Credit Cards

Overdraft fees and charges make up a third of all the income that banks make from providing personal current accounts, new research has shown.

Overdrafts are simple to operate, convenient to use, and helpful for those times when cashflow is tight or you need to make a big purchase at short notice.

People living in urban areas are less satisfied with their overall financial position, are more likely to use high-cost loans and, on average, have more unsecured debt, an authoritative new study has shown.

Virgin Money has agreed to be taken over by the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group (CYBG) for £1.7 billion. As part of the merger, the Clydesdale and Yorkshire bank brands will disappear from the high street and be switched over to Virgin Money.

Debit cards have finally overtaken cash as the most popular way of paying for things in the UK, according to figures from the country’s banking trade body. Contactless payments, which almost doubled last year, were the main driver behind the surge in debit card usage.

Hackers have gained illegal access to 5.9 million credit cards and 1.2 million personal records stored by Currys PC World and Dixons Travel, Dixons Carphone announced this morning.

Open banking lets you give all of your bank and credit card transaction data to a third party – and in turn, they will hopefully do something useful with that data, such as aggregate all of your various accounts into one dashboard, or help you reduce your utility bills.

From time to time, you might need money in hurry. This could be due to urgent home repairs, a car breakdown, a much-needed holiday, finding a deposit on a new rental flat, or coping with a relationship breakdown.

Few of us learnt about personal finance at school, so it’s no wonder that money management can be a challenge from time to time.