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By Julia Kukiewicz Editor
Friday, 19 June 2009 |
Previous Money News Roundups
See our other recent Money News Roundups and other related news stories:
Money News Roundup (12 JUN 09)
The week in money we find out why the young and single are prime targets for fraudsters, panic over money may be justified and mortgage approvals are on the rise. By Julia Kukiewicz.
Money News Roundup (29 MAY 09)
The week in money with Julia Kukiewicz: Find out how Santander could affect you, why your bank is trying to get you to borrow, who could be committing dangerous car fraud and what the Potato Council's been up to.
Money News Roundup (22 MAY 09)
The week in money with Julia Kukiewicz: find out why Britain's credit rating is plummeting, the price of tea is rising and taking bets on the recession is an unpopular move.
Money News Roundup (15 MAY 09)
In this week's money news roundup with Julia Kukiewicz buy your very own village, get rid of your pin number and find out about the credit cards you can use for travel insurance.
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THIS week here in the UK women go bankrupt while in Brooklyn dressing up as a women is quite the moneysaving scheme, plus how Fred Goodwin failed to live up to his name.
Women more likely to go Bankrupt
WOMEN make up the majority of young people falling into personal bankruptcy, according to a report released this week.
1,250 men under 24 declared themselves bankrupt last year. Female bankruptcies exceeded that figure by 310.
Wilkins Kennedy, the company that commissioned the report put the rise down to a female weakness for 'celebrity lifestyles'. Presumably if men had topped the list (as they did the year before) it would have been down to football and beer.
Last year there were approximately 67,500 personal bankruptcies across all age groups in England and Wales.
Goodwin Loses Badly
MUCH-MALIGNED former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin will give up half his pension - £200,000 a year or around £4m overall - it was announced this week.
It's unlikely that Sir Fred took action entirely out of the kindness of his heart, however, since legal action is understood to have been mooted. RBS is now 70% owned by the taxpayer.
In a statement RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton said, "On any measure this represents a very substantial reduction to Fred's pension and is an acceptable amount to all parties to the discussion." Except poor old Fred presumably.
Egg on Their Face
CREDIT card company Egg was under fire this week after questions about its policy of trailing interest was raised by The Guardian.
The problem occurs when a cardholder is paying off debt carried over from a previous month, pays off their balance in full but is charged interest between the date of the issued statement and the date their payment credits their account, which can be up to 18 days.
The problem is further amplified by a 50p minimum charge, and of course the interest charged on the interest.
The bank admitted the top-up fee could become a recurring problem for cardholders.
Trailing interest usually clears within two statements. Since most people pay their credit card bill by direct debit, however, it sometimes goes unnoticed. If it recurs the customer must pay it off before, or on the same day as, the next statement.
There was no suggestion that Egg weren't playing by the rules, and carrying out a practice common to most other credit card providers. In fact both MBNA and Barclaycard top-up minimum charges to £1, twice that of Egg.
Psycho-Inspired Thrift
BROOKLYNITE Thomas Parkin was arrested for fraud this week after carrying out a bizarre psycho-style fraud in which he dressed up as his mother.
Spurred on perhaps by a few too many viewings of Hitchcock's Psycho, Bates, I mean, Parkin impersonated his mother Irene at the Brooklyn Department of Motor Vehicles and attempted to renew her driver's licence. His mother had been dead for six years.
Parkin also managed to collect $117,000 (£71,000) in government benefits before he was arrested.
Parkin wore a wig, lipstick and painted his nails to complete his disguise but was still caught out. "He has rather large hands," Michael Vecchione, who heads the Rackets Bureau, told the New York Daily News.
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