February 26th, 2015 | Andrew Hagger | News

This week a new index was launched that tracks historic returns of major peer-to-peer providers Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle.

The latest data reveals that peer-to-peer investors have enjoyed an average rate of 5.09% over the last 12 months and an impressive consistent level of return ranging between 4.5% and 6.2% over the previous nine years.

Compare these numbers with the rock bottom rates on offer from bank and building society deposit accounts and despite concerns at a lack of a 100% watertight FSCS type guarantee, month by month more savers are dipping their toes into the P2P waters.

A quick look at the range of rates advertised on RateSetter on Monday showed 4.2% for 1 year, 5.8% for 3 years and 6.6% for 5 years – a far cry from the best buy fixed rate savings bond equivalents of just 1.75% for 1 year, 2.5% for 3 years and 3.03% for 5 years.

In each of these three deposit terms the very best traditional savings bonds are delivering less than half the return on offer from the fastest growing UK P2P provider.

The new index was welcomed by the key players in the alternative investment field at the unveiling on Monday, with Giles Andrews of Zopa saying that he expected the index to become a useful and impartial tool in measuring returns in the future and that it would help increase transparency in the industry.

Similarly Rhydian Lewis of RateSetter referred to the Index as ‘another building block in the emergence of peer-to-peer as a proper asset class’.

“Transparency is absolutely crucial. It’s our skin in the game, and will ensure we maintain the trust of our customers for the long term” were the words of Samir Desai from Funding Circle.

With the difference between alternative and traditional returns showing no signs of narrowing and the P2P industry now lifting the bonnet for all to take a look inside, the case for alternative lending has just got that little bit stronger.

January 14th, 2015 | Andrew Hagger | News

New research from Gocompare.com has found that nearly half of UK consumers didn’t switch any of the 10 most popular financial products in 2014, including car insurance, home insurance, energy provider, bank account and broadband.

Astonishingly it found that 1 in 5 admitted to NEVER having switched their mortgage lender, bank, car insurer, home insurer, broadband provider, mobile phone or landline providers, energy provider, savings account or credit card .

59% of the 2011 UK adults who took part in the research felt that the worst effects of the Government’s ‘austerity’ measures were still to come and 55% were expecting 2015 to be a tough year financially. However, Gocompare.com found that millions of consumers could be saving £4.7 billion between them on just three common household expenses.

The most switched financial product is car insurance with 35% of drivers changing their insurer in the last 12 months. However, 34% have not switched in the last three years and half of those (17%) have never switched.

Home insurance is another product which is easy to switch and 29% of consumers did just that in 2014.  32% of householders have not switched their home insurer in the last 3 years including 21% who have never switched. Those customers could be missing out on a collective saving of £611 million.

Lee Griffin, Gocompare.com’s insurance spokesman, said: “Loyal customers are throwing away billions of pounds of savings by sticking with the same financial services and household utility providers year after year. Consumers who don’t regularly ditch and switch uncompetitive products and services such as their car and home insurance, energy tariff, mobile phone and broadband deals are paying out hundreds of pounds a year more than they need to in household bills.

“There are considerable savings to be made, but the only way to be sure of getting the very best deal is to check it for yourself by comparing what’s on offer from the competition. If your insurer, bank or energy provider thinks you’ll be happy to stay and keep paying over the odds, they’ll be equally happy to let you.

January 14th, 2015 | Andrew Hagger | News

Lloyds Bank has today a new travel notification service for online and mobile banking customers, which enables customers to let the bank know when they are going abroad.

Once customers are logged in to their online or mobile banking, they can now go into their profile and update the dates that they are going to be overseas, with the notification immediately effective.

The new travel service means that customers have greater choice to advise the Bank of their travel plans.

The travel notification can be set up  from the Internet Banking homepage, where customers can also add their travel destination and the dates of their travel.

The bank hopes that this initiative will give customers greater confidence and peace of mind when spending abroad, whether that’s paying for a hotel, meal or hire car.

Adrian Bryant, Director of Digital at Lloyds Bank commented: “We know that our customers find travel notification a useful service and previously they would have had to visit a branch or activate this through telephone banking. Enabling customers to provide us with this information in real time means that they can do it where and when it’s convenient for them, even if that is 2am in a departure lounge.

With digitally active Lloyds Bank customers now able to take advantage of the new service, it is expected that travel notifications will increase by around 50% over the next 12 months.”

May 6th, 2014 | Andrew Hagger | News

Around twenty per cent of travelers over the age of 50 go on holiday without insurance, according to a new report.

A poll of more than 10,000 people by Saga Travel Insurance found that 17 per cent go abroad without cover, while a further quarter delay buying their cover, with many purchasing insurance in the month before they travel.

Saga warned that buying cover at such a late stage could leave people exposed particularly as cancellation claims account for a large proportion of the total travel insurance claims for this age group.

Regionally, those in the Midlands and Welsh Borders are most likely to travel without any cover at all.

The report also claims that Londoners are the most likely to wait until the last minute before arranging insurance, with 13 per cent saying they wait until a week or two before departure.

A spokesman for, Saga, commented: “Typically the over 50s book their holidays a long time in advance and it makes sense to take out cover at the same time to ensure you can claim back your deposit if for some reason you are no longer able to travel.”