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By Julia Kukiewicz Editor
Friday, 26 June 2009 |
 Money News Roundup (19 JUN 09)
Find out why credit card holders have been left with Egg on their faces, how young women risk bankruptcy and who would engage in some Hitchcock-inspired fraud in this week's money news round up. By Julia Kukiewicz.
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.
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RISING energy bills, unclaimed charity money, criticism of the FSA and smaller balances on credit cards in this week's money news.
The £5000 Energy Bill
ENERGY bills are set to rise to around £5000 a year by 2020 if current trends continue analysts warned this week.
Ann Robinson from uSwitch did a good job of living up to her terrifying namesake as she pointed out that the average household energy bill has more than doubled since 2005 from £580 to £1,243.
Extrapolating that into the future and adding in badly-needed energy infrastructure spending that average rises to £4,733 over the next 11 years.
Robinson said her prediction was based on projections for energy scarcity in the near future and that energy saving through energy-efficiency was the only way forward.
Lottery Charity Commissions Decidedly Uncharitable
AS charities struggle to stay afloat during the recession the lottery funds that have been set aside for them stand unused the Daily Mail reported this week.
It is estimated that £1.5bn of Lotto cash is currently sitting unused. Many international development charities have found themselves unable to apply for funding in the past as money is allocated to London's Olympic bid and for those charities it seems particularly unfair.
Denis Vaughan, who persuaded John Major to start a national lottery, accused fund distributors of protecting themselves rather than charities. "The figure in the bank should be zero, to keep these organisations on their toes," he said.
A Rollercoaster week for the FSA
It's also been a rollercoaster week for the Financial Services Authority, celebrated by many as figures emerged showing that it had stepped up its fines for poor practise by over 500% it had just emerged from scathing criticism from the Financial Services Consumer Panel.
The consumer panel claim that reforms may be coming at the expense of consumers.
It also claimed that the FSA has an unrealistic approach to consumer responsibility pointing out that customers are often mis-sold financial services.
Consumers should not be held responsible for taking out products purchased without a full understanding of the risks involved the body argued.
The panel could yet get their wish as their cautious report claimed, "we are an organisation that is willing to learn and ... we have the ability to change radically."
Credit Card Holders Beat Balances
UK credit card holders in the UK are typically restricting their spending to around £100 a month according to research from TescoCompare.
By spending the equivalent of £1,100 a year the research found that consumers have reduced their average credit card balance to £2,333.
Consumers who answered the survey stated that they were trying to reduce current debt (37%), increase savings (25%) or stop relying so heavily on borrowing (18%)
The research shows that consumers are becoming more willing to save money on credit card spending. This saving might run into comparing credit cards and shopping around before taking them out Tesco further suggested.
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