Low inflation and low mortgage rates are some of the key policies that the Prime Minister Tony Blair will attempt to woo voters with at the forthcoming general election.Mr Blair today put the economy at the centre the campaign by making it the subject of Labour’s first pledge to voters.In the first of six stops in a nationwide tour to launch Labour’s 2005 election pledge card, Mr Blair unveiled a pledge that reads: “Your family better off”.

The party pledged to keep inflation and mortgages low, bring more people off benefit and into work, deliver a rising minimum wage and offer more help to first time buyers.But Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin said it was striking that Labour’s economic pledge did not say a single word about tax.”Almost every serious economic commentator says Labour’s plans mean big tax rises after the election if Labour are re-elected,” he said. “It is not a question of whether Mr Blair will put up taxes if he was re-elected - but which taxes he would put up?

He cited research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggesting that Labour’s policies would mean £11 billion of tax rises straight away, including a three pence rise in National Insurance or £1,000 extra a year to pay for a typical working couple.

The credit card industry has rejected claims by Which? that it is rife with underhand practices and hidden charges.A spokesperson for the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS), Sandra Quinn, said Which?’s comments are out of date.Speaking yesterday she denied that credit card firms are levying unfair charges against consumers. “Late payment charges and over limit fees are to compensate the banks for the costs that they incur in those fees in charging customers,” Ms Quinn said.Richard Mason, director of price comparison website moneysupermarket.com, added: “Many of the providers’ ‘bad practices’ are slowly being dealt with by the industry.”But he conceded some of Which?’s underlying points.”

As the market for personal loans and credit cards has become increasingly competitive and robust in recent years with many lenders battling for market share, more low-rate deals for the consumer have been on offer than ever before. “The downside of this has been that providers have tried to claw-back profits through other avenues instead - such as expensive payment protection insurance and hidden charges.”According to Which? the credit card industry makes around £427 million a year from charging consumers who pay late or go over their credit limit.

The consumer watchdog also estimated that the personal loan industry makes £1 billion a year from selling payment protection insurance.Ms Quinn countered charges made by Which? that the credit card industry was profiteering from theses charges, by saying card providers were not “making any profit out of” the charges.

Interest rates look set to stay on hold this month, as business leaders urge the Bank of England to consider weakening economic data.Since November last year the Bank of England’s interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee has increased the cost of borrowing five times from 3.5 to 4.75 per cent.

However, since August rates have been held at their current level. Over that time the booming property market has ground almost to a halt and oil prices have hit record highs.The CBI has now said given these factors interest rates should be frozen until consumer confidence returns.It has been joined in its calls by the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF), which reports that confidence among manufacturing companies has dropped sharply.”The coming three months are expected to see a cooling of activity [in the service sector] but firms will be hoping that Christmas spending exceeds their expectations. Interest rates must be held until confidence returns to the economy,” said Ian McCafferty, the CBI’s chief economic adviser.

EEF chief economist Steve Radley went further, suggesting a rate cut might be needed: “The Bank of England should leave rates on hold until well into the New Year and, if the current dip in confidence translates into a renewed manufacturing downturn, respond by cutting rates.”

A leading high street bank has issued debt and credit card advice to help consumers manage their personal finance during the Christmas period - and beyond. The Co-operative Bank is offering consumers suggestions designed to help them avoid a festive financial hangover.

Short-term advice consists of not letting debt build up during the Christmas period - it won’t go away by simply forgetting about it. The Co-op also advises that consumers could benefit from checking out consolidation loans as a way of getting a better debt management deal. If consumers have problems in controlling their credit cards - hide them - that way there is no chance of adding to debts that may already exist.Long-term financial solutions are also important; the Co-op states that by working out a budget consumers can accurately assess their income and expenditure.

Sheila Macdonald, chief operating officer at the Co-operative Bank, said: “People often make resolutions at this time of year, and it is the perfect time to make some serious decisions about your financial future.”Taking simple steps, like transferring to a credit card provider that offers a cheaper borrowing rate than your existing provider will save you money if you don’t pay off your balance every month.”

Legal & General credit cards find half the population spending Christmas on plastic
As Christmas approaches the nation is preparing to spend more and more, with on in two consumers planning to fund the holiday season by credit card, Legal & General has found. Legal & General’s new MoneyMood survey has found that while four out of five people could afford to pay their bills over the festive season, one in two UK adults were planning to fund extra expenditure with credit cards.

But the additional cost of Christmas meant that one in seven families said that they would have to use credit cards and/or savings to pay bills.Over the next four weeks the nation is planning to step up its spending and this extra money looks as though it will be going towards the Christmas spirit, with gifts for friends and family, making ourselves look good and going out or having fun all areas that will see an increase in spending.”We think the ‘MoneyMood’ of the nation is firmly in ’spend’ mode as people prepare for Christmas but may swing back to saving as we move away from the shopping boom after the Christmas period,” noted Claire Stracey, Legal & General’s marketing director retail investments.

Despite heady growth numbers, there are growing fears of overspending by individuals and households. In what indicates some nervousness in the personal loan market, India’s biggest rating agency Crisil has downgraded a securitised pool of personal loan portfolio issued by ICICI Bank.

This is the first time that a securitised paper has been downgraded in the Indian market. Crisil lowered the rating — series A1 and A2 by two notches from AAA to AA. Securitisation is a mechanism through which banks palm off loans from their books to another vehicle which issues pass through certificates (PTCs) or securitised papers to investors. PTCs are services from interest earnings on loans that the vehicle holds. The credit pool size at the time of issuance was Rs 314 crore of principal and about Rs 86 crore of interest component.

The issuer, ICICI Bank, provided 10.9% credit support and 3.3% of liquidity support, respectively. The credit support facility is a deposit made by ICICI Bank with another bank and it works like an insurance cover. In case of a default in the pool, the special purpose vehicle (SPV), which has issued PTCs to investors would draw money from the credit support account. PTCs were issued in July 2005 with a 56-month repayment schedule.

The downgrade is on account of ‘more-than-desired utilisation of the credit support facility’, said the rating agency. About 23% (Rs 9-10 crore) of Rs 43-crore credit support facility has been drawn, which is higher than anticipated by Crisil.

The pool has paid investors 58% of the due principal and the weightage average tenure left for PTCs to mature is 10.5 months. “Securitisation market is developing and this is a natural evolution to it. In the international market, this is a very common phenomena,” said Ramraj Pai, director of structured product, Crisil. However, market analysts say that many more downgrades will happen as the securitisation market develops. Investors, primarily banks, will have to take a knock on their bond portfolios.

Low rate business loans are designed for persons looking for business loans at low rate of interest. In fact, every borrower would prefer loans at low interest rate. Low rate business loans are both of secured and unsecured type. In secured low rate business loans, collateral is required. In unsecured low rate business loans, no collateral is required.

Low rate business loans are very much beneficial for those willing to start their own business. The benefit of low rate business loan is that you don’t have much risk as you pay low rate of interest. Because when you start a business, it will not fetch you immediate profits. And if the loans are having high interest rates, it will definitely result into loan burden.

Secured low rate business loans are for home owners as you need to pledge your property as collateral. Lenders offer low rate of interest. You can borrow big loan amounts, you will be given loans for a longer period of time and easy approval of loans is the benefits of secured low rate business loans.

Unsecured low rate business loans, on the other hand, are suitable for tenants as well as for home owners also. For homeowners, who do not want to pledge his or her home as collateral, such loans are a good option. Unsecured low rate business loans offer comparatively high rate of interest as compared to secured low rate business loans. So it’s important to do a market survey to acquaint yourself from the other offerings by the lenders as many lenders provide such loans at low rate of interest.
The benefits associated with unsecured low rate business loans are like fast loan processing, less paper work, etc.
for quick low rate business loan approval, you can apply online. Get the business loans and start a business of your own.

A building renaissance is under way, as architects and developers seek ways to make office space more environmentally friendly and cheaper to operate.

Progressive Investor, a monthly investment newsletter, identified six forces that are contributing to the acceleration of the demand for greener designs. Developers and building owners are seeking to reduce their energy expenditures. Building green no longer costs more. Tenants have a preference for green buildings which make for happier employees and reduced operating costs. Major corporations are developing greener policies and building highly visible green headquarters. Legislative mandates to build green are growing, and leading realtors don’t want to be holding obsolete portfolios of inefficient buildings.

Rona Fried, Progressive Investor CEO said “Industry leaders are creating criteria for certification and integrating green building into the appraisal process and into broker databases.” It’s a good step in the right direction, as a recent United Nations study concluded that green buildings can do more to fight global warming than all curbs on greenhouse gases agreed under the Kyoto Protocol.