For most recent IBAS views and opinions go to Banking News & UK Comment 2011

You will find our 2011 national newspaper comments (plus many more over many years) in the News and archives sections of our site - these prove that IBAS can be relied upon and has been in existence helping business bank customers with their personal guarantees and personal guarantees demands since 1992. IBAS has also featured in BBC TV and ITV News items and programmes on UK banking and business banking issues many times since we were established in 1992.

London Scottish Bank forced into administration - London Scottish announced in February that it was ending its lending business to focus on its debt collection unit Robinson Way - 1st December 2008

Banks and reality of repossession. The reality of banks and repossession as even their own employees aren't safe.

Controversial payment protection insurance (PPI) should not be sold to a customer within 14 days of being sold a loan, the Competition Commission says.

Of course the BBA have objected but customers have been ripped off for too long and vulnerable people most of all - IBAS endorse the Competition Commission's actions. One banking rip-off is closed down - at last. - 13th November 2008

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has ordered an investigation into a legal loophole that allows lenders to repossess a home without a court order. The inquiry was announced in response to a High Court ruling that supported a decision by GMAC-RFC, the General Motors mortgage lender, to sell the property of a borrower who was in arrears. It confirmed that mortgage lenders could sell a property without a court repossession order if a borrower fell two months into arrears. - 11th November 2008

Sharp rise in people going bust - A leading economic consultancy predicted that bankruptcies would continue to rise. "With the full effects of the credit crunch and rising unemployment yet to be felt, bankruptcies are set to soar over the coming two or three years," said Capital Economics. "We expect the number of personal insolvencies to rise from around 110,000 this year to around 140,000 in 2009 and even further thereafter." - 7th November 2008

FSA consults on regulating retail banking conduct of business - The FSA is inviting responses by 16 February 2009 for it's proposals. If you've had a banking complaint and attempted to get the BCSB to do something about and failed - then here's your opportunity to 'air' your views. - 05/11/2008

Figures released last week by the Financial Services Authority show 11,054 people lost their homes between April and June - that equates to 120 families a day losing their home - with a further 500,000 already in negative equity. A rise to 1.2million is feared - but in our opinion that figure may be an underestimate as cash gets tighter for UK consumers - 03/11/2008.

REPOSSESSION threatens half a million homeowners according to the Bank of England but new Government rules should better protect those falling behind with mortgage repayments. The new legal guidelines, coming into force on November 19, state that lenders must explore options to help people stay in their homes. These may include extending the loan term, changing the type of mortgage by perhaps switching to an interest-only deal, deferring payment of interest, or adding arrears to the overall loan. Have judges been provided with the necessary 'tools'? We now wait to see the results. However, under the new arrangement, sub-prime lenders who are not members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders are excluded.
- 30/10/2008

The number of repossessions up 71% in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period a year ago. More worries as existing 'soft touch' regulation and voluntary bank and mortgage codes prove not to be working for consumers - 28/10/2008

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that Guidance will be issued to judges in an attempt to ease repossession rates. Mr Brown told the Commons that lenders would have to demonstrate to the courts that they had exhausted every avenue. But, lenders are supposed to do that already, under existing banking and Mortgage codes and FSA rules. We know none of these have been working and are not working now. If they worked, repossessions would not be running at 50% higher than a year ago. Judges don't need 'guidance' - they require the 'tools' to keep families in their homes when bankers ask for repossession and that might help to avoid another massive social problem. - 22/10/2008

Jobless rising to record level - The number of people out of work in the UK soared in the three months to August by 164,000 compared to the previous quarter, the biggest rise for 17 years. The rise took the jobless total to 1.79 million and the rate to 5.7%, up from 5.2% in the previous quarter and that's before the effects of the banking crisis is felt. Some sort of stability has arrived (at least in UK banking) but want to know where all the money went? - an article which may help us understand what happens and how with money - also shows how banks 'make' money. - 14/10/2008

The Bank 'bailout' and rescue continues - Treasury announce a further £37bn state assistance of which £20bn goes to RBofS - Barclays stand aside from this and will 'go it alone' in raising further capital direct from shareholders and investors. The banks will now be forced to change. Perhaps they will now treat their customers with more fairness than has been the case but the detail we have yet to see. As Taxpayers today now own around 60% of RBofS and around 40% of what will be LTSB plus HBOS and as the Government has seized the initiative, let's hope that the BCSB is quickly dumped in favour of an entity that will enforce the banking codes properly as part of new regulation and practices in line with the Government support - 13/10/2008

Early overdraft victory for banks - Banks have largely won the latest round of a High Court battle over the fairness of overdraft charges. Judge Mr Justice Andrew Smith says most customers will not be able to use common law to challenge bank charges levied mostly between 2001 and 2007 - 09/10/2008

Fraudsters target bank accounts -The credit crunch is causing identity fraudsters to target bank account holders, a report says. The all-party parliamentary group on identity fraud says thieves are finding it more difficult to use fake identities to open new accounts because of restrictions on credit. The group warned that fraudsters are now targeting existing accounts. One scam involves a bogus e-mail from Revenue and Customs, asking for bank account details to receive a tax rebate. - 08/10/2008

Northern Rock Job losses were inevitable once management tried to swim ‘against the tide’. The errors by Northern Rock management in expanding their long term mortgage business with short term and ‘risky’ borrowed money means that any plans to run the NR as an ongoing business will soak up even more cash, as the further funding by the Bank of England has illustrated. Whoever ends up running NR will have to realize NR assets and will also need to prune jobs as well.

If Northern Rock had been any other business even more job losses would have occurred and more quickly. The longer this debacle runs the more my thinking is that NR should have been left to the liquidators. Jobs will be lost in considerable numbers which ever route is followed now. - 6^th February 2008 - Eddy Weatherill, Chief executive, Independent Banking Advisory Service (IBAS)

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Independent Banking Advisory Service (IBAS) is a national, independent, non-profit, unique specialist banking customer membership organization which resolves banking complaints and disputes and which has campaigned on UK Banking customer issues since 1992. We provide bank and banking assessment, analysis, bank comment and content for BBC TV News, ITV, Radio and national newspapers.