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As we all know, 2011 was not a great year for banks. Debit fee swipe limits were passed, Bank of America had a PR disaster over their plan to charge $5 a month for debit 
cards, and Bank Transfer Day saw billions of dollars shift into local credit unions. So they enter 2012 chastened … a
Money worries are turning cash-strapped Britons into a nation of “compulsive bank balance checkers”, according to a survey from Halifax.
A poll by the lender found that more than one in every five people check their account balance on a daily basis, while 22% of respondents admitted to taking a look at how much money they have at least three times a week. Around a quarter of people said they check their balance on a weekly basis, while a more relaxed 13% managed to limit themselves to checking in just once every month.
Nearly four out of every 10 people admitted to knowing how much is in their current account to the nearest £5. A further 23% could tell you how much money they have in the bank to the nearest £20. One in 20 of the 2,020 people who took part in the poll said they only knew their current account balance to the nearest £500.
Consumers under pressure from rising inflation and falling real incomes are being forced to keep a closer eye on their finances to make sure their accounts do not go overdrawn before they are paid.
Tags: Balance Checkers, Bank Balance, Bank Balance Checkers, Checkers
From 6 April this year, capital gains from foreign currency bank accounts will be tax free, says Nick Braun in Business Tax Saver. It’s good news for those who are non-domiciled, or who often keep cash in offshore bank accounts. It may also “create a new tax-free investment opportunity for all UK individual taxpayers” (though not for companies).
Say you transfer £100,000 into a US dollar account. The dollar strengthens, so that your investment is worth £115,000. If you cash it in after 5 April, the £15,000 gain will be tax free. Cash it in beforehand, and it is taxable.
If you own a foreign property that you have been renting out, you may benefit too. Until now, if rental income is accumulated in foreign currency over a number of years, it has been viewed “as a long-term investment and subject to capital-gains tax”.
As of 5 April, it will be tax free. The flip side is you will not be able to offset capital losses from foreign currency accounts against gains from other asset sales, so you may want to withdraw the funds before the end of the tax year to lock in your losses.
Tags: Account, Bank Account
Nationwide strives to retain current account customers with exclusive deals. 
12:16PM GMT 13 Jan 2012
It’s not just the small building societies that are fighting to keep their customers on board, as we reported last week.
But rather than offering cash incentives to switch, or interest on credit balances, Nationwide is offering its current account customers unique products.
This week, the society has opened up its market-leading low-rate credit card to new customers – but only if they already use its FlexAccount as their main current account.
The card has lengthy interest-free periods for both balance transfers and purchases, and a fee-free policy for purchases made abroad, but you must pay at least £750 a month into the FlexAccount.
The Nationwide Select credit card is now available to new customers – as long as you hold the FlexAccount.
Tags: Customers, Customers Credit
Credit cards are useful – some might even say essential – tools for the modern age. But for some people, they’re not always easy to obtain. Fortunately, thanks to responsible consumers, that may get 
easier as we swing fully into the new year.
Why? Because credit card default rates dropped so low over the last year, they’re actually lower than they were before the current recession kicked in. In other words, we’re all paying our debts, so the banks are willing to take more risks.
This isn’t a small thing, either. Nearly 8 million Americans couldn’t get access to a credit card last year because their credit score was deemed too risky by the banks. They had to go other routes to get a credit card, such as a secured credit card. But we’ve done such a good job of paying off our debts that the banks are willing to take more risk.
Why does a rising tide raise all boats, in this particular case? Fundamentally, it’s all about risk.
Credit cards are essentially loans the bank is making to you under specific terms. As we all know, the better you are at paying off your credit cards, the better the terms of the loan. However, banks have to look at their overall credit card portfolio as well; i.e. not just the pe
Tags: Credit Card, May
With Christmas and the New Year now firmly behind us, it’s time for many to take the brave step of checking their online accounts and assessing the damage wreaked by any over-exuberant festive spending.
All but the savviest of consumers are likely to have overspent to some degree over the holidays, whether in the lead up to the big day or in the frenzied sales which followed – rather tastefully – online on Christmas morning. Struggling retailers enjoyed a bumper week before the beginning of the New Year as cash-strapped consumers threw caution to the wind and spent billions in the sales. Although this was good news for gloomy traders, shoppers who took advantage of the savage discounts on offer may find themselves paying for their purchases for months or even years to come if they got carried away with their credit cards.
Debt management companies are braced for a surge in enquires from people who spent beyond their means over the holiday period and fear many could have pushed themselves into an unmanageable position to pay for their Christmas celebrations.
A poll carried out by YouGov for the banking technology firm Intelligent Environments in December found that 31% of Britons planned to take out additional credit to pay for their spending over the holidays this year. Concer
Tags: Festive, Festive Financial