Many banks have begun to offer customers the option of online banking, a practice that has benefits for both parties and whilst consumers view online banking as a quick way to pay bills and check their finances; online banking, at least to some degree, has become the norm for many simple bank transactions.

Online banking allows people access all of their account through a secure bank-created website. Depending on the services chosen, a customer may simply be able to view the day-to-day activity of every account they have with a bank. Another convenient service lets people transfer funds, either between accounts or from electronic transactions.

The biggest plus for banks to banking online is the price. Because Internet-only banks don’t have the expense of maintaining hundreds of local branches, their overall cost of doing business is lower than it is for their traditional counterparts. Which means they pass the savings on to their customers in two main ways: higher interest and lower fees.

Another big advantage is that you’ll have 24-hour access to your account, for free. Unlike your corner bank, online banking sites never close; they’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they’re only a mouse click away. Also if a money issue arises while you’re out of state or out of the country, you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business.

Accounts can also be automatically funded from a traditional bank account via electronic funds. Most direct banks offer unlimited transfers at no cost, including those destined for outside financial institutions. They will also accept direct deposits and withdrawals that you authorize, such as payroll deposits and automatic bill payments and any online banking sites offer sophisticated tools, including account aggregation, stock quotes, rate alerts and portfolio managing programs to help you manage all of your assets more effectively. Most are also compatible with money managing programs.

However f you’re new to online banking, it might take time to register for your bank’s online program. Or, it may be easier to physically fill out a form at your local branch and a traditional bank provides the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with that bank. Getting to know the people at your local branch can be an advantage when you need a loan or a special service that is not normally offered to the public. A bank manager usually has some discretion in changing the terms of your account if your personal circumstances change. They can help you solve problems such as reversing an undeserved fee or service charge.

Where does one go for financial advice nowadays? More and more, it seems that decent impartial financial advice isn’t easy to come by – after all, as impartial as people claim to be, quite often you can’t confirm this yourself.

Because of this, the best way to get properly impartial advice is to make as many enquiries as possible yourself. Your bank might tell you that they have a great deal on a loan or a credit card, but you might find that by making enquiries elsewhere, you could get a far better rate or deal on what you want, which is where services like price comparison sites can really play to your advantage.

Just by tapping in a few details and hitting that button, you can view details on a huge number of deals on the product you’re looking for, ranked to be as close as possible to the parameters you set in the first place, and many of which you can apply for directly.

Of course, this is all well and good, but who do you turn to if you don’t know what you want? Well, the advice given to you by your bank can normally steer you in the right direction, just don’t assume that they will be able to offer you the best deal – often they will be able to, due to a special “existing customer rate” or similar (This is often true for loans, as your bank has a greater knowledge over your financial dealings), but quite often it can be worth shopping around – especially in the case of cash ISAs at the moment, where some banks are offering just .05% interest rates and standard savers often offering little over 3% – Which, when you consider that, according to moneysupermarket.com: “A higher rate taxpayer needs an account paying at least 6.17% in order to earn a positive return [on their savings], while someone in the basic taxband needs to be earning at least 4.62%” Means that at the moment, finding the best place for your money is even more important than ever.

There is a lot to be said for carefully considering your financial position, learning about the different options available and then choosing the one most appropriate to you. True enough, this may not be the quickest way, but do you really want to rush into what could be a very important financial decision? moneysupermarket.com can make this decision easier, offering not only detailed price comparison, but a wealth of other information that can help you decide on what product and what type of account is right for you.

The UK’s Yorkshire and Chelsea building societies are said to be in “advanced talks” over a potential merger.

The Chelsea is the fifth and the Yorkshire is the second largest building society in the UK.

If a deal is reached, it would rival the Nationwide as big mutually owned mortgage and savings institution.

In August, Chelsea revealed a half-year loss of £26m after it had assigned £41m to cover to mortgage frauds.

The Chelsea has 35 branches and 700,000 members, while the Yorkshire has almost t three times as many members at 2 million and over four times as many branches, with 143.

The Chelsea building society announced, “the board of Chelsea has been undertaking a detailed review of the society’s activities, operations, financial position and corporate structure”.

“As part of this, Chelsea has considered the potential benefits to members and other stakeholders of a merger and this has culminated in discussions with the Yorkshire.”

The talks of a deal are being seen as a rescue package for Chelsea. New chairman Stuart Bernau has been analysing the business and viability over its independence.

In 2008, it reported a loss of £39m which was the highest recorded loss by a building society. £44m was written off due to huge investments in two failed Icelandic banks.

Another £15m was written off by the Chelsea after buying a mortgage broker in 2007 whose business collapsed during the credit crunch.

Building societies differ from banks and stock-market companies, as they are owned by their members, and struggle to regain reserves if they suffer heavy losses.

The Chelsea went on to reveal that “for a merger to proceed, the boards of both societies would need to be satisfied that it will be in the benefit of each society’s members”.

“The merger would also be subject to approval by each society’s members and the FSA.”

It has yet to be revealed if a merger would provide a windfall to the members of both societies. A spokeswoman for the Chelsea said that such details were yet to be discussed.

Several takeovers of building societies have been made since autumn 2008 in an attempt to save them from problems brought on by the global financial crisis.

In September last year, the Nationwide began its takeover process of both the Cheshire and the Derbyshire, then the Yorkshire made a move for the Barnsley building society, with the Skipton taking control of the Scarborough.

The most important factor when choosing to manage your personal finances effectively is time. A greater time investment will almost always result in a greater financial return.

Therefore the sooner you start to manage your finances, the greater return and financial ease you will feel in the future. Many people fail to plan ahead, which results in struggling to juggle finances at a later point in life.

Money management should focus on four primary questions:

1.       What financial goals would you like to achieve?

2.       When can you expect to achieve them?

3.       What finances do you currently have?

4.       What level of risk would you make to achieve these targets?

Choosing somewhere to live is an essential in everybody’s lives, and therefore, buying a house will be the biggest financial purchase that people will make. The financial investment into a home will affect all your other finances.

Making big decisions on your lifestyle will affect your financial goals. If you consider a luxury holiday to be one of life’s essentials, you will have less money left over for savings and investments.

When do you want to retire? What expenses do you currently have? Deciding what your priorities are will help to determine what money you will have left.

It is worth assessing your current liabilities, as these expenditures and assets could be reduced or sold and free up money for the future.

Calculate how much spare money you have so that you can form an investment plan. Investments can vary dramatically. Some are high risk for higher reward or loss, and some are low risk for a steady growth on investment. It’s up to the individual to decide what level of risk you are prepared to make.

Once these considerations have been made and your plan is in places, it’s important to assess the decisions you’ve made and how they affect you on a day to day basis. You plan may be too restrictive, leaving you with not enough money to live on, or perhaps you could make greater short term sacrifices to benefit you in the long term.

A small amount of time spent on your current finances can be highly rewarding for your future.

The US economy saw its first growth in over a year, rising to an annual rate of 3.5% between July and September.

Experts believe that a major spending plan by the US government which featured a scrappage scheme to encourage the car sales market has been the main cause of the upturn.

Some economists believe that there could be more setbacks lurking ahead, despite the official statistics showing that the recession is over.

A spokesman at the White House announced that recent economic progression was “a welcome milestone” but it would take more time for a full recovery to be recognised.

The US economy had risen 0.9% in relation to the previous three months, whereas the UK economy remained in recession, unexpectedly dropping 0.4%.

Hugh Pym, the chief economics correspondent for the BBC, revealed that the growth rate of 3.5% was greater than the 3.3% predicted by most experts.

He continued:”The sheer scale of the stimulus in the US has made a big difference, it was much bigger in percentage terms than that in the UK.”

“That the US, the powerhouse of the world economy is growing once again, is good news for the global economy has a whole.”

The last time the US economy grew was in the second quarter of 2008, by an annual rate of 2,4%.

The National Bureau of Economic Research will reveal the full extent of the US economic climb from recession when it analyses all the factors.

Some factors were significantly responsible for helping US economy during the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department.

The spending on durable manufactured products rocketed up at an annual rate of 22.3% which was the highest quarterly figure since 2001 and was spearheaded by the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ scheme helping new car sales.

Consumer spending increased on housing products by 23.4%, the greatest quarterly surge in 23 years, and came as a result of an improving housing market.

The big increase is considered by many to be due to the government’s $8,000 tax credit provided to first-time house buyers.

Government spending increased by 7.9% as stimulus spending spread and exports saw their biggest rise since 1996, rising by 21.4%.

Brian Bethune, an economist for HIS Global Insight stated that “it’s good to have the economy growing again.”

“But we don’t think that rate of growth is sustainable because it is distorted by all the government stimulus.”

“The challenge here is to get organic growth – growth that isn’t helped by fiscal steroids.”

However, unemployment is at a rate of 9.8% and a sharp fall came in September in the car sales industry as a result of the popular car scrappage scheme coming to an end in August.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Centre of Economic Policy Research believes that “you can say that the recession is over, but it sure won’t feel like that.”

“There is a lot of downward momentum that isn’t going to go.”

Plans to split British bank Northen Rock in two which would allow for its partial sale has been granted by the European Union.

The divide would result in two separate banks forming and are already being described as the “good” and “bad” banks.

The “good” bank would offer new lending, retain some of the existing mortgages and hold its savers’ money.

The “bad” bank would be used to repay the existing government loans and hold the remaining loans.

 Decisions made by the EU to accept the move are seen by Northern Rock as “an important and positive step.”

Changes to the existing setup will be made towards the end of the year.

The EU revealed that the good portion of the bank would be expected to grow and then be sold to third party, with the bad bank allowing its assets to dissolve then becoming liquidated.

The good bank may be sold prior to the general election next year with potential buyers being speculated already, with Virgin and National Australia Bank, owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, among the interested parties.

EU Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, believes that the move would make the bank a good long-term option, revealing that “this decision demonstrates once again that the EU’s state aid rules provide an appropriate framework to allow state support for a sustainable restructuring of banks without giving individual banks an unfair competitive advantage.”

Whilst Jonathan Todd, European Commission spokesman, said caps would need to be applied for the duration that the good bank remains owned by the public.

Some of the caps include a balance sheet reduced to a quarter of its size prior to the crisis, not being the market leader for loan interest rates, a cap set to limit its lending to one-third of Northern Rock’s 2008 levels and also a cap on retail deposits to be slightly lower than the pre-crisis level.

An investigation was engaged by the EU into Northern Rock in April 2008, two months after its nationalisation.

The results from the investigation showed that the UK government was kept at a “necessary minimum”.

By 30 June, the bank had paid back approximately half the taxpayers’ £26.9bn loan and will gain a further £8bn from the government during the end of year restructuring.

The EU stated that the restructuring would reduce its market share to below half of its pre-crisis level and “correct the excessive expansion of Northern Rock pre-crisis.”

Northern Rock released a statement, saying “this approval is an essential requirement of the planned legal and capital restructure, which is central to the business plan for Northern Rock.”

“The restructure will strengthen the capital and liquidity position of Northern Rock significantly, and offers value for money to taxpayers” and it would be “business as usual” for its customers.

According to official figures, the UK experienced an unexpected contraction of 0.4% for the third quarter, showing that the UK is still stuck in the recession.

This quarterly contraction is the sixth consecutive contraction, the worst run of figures that UK gross domestic product (GDP) has experienced since records began 54 years ago.

The GDP of a country represents the value of goods and services produced by a country. The figures released may be altered at a later date, as this is just a first estimate.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), had been expected to show quarterly growth of 0.2%. However, no growth in retail sales for September and a 2.5% fall in industrial output for August had dented people’s positive expectations.

Experts have revealed that one of the main causes of the contraction was an unexpected drop in the services sector, with distribution, catering and hotels generating some of the worst figures.

Nearby countries France and Germany exited the recession earlier this year, and it is generally considered that the UK’s reliance upon the services sector, and more specifically, the finances sector being the main reason.

The UK economy has now experienced a 5.9% contraction since its high point prior to the recession.

The Bank of England is set to re-think its quantitative easing plan after seeing such a poor result in GDP figures. Quantitative easing involves the Bank of England printing money to buy bonds from companies and banks in an effort to encourage positive activity in the economy.

HSBC’s Bronwyn Curtis spoke with the BBC, revealing that “back in August we had a worse-than-expected second-quarter GDP number and that is the reason that the Bank of England extended the quantitative easing programme,”

ING’s James Knightly felt that the data was “awful with no positive news” and “clearly suggests that the likelihood of an expansion in quantitative easing by £50bn or so over the next quarter is rising, although [it] is not a foregone conclusion.”

It is considered by many experts to be disturbing that measures taken by the government and the Bank of England have failed to make a positive impact. However, David Kern, the chief economist with the British Chamers of Commerce believes that “continued intervention – including help for businesses to access finance, and incentives to promote investment – is still needed.”

“Above all else, business confidence must be nurtured, to ensure that recovery is not further delayed.”

Alistair Darling has announced that the government must borrow its way to recovery and believes that it’s the best avenue for the UK economy in the long run.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer confessed that further national borrowing “may feel counter-intuitive,” but “will mean the bills we face as a country are lower” in the long run.

However, many believe that the levels of government debt are already too high, with cuts in public spending and tax rises required. The government has already raised borrowing during the recession by high amounts.

Following Mr Darling’s speech, a question-and-answer session was held, with the chancellor finding agreement with Mervyn King, the Bank of England Governor, stating that there were “no simple answers” when it came to the reform of big banks.

According to Mervyn King, their core business may need to be divided into other practices to prevent them from becoming so big that they aren’t allowed to fail.

Mr Darling was concerned that “we cannot have a regulatory regime that excludes the possibility of failure.”

He went on to state that the banking sector needed more competition, and when the government came to selling its bank stakes that were bought during the financial crisis, it would be hoping to develop greater competition.

Many are calling for a reduction to the borrowing and spending that has caused so much debt, but Mr Darling believes that withdrawing government support would be “wrong and dangerous,” and the country would have to make a big decision.

At a speech in London, Mr Darling declared that “we can resign ourselves to a decade of austerity, low growth and low employment, or we can embrace change, turn it to our advantage and seize the huge opportunities a global recovery will bring.”

He continued by warning that withdrawing government support to the economy “would put the recovery at risk and abandon people facing unemployment.”

In a bid to encourage demand during the recession, the government has pushed billions of pounds into the economy through its £175bn quantitative easing plan, cut the VAT rate and helping ailing banks.

According to Mr Darling, a great deal of work was still required to steer the country out of the recession, including three big steps.

“First, we must support the economy until we’re sure the recession is over. Some are tempted to think the crisis is over. It’s not. Banks all over the world are still dependent on government support.”

The second step would involve raising taxes to regain financial strength and taking “tough choices on public spending for the years ahead”.

He added, that it “will mean cutting costs, cutting waste and cutting lower priority budgets, while continuing to invest in our priorities and our future.”

His third step would involve a government plan of growth.

“We need growth, because when we grow, the economy becomes bigger, we all become richer as a country, and it gets easier to pay back debt.”

Whilst the general financial atmosphere is improving and optimism growing, it is too soon to announce that we are in the process of recovery, according to experts at Ernst and Young Item Club.

The influential professional services firm expects some growth towards the end of 2009, but this growth should begin to struggle, with 1% expected growth for 2010.

They also predicted that customers repaying debt will grow slower than first anticipated and impending tax rises will follow the election.

BT Business research predicted a more optimistic outlook, declaring that small businesses are positive about the forthcoming year.

In September, BT Business conducted a survey of over 7000 small businesses and found that 75% believed their business would see an upturn in 2010, with 61% confident about their business’ prospects.

Professor Peter Spencer, Chief Economist from the Item Club, issued a wake-up-call to all those getting carried away with the optimism of recovery.

He warned, “there could still be substantial pain to come for corporates and consumers.”

“For a sustainable recovery the UK economy needs world trade to pick up and there is still not much sign of that happening.”

One of the factors holding back growth is that the VAT rate will return to 17.5% from its current level of 15% on 1 January, a change which may see consumers making purchases before the New Year.

Several other factors which will hold back growth lie on the horizon. An increase in national insurance contributions, the new 50p tax rate, the termination of the car scrappage scheme, tighter government spending and the return of stamp duty on housing are all due to hit the country.

Judging whether the recovery is happening, on the way or unlikely is difficult to forcast.

Professor Spencer went on to tell the BBC that the recent economic data has been “very mixed,” adding, “the stock market is absolutely rampant, industrial surveys all back in positive territory, but it’s yet to show through in hard data for output and things like that.”

“And when it comes to lagging indicators like unemployment, I’m afraid it’s going to be ‘feel bad’ for quite some time to come.”

On Friday, the official statistics for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are released, with many expecting no economic growth at all.

GDP is a measurement of the services and goods produced in a country, and since the first quarter of 2008, the UK GDP has been in negative figures.

The Bank of England has focused on quantitative easing, an act of pushing money into the economy. Professor Spencer feels that this has been of little success, with the little improvement on bank lending, going on to complain that “instead, the banks appear to have used much of the money to rebuild reserves and improve liquidity.”

Lloyds Banking Group announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement to sell its estate agency arm, Halifax Estate Agencies, to LSL Property Services for just £1.

The sale of Halifax Estate Agencies (HEA) will result in the closure of approximately 121 Halifax banking counters which are situated within the estate agency chain’s branches, potentially causing 460 people to lose their jobs as a result.

With 218 branches, HEA is the fourth biggest network of estate agencies in the UK. The lack of residential property sales saw a pre-tax loss of £2m, a dramatic drop from their £34m profit in 2007.

HBOS became acquired by Lloyds during a controversial deal made earlier this year.

Lloyds released a statement on Friday, stating that the decision to sell was made as a result of considered reviews by the bank and “concluded that an estate agency operation is no longer integral to its business model”.

The decision comes after measures were made in August by Lloyds announced it was to sell its Insight asset management business to Bank of New York Mellon for £235m.

In efforts to gain approval from the European Commission for aid from the UK government, Lloyds are expected to make big cuts.

LSL currently own a range of estate agencies, such as Your Move, Reeds Rains and InterCounty. The addition of HEA would result in 584 branches and increase their estate agency portfolio to become the second-largest estate agency network in the UK.

LSL considers HEA to have been run to primarily distribute financial services products and held great potential for their business.

“This is a significant opportunity for LSL to acquire a high-quality branch network, an established asset management business and pipeline of sales on favourable commercial terms at a low point in the economic cycle.”

Shares in LSL increased by 5% to 275p and Lloyds shares increased 3.4% to 94.52p during early Friday.

The deal is expected to be completed in January 2010, and include approximately 1050 HEA staff transferring to work for LSL as a part of the agreement.

On Friday, a statement was released by LSL suggested that the acquisition of HEA had been traded ahead of management expectations made in July, with turnover for the 8 months up to 31 August, down by 18%.

LSL revealed that they await the results of 2010 with caution, confessing that “any recovery is likely to be constrained by the availability of mortgage credit and general economic backdrop.”