There could be as many as half a million such homeowners, it is estimated, like Milli Richards (pictured), who let their properties because they cannot or do not want to sell them.

BP is weighing up whether to commit about £3.7billion to buy up its own stock using funds from the forthcoming sale of its stake in its Russian joint venture to Rosneft.

George Osborne has much soul-searching to do in the run-up to his Autumn Statement. Hopefully, he will execute U-turns on the new tax on children and the pension income drawdown shambles.

FCSS’s latest half-year results, published last week, continue to disappoint. Original investors have just 77p for every £1 invested at the April 2010 launch.

Anyone who submits their annual tax return in the next three weeks and is owed a refund could have the money in their bank account before Christmas.

In terms of Ministers cutting themselves some slack, QE is in a class of its own. Clarity is being lost and with it the impression that the Treasury is capable of holding to a steady line of policy. And voters punish muddled governments.

Banks in Britain and the Continent face a multi-billion pound squeeze on their assets as they attempt to shrink their exposure to commercial property.

A smartphone app that allows access to blocked content when abroad has had more than three million downloads in the year since its launch last November.

Websites have sprung up in recent weeks offering payday loans to help pay for Christmas shopping and celebrations, including several explicitly aimed at people on benefits.

Closing down sales began today at 27 of the stores, where up to 500 jobs could be under threat. A further 14 closing down sales will begin early next week.

Paul Lynam, chief executive of Secure Bank Trust, said 90% of PPI claims made against his bank’s lending arm, Everyday Loans, were rejected by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The retailer increased overall takings by 7.6 per cent on a year ago to £91.7million in the week to Saturday, with the Furby the must-have toy for Christmas.

My late husband’s will split assets between me and his son and daughter by a previous relationship. His son was the executor. His son came and removed items that then never appeared in the probate. What can I do?

A brewery set up four years ago by a former City accountant is to start selling its beers in Tesco.

Britain’s dismal productivity may in part be down to a simple problem – too few workers and too many salesmen.

Germany and France, the eurozone's biggest economies, could not save the bloc from a double-dip recession.

A sharp rise in inflation has failed to significantly alter the money market's predictions for the UK bank rate. Markets continue to suggest the Bank of England's key borrowing rate will not increase until 2017.

Victims who fail to guard their private information online are leaving themselves vulnerable to con artists reproducing a person's identity with jigsaw clues.

After facing thousands of complaints from customers the mobile provider has quietly backtracked on the change.

House prices are inching up but estate agents warn that over-optimistic sellers unwilling to cut their asking prices will not get a sold sign up. So what now for property?