Barclays becomes first major high street bank to join RNIB's Make Money Talk campaign
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- Category: Savings and Investment
- Written by Assistant Editor
Barclays has today announced it will join Royal National Institute of Blind People's (RNIB) campaign by committing to roll out 'talking ATMs' towards the end of 2012. The Make Money Talk campaign aims to make ATMs more accessible to the nearly 400,000* registered blind and partially sighted people in the UK through audio facilities.
Speech output will be deployed on Barclays ATMs through audio jacks so that blind and partially sighted people will be able to plug in their earphones to listen to the options being read out to enable them to carry out their transactions. Currently if a blind or partially sighted person wants to access their own money they need to ask a friend or relative for help or in some cases a passer-by.
Read more: Barclays becomes first major high street bank to join RNIB's Make Money Talk campaign
Barclays cuts offset mortgages by 0.50 percentage points
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- Category: Savings and Investment
- Written by Assistant Editor
Barclays is cutting its range of Offset Woolwich mortgages by up to 0.50 percentage points from Tuesday, 5 April, which could help homeowners repay their mortgage earlier and make them more tax-efficient.
The largest rate cut is at 75 per cent loan to value, reducing 0.50 percentage points to 2.79 per cent above base (currently 3.29 per cent). At 70 per cent loan to value, the rate has been reduced to 2.48 percentage points above base from 2.59 per cent. Offset trackers in the loyalty range have also been cut with the lowest rate now 2.28 percentage points above base, down from 2.39 per cent at 70 per cent loan to value. At 75 per cent loan to value, the rate is now 2.59 per cent above base, down from 2.99 per cent and is the lowest rate ever offered on this product.
Homeowners with savings of £20,000 who switch to the new rate of 2.48 per cent could save £47.36 a month or £14,208 over the loan term with a £150k repayment mortgage*. If they also saved £50 a month, they could pay off their mortgage nearly three years earlier by offsetting.
Read more: Barclays cuts offset mortgages by 0.50 percentage points
Comment on the Office of National Statistics (ONS) UK Trade Statistics for January 2010
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- Category: Savings and Investment
- Written by Assistant Editor
- The UK's seasonally adjusted deficit on trade in goods and services was £3.8 billion in January, compared with the deficit of £2.6 billion in December
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Excluding oil and erratic items, the seasonally adjusted volume of exports was 6 per cent lower and the volume of imports was 1.2 per cent lower in January, compared with December
Read more: Comment on the Office of National Statistics (ONS) UK Trade Statistics for January 2010
How Barclays and Barclaycard are helping customers impacted by the volcanic eruptions
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- Category: Savings and Investment
- Written by Assistant Editor
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Barclays and Barclaycard are taking some additional measures to support their personal and business customers who are affected by the travel restrictions in place due to the cloud of volcanic ash moving across Europe.
Read more: How Barclays and Barclaycard are helping customers impacted by the volcanic eruptions Comment on the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Index of Production statistics
Graeme Allinson, Head of Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics at Barclays, said:
"The 1.7 per cent rise in output between August and September shows glimmers of an industrial recovery and supports recent Purchasing Managers surveys from around the world for October, which have revealed signs of a global bounce in sentiment among manufacturers, most notably echoed in the UK’s CIPS/Markit PMI survey, released earlier this week.
"The figures released today make the 0.4 per cent decline in third quarter GDP reported by the ONS in October look a little less bleak. Over the past two or three months we've noticed innovative UK manufacturers are capitalising on the increase in global demand for consumer durables and capital goods, while the competitiveness of a still weak sterling is continuing to assist exporters.
"Order books are at last starting to look healthier, however whether this recovery will retain its momentum and prove sustainable throughout 2010 needs to be considered in light of the uncertainty created by the UK’s political situation and the changes that may ensue after the next general election, which may impact demand".
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