POUND NOTES
Financial fact:
Around £2m was lost to financial fraud each day of 2016, according to Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK). The losses include payment card and cheque fraud as well as remote banking fraud, which covers internet, telephone and mobile banking.
Quarter of first-time buyers ‘saved for over five years’
Nearly one in four first-time buyers say it took them between five and 10 years to build their deposit, research has found.
A survey of people who have taken their first step on the property ladder in the last two years found 23% had been saving for between five and 10 years beforehand.
More than two-thirds (69%) say it took them more than two years to build up a deposit, the research from Which? Mortgage Advisers found.
Warning over savings accounts paying ‘next to nothing ’
Two-thirds of savings accounts offering an introductory bonus rate pay less than 0.25% when the initial deal ends, according to a website.
Moneyfacts found 68% of the bonus savings accounts on the market will pay less than the Bank of England base rate of 0.25% once the bonus period has expired.
It warned that when the initial bonus rate ends, “the rate could end up paying next to nothing in some cases”.
Money ‘major factor for young co-habiting couples’
More than a fifth of young people who are living with a partner say saving money was their motivation for moving in together, a survey has found.
Some 22% of 18 to 34-yearolds who rent or own a home with their partner made their initial move to save some cash, according to the research from Post Office Money Mortgages.
Some 6% of young cohabiting couples surveyed had moved in with the parents of one person in the couple.
Yorkshire launch 0.99% mortgage
Competition in the mortgage market is heating up once more as a lender has unveiled a new market-leading deal with a rate below 1%.
Yorkshire Building Society said the two-year mortgage at 0.99% is its lowest fixed-rate product.
Financial website Moneyfacts. co.uk said the rate is the lowest fixed rate currently on the market for this type of deal.
Borrowers wanting to take out the mortgage, which launches on Friday, will need to stump up a £1,495 fee and they will also need to have a 40% deposit or equity.