another rate cut due next week?

melbury

Could it be that we savers will soon be having to pay the banks and building societies to hold our money for us?

Whoever heard of 0% interest rates, it is totally ridiculous. The pound sterling will be a dead duck very soon.

newsaver2008

I am wondering whether this will cause the pound to fall again. I feel somehow it won't and in fact recently it rallied somewhat.

Stompa

LesU wrote: »

It depends how you view inflation.
RPI - Sep 5%, Oct 4.2%, Nov 3% ,Dec 0.9%
What that tells me is in the last 4 months prices have risen more than they were a year ago, but that rise is decreasing. But prices in December were still 0.9% higher than a year ago.

Though the RPI index for those 4 months was:

Sep 218.4
Oct 217.7
Nov 216.0
Dec 212.9

LesU

Stompa wrote: »

Though the RPI index for those 4 months was:

Sep 218.4
Oct 217.7
Nov 216.0
Dec 212.9

And in 2007 it was
Sep 208.0
Oct 208.9
Nov 209.7
Dec 210.9
So December's inflation was 212.9/210.9= 0.9% which means overall prices are 0.9% more than December the previous year.

ManAtHome

Decadent_Fool wrote: »

Okay, at the risk of being devils advocate, why do they? It was the fact that lending exceeded deposits that contributed to the current crises (how much is a matter of opinion), and with Government funding they don't need you.

Last numbers I saw were around £800 billion in savings, over £1,500 billion in loans. So, if/when wholesale funding dries up, we have around £700 billion shortfall (which the taxpayers will presumably 'fund' - Bailout III). If there's little or no growth in savings, won't be much increase in new lending either (unless the taxpayers stump up again - Bailout IV)...

Stompa

LesU wrote: »

And in 2007 it was
Sep 208.0
Oct 208.9
Nov 209.7
Dec 210.9
So December's inflation was 212.9/210.9= 0.9% which means overall prices are 0.9% more than December the previous year.

If measured on a yearly basis then yes. But prices (based on RPI) in Dec were less than they were in Nov, which were less then they were in Oct, which were less then they were in Sep.

Milarky

Stompa wrote: »

If measured on a yearly basis then yes. But prices (based on RPI) in Dec were less than they were in Nov, which were less then they were in Oct, which were less then they were in Sep.

A lot of consolation to know when your metered gas bills (say) have gone up around 50% in that time....

Stompa

Milarky wrote: »

A lot of consolation to know when your metered gas bills (say) have gone up around 50% in that time....

I didn't say RPI was a sensible measurement! (My gas bill has risen by 50% too).

LesU

Stompa wrote: »

If measured on a yearly basis then yes. But prices (based on RPI) in Dec were less than they were in Nov, which were less then they were in Oct, which were less then they were in Sep.

Well here is some anti-deflation news.

Vauxhall is increasing the prices of all models except the Vectra and VXR8 by an average of just under 5%.
Ford is putting up the prices across its range by an average of 4.7%. (BBC Website today)

I'm still waiting for this price decrease epidemic to really hit home.
Unfortunately I haven't got a mortgage to offset these rises.

Primrose

As retirees who rely on the interest on our savings to boost our pensions, current falling interest rates are a disaster. This situation would have been more bearable if over the past 10 years this government had played fair and increased the tax free allowances for ISAs every year. We have put whatever savings we can, apart from emergency money, into fixed term accounts but when these mature our income is going to drop hugely.