The mass boycott came on the back of explicit advice from David Cameron and other ministers, who said angry and disappointed customers should switch to cheaper rivals. Sales and profits at British Gas will be down significantly on last winter, representing a hammer blow from the sudden loss of customers.
Aviva has taken at least seven years to reimburse £163million to 390,000 affected customers but is has pledged to resolve the issues within two years.
LSL Property Services said the average house is now worth £241,101 with annual inflation at 5.2 per cent after a substantial acceleration in prices.
Job vacancies are rising, more businesses are hiring, the economy is looking rosier. So how do you find the right staff? Having interviewed hundreds of people over the years, made more than his fair share of hiring mistakes, and responded very badly to interview questions himself, Andy Yates reveals his winning formula.
As many as 1.1million jobs are set to go between 2010 and 2019 as a result of austerity measures, with as many as two in five axed in some areas, the IFS has warned.
Providers make up to £230million a year selling annuities to existing pension customers, even though four out of five of them could get more money from elsewhere.
A Public Accounts Committee report today concluded that the Government overestimates how much it will be repaid by 8 per cent
Energy companies failed customers on billing, metering, customer service, and switching, the data from Which? showed.
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Money-making Valentine's share tips
Six shares to deliver that loving feeling all-year round
'Cash can be king even if you are chasing the best investing returns'
Investors who think dodging bullets is best
ADAM UREN: Probe into annuities fails to answer the burning question
How do we fix this?
Will victims of the floods be forced to pay standing charges on energy bills?
How the Big Six are helping flood victims
Why supermarkets are throwing down the gauntlet to High St banks
- and going after their profits.
Have you missed the chance to move to a better mortgage?
Best ever fixed rates vanishing but small deposit deals improve.
'Thieves stole £200,000 from our family business three years ago'.
But our insurer still won't pay
SIMON LAMBERT: It's different this time, interest rates aren't going back to normal
Sentiment that sets alarm bells ringing
UPDATED: The best and cheapest DIY investing platforms
Our pick of the best
The essential guide to freebies online and on the High St
Watch hit movies for nothing with a free coffee and cake...
The killer interview questions you should ask every candidate
How not to hire a dud
In the meantime, they were happy to see the shares rally from a 52-week low to close 8 per cent higher at 119.75p following a third-quarter trading statement. Industry guru George O’Connor, at Panmure Gordon, described the statement as anodyne. It did not comment on how the business is performing relative to full-year expectations
The Dutch spend around 0.1 per cent of annual output keeping the country dry. Such vision simply does not exist in the UK.
The Office for National Statistics said new housing construction jumped 10.4 per cent to £22.1bn – its highest level since 2007.
If banks want to regain trust, and watchdogs be more effective, they must say what they mean, even when it is uncomfortable.
Lloyds is already thought to have clawed back 80 per cent of Daniels’ 2010 annual bonus of £1.16m over the scandal.
For example, even after this week’s plunge, the share price of Rolls-Royce is up by almost two-thirds since highly respected boss Sir John Rose left in March 2011.
BALANCE TRANSFERS
FIVE FAVOURITE ISAS
BEST BANK ACCOUNTS
TOP CREDIT CARDS
CUT ENERGY BILLS
CHEAP MORTGAGES
CAR INSURANCE
HOLIDAY SPENDING
BALANCE TRANSFERS
FIVE FAVOURITE ISAS
Richard Webb, of momentum investors Saltydog, says sitting back and watching investments plummet does little for your blood pressure and long-term wealth. He explains why its investment portfolio is going against the traditional buy and hold mantra, reducing its equity stake and heading for the safe haven for cash.
Sterling surged to $1.6709 – close to an April 2011 peak – as weak economic data in the US contrasted with a far more bullish outlook in the UK.
More than half of women in relationships say they would be concerned about their finances should they split from their partner.
Since March 2011 the Morse family have been battling for a payout from AIG for crucial tools that were stolen from their business - but the insurers wants receipts going back 30 years.
The FTSE-AIM 100's 1.25 per cent rise in the past five sessions looks almost pedestrian compared to the benchmark’s recent gains.
Whether you have a date or not, there are ways to make money from the Valentine's spirit. But investing is a 365 day a year game, so you also need firms with good year-round prospects. We highlight six shares to benefit from Valentine's Day but also deliver all-year round.
Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.
Savers are abandoning fixed-rate and notice accounts at record pace with data revealing a whopping £43bn was taken out of these accounts in the last year. In December 2012, Bank of England figures showed £281billion was tied up in fixed-rate and notice accounts. This has dived to £238bn.
Supermarkets are lying in wait to pounce on our disillusionment with banks, offering an array of cut-price offers and rewards. With the infrastructure already in place and brand loyalty to rely upon, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and Asda are a serious threat to High Street dominance. We take a look at why.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said there was an average of just 59 properties on surveyors' books per branch in January. That was the lowest number since the height of the property market collapse in the summer of 2009.
Tens of thousands of households could see their gas and electricity bills soar by more than £200 when their fixed deal ends this month.
There should be no bonus until long suffering investors (including this writer) have been rewarded for their forbearance.
Severn Trent, which supplies 4.2million households and businesses across the Midlands and parts of Wales, said there was currently no material financial impact from the floods.
The state-backed lender said its staff will share a £395 million bonus pool and chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio is in line for a potential shares payout worth £1.7 million.
With many families forced out of their homes because of the flooding will energy suppliers still force them to pay the standing charge on their energy bills?
At this time of year, more motorists are looking to buy a 4x4 to battle bad weather. We reveal the big motors most likely to pass their MOT first-time. The research also looks into the 4x4s most likely to fail and the common reasons why.
The Bank of England has said interest rates aren't going back to 5% for a long time. I agree, yet I can hear alarm bells ringing very faintly in the distance.
Its best buy rate is open to anybody looking to borrow between £7,500 and £15,000, undercutting the previous market-topping deal by 0.1 per cent.
Overall mortgage rates are at record lows but the best ever deals for those with big deposits have been vanishing fast - just as a dash to fix takes place.
The lender stopped offering buy-to-let products in 2011, claiming it would concentrate on the first-time buyer and remortgage market. Now it is back.
Watch the latest satellite TV series for three months, enjoy coffees and trips to the cinema, read classic novels, keep fit, get a haircut and stock up your cupboards with snacks, pet food and other essentials — all without paying a penny.
Stunned homeowners who don’t use any gas are being sent bills that charge them a fixed daily fee for having a certain type of meter. The idea is this covers the supplier’s cost of metering and billing, and that every unit of energy actually used is charged separately. But it is affecting homes that run their heating and cooking on electricity just because they have a meter on the premises — even though it’s disconnected.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders, which represents 95 per cent of home loan providers in Britain, said 28,900 people had a property repossessed in 2013, 5,000 lower than in 2012.
MetLife found that 21 per cent of pension savers have cancelled their pension contributions, averaging £900-a-year, so they can save extra money in the last two years.
In a blow to Britain's beleaguered savers, Bank insisted in its latest inflation report that interest rates were not about to rise and even when they did it would happen only gradually.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that a third of employees believe they will not receive a pay rise in 2014 and a further third said any increase will not keep up with inflation. Just over a third of the 2,700 people questioned received a real terms wage rise in 2013 to improve standards of living, said the report.
Eight in ten are dumped into pensions that deprive them of hundreds of millions of pounds a year, but forcing savers to look for a better deal could end this.
A year ago you could pick up an easy-access cash Isa paying a tax-free 2.5%. Now the top rates is 1.75% from Britannia, part of the Co-op, on its Select Cash Isa 2.
There was a 37 per cent increase in the number of first-time buyers climbing onto the property ladder in December 2013 compared to a year earlier, data shows.
Mortgage Works, part of the Nationwide Building Society, now offers the lowest two-year fixed rate at just 2.49 per cent for buy-to-let borrowers with a 40 per cent deposit. Official figures from the Bank of England show the average two-year fixed rate deal for people who put down a 25 per cent deposit has dropped to just 2.37 per cent, the lowest rate in history.
A survey by uswitch.com revealed 54% plan to save into a cash Isa during the course of the next tax year, which starts on 6 April, compared to 63% in this one. One in ten cite a lack of attractive rates as a deterrent while one in five say they simply cannot afford to save into an Isa this year, according to the comparison website.
The FCA issued the penalty after it found HomeServe had 'serious, systemic and long running failings, extending across many key aspects of its business'.
Many cashed in on roaring stock markets and tried to escape High Street savings accounts paying returns as risible as 0.08 per cent after tax.
The report by the consumer regulator into the way pensions are turned into an income should be - we are told - ‘market changing’.
I used the Financial Ombudsman Service to apply for a refund of payment protection insurance on my card. The money was paid by Santander, which operates the card. I was then surprised to receive a statement showing £1,851.90 had been debited from it. Neither Santander, nor the Ombudsman’s office, has been able to explain it.
Aberdeen is the most cost-effective place in Britain to snap up a property alongside Dundee and Glasgow, according to a report by Zoopla. In the capital, it would take a projected 18 years for someone with a 10 per cent deposit to be better off financially compared to renting, the website calculated.
House prices are so out of sync with wages that an average earner in some parts of England would need to make £100k more a year to be able to afford a home in their area. Shelter looked at wage and house price inflation since 1997 in each area of the country to calculate how they compared.
Despite the fact that we have fallen out, I still expected her to pay me back as while we had a heated argument about it her last text had said she would. In our Money Morals series we invite readers to help solve a dilemma. This week what should you do if you lent someone money and now they won't return it?
Construction output rose by 0.2 per cent in the three months to the end of December, significantly down on the 2.6 per cent seen in the previous three months but stronger than the 0.3 per cent fall in construction in the preliminary GDP data for the same quarter. Britain's economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the three months to December an initial estimate by the Office of National Statistics showed last month.
The cigarette firm confirmed it had launched a review of the firm which delivers tobacco and other products to newsagents around Spain and France.
As shares in the satellite operator were initially sold down to 209p before rallying to close 1.5p dearer at 221.75p, dealers heard that Simon Cawkwell believes they will soon come down to earth with a big bump.
The British engineering firm, which serves the mining, oil, nuclear and renewable energy sectors, reported pre-tax profit flat at £255million, despite a small decline in revenues.
We live in a flood risk part of Sussex in an old Rectory and are concerned that we may not be able to get insurance cover against flooding from next year. This is because only homes in council tax bands A to G will be covered by the new flood cover guarantee, which will come into effect in June 2015.
The OFT revealed in September that billions of pounds remains invested in defined contribution workplace pension schemes set up prior to 2001 that charge high fees.
Train Refunds tracks delayed trains on your commute so all you have to do is click on the one you were on and it sends you a completed refund application.
Facebook has marked its tenth anniversary and has given a boost not just to those sharing pictures of cats but investors as well. After a poor start shares have rocketed, rewarding investors who held their nerve. Many British investors hoping to profit from the way social media is changing our lives opt for specialist funds. We look at how to invest and why?
We are buying a cheap runaround for our 18-year-old son. Should we look for a high-safety rating or a small engine to keep insurance costs down and can we get a cheaper deal by registering him as a named-driver only?
If evidence is unearthed that any company has too much market power, Ofgem should consider breaking it up, Ed Davey said.
The tariff offers customers 100 per cent green electricity, but it's reserved only for those who drive an electric, or hybrid, car.
The Platforum tried to distinguish between the top platform providers using not just cost, but their guidance and customer service. We reveal the results.
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The prestigious WhatCar? Awards have been running since 1978 – This is Money reveals the full list of winners and how much buying one would set you back now. We have also picked our top ten most iconic motors from the list and highlighted what made them special. Do you agree?
To clear the average national household debt of £13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of £100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 – updated – money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.
You can stick up to £5,760 in a cash Isa this tax year. We pick our five favourite cash Isas for savers, don't miss this essential Isa reading that is kept up-to-date throughout the year.
The Association of Investment Companies has analysed all investment trusts to find the 20 strongest and most consistent performers of the last decade.
Royal Mail investors were attracted by the lure of a bumper dividend of 6 per cent or higher. But there are lots of household names with a good dividend yield.
Neil Woodford is stepping down from his funds where he is Britain's favourite manager. We pick five alternative income funds and trusts worth a look.
The Bank of England has said that interest rates will only rise gradually and even when the economy returns to normal are likely to be substantially below 5 per cent. In a dramatic revision of forward guidance, the Bank called time on its assertion that it would consider a rate rise when unemployment hit 7 per cent, and said slack in the economy meant the base rate needed to stay low.
For many buy-to-let looks an attractive income investment in a time of low rates and stock market volatility. Read our top ten buy-to-let tips
Borrowers have seen the best of the spectacularly cheap mortgages vanish, especially the cream of the five-year fixed rates. So should you act now?
London and the South East are skewing headline figures, but prices are now rising across the country. We analyse the latest figures and predictions.
Midwives in the UK get paid on average £29,248: so where does your salary fit into the national league table, and how does it compare to the average in your profession? Our table lists hundreds of Britain's jobs from company executives and doctors to van drivers, waiters and textile machine operators.
| Prize value | Winning bond No. | Area |
|---|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 212RK287483 | Hertfordshire |
| £100,000 | 167FQ030247 | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
| £100,000 | 87VD018771 | Manchester |
| £100,000 | 10JP589142 | Berkshire |
| £50,000 | 180NN730715 | Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan |
| £50,000 | 131PH045098 | Essex |
| £50,000 | 119NM946921 | Staffordshire |
| £50,000 | 81PY499671 | Central Scotland |
| £50,000 | 192QF281155 | Oxfordshire |
| £50,000 | 181XW169289 | Stockport |
Four million on alert for compensation after Aviva's £323million blunder
Aviva made hundreds of technical errors
Top ten property boom towns:
Olympics and BBC Media City create house purchase frenzy
Will Lloyds Banking Group shares be a good bet in next year's mega-float?
Private investors to be given the opportunity to buy shares
Should investors think about more than just the price tag?
Hargreaves Lansdown named best DIY investing platform
Marmite lovers hit as the price of their beloved big glass jars rockets 50% in just five months
The mysterious rollercoaster ride of the cost of Marmite
My mum died without a will, but had £5k she didn't want to go to my dad
Can we stop him inheriting her whole estate?
The best cars of the past 36 years?
From the Renault 20 to Nissan Qashqai what they cost to buy now
We live in a flood risk area and worry we won't get insurance against flooding next year
Can we get cover?
Calls to protect 30,000 women who will lose out on state pension
Married person's allowance is being scrapped
'I'm a Vodafone investor - why is HSBC leaving me dangling?
Can hold Verizon shares on its broking service?'
'Our Kia panoramic sunroof imploded after less than two years - why does it refuse to pay?
Not covered by famous warranty
House prices jump £2,000 in a month
Buyers stretch themselves the furthest for five years
Hargreaves Lansdown gives into DIY investor anger
Does a U-turn on double investment trust and shares charge
ASK TONY: My passport was destroyed
So why can't I claim for it?
I just won a £5,000 prize for my work that I didn't even know I'd been entered for
Do I have to pay tax?
'Our village paid £765,000 for flood defences but we STILL can't get insured'
Legal loophole means many may never be able to sell their homes
More free money from your bank
Nationwide offers up to £500 a year if you tempt friends to join and Co-op promises new customers £125
The best buy savings secrets
Is your local building society quietly offering the best rates to reward its members?
Train-making saved in Derby as Bombardier wins £1billion Crossrail contract
Safeguarding 800 manufacturing jobs
I paid a bogus website to renew my passport and now I'm £72.50 out of pocket and still have no passport
What can I do?
ADAM UREN: Had a problem with the interest on your Natwest or RBS Isa?
You're not alone
Lend-to-save more than doubled last year
Savers turned to alternatives amid crumbling bank rates
Revealed
The six 'secret' lenders claiming to offer better mortgage deals than high street banking giants
Does BT owe you a refund?
Callers to £2.39 a minute directory enquiries can get their money back after telecoms giant is fined
JAMES CONEY
Investors tempted to bet on the housing market boom as if the crisis never happened
Buffett vs Woodford
Two years after watershed Tesco profit alert, which legendary investor called it right?
How to choose the best (and cheapest) DIY investing Isa
And our pick of the platforms
50 ways to save money
Simple steps to cut what you spend that could clear your debts or seriously boost your savings
| Currency | Rate | Buy now |
|---|---|---|
| Updated 15 Feb 2014. | ||
| Euro | 1.1926 | Buy Now |
| US Dollar | 1.6349 | Buy Now |
| Australian Dollar | 1.7923 | Buy Now |
| Canadian Dollar | 1.7742 | Buy Now |
| Chinese Yuan | 9.6988 | Buy Now |
| Croatian Kuna | 8.9834 | Buy Now |
| Czech Koruna | 32.206 | Buy Now |
| Danish Kroner | 8.7566 | Buy Now |
| Egyptian Pound | 10.958 | Buy Now |
| Euro | 1.1926 | Buy Now |
| Hong Kong Dollar | 12.543 | Buy Now |
| Hungarian Forint | 361.58 | Buy Now |
| Japanese Yen | 165.41 | Buy Now |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 5.3028 | Buy Now |
| New Turkish Lire | 3.546 | Buy Now |
| New Zealand Dollar | 1.9443 | Buy Now |
| Norwegian Kroner | 9.7638 | Buy Now |
| Polish Zloty | 4.8458 | Buy Now |
| Singapore Dollar | 2.0442 | Buy Now |
| South African Rand | 17.687 | Buy Now |
| Sterling | 1.0 | Buy Now |
| Swedish Kroner | 10.369 | Buy Now |
| Swiss Franc | 1.4489 | Buy Now |
| Thai Baht | 51.611 | Buy Now |
| UAE Dirham | 5.95 | Buy Now |
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