| Tesco and Royal take on money websites
TESCO Personal Finance and Royal Bank of Scotland are expected to launch a price comparison website amid concerns that existing sites are having an adverse effect on the sale of insurance and credit cards. It is understood that Sir Fred Goodwin, the RBS chief executive, has given the go-ahead for the site in conjunction with its Tesco partner and that it will be rolled out in the next few weeks. .
Michelin gives big business a good name
WHEN Alex Cassie parted company with a big engineering firm in northwest England four years ago, he was looking forward to a leisurely retirement. Former colleagues had other ideas. They persuaded him to start a new business with them in Burnley, making parts for car companies, including Aston Martin, and for electrical-generator manufacturers. One problem was finding finance. A bank loan was the obvious solution, but the local Burnley Enterprise Trust alerted Cassie to an unlikely source of funds. Why not ask Michelin, the French tyre company, for a loan? It was good advice. BCW Engineering, as the new company was called, was one of the first British firms to take advantage of Michelin Development, a small-business loan scheme that has been running in France since 1990 and which was brought to Britain in 2003.
Eyeing up the market
At a time when intermediaries are being coaxed into looking at commercial mortgages for the first time, it is hard to see into the future, to see what lies beyond the regulatory horizon for commercial mortgages. Intermediary buy-in on a large scale still has a long way to go in this market. But the template laid down for residential mortgages of offering whole-of-market before a recommendation is made and the concept of treating customers fairly (TCF) will be difficult to ignore, whether the market is regulated or not. Therefore, the habits that have been acquired in residential lending in the past two years to comply with TCF will be a feature of the growing commercial market. However, the commercial market is a different animal from its residential cousin. While the dynamics are the same, in that a lender takes a property as security in return for funding, the type of client, a business person, and the requirement for a loan on commercial premises not on a family home, removes some of the emotion that is attached to the purchase of a principal residence.
How to choose the right road for great car finance
Around 400,000 car purchase transactions are likely to take place in March with UK motorists eager to be among the first to drive away a new '07 registered car. However, care should be taken when considering how to fund such a purchase or risk paying heavily, say UK finance experts, Moneyextra.com.
After spending months deciding which is the best vehicle for their needs, many people are too quick to take up the first credit agreement that they are offered on the forecourt and don't do their sums to find out if they could get a better deal elsewhere.
The most common form of forecourt finance is HP (hire purchase) – where the loan is secured against the car itself. As it is commonly offered by car dealerships it is an extremely convenient way to buy a car.
However, HP has distinct disadvantages in that the car is not owned until the final payment has been made which means that there could be severe implications if payments are not met.
|
