Private companies have been accused of cashing in on the coronavirus pandemic by offering expensive Covid tests to customers with urgent travel plans, then failing to deliver. Most countries now require travellers to be tested up to 72 hours before they fly and dozens of unregulated companies have sprung up offering DIY swabs or on-site…
Eight years ago, my wife and I closed our joint current account with HSBC and transferred our funds to Nationwide. Three years ago, we moved from Surrey to Shropshire. Then, out of the blue last week, my wife got a £50 cheque from HSBC saying it was for compensation because the “quality of the service…
For speculators, the cryptocurrency party was just starting. At the beginning of last year one bitcoin was worth £5,614 before almost reaching £30,000 at the end of last week. On Monday, Britain’s financial watchdog took the punch bowl away, by warning bitcoin investors that they could lose all their money. While it may sober up…
More than a third of the UK’s poorest families have seen their already meagre incomes squeezed during the pandemic because they have had to spend more on food, gas and electricity, and home schooling, a study has revealed. The Resolution Foundation thinktank found that while UK household spending broadly dropped and financial savings increased during…
Consumers should be prepared to lose all their money if they invest in schemes promising high returns from digital currencies such as bitcoin, a City watchdog has warned. The volatile nature of cryptoassets was highlighted again on Monday as bitcoin dropped 28% from Friday’s record high of $42,000, having doubled its value in less than…
The City of London has survived fire and plague in its centuries-long history. But the coronavirus pandemic has emptied its streets of office workers, shoppers and tourists, leading some to question whether the Square Mile will ever return to the way it was before Covid. The first working week of the new year has done…
