Santander, the Spanish banking group that owns Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, has announced a 58% rise in Sterling profits for the first 9 months of this year to £1.2BN.
Abbey's gross lending of £19BN represented 20.5% of the UK market, although it is 37% less than last year.
Santander is the eurozone's largest bank by market capitalisation.
However, Bradford & Bingley is going to split its good and bad assets (its balance sheet being £50BN), and sell the good assets to private buyers, in order to pay off its £18.4BN loan early.
The question is, what exactly is a "good" asset and what is a "bad" asset?
Showing posts with label Abbey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abbey. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Named and Shamed
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has finally had the guts to name and shame the worst offending financial services companies in the UK, being those companies that have logged the highest number of customer complaints.
Congratulations to the five major high street banks, which account for the majority of the complaints.
The big five have managed to notch up a staggering 38,286 complaints, out of a total of nearly 70,000 received by the ombudsman in the six months to 30 June 2009.
- Lloyds (which includes HBOS) came top to the league of shame with 15,233 complaints.
- The Royal Bank of Scotland group scored 5,533 of the complaints received by the ombudsman.
- Barclays scored 8,283.
- Abbey scored 2,493 complaints.
- HSBC group scored 2,363 complaints.
- Alliance & Leicester scored 1,786.
The chairman of the FOS, Sir Christopher Kelly, was more than unimpressed. He is quoted:
"I will now be writing to the chairmen of the financial businesses that generate the largest proportion of our complaints workload, to ask them to consider very carefully both their own complaints performance – as reflected in the data we are publishing today – and the complaints performance of their competitors."
As I have noted many times before, the financial services sector in the UK treats its customers appallingly.
Why does it use the word "services" in its moniker, given that "service" is the one thing that it doesn't provide?
Congratulations to the five major high street banks, which account for the majority of the complaints.
The big five have managed to notch up a staggering 38,286 complaints, out of a total of nearly 70,000 received by the ombudsman in the six months to 30 June 2009.
- Lloyds (which includes HBOS) came top to the league of shame with 15,233 complaints.
- The Royal Bank of Scotland group scored 5,533 of the complaints received by the ombudsman.
- Barclays scored 8,283.
- Abbey scored 2,493 complaints.
- HSBC group scored 2,363 complaints.
- Alliance & Leicester scored 1,786.
The chairman of the FOS, Sir Christopher Kelly, was more than unimpressed. He is quoted:
"I will now be writing to the chairmen of the financial businesses that generate the largest proportion of our complaints workload, to ask them to consider very carefully both their own complaints performance – as reflected in the data we are publishing today – and the complaints performance of their competitors."
As I have noted many times before, the financial services sector in the UK treats its customers appallingly.
Why does it use the word "services" in its moniker, given that "service" is the one thing that it doesn't provide?
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Banking Rip Off
As I have noted before, the financial services industry in the UK has an unfailing knack for digging itself deeper into its own shit.
Not content with foisting endowment mortgages, PPI, excess credit card rates, bank charges and other insults on its hapless customers it now seeks to milk them further by "imaginative" and outrageous profiteering charges on mortgage arrears.
Many thousands of homebuyers, many of whom are unemployed, face profiteering penalty charges on top of their regular monthly mortgage repayments.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) report that the number of mortgages in arrears by three months or more has reached 270,400 (compared with 152,700 at the end of the second quarter of 2008).
Moneysupermarket.com report that Lloyds Group is charging £206 for repayments three months or more in arrears.
GMAC and Abbey charge penalties of £50 and £40, respectively, when the borrower is only one month in arrears.
Halifax charges £35 for every call/letter wrt mortgage arrears, and then has the barefaced cheek to charge £100 for debt advice.
The FSA has a Code of Conduct that requires that lenders treat customers fairly sympathetically.
Evidently the banks haven't read that code, or simply do not care about it.
The Treasury Select Committee is not impressed with either the banks, or the hapless and hopeless FSA. It has attacked the FSA for sitting on its hands.
Britain's financial services industry is rotten to its core.
Until the FSA is expunged from history, and replaced with a more pro active assertive regulatory body, the hapless British consumer can only expect more of the same and continue to be ripped off.
Those who currently are enjoying the fruits of their profiteering should bear in mind the wise adage:
"What goes around, comes around".
Not content with foisting endowment mortgages, PPI, excess credit card rates, bank charges and other insults on its hapless customers it now seeks to milk them further by "imaginative" and outrageous profiteering charges on mortgage arrears.
Many thousands of homebuyers, many of whom are unemployed, face profiteering penalty charges on top of their regular monthly mortgage repayments.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) report that the number of mortgages in arrears by three months or more has reached 270,400 (compared with 152,700 at the end of the second quarter of 2008).
Moneysupermarket.com report that Lloyds Group is charging £206 for repayments three months or more in arrears.
GMAC and Abbey charge penalties of £50 and £40, respectively, when the borrower is only one month in arrears.
Halifax charges £35 for every call/letter wrt mortgage arrears, and then has the barefaced cheek to charge £100 for debt advice.
The FSA has a Code of Conduct that requires that lenders treat customers fairly sympathetically.
Evidently the banks haven't read that code, or simply do not care about it.
The Treasury Select Committee is not impressed with either the banks, or the hapless and hopeless FSA. It has attacked the FSA for sitting on its hands.
Britain's financial services industry is rotten to its core.
Until the FSA is expunged from history, and replaced with a more pro active assertive regulatory body, the hapless British consumer can only expect more of the same and continue to be ripped off.
Those who currently are enjoying the fruits of their profiteering should bear in mind the wise adage:
"What goes around, comes around".
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Famous Names Scrapped
Abbey, Alliance & Leicester (A&L) and Bradford & Bingley are to be scrapped; or at least their names are to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Santander, the Spanish banking group that owns all three brands, has announced that it will re brand them under the "flame-logo" and Santander name by the end of 2010.
Given that the above names currently exist and function side by side in many highstreets, it is fair to assume that once the re branding has occurred the next step will be staff cuts and office closures.
Santander, the Spanish banking group that owns all three brands, has announced that it will re brand them under the "flame-logo" and Santander name by the end of 2010.
Given that the above names currently exist and function side by side in many highstreets, it is fair to assume that once the re branding has occurred the next step will be staff cuts and office closures.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Back on Track
Three mainstream mortgage lenders have relaunched their tracker mortgages, since last week's mass exodus following the 1.5% cut in interest rates.
- Abbey has introduced a two year tracker at 4.99% (1.99% above base, being 0.7% higher above base than its previous tracker)
- Lloyds TSB has introduced a tracker at 4.79% (1.99% above base, being 0.7% higher above base than its previous tracker)
- Alliance & Leicester has introduced a new tracker at 4.89% with a 1% fee.
Strange that they increase their margins, when the rates are falling. However, borrowers should be grateful for small mercies that they are at least offering trackers.
Meanwhile a survey of more than 200 cards by Defaqto, a banking research group, found that the cost of borrowing on credit cards rose to 17.6% cent and rates on store cards rose to 25%, with some companies increasing rates by up to 10% overnight.
How strange!
Surely the credit card companies are not trying to profiteer from this crisis?
- Abbey has introduced a two year tracker at 4.99% (1.99% above base, being 0.7% higher above base than its previous tracker)
- Lloyds TSB has introduced a tracker at 4.79% (1.99% above base, being 0.7% higher above base than its previous tracker)
- Alliance & Leicester has introduced a new tracker at 4.89% with a 1% fee.
Strange that they increase their margins, when the rates are falling. However, borrowers should be grateful for small mercies that they are at least offering trackers.
Meanwhile a survey of more than 200 cards by Defaqto, a banking research group, found that the cost of borrowing on credit cards rose to 17.6% cent and rates on store cards rose to 25%, with some companies increasing rates by up to 10% overnight.
How strange!
Surely the credit card companies are not trying to profiteer from this crisis?
Friday, November 07, 2008
Called To See The Headmaster
As predicted, despite the 1.5% cut in rates yesterday, the high street banks have been a tad tardy in passing on the cuts to their hard pressed borrowers.
Needless to say, the government is not best pleased as it will be blamed by the voters for this (not least because it now has effective control of a number of these banks).
Alistair Darling therefore summoned the CEOs of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Abbey to Downing Street this morning to demand that they immediately pass on the rate cut to their customers.
Bradford & Bingley (B&B), Lloyds TSB and Abbey have now passed on the rate reduction.
I suspect that before the day is out, we will hear from the other banks that the rate cuts will be passed on.
Needless to say, the government is not best pleased as it will be blamed by the voters for this (not least because it now has effective control of a number of these banks).
Alistair Darling therefore summoned the CEOs of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HBOS and Abbey to Downing Street this morning to demand that they immediately pass on the rate cut to their customers.
Bradford & Bingley (B&B), Lloyds TSB and Abbey have now passed on the rate reduction.
I suspect that before the day is out, we will hear from the other banks that the rate cuts will be passed on.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Bankers Strike Back
The major high street banks, never fearful of damaging their already trashed reputations, will go to the Court of Appeal today in a bid to overturn the High Court ruling that unauthorised overdraft charges are unlawful.
The banks lodging the appeal include; Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Whatever the outcome, not expected to be decided for quite some time, the banks will ensure that they make money out of their customers one way or another. In the event they lose the appeal, they will simply abolish free current accounts.
It's as simple as that!
The banks lodging the appeal include; Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Whatever the outcome, not expected to be decided for quite some time, the banks will ensure that they make money out of their customers one way or another. In the event they lose the appeal, they will simply abolish free current accounts.
It's as simple as that!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Banks Speed Up - Sort Of
A rare piece of good news for bank customers whereby the banks, whose reputation has sunk to an all time low, have actually started to do something the benefits their long suffering customers.
A banking scheme for one-day cash transfers over the phone or on the internet has started.
This is designed to speed up the process of transfers, which previously took up to four days.
Can you guess what happened to the money being transferred during this four day period?
It earned the banks a very nice £30M in interest per annum.
How nice for them!
Under the new scheme customers will be able to make one-off payments, up to a maximum value of £10K, over the telephone or via the internet. These payments will leave their account and arrive at the destination account on the same day.
The 13 banks included in the scheme are: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Barclays, Citi, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks (National Australia Group), Co-operative Bank, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society, Northern Bank (Danske Bank), Northern Rock, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (including NatWest and Ulster Bank).
I wonder what the catch is?
A banking scheme for one-day cash transfers over the phone or on the internet has started.
This is designed to speed up the process of transfers, which previously took up to four days.
Can you guess what happened to the money being transferred during this four day period?
It earned the banks a very nice £30M in interest per annum.
How nice for them!
Under the new scheme customers will be able to make one-off payments, up to a maximum value of £10K, over the telephone or via the internet. These payments will leave their account and arrive at the destination account on the same day.
The 13 banks included in the scheme are: Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Barclays, Citi, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks (National Australia Group), Co-operative Bank, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society, Northern Bank (Danske Bank), Northern Rock, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (including NatWest and Ulster Bank).
I wonder what the catch is?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Mortgage Misery
The mortgage misery continues with an announcement by Nationwide and Abbey that will dampen the ardour of those borrowers who do not have a deposit of at least 10%.
As from Thursday, Nationwide will offer loans for 95%t only to existing borrowers or people taking out a three-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
A from tomorrow, Abbey will have only one deal left for homeowners with 5% equity — a five-year, fixed-rate deal charging 6.99%.
In other news it seems that the EU will be taking a close look at the Bank of England's attempted rescue package of £50BN, there is a risk that the EU will declare it unfairly subsidising British banks.
As from Thursday, Nationwide will offer loans for 95%t only to existing borrowers or people taking out a three-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
A from tomorrow, Abbey will have only one deal left for homeowners with 5% equity — a five-year, fixed-rate deal charging 6.99%.
In other news it seems that the EU will be taking a close look at the Bank of England's attempted rescue package of £50BN, there is a risk that the EU will declare it unfairly subsidising British banks.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Bank Charges
As the date for the court appearance by eight banks, who will be taken to court in January by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for allegedly unfair bank charges, draws ever nearer; some banks are trying to show "some flexibility" in their approach to their customers.
Thisismoney reports that Lloyds will be the first bank to reduce its overdraft charges.
Quote:
"On November 2 Lloyds will introduce a monthly charge of £15 and a sliding scale of daily charges of between £6 and £20 instead of its previous daily charge of £30 for unauthorised overdrafts."
Whether this mollifies the OFT, or is the start of a price war between the banks, remains to be seen.
The list of shame includes; Lloyds, Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, Natwest and its owner HBOS, HSBC, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide Building Society.
Thisismoney reports that Lloyds will be the first bank to reduce its overdraft charges.
Quote:
"On November 2 Lloyds will introduce a monthly charge of £15 and a sliding scale of daily charges of between £6 and £20 instead of its previous daily charge of £30 for unauthorised overdrafts."
Whether this mollifies the OFT, or is the start of a price war between the banks, remains to be seen.
The list of shame includes; Lloyds, Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, Natwest and its owner HBOS, HSBC, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide Building Society.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Abbey Launches 100% Mortgage
Abbey has announced that it will launch a new range of 100% mortgage offers, as from June 13, with maximum lending of up to £500,000 and no higher lending charge.
The offers will be available at 6.29% as a two year tracker, from 6.35% as a two year fix, 6.99% as a three year fix and 6.79% as a five year fix.
Abbey expects the product to mainly appeal to first time buyers, as well as the recently divorced getting back on the housing ladder.
I trust that the launch date, 13th June, is not a bad omen for either Abbey or their clients.
The offers will be available at 6.29% as a two year tracker, from 6.35% as a two year fix, 6.99% as a three year fix and 6.79% as a five year fix.
Abbey expects the product to mainly appeal to first time buyers, as well as the recently divorced getting back on the housing ladder.
I trust that the launch date, 13th June, is not a bad omen for either Abbey or their clients.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Bank Robbery
Those of you who are fed up with being on the receiving end of extortionate penalty charges levied by banks and credit card companies, may be interested in the following.
In 2005 the top six High Street banks in the UK made an estimated £4.5BN from penalty charges. These charges are imposed by the banks when the account holder actions unauthorised overdrafts, bounced cheques and clears Direct Debits when there are insufficient funds in the account.
It seems that, according to Stephen Hone, these charges are in fact illegal. He argues that, under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), all penalty charges have to truly reflect the cost of administering them.
They are not permitted to be a profit making enterprise for any business. He believes if a penalty charge is higher than its administrative cost, it is illegal.
Mr Hone managed to successfully claim back £840 in bank charges from Abbey. The BBC then asked a few other people to try the same. To see how they did, visit the BBC site.
The BBC have even set up a set by step guide, with pro forma letters, helping people to claim their charges back. To view the guide, visit Bank Robbers.
However, I would caution against undue and exuberant optimism, the banks will not take a mass "reclaim of charges" lying down. They are already arguing that the "penalties" are not "penalties", but "service charges"; this would, in the banks' opinion, exempt them from the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.
I would also note that the banks may decide to become even more disagreeable, and simply stop honouring cheques and direct debits that push people into the red.
Remember, the banks are here to make money; they are not a charity.
In 2005 the top six High Street banks in the UK made an estimated £4.5BN from penalty charges. These charges are imposed by the banks when the account holder actions unauthorised overdrafts, bounced cheques and clears Direct Debits when there are insufficient funds in the account.
It seems that, according to Stephen Hone, these charges are in fact illegal. He argues that, under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), all penalty charges have to truly reflect the cost of administering them.
They are not permitted to be a profit making enterprise for any business. He believes if a penalty charge is higher than its administrative cost, it is illegal.
Mr Hone managed to successfully claim back £840 in bank charges from Abbey. The BBC then asked a few other people to try the same. To see how they did, visit the BBC site.
The BBC have even set up a set by step guide, with pro forma letters, helping people to claim their charges back. To view the guide, visit Bank Robbers.
However, I would caution against undue and exuberant optimism, the banks will not take a mass "reclaim of charges" lying down. They are already arguing that the "penalties" are not "penalties", but "service charges"; this would, in the banks' opinion, exempt them from the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.
I would also note that the banks may decide to become even more disagreeable, and simply stop honouring cheques and direct debits that push people into the red.
Remember, the banks are here to make money; they are not a charity.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Big Mortgage
It seems that in order to prevent Britain's already dangerously inflated housing bubble from bursting, mortgage lenders are creating ever more dangerous products with which to ensnare the unwary and desperate house hunters.
Abbey have created a mortgage product which people may well regret buying into. Abbey has become the first major bank to lend first-time buyers five times their salary, for their first house purchase.
Lloyds TSB's Scottish Widows Bank have also confirmed that it offers mortgages of up to five times salary, in its professional and graduate packages. However, this is only for individual borrowers, the maximum a couple can get is four times earnings.
Last week, Bank of Ireland Mortgagees and Bristol and West increased their standard lending multiples from four to 4.5 times earnings.
Abbey, will now lend £300,000 to a single customer or two people with a good credit record and a total income of at least £60,000.
Abbey is making the offer available to individuals, couples, or two people not in a relationship who have a 25% deposit.
The maximum Abbey will lend a borrower for a standard mortgage is £2M.
Not surprisingly some people are warning against this product. Malcolm Hurlston, chief executive of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service said:
"For some people this is going to look like an answer to their prayers but it risks taking them into dangerous territory.
If their salaries do not go up in the way they think, then they are going to be very stretched."
An Abbey spokesman said:
"It's a real shift within the industry.
Our research shows that affordability is the biggest barrier to people's ability to get onto the property ladder.
This is very much about looking at an individual's ability to pay."
Abbey's research showed that 17.3 million adults are not able to get on the property ladder with 7.4 million citing house prices as a key obstacle.
Recent house price surveys have put the inflation at between 8%-10%.
That is all very well. However, at some stage the ongoing price rises will stop and those who bought in on the expectation of being to sell at a profit, thus clearing the debt, will be in for a rude awakening.
Abbey have created a mortgage product which people may well regret buying into. Abbey has become the first major bank to lend first-time buyers five times their salary, for their first house purchase.
Lloyds TSB's Scottish Widows Bank have also confirmed that it offers mortgages of up to five times salary, in its professional and graduate packages. However, this is only for individual borrowers, the maximum a couple can get is four times earnings.
Last week, Bank of Ireland Mortgagees and Bristol and West increased their standard lending multiples from four to 4.5 times earnings.
Abbey, will now lend £300,000 to a single customer or two people with a good credit record and a total income of at least £60,000.
Abbey is making the offer available to individuals, couples, or two people not in a relationship who have a 25% deposit.
The maximum Abbey will lend a borrower for a standard mortgage is £2M.
Not surprisingly some people are warning against this product. Malcolm Hurlston, chief executive of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service said:
"For some people this is going to look like an answer to their prayers but it risks taking them into dangerous territory.
If their salaries do not go up in the way they think, then they are going to be very stretched."
An Abbey spokesman said:
"It's a real shift within the industry.
Our research shows that affordability is the biggest barrier to people's ability to get onto the property ladder.
This is very much about looking at an individual's ability to pay."
Abbey's research showed that 17.3 million adults are not able to get on the property ladder with 7.4 million citing house prices as a key obstacle.
Recent house price surveys have put the inflation at between 8%-10%.
That is all very well. However, at some stage the ongoing price rises will stop and those who bought in on the expectation of being to sell at a profit, thus clearing the debt, will be in for a rude awakening.
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