Financial Service Info

The UK government has today announced wide sweeping reforms of the UK finance arena to end what it describes as “unfair bank charges” and “excessive interest rates on credit cards”. Thankfully the government has given the Office of Fair Trading and other regulators increased powers to ban excessive charges on credit cards as well as unfair bank charges.

The government has also introduced a seven day cooling off period for those taking out store cards as well as more disclosure for those looking for a new credit card. At the moment it seems as though the coalition government has picked up the baton originally held by Gordon Brown and his Labour team but as ever the proof will be in the pudding with regards to added protection for UK consumers.

There is no doubt that the UK government has started well in what are very difficult and very demanding times. There are high hopes that David Cameron will follow through on many of his pledges with regards to additional consumer protection in many areas of the economy.

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In a drawing up of battle lines between businesses and the unions the CBI has today called for public sector wages to be frozen for the next two years. While appreciating that those at the lower end of the income scale may struggle to survive, the CBI believes we could see a situation where low-paid workers receive pay rises while the overall bill for the UK public sector remains steady. So will David Cameron take heed?

While there’s no doubt that David Cameron has already pencilled in a number of public-sector investment cuts in the short to medium term he has already announced a cut in civil-service bonuses and a wide-ranging inquiry into civil service pay. On the flipside of the coin, UK unions have stepped forward to suggest that pay freezes in the public sector could hit the UK economic recovery and turn the country back towards recession.

It is likely that David Cameron will take action on public-sector pay rises but an outright ban on all pay rises over two years looks unlikely as does the continuation of the system at the moment.

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Mortgage rates for homebuyers with small deposits are on the way down, but should they be cut even further?

Those with a deposit of 10% may still not be able to grab the tempting rates being offered to those lucky enough to be able to raise at least 25% of their new property’s value, but for first-time buyers some of the new deals out there will look attractive.

But some of This is Money’s readers are asking whether this is right. The property market, they say, is still on a knife edge and tempting new homeowners with lower rates is wrong.

I’m not sure I agree.

It might only be a minor trend, but the select group of lenders competing to offer 90% mortgages is becoming increasingly noticeable. The Post Office is the latest to join the gang, with a two-year fix at 5.45%, competing against Britannia and the Co-op’s 5.49% and HSBC’s 5.99%.

However, perhaps this isn’t a bad thing.

Firstly, it’s a myth to suggest 90% mortgages were a creation of the past decade’s mortgage and house price boom. Council of

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We have blogged and written about the fact that debt buyers normally can’t or won’t prove that they own the debt but it still is remarkable that we see time and time again that at trial the debt buyer has no proof.

I don’t mean the proof is not persuasive. I mean there is no proof. No witness that can testify. No documents to introduce into evidence.

Why?

Money. Its all about the money.

Costs money to bring in witnesses and to actually have proof that the alleged debt is owned by the debt buyer and owed by the consumer.

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Large network companies and cable companies are trying to get their hands on the largest money load of them all; the internet. The internet is an exponentially expanding market that is only going to get bigger. We are seeing more and more internet based companies and less and less offline companies being created. There is no way to avoid this, the only thing one can do is conform.

Companies with internet access power, mainly the large monopolies, are trying to make it so that the internet is no longer neutral. They are trying to make it so they can control which sites you go to, and are going to try to make you pay more for certain sites.

Consider throughout your daily web surfing how many websites you go to. Some are large authority websites like news networks, while some may be your friends’ websites or individual blogs. These smaller websites are what make the internet so amazing. They allow for free speech, information spreading at extreme rates, and the stories of tons of people to be told. T

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While we all hope to make our customers 100% happy all of the time, and this must of course be what we strive for, there will be occasions where a customer is less than happy with the service you have provided. Even if your customer service is second to none misunderstanding and technical faults can still occur, so it is important to consider procedures for dealing with unhappy customers.

At WinWeb.com our aim is to remain focused on the customer at all time, customer service, customer experience and how the customer feels. If one of my customers feels worried, anxious or concerned it bothers me deeply.

Treating customers as individuals and respecting their point of view is paramount in dealing with and resolving any issues that customers may have with your service. Listen, listen and listen some more. Don’t make excuses; listen to what they have to say, apologise and discuss a possible resolution as soon as possible. <

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First-quarter Amazon earnings beat Wall Street’s forecast of highest earnings estimates. This Thursday, Amazon reported its earnings with its figures which surpassed the projected earnings provided by Wall Street. However, investors are now concerned about the coming forecast due for the next, second quarter earnings estimates which are sending the market shares down in the later hours of trading.

Analysts had been basically expecting earnings of 61 cents per share for the sale of $6.8 billion. However in the first quarter, the company experienced a 68% gain in its net income year-after-year which calculates to about US$299 million or in other words 66 cents for every share on the revenue of $7.13 billion. This is a direct leap of 46 percent from last year’s collected profit in the same quarter.

The company again tries to stir it up by pointing at Kindle as the “No.1 bestselling product”. However, it terribly fails one again in providing the sales figures on the given device. This is

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