Some Abbey customers are angry over the companies online glitch since it updated its system over the weekend.

The glitch has lead to many customers being unable to transfer money between accounts online, even though their website says their customers can manage their accounts “when, where and how [they] want”.

Abbey have apologised to its customers and said that only a “small number” of customers have been affected. They have also promised to deal with customers individually and are dealing with call centre delays.

The glitch in the online system seems to have occurred over the weekend when Abbey changes its online banking system for small businesses to make it more similar to the system personal banking customers use.

Abbey did take care to try and notify its customers that they may face problems in the run-up to the change, by posting a notice on its website alerting customers to the change before they logged in.

However, many small businesses have complained that the new system has not been working for a few days now. Some saying that they are unable to transfer money between reserve and current accounts, though others say they are unable to manage their accounts at all.

Tim Bugler from Stirling has said: “The whole thing seems to b a monumental foul-up. They have replaced what was a fairly efficient system with a shaky one.”

He also claimed that he was not satisfied that the changes occurred “without warning” and that he was now unable to view the same number of previous transactions compared to the system before the changes.

As a customer with the bank for eight years he says that the old system worked well for him, and that the changes came at a bad time for small businesses that were already facing problems caused by the economic problems at the moment without having to worry about banking problems.

Mike Wines is an IT project manager for Sparrowhawk Solutions in Guilford has been facing problems paying bills as he is unable to transfer money.

He also added that he had tried calling Abbey 15 times since the changes took place but was unable to get through due to large numbers of other customers also trying to get through.

He said: “I want to be spending most of my time with my customers; banking should be something that happens in the background of my business.”

Abbey have moved some of its phone centre staff from personal banking, to business banking lines in order to try and clear the queues, and have issued a statement saying: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience that has been caused to our small business customers.

“As part of the upgrade, our active online customers have been requires to register again to gain access to their secure internet site.

“The majority have done so successfully – however for a small number of customers, for instance, those with linked accountants, if they have only re-registered for their main account, they are not able to see or transact on the other accounts.

“We are working on this and expect to resolve this with individual customers.”

A bailiff group that accidentally released hundreds of email addresses to the recipients of a debt-chasing message, have apologised.

The Marston Group s enforcement recovery section sent the message about overdue loan repayments, but attached was a list of over 600 e-mail addresses.

A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner has admitted that the subject of the email was sensitive, and as such the messages sent were a potential Data Protection Act breach. Though she added that as far as she was aware, there had not been any complaints as yet.

The Westminster based Marston Group is one of the biggest bailiff and court enforcement groups in the UK, whose contract includes collecting unpaid parking fees among other debts.

The email in question was sent at the end of last week to a group of people, chasing repayment to a payday loan company. It warns that a bailiff would be sent to the home of the recipients about their outstanding debt.

The email was sent to over 600 people, and all their email addresses can be viewed to the “To” box of the email by each and every recipient.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said that if a mass email was sent out, all email addresses should have been put in the blind “Cc” box so that they were hidden from all other recipients of the email.

A spokeswoman said: “They have got to be respectful to the sensitivity of the issue.”

A Spokeswoman for the Marston Group has said that the addresses were accidentally released in a test of the email system: “We are currently contacting everyone whose email address was disclosed to apologise and inform them that immediate steps are being taken to prevent any reoccurrence.”

She also said that the incident was being treated very seriously, and that an investigation is taking place in order to stop anything like this occurring in the future.

The company has, for legal reasons, refused to explain who was on the list of names, or why they were sent the email in the first place.

Consumer Action Group (CAG)employee, Marc Gander, said that some of the people on the list were a group of people being chased for unpaid debts, and therefore it was highly embarrassing that their names had been released and circulated.

He said: “The stories of the careless handling of personal data are now a regular occurrence.
“This irresponsible disclosure of personal information by the Marston Group is just another example.”

Between September and November of this year, the UK economy contracted 1% according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

This estimated decrease is worse than the drop in the three months up until October, which was at 0.8%.

As the rate of output decline is accelerating, NIESR now expects more than a 1% drop in the last three months of the year.

The economy also shrank by 0.5% between July and September of this year, but we will not find out officially what the actual decrease is for the final quarter of 2008 until January next year, when the Office for National Statistics brings out its report.

According to the generally accepted definition of recession, whereby if the economy of a country declines for two consecutive quarters, the UK will officially be in a repression if the report shows that the final quarter of this year shows a decline in economic activity, as expected.

The latest data from NIESR, who claim they have a good track record for forecasting GDP growth before the official figures are released, is just the latest in a long list of figures that have been released recently, claiming that we are most likely going to enter into a recession officially at the end of the year.

Director of NIESR has said that in his opinion, the government needs to put more equity into the banking system so that it can be better capitalised. However, he also warned that things are going to stay in a similar state to how they are now for a long time.

He said: “I would not be terribly surprised if output continued to fall in 2010,” even though the government has predicted that the recession will be short-lived and over by the middle of 2009.

NIESR have said that the recession is likely to be worse and longer than the government originally expected it to be. It said that: “The government faces the real risk that, despite the [stimulus] measures it took in last month’s Budget, output will fall more sharply than it expected to the end of next year.
“The main problem that it needs to address is very urgently is the availability of bank credit, and further interest reductions are likely to have much effect.”

The Bank of England and the government have recently not only reduced interest rates, but also tried to inject billions of pounds into the UKs banking system recently in order to reduce the effects of the repression.

Small banks, like Lloyds TSB and the Royal Bank of Scotland have introduced methods to increase lending to small firms in a bid to do their part to ease the financial pressure on companies suffering the effects of the repression.

Last week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that the UK would face a serious economic downturn in 2009. On top of this, they also predicted that the economic output in the UK would be less than 1.1% next year, higher than any other G7 country, adding that unemployment would rise to over 8% by the end of 2009.

According to the latest survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), house prices fell even further in November.

Rics have said the number of sales are now at their lowest level since 1978. In the three months prior to November, estate agent sales fell to 10.6, from 10.9 just a month ago.

Rics spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: “Many are starting to see the current market as an opportunity to purchase a previously unaffordable property despite the worsening economic picture. But unless people feel relatively confident about their job prospects, they’re unlikely to even try to obtain mortgage finance unless of course trading down or seeking to release capital.

“Vendors still have to accept the inevitable fact that house prices are falling and re-price their property to suit current market conditions.”

Rics are also looking at the little bit of light. Interest in potential buyers has risen again, and is now in the positives for the first time in over a year.

The number of potential buyers has risen, so that the chartered surveyors who have reported having potential buyers not outnumbers the number of surveyors who have seen enquiries fall by 14%.

According to Rics: “the rise in interest reflects both the drop in asking prices and recent cuts in interest rates.”

London has been the worst hit over the past three months, with just seven sales per estate agent on average, followed by Wales and East Anglia.

This is all despite the fact that house prices are still falling. Rics found that 76.5% more of its members had seen house prices still falling instead of rising. This is only a little better than last month’s balance of 81%.

According to the survey: “the main factor that is depressing prices is the large stock of property on estate agents’ books relative to the pool of able buyers rather than any surge in distressed selling.”

The results from this survey were published just a day after Rics predicted that the value of commercial property will drop by 50% from its peak in June last year to its ‘trough’, which could happen as late as 2010.

It is thought that the accelerating fall of rents will cause capital values to fall by 16% in 2009 and 105 IN 2010.

The office sector is likely to be the worst hit, with another 30-35% drop predicted, which will push up the price of the total decline to 60%.

Job cuts in the banking, finance and insurance sectors is having an effect on office spaces. There is less call for warehouse space, and consumers are buying less “big ticket” items.

Senior Economist at Rics, Oliver Gilmartin, claims that: “we are only halfway through the price correction in the commercial property market.”  He added that he hoped the downturn would start to reverse in 2011, with the help of recovering global growth and low interest rates.

Estate Agents face scrutiny after a watchdog revealed it would be watching their competition closely.

It has been four years since the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) last studied the fairness of estate agents work, but a new campaign will be launched in 2009.

Some of the things that will be assessed include internet property prices, consumer protection and competition between different companies.

The OFT chief executive, John Fingleton has said: “Buying or selling a home is something most people do only a few times in their life, but it is usually the biggest transaction they will make.
“We want to ensure that consumers are served well when buying or selling a home and are supported by an effective, competitive and innovative market.”

The industry has gone through some significant changes since the study done four years ago. These changes are not only because of the recent boom and then downturn of the market that we have seen recently, but also changes in several regulations.

The introduction of Home Information Packs and new legislation protecting consumers from unfair practices are a couple of other changes that have occurred since the last mediation.

 The study is expected to be finished by the end of 2009, and will review whether these new rules are adequate enough to protect people using this market.

The review will also look at how easy it is for new estate agents to get into this market, especially online providers, along with the quality and prices charged by all provides.

Concerns about the market were initially raised while the housing prices were at their highest, but in June this year, former head of the OFT, Bryan Carsberg, called for tougher regulations. He said that he thought all estate agents, letting agents and managing agents who handle residential property should be subjected to formal regulations and complete basic qualifications.

National Association of Estate Agents chief executive, Peter Bolton King, has said he welcomes the announcement of the review and also called for appropriate regulations.

He said that: “there is nothing to stop anybody becoming an estate agent and there is a real need for consumers to be aware of this.
“There is clearly a lot of competition between internet retailers, and many people will certainly initially begin their search for property online
“To be safe, consumers should use the professional agents.”

The OFT has the power to ban any agents that break the law when it comes to mis-describing a property, handling a client’s money, not declaring an interest in a property, or being found to have been involved in any other form of dishonesty.

A separate market study from the OFT was published in September, and revealed the market to be competitive, but recommended buyers get more help if they suffer delays moving into their property of find faults.

Administrators have cut 450 jobs at Woolworths in order to try and keep the business running. These layoffs have been in support operations at the store at Marylebone Road in London, and the branch in Castleton, Rochdale.

The company, which employs over 25,000 people in its shops alone, and up to 5,000 others in related businesses, have not yet had to cut jobs in the shops themselves, or in their distribution centres, though this is expected after the Christmas period is over.

Since its collapse last month, administrators have launched Woolworths ‘biggest ever sale’, which some have criticised as looking more like a closing down sale, but administrators are claiming it was ‘ongoing’.

Prices are currently reduced throughout the store, with toys and greeting cards offering up to 50% discount in order to try to encourage shoppers into the store, and move stock before Christmas.

Administrators are saying that the shop will remain open until after Christmas. Neville Kahn of Deloitte said: “there is continuing interest in the core Woolworths business and the sale will continue whilst potential buyers finalise their plans for the purchase of the business.”  He added that extra staff had been hired in order to deal with the demand.

Nick Bubb, an analyst with stockbrokers from Pali International, has claimed that the company is trying to “get rid of unsold stock and empty shops…It looks a bit like a closing down sale.”

The famous high street store went into administration just over a week ago, on 26th November. Deloitte have taken over and are said to be in talks with numerous different companies that are interested in Woolworths assets.

However, just last Thursday, famous Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, pulled out of buying a share in the chain of stores.

It is still believed that supermarket chains, such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Poundland are all interested in investing in some of Woolworths main stores.

The recent credit crunch has had an effect on lots of high street stores. Some other stores are trying to entice customers back into shops by sales before Christmas.

Debenhams, and Dorothy Perkins for example, have held a three-day 20% -off sale events that are soon to end.

Also Marks and Spencer has offered two sales in the last month, in what it claims to be an attempt to give shoppers “a helping hand in the run-up to Christmas.”

It is expected that the Bank of England will cut their rates to their lowest on over fifty years.

Business leaders and economists alike have suggested an interest rate cut down to 2%, which has not been seen since 1951, in order to try to halt the current economic depression as much as possible.

It was just last month that the Bank announced that it would cut its interest rates by 1.5%, to 3%.

Minutes from last month’s meeting show that the Banks policy makers had discussed bigger cuts in borrowing costs, before settling on the dramatic reduction in interest rates.

Since then, there has been rapid deterioration in businesses since this meeting has raised fears that the economic crisis in Britain could be worse than originally feared.

Among our current economic problems includes the fact that  businesses are finding a continued restriction in bank loans, unemployment continues to rise, mortgage lending is still slowing, consumer confidence has fallen and shops are having to severely lower prices in order to attract Christmas shoppers.

Yesterday, a key measure in our services sector contracted in November at its fastest rate since at least 1996.

Also in November, the UK services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped more than expected to a record low of 40.1, compared with 42.4 a month earlier. (Figures below 50 is a sign of their outlook worsening.)

Economists expect the Bank of England to respond decisively. George Buckley, chief UK economist at Deutche Bank has said: “They need to do something aggressive again, because of where the data’s been taking us.”

Judging by past actions, the Bank has shown itself to be capable of such decisive, drastic action when needed.

Governor Mervyn King told a parliamentary committee last week that: “We will take whatever action we feel is necessary on interest rates to steer the economy back into calmer waters. We may need to cut Bank Rate more than we would otherwise have done.”

Moneyfacts, a financial information service, has estimated that homeowners with a standard £150,000 repayment mortgage, could be saving anything between £19 - £75 per month, depending on how big the rate cuts actually are and if lenders will pass on the cuts in full.

John Charcol, mortgage advisors, has said that only 10 of 69 lenders have passes the last two mortgage rate cuts in full to their customers on standard variable rate mortgages.

Lloyds TSB, and therefore also Cheltenham & Gloucester, as the company also lends under this brand, have already promised to pass on reductions to borrowers on standard variable mortgages in full.

Customers on tracker deals however, may not see the full benefit of further Bank cuts in rates.

Some lenders have introduced a floor (also called a collar by some banks) which means that if interest rates fall below a certain point, the cuts will not be passed on to customers.

Mortgage rationing is set to become more of a problem in 2009 if the government don’t intervene, according to a lending group.

Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Michael Coogan, has said there are now fewer lenders with less money. He also suggested that if lending levels in 2009 go in a similar way to 2008, they could be a challenge. And added that smaller companies may have to spend a third of their profits covering the bail-out of bigger banks.

Mr Coogan was speaking at the CML’s annual conference on Tuesday and painted a rather dull picture for people intending to get onto the property ladder in the near future. He said that: “Consumer borrowing will simply not return to the levels seen in 2007, even if funds increased and a wide variety of lenders were to become active in the mortgage market again.

“In fact, unless the government takes further targeted action to help market participants, we will see a worsening of the picture next year compared to this.

A good outcome next year in my view would be if we had lending at levels seen in 2008, but bearing in mind we will be in a recession…this would be a real challenge.”

Sir James Crosby also voiced similar views earlier this year, when in a recent report to the chancellor, he suggested that net new mortgage lending would pads the low of £15 billion in 1995 and fall below zero.

House prices in Britain have fallen by 10% to 15% this year so far. Mortgage approval is also down 74% compared to last year, and it is expected that there will be further falls in prices.

Mr Coogan also claimed that building societies would make a loss this year. Other small financial businesses are seeing their profits hindered by “unintended consequences” of moves to protect customers with failed banks.

Though the government may have made changes in order to avoid tax-payers having to cover compensation paid on those who have lost money with Icelandic banks, in actual fact, it will be financial institutions of all sizes that have to cover the cost via the annual financial services compensation scheme. This has cost some of the smaller institutions up to 30% of their annual profits.

Mr Coogan has however backed the mortgage lenders decision to delay the process of repossessions for borrowers in financial troubles. But he has also asked for more support from the government. He has proposed a “backstop scheme” in order to sell property to their lender which they could rent back. This would stop the need to go to court, as well as underpinning property prices, and allow people to stay in their own homes, therefore supporting the local community.

Prior to Thursday’s decision on interest rates, he also criticised the idea as “short-sighted and counterproductive”, claiming that this was pushing down interest rates offered to savers.

Jon Pain of the Financial Services Authority has warned lenders to keep to contractual rules when passing on cuts to customers, saying that any floor on tracker mortgages must be made clear in an initial mortgage contract.

At the same conference, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable also said that there should be no return on reckless mortgage lending, claiming that: “the industry should now be exploring new products to restore faith in mortgage lending.”

If NatWest loses its continuing test case over bank charges, it has said it will refund overdraft fees to customers. These findings come as an internal bank document reveals preparations that banks are making if they lose their case.

The document that has been found says that overdraft fees may have to be refunded, the cost of which could run into millions of pounds overall. Though the bank, which has recently been taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland, has said it was just drawing up a contingency plan to deal with one possible outcome of the test case.

The RBS NatWest is one of eight banks in total awaiting an Appeal Court judgement as to whether or not the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can decide if their overdraft charges are unfair.

If the bank is to lose its case, the document reveals that customers can expect to be refunded, saying that a team from the bank are “preparing systems and processes to pro-actively refund charges to the group’s customer base.”

The bank document also says that: “all customer accounts that are due a refund will be calculated as accurately as possible…Any monies will be accurately accounted for and reconciled.”

It adds that the bank aims for “avoidance of group reputational damage and/or loss of funds.”

An RSB spokesperson has said that the document found simply reflects the fact it was obliged by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to deal with its customers complaints “efficiently and swiftly” if it ended up losing its test case.

He said that “this work stream has absolutely no bearing on how we see the outcome of the test case.

“With an organisation of our size and our different brands, complying with these requirements demands careful contingency planning and this document merely confirms that RBS is taking its obligations in this respect seriously as it has done throughout the whole test case process.”

Campaign group Legal Beagle’s spokeswoman Sharon Coleman has said: “we would welcome a pro-active approach if they intend resolving the matter without further appeals.

“Consumers have become increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of progress in the test case, especially those affected by financial difficulty.”

For the last three years, banks have been besieged by hundreds of thousands of angry customers demanding the return of high charges taken by banks whenever customers go overdrawn without permission.

Last year, eight banks and the OFT agrees to stage a test case in the High Court in an attempt to resolve the legal issues.

In the first round of High Court hearings, at the beginning of this year, the banks lost their case. Mr Justice Andrew Smith said in April that under the 1999 Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (UTCCR), the OFT had the power to decide if banks’ charges were fair.

An appeal to this decision was heard in October of this year, and judgement is expected in the New Year.

HSBC and Lloyds TSB have also revealed that they have a contingency plan in place should they lose that appeal, and there is little doubt that other banks will have measures in place also.

Among the conditions set by the FSA, includes that banks will have to make “preparations for dealing with relevant charges complaints when this direction ends and updating those preparations as the outcome of the test case becomes clear.”

The Royal Bank of Scotland guarantees that it will not repossess properties belonging to owners who have fallen behind on their payments for at least six months.

RBS are currently the fifth biggest mortgage lender in the UK, with a 7% market share. Therefore, their decision could put pressure on HBOS, who are currently the biggest mortgage lender.

The government have recently also bought out a 58% stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland recently after shareholders held a meeting and decided to take the government money, and therefore bought out a tiny percentage of the shares offered to them.

RBS have said that it wants to make sure customers are given an opportunity to seek help and independent advice before starting legal action against them.

Craig Donaldson, the RBS’ managing director of retail banking has said: “we fully understand that one of the biggest worries facing homeowners in financial difficulty is the thought of losing their home, and this is especially true given the current economic climate.”

Citizens Advice and charity Crisis, who represent homeowners struggling to keep up with arrears, have welcomed the news.

Just last week, Ian Pearson, Treasury minister, said that he would hold banks’ “feet to the fire” in order to assure that customers were treated properly.

Shortly after the RBS made this announcement, the Bank of England released figures that showed mortgage approvals had dropped again in October of this year by around 1,000 approvals less than in September.

BBC business editor, Robert Peston has said:” Here’s the positive side of what Royal Bank has done : it gives those who lose their jobs in the looming wave of redundancies a better chance of getting a new source of income in time to prevent the bank seizing the family property.

“But there is a cost, which will fall on estate agents and – possibly – anyone interested in seeing an end to savage deflation of house prices.”

Initial assumptions were that the delay in repossessions was due to the government take over, but it may not be entirely down to that.

Jonathan Charley, from EDS consultants, has said: “At a time when house prices are falling, banks don’t really want to do repossessions because all they end up with is no money coming from the mortgage loan and they end up with a stock of houses, which they probably can’t sell.

“So, for most banks they’d rather avoid having repossessions and actually just get some form of money coming in from people.”

The delay in bank repossessions for people who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage repayments is just one of many new changes being enforced by the bank. Others include an agreement to return to “normal” lending practices and guaranteeing overdraft rates and contracts for its business customers for at least a year.