching ethos and been...

Credit crunch: My advice to This Morning viewers

ANM Blog — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:06:50 +0100

With everyone desperate for financial information and advice, I've appeared on a number of different TV and radio programmes in the past week - the more information out there, the better it will be for all in the crunch. The...