Cash ISAscan be a great place to keep your savings, but are banks and building societies pricing them fairly? Baroness Stowell, a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, thinks some of them are not. Her argument is this: the tax relief on ISA relief is for the benefit of you and me – not…

‘Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman’ goes the song – I wouldn’t know first hand, of course, but that is what I have been reliably informed (and not just by Tammy Wynette!). Well, it seems there may be some truth behind the lyrics. Recent research by Prudential has revealed men retiring in 2011 can…

One of the perks of being a financial scribbler is being inundated with all manner of press releases every day, from the money staples of house prices and credit card spending to the slightly more off the wall. How much men spend on engagement rings depending on the region of the UK they live in…

I am going to write something strikingly obvious: the banks have an image problem. It’s an image problem that was latent long before the global financial crisis, and it’s one that has gotten steadily worse since. Customers have perceived banks as greedy and out for themselves – putting bonuses, commission and profit ahead of due…

As you will no doubt have read on our news pages today, HSBC has announced that customers will be able to receive texts warning them when they’re approaching the dangerous end of their overdraft limit. Texts will be sent to customers as they use 60%, 80% and 95% of their overdraft limit. This latest innovation…