BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Stanley]

That Help to Buy scheme is so obviously a subsidy to the better off and should be stopped immediately as it is skewing the market and as you demonstrate, playing directly into the hands of the large developers. I wonder what persuaded Osborne to institute it..... In particular, the leasehold clauses are a scandal as many buyers are finding out after purchase. I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.
I can't help getting the idea that some people are doing very nicely thank you out of Austerity and Brexit......

[Tizer]

Leasehold wasn't part of Help to Buy, it's just coincidence that the builders latched on to that about the time that Help to Buy began. At least this was the news today...
`Shares in Persimmon were down by nearly 6% on Monday morning, and other housebuilders - including Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley - were also dragged lower. '

[PanBiker]

Help to Buy was not relevant to our Jack when he decided to get on the property ladder apart from the bank of mum and dad. It only applies to overpriced new builds and not the sensible action of a sound terraced property with a bit of work required. If you have a scheme it should be available to first time buyers regardless of the type of property they want. I thought it was supposed to be a leg up onto the first step which is all that lot's of young folk actually require. Monthly mortgage payments then turn out to be less than rental so a bit spare for repairs, as opposed to being forced into buying into a new build millstone.

[Tizer]

The Times did research on Help to Buy and found that the median salary of people using it was about £53,000. Also that two-thirds of them didn't need the help. Persimmon's profit per house has doubled since the start of the scheme.

[Stanley]

Sorry I was unclear and conflated Leasehold Payments with Hep to Buy, I knew the difference.
Another area where the sharks are circling is the maintenance charges on flats, it seems to be a licence to print money!
I see Green has lost his chairwoman at last. She was in a dodgy position, supporting women and working for him. I wonder what pushed her over the edge?

[Tizer]

The maintenance charges now extend to many houses on new developments as well as flats and many people have been caught out because they don't expect it when buying a house. It's scandalous that solicitors haven't been warning them during the conveyancing but not so surprising when you learn that people buying the houses are being pushed to use solicitors recommended by the builder. Where have the regulators been hiding all this time?

On top of all this comes the news...
`Housebuilder Persimmon's profits top £1 billion' LINK
Profits have topped £1bn for the first time at housebuilder Persimmon, which was caught in a pay row last year and is under scrutiny over its continued involvement in the Help to Buy scheme. Annual profits jumped 13% to £1.091bn, up from £966m in 2017. The firm also said its interim chief executive, Dave Jenkinson, would now take on the role permanently. His predecessor, Jeff Fairburn, left last year following controversy over his £75m pay package...'

[Stanley]

I saw that report also Tiz. Did I see that the profit per house was £20,000? Remember this when the prices fall after Brexit and the buyers find that this plus the stigma of leasehold and maintenance charges have devalued their investment to the point where they are in negative equity. Then watch what happens to the Pension Release and lifetime mortgage cunning wheezes as they tank. Totally brilliant financial management. (By the builders, whatever the lobbying cost it was worth it!)
There are two types of fish swimming in that pond, the sharks and the prey......

[Tizer]

No, nothing so low as £20,000 - they're making just over £66,000 profit per house and the average price is £215,000. My calculator says that equals 44% profit. And you don't have to wait for the value to fall after Brexit, the houses are already lower in value than what people paid for them because Persimmon had inflated the prices above market values - they knew they could do that because of Help to Buy. The Government skewed the market, and Persimmon screwed the buyers. And the previous CEO has walked away with a fortune.

Talking of fortunes, Jim Ratcliffe....
`UK's richest man in £1bn oil and chemicals investment' LINK
`Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, has announced £1bn worth of investments in the UK oil and chemical industries. Mr Ratcliffe's company, Ineos, will spend £500m on overhauling the Forties pipeline system, which transports 40% of the UK's North Sea oil and gas. It will also build a £350m energy plant at Scotland's Grangemouth oil refinery site, which it already owns, as well as a £150m chemicals plant in Hull. Media reports have said Mr Ratcliffe plans to become a tax exile in Monaco. Earlier this month, the Sunday Times claimed Mr Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of Brexit, and two of his key executives could save up to £4bn in tax by leaving the UK. Ineos moved its headquarters to the Swiss city of Lausanne in 2010 to cut its corporation tax bill, but returned to the UK in 2016...'

Ratcliffe owns most of the UK chemicals industry but he chooses to operate it remotely to save on taxes. In an important strategic business like this we shouldn't be allowing the owners to avoid UK taxes.

Later...I see that Metro Bank is in trouble to the tune of £350 million due to `an accounting error'. When banks make gigantic accounting errors you soon lose any remaining confidence you had in them.

[Stanley]

And Ineos are building a far bigger plant in the Netherlands I think.
You are right about tax Tiz. Even concerns like Heathrow export their profits via 'debts' to shell companies off-shore. The criterion should be that tax is paid on gross profit in the jurisdiction in which it was generated. Keeping UK 'open for business' becomes ludicrous when it costs us billions in tax receipts due to lax regulation. If the companies choose to borrow money at inflated rates of interest abroad that's their problem.
I think the £20,000 was the increase in profit, sorry I was unclear. Was Osborne looking at his pension fund when he brought the measure in?

[Stanley]

Can't find it on the web but the BBC report that there is a constant stream of customers complaining about being locked out of their accounts.

[Stanley]

Read THIS BBC report on the failure of an 'investment firm' called LCF who have failed taking down many retirement plans with them.

[PanBiker]

We winged off an application a couple of months ago to one of these firms that check potential miss selling of PPI insurance with all the Banks and Building Societies that you have dealt with. With mergers and name changes of societies an such, it's a lot easier to let someone else do all the searching.

I got a letter from them yesterday regarding Yorkshire Bank. Apparently, Yorkshire have no record of my signature! This despite both of us having banked with them for over 30 years. We currently have three accounts with them but in the past have been guardians and signatories to three others for our kids when they were growing up. I had a business account with them for 10 years when I was self employed and am joint signatory currently for the ILP Land Society account that we also keep with them.

I have to take two ID documents into my "local branch" and ask them to copy and certify them. I then have to send these to the claims firm who will use them to access our dealings with the bank over the last 30 years. So, that's a trip to Nelson or Skipton, neither branches as such really know me, (do any of them nowadays)? I did do the samples for the ILP account at Nelson branch about ten years ago but all other banking dealings were done at Barlick or Colne branches, both of which have been closed.

Beggars belief and really makes you wonder if they are trying to create "wriggle room"

[Stanley]

I just downloaded the government web site form and filled it in. Very short form and clear. It was processed remarkably quickly and I got my refund a long time ago.

[Tizer]

We always refused anything like PPI so there's no windfall for us!

[PanBiker]

So did we as far as we know, it's the hidden ones that were not fully explained or noted that are the problem. Costs nothing (apart from this little blip) so why not get a check. We were actually amazed at how many different accounts we had used (through mergers, changes etc) over 45 years.

[Stanley]

Late news. Interserve have said they 'are very worried about their position'. Another Carillion looming.......

[Tripps]

Read THIS BBC report on the failure of an 'investment firm' called LCF who have failed taking down many retirement plans with them.

So there is now a gap in the market for - would you believe it - here comes easyMoney. It's an 'Innovative finance ISA'.

A 'target' return of 4.05 %, and if you're richer you can get a 'target' of up to 8%

Sounds really good, and so much better return than the 0.1% guaranteed from my local Building Society.
We've all heard of Stelios - he does easyJet doesn't he, and he's a really good guy isn't he? - and it's 'authorised' by the FCA

What could possibly go wrong - I'm off to invest.

Wait - it sounds a bit too good to be true - I'd better look a bit closer at it.

[Stanley]

Wise decision I would say David.
Did you see the pic of your pin up I posted on Politics?
See THIS BBC report on Interserve. My question is, if their business model is so bad that it results in a share price drop from £1 to 14p and debts north of £600million, why would anyone want to take them on?
Sounds to me like another outfit who fell for the myth of the Osborne 'Miracle Economy' and depend on year on year improvements in GDP. There are a lot of 'enterprises' in this bind as the real economy tanks.....
Never mind, If they listen to Boris and his ilk Brexit will open up a bright new future..... But the majority of capital holders don't seem to believe this and investment plunges.

[Stanley]

Shares in Boeing drop 6% as more and more countries ignore the Federal air safety board and ban the 738 MAX from their air space.

[Stanley]

Interserve shareholders meet today to decide on the future of the company. This will not solve its problems but will at least decide how it carries on if that is possible. (LINK)

[Stanley]

Interserve. One of the main shareholders, an American hedge fund, refused to accept the solution put forward which would have resulted in the shareholders loosing 95% of their stake in the company so the alternative was applied, going into administration. This means that for the time being the company can carry on but with £650million of debt the shareholders aren't going to get a lot out of it! The long term future depends on the business model of course. The government can't afford to let Interserve go to the wall and may have to end up taking a lot of the contracts back in-house. A terrible indictment of outsourcing and this will have major repercussions. (LINK)

[Tizer]

Another British business sold off to a foreign firm...
`WorldPay payments firm in $43bn sale to US rival' LINK
`A UK payment processing firm that used to be owned by Royal Bank of Scotland has been sold in a deal worth $43bn (£32bn). WorldPay has been bought by Florida-based Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) for $35bn in cash and shares, plus WorldPay's debt...'

[Stanley]

We can expect a lot more of this after this summer Tiz. Regardless of the state of Brexit the damage has been done to UK firms as they have virtually stopped investment and this means years of under-performance in the pipeline even if the market recovered now. This is fertile ground for the foreign capital holders.
Always remember, the Tories are the Party of business and finance, they understand it better than the proles.....
Discuss.....

[Stanley]

I can't find it on the web but I have just heard news of a report advocating the cancellation of HS2 and applying the funds to improvements in local rail improvements especially in the North.

[Stanley]

Here's a LINK to a Guardian article on it.
The Post Office is in the High Court and getting a real pasting from the judge for being economical with the truth and evasive when giving evidence to support the failed Horizon computer programme. This has big implications for actions in court against to PO by those who have been badly treated and in some cases branded as criminals.