Bankruptcies down

Fewer people went bankrupt last year, leaving the total number of personal insolvencies at its lowest since 2005.

There were 99,196 individual insolvencies in 2014, down 1.8% on the year before, including bankruptcies, debt relief orders and Individual Voluntary Arrangements or IVAs.

Bankruptcies were sharply down, by 17%, while IVAs rose slightly.

Insolvency experts say the economic recovery has helped and creditors have been more willing to enter into informal repayment agreements with people in financial difficulty.

Here are the stats.

Tesco closures

Tesco informing staff at 43 stores today that their shops will close.

One is Woodseats in Sheffield, with 50 staff.

In total 2,000 staff are affected.

Express and Home Plus stores will close on 15th March.

Tesco Metros and Superstores will close on 4th April.

Tesco warned earlier this month that 43 stores would be shut as part of plans to cut costs.

Here's the list:

BEARWOOD

Express

BELVEDERE

Express

CHURCH STREET BALLYMENA

Express

HEATON CHAPEL

Express

HEYBRIDGE ESSEX

Express

HOUGHTON REGIS

Express

LIVERPOOL KENSINGTON

Express

LONGBRIDGE ROAD BARKING

Express

NORTHFIELD BIRMINGHAM

Express

RAYMOUTH LANE WORKSOP

Express

SHEFFIELD MANOR

Express

SOUTH TOTTENNHAM HIGH ROAD

Express

TREDEGAR

Express

TROON

Express

WALSALL WOOD

Express

WEALDSTONE

Express

WHITLEY BAY

Express

YORK ROAD HARTLPOOL

Express

BICESTER

Metro

BOOTLE

Metro

CAERPHILLY

Metro

CROSSGATES

Metro

DEVIZES

Metro

GRANGEMOUTH

Metro

MEXBOROUGH

Metro

MORECAMBE

Metro

ORMSKIRK

Metro

RUNCORN

Metro

SMETHWICK

Metro

WOODSEATS

Metro

BEDLINGTON

Superstore

CHATHAM

Superstore

CONNSWATER

Superstore

CREGAGH ROAD

Superstore

DONCASTER

Superstore

KIRKCALDY

Superstore

WREXHAM DODDS LANE

Superstore

BRISTOL CRIBBS

Homeplus

CHELMSFORD

Homeplus

CHESTER

Homeplus

EDINBURGH

Homeplus

SOUTHAMPTON

Homeplus

STAINES

Homeplus

Millions of pounds for card users

Two million people are being sent letters to tell them they could qualify for compensation for credit and debit card protection policies sold to them by their banks.

The policies promised to protect customers against losses if thieves used their cards, but such losses were likely to have been covered by the bank anyway.

Customers spent an average of £25 a year on policies including Card Protection, Sentinel and Safe and Secure Plus.

The period covered by the compensation is between January 2005 and August 2013, so it could stretch to nearly 9 years.

The refunds could add up to hundreds of pounds in some cases, including interest at 8 per cent.

The letters are being sent by a special company set up by banks, credit card companies and a US firm called Affinion which provided the insurance.

The Financial Conduct Authority is not accusing them of mis-selling. It says some features of the policies could be useful.

Customers will have to vote on the scheme which will then need High Court approval before payments are sent out in the autumn.

Poorest families lost £1,223 a year

Lower income households have lost the greatest share of their incomes from the austerity years under the Coalition, but the richest households have lost the most in cash terms.

That's what the Institute for Fiscal Studies concludes in its verdict on the Coalition in the run-up to the election.

It's the first time it has measured the impact from May, 2010.

So how much have households lost?

Lower income households have been hit by a squeeze on benefits and some tax changes have affected the better off . The people affected know that already.

The average loss since the Coalition came in is £489 a year, according to the IFS model.

The biggest losers in cash terms are the top 10 per cent. Focusing on families with children on incomes more than about 70,000 pounds, they have lost £5,350.

But at the other end of the scale families with children in the bottom 10 per cent have lost £1,223 on average. They're likely to have incomes less than around 20,000.

In the middle and slightly higher than middle income groups, households have lost a lot less. In fact those those without children have actually gained.

For those who have lost out, what changes are behind that?

Everyone's affected by higher VAT.

But lower income families have less than they might have expected because benefits have been uprated by a lower figure after the switch to the Consumer Prices Index or CPI.

And they have less and because of cuts to housing benefit and council tax benefit. The freeze on child benefit is a factor too.

Big increases in the Personal Allowance (the amount you can earn before you start paying income tax) have helped middle earners a lot.

But households at the top end are paying higher National Insurance. More of them are in the 40 per cent tax bracket. And tax relief on their pension contributions has been restricted.

What if you extend the time frame to before the Coalition came in?

Interesting this - going back to before May 2010.

Including the austerity measures Labour brought in in in April 2010, the losses pile up for the better off.

And taking the time frame bacl to 1997, when Labour got in, the picture looks better for those on the lowest incomes.

Because Labour introduced more generous benefits for the poorest families and those with children, those groups are still better off -- according to the IFS -- than they were before the Blair/Brown era.

QE? Again? But what is it?

Quantitative Easing - what is it?

Maybe we need to remind ourselves, because the European Central Bank is expected to do it today.

The idea would be to pump more money into the stagnant eurozone economy, to encourage spending, investment and growth.

But how is it done?

Here's my explanation from a while ago when the Bank of England tried it.

And here's the Bank's explanation.

New weapon to boost savings rates

The financial watchdog the FCA is barking and growling at banks over the way they let down customers over savings rates.

In too many cases the saver is left languishing on a pitiful rate, given little information on how bad it is and seldom encouraged to shop around for something better.

So the FCA has devised a shiny new weapon to cow savings providers into behaving better. When they write to you with a regular statement they will have to include a "switching box" which shows in a colourful chart how bad your rate is, how much more you could get from the provider's other accounts and what you could earn from the average of the best ten savings accounts on the market.

Here's what the box could look like:

Another innovation is that when you get the account in the first place they'll have to include a warning if the rate is a poor one, saying it pays "interest below the bank of England's base rate".

The watchdog has retreated with a whine and a lowered tail from drastic measures such as banning the introductory bonus rates which makes accounts seem attractive at first but leave you stuck on a measly rate later.

But the switching box could be a big embarrassment for banks and building societies which take advantage of gullible customers.

All the measures are up for consultation.

Low pay caused low tax revenue

Low wages have been a major factor producing disappointing income tax receipts for the government, according to new analysis of official figures.

The proportion of earners with incomes below £18,000 rose to 44% from 39% in the six years to 2014, after the financial crisis and including the recession.

Behind the trend was an increase in the number of low paid part-time workers and below-inflation wage rises for those working full time.

The Office for National Statistics, which published the figures, adjusted them for the effects of price rises over the period.

Income tax receipts rose by just 0.1% a year, while the economy grew on average by 2.4% annually.

The other significant factor holding back tax revenue was the reduction in the Personal Allowance -- the point at which we start paying income tax.

The Allowance rose from £5,225 six years ago to £9,440 in the 2013-14 tax year and currently stands at £10,000.

The combination of depressed wages and more earners being exempted resulted in weaker tax revenue for the Treasury.

Bank Fashion in trouble

Deloitte statement:

Deloitte appointed administrators to Bank Fashion Limited

Bill Dawson, Daniel Smith and Paul Meadows of Deloitte, the business advisory firm, have today been appointed Joint Administrators to Bank Fashion Limited (Bank).

Bank is a fashion retailer based in Bury, Lancashire.  It operates from 84 stores, primarily in the Midlands, North of England and Scotland and has 1,555 employees.  No redundancies have been made at this time.

Bill Dawson, Joint Administrator and Partner in Deloitte's Restructuring Services practice, said: "Bank has struggled in a highly competitive segment of the retail industry and has been loss-making for a number of years.  A review of the business has determined that a solvent turnaround would not be possible and so its director has sought the appointment of Joint Administrators.  All stores are open as normal, staff have been paid and additional sale discounts will be implemented later this week.  The company has already been approached by several parties who have expressed an interest in the business and the Administrators are trading as a going concern with a view to progressing these options and seeking further interested parties for some or all of the business."

Petrol price war

There is a new spurt in the race between supermarkets to cut fuel prices.

Asda has announced another 2p cut in the cost of unleaded petrol, which falls to 105.7p a litre from tomorrow -- after a similar cut last week.

Tesco followed with a promise that its petrol and diesel prices would drop by 2p a litre this afternoon.

Meanwhile the price of Brent crude oil slipped below $55 in world markets.

There are predictions that some buyers will be able to fill up for £1 a litre or less within the next couple of weeks.