Energy prices are coming down
Things aren’t getting much easier for the British consumer. Low pay rises and high inflation mean that the average worker took home an average of £35 a month less in real terms in November 2011 than in 2010. Public-sector workers felt the pain even more: their take-home pay was down £49 a month in real terms compared with last year.
While the latest inflation numbers have come in slightly lower than has become normal – with the consumer price index (CPI) at 4.2% – prices are still rising at more than double the Bank of England’s target rate. Inflation also remains higher than deposit rates. So not only are most people’s incomes still falling in real terms, but so is the value of their savings (something to bear in mind when you hear the governor of the Bank of England crowing over falling inflation rates).
Avg. APR Last week 6 months ago National average 14.95% 15.14% 14.75% Low interest 10.40% 10.62% 10.73% Balance transfer 12.71% 12.85% 12.78% Business 13.13% 13.13% 13.07% Student 13.77% 13.77% 13.77% Airline 14.54% 14.54% 14.31% Cash back 14.61% 14.74% 14.16% Reward 14.78% 14.82% 14.51% Instant approval 15.49% 15.49% 15.99% Bad credit 23.41% 24.96% 24.96% Methodology: The national average credit card APR is comprised of 100 of the most popular credit cards in the country, including cards from dozens of leading U.S. issuers and representing every card category listed above. (Introductory, or teaser, rates are not included in the calculation.) Source: CreditCards.com Updated: Jan. 11, 2012
Interest rates on new credit card offers fell this week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report, due to a sharp APR drop for the priciest card in our survey.
Google’s first-quarter earnings came in below analyst projections as the Internet search leader sped up hiring, driving up its costs.
The results released Thursday may heighten investor fears that Google’s earnings might suffer because of the company’s commitment to hire at least 6,200 workers this year. That would be the most in Google’s 13-year history.
The company earned $2.3 billion, or $7.04 per share, in the period ending in March. That was an 18 percent increase from nearly $2 billion, or $6.06 per share, last year.
If not for expenses covering employee stock compensation, Google said it would have earned $8.08 per share. That was below the average estimate of $8.11 per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue was nearly $8.6 billion, a 27 percent increase from last year.
Effective January 1, 2012, North Carolina has added a couple of new court costs in estate matters:
- Will Caveats (will contests) – a $200 filing fee.
- Reopened Estates – a filing fee of 40 cents per $100 of property in the reopened estate. The maximum cumulative fee for estates is $6,000.
These are on top of increased filing fees for estates that took effect last year. As fees to continue to rise, avoiding probate with living trusts and other planning will save even more money.
New guidance on HMRC’s interpretation of the three year ‘carry forward’ pension rule provides an opportunity for investors to make significant additional contributions to their pension scheme, says AJ Bell, the online Sipp provider.
Under the previous interpretation, an investor who had paid in more than £50,000 in either 2009/2010 or 2010/2011 was deemed to have used up some of their annual allowance from earlier tax years, reducing the carry forward available to them. Under the new interpretation, that is no longer the case.
To take an extreme example, an investor who paid £150,000 into his pension in 2010/2011 would not, under the old interpretation, have been able to make use of carry forward in either the 2008/2009 or 2009/2010 tax years.
Now, however, they could potentially pay in up to £100,000 in carry forward contributions in this tax year.
Dear To Her Credit, I am going through a divorce in Kansas, and my soon-to-be ex-husband handled all of the finances. I worked full time while he worked on the side cleaning. About nine months before he left, he started working full time.
He was constantly saying we were broke. I had two credit cards before we were married, to which I added him as an authorized user. During the marriage, he opened more credit card accounts that he said were in his name. Nine months before he left, he stopped paying all the bills, which I didn’t know until he left. I went through box after box and cabinet after cabinet to find he had been writing checks from the credit card accounts to himself and signing my name — almost $30,000 worth!
Bank of America Corp.’s first-quarter income fell 39 percent on higher costs related to its mortgage business and higher litigation expenses. The bank also settled a claim over faulty mortgage investments and set aside less money to cover soured loans.
The Charlotte, N.C. bank on Friday said it earned $1.7 billion, or 17 cents per share, compared with $2.8 billion, or 28 cents a share in the first quarter of last year. The earnings fell short of the 28 cents a share estimated by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue fell to $26.9 billion from $32 billion in the same period last year.
The nation’s largest bank by assets also announced that the bank’s chief risk officer, Bruce Thompson, will become chief financial officer, replacing Chuck Noski, who was named vice chairman. Noski couldn’t relocate to Charlotte to fulfill his CFO duties because of an illness of a close family member, the bank said in a statement.
Bank of America continued to fight losses, lawsuits and higher costs related to its mortgage businesses. Read more…