Almost 10% of adults - more than 4m people - in Britain say they have responded to a scam in their lives, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.

Almost a half of those who did respond to a scam had lost more than £50, while 5% lost more than £5,000.

The OFT said 73% of adults had received a scam e-mail in the past year.

It is launching a "scamnesty", calling on consumers to drop scam mailings into designated boxes at public places or into an online "bin".

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said: "Scammers are using ever more sophisticated and cunning tactics to dupe people out of their cash.

"We want people to recognise the warning signs, and feel confident enough to seek advice from friends or family or from Consumer Direct."

Consumer Minister Kevin Brennan said the government had spent £7.5m to create "scambuster" teams across the UK.

"We are determined to fight these crooks," he said.

The National Fraud Authority has estimated the cost of fraud - including scams, online theft, insurance cheats and tax fraud - at £30bn year in the UK, the equivalent of £621 per adult.

The OFT is giving the following advice to help avoid being scammed:

•Stop, think and be sceptical. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is

•Don't rush to send off money to someone you don't know, however plausible they might sound

•Ask yourself how likely it is that you've been especially chosen for this offer - thousands of other people will probably have received the same offer

•Think about how much money you could lose from replying to a potential scam

•Seek advice

Source: BBC News

A new campaign group has been launched calling for a fair deal for savers who have seen the returns they earn on their cash plummet during the past year.

The Save Our Savers group aims to put the needs of savers at the heart of Government policy.

Nearly three-quarters of people think savers have not been supported or given a fair deal, and the group is calling on the Government to do more to protect people who have set aside money.

The returns people receive on their savings have dived since the Bank of England began to cut interest rates aggressively in late 2008 due to the credit crunch.

The Rev John Strain, a founder of Save Our Savers, said: "Savers have been far off the political radar for decades now, but the disregard for the plight of savers has shattered public trust in the policymakers.

"Anyone would think the Government doesn't want people to provide for themselves, doesn't need enterprise built upon the nation's savings, and would rather we all borrowed and spent our way into old age dependency."

The group is calling for the introduction of measures to protect savers from extreme rate shocks, as well as simple, worthwhile tax breaks to encourage people to save for the long term.

It also wants a strong savings culture to be fostered, the pension system to be improved and the impact of inflation on the value of people's savings to be taken into account in economic policy.

The group has launched an online campaign and is using social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to spread its message.

Research carried out by the group found that 47% of people are looking to current or future governments to do more to incentivise saving, while 88% think people have been encouraged too much to borrow during recent years.

Source: Press Association

The trading watchdog has demanded information from companies that offer consumers cash for gold jewellery to ensure they are not breaking the law.

The Office of Fair Trading said it was asking five companies to explain claims made in their advertising and on their websites and give details of their business practices to ensure they were complying with consumer protection laws.

The call, which followed complaints from consumers, came as Which? Money warned that the gold buying companies offered "shockingly bad value" and urged people not to use them.

There has been an increase in the number of companies offering to buy people's old gold jewellery in recent months as the price of the metal has soared.

But research carried out by Which? Money found that the gold companies that advertise on television offered people an average of just 6% of the retail price of their gold.

The group sent three pieces of brand new gold jewellery, collectively worth £729, to four groups that promise to buy consumers' old gold for cash, as well as to three pawnbrokers and three independent jewellers.

The group said the TV gold buyers consistently offered the lowest prices, with CashMyGold offering just £38.57 for all three pieces of jewellery, including quoting only £9.64 for a 9ct gold bangle that had been bought for £215 and for which an independent jeweller offered £54.

In another case, Money4Gold told the Which? researcher that a £399 9ct gold necklace was not gold, and demand they paid £10.95 to have it returned.

Postal Gold also increased its offer for all three pieces of the jewellery after the researcher rejected its initial quote, nearly doubling the amount it would pay for two of the items.

But despite this, the quote was still far lower than that offered by pawnbrokers and high street jewellers, who paid an average of 25% of the items' retail price.

Source: Press Association

The UK credit card industry has attempted to pour cold water over plans to curb lenders' activities.

Government proposals include stopping card firms changing interest rates on existing debts and ensuring the most expensive debts are paid off first.

But now a trade body, the UK Cards Association, has claimed that the changes would push more people into financial difficulty.

There are 30 million UK credit card customers holding 66 million cards.

The industry said that 62% of all UK adults had at least one credit card, but borrowing on these cards had been in "gentle decline" since 2005.

Key plans

Despite greater caution from lenders about who gets a card, the government is keen to outlaw certain practices that it regarded as unfair and has challenged the industry to "clean up its act".

It invited responses to proposals, published in October, which included:

• changing the order of priority for credit card repayments, so that the most expensive debts, such as cash advances, are paid off first

• increasing the minimum amount that must be paid off each month to accelerate the overall rate of repayment

• banning the practice of raising borrowers' credit limits without their consent

• restricting or banning increases in interest rates on debts already incurred.

The plans follow other limits on credit card practices brought in during 2009, aimed at bringing more transparency for customers.

Source: BBC News

The cost of mortgage repayments for homeowners buying a new property hit a 13-year low during November, figures have shown.

Former owner-occupiers who bought a new home during the month needed to spend an average of just 10.6% of their income on mortgage interest, down from 11.1% in October, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The group said the figure was the lowest since 1996, when the level of income spent on mortgage interest briefly dropped to 10.2%, but other than that it was the lowest debt servicing burden since its records began in 1974.

It attributed the increase in affordability to mortgage rates continuing to fall as competition returned to the market, as well as a change in the type of mortgage people were opting for, with increased numbers taking out variable rate deals, which currently have lower rates than fixed rate loans.

Only 58% of borrowers opted for a fixed rate mortgage during November, down from 66% in October, with 42% taking out a variable rate one.

There was also an improvement in affordability for first-time buyers, although this was less dramatic.

The average person buying their first home during November spent 14.4% of their pay on mortgage interest, down from 15.1% in October and the lowest figure since May 2004.

But first-time buyers continued to put down average deposits of 25% of their home's value for the 10th consecutive month.

Despite the increase in affordability, overall mortgage lending still suffered its traditional seasonal dip in November. Around 53,000 mortgages were advanced to people buying a home during the month, 4% fewer than in October but still 66% up on November 2008.

Within this there was a 2% drop in the number of first-time buyers purchasing a property with a mortgage during the month at 19,300, although this was still two-thirds higher than it had been 12 months earlier.

Source : Press Association

An estimated one million families have resorted to using credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent during the past year, research has shown.

Around 6% of households said they had used their plastic in order to keep up with their housing costs during the past 12 months, according to housing charity Shelter.

People in working class professions were most likely to have resorted to using debt to cover their mortgage or rent at 8%, but 4% of ABC1s also admitted they had been forced to use their credit card in this way.

Kay Boycott, director of policy and campaigns at Shelter, said: "This is a shocking discovery, that over a million households in Britain are in such desperate circumstances that they need to borrow money on credit cards to pay for basic housing costs.

"If people are already struggling to the extent that they fear losing their home, increasing credit card debt cannot be the answer."

The group warned that many of the people who had resorted to using their credit card to cover their housing costs could find themselves facing homelessness this year, particularly as defaulting on their credit card repayments could lead to their property being repossessed in the worst case scenario.

It urged people who were struggling to keep up with their housing costs to seek advice urgently.

Ms Boycott said: "Shelter has a network of advice services across the country who are ready to give free advice on a range of subjects including debt and housing issues so we would urge anyone struggling to get in touch today. The sooner they seek help, the more options are available."

Source: Press Association

The Bank of England has held interest rates at a record low as policymakers treated recent signs of a tentative recovery with caution.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left borrowing costs unchanged at 0.5% for the 10th month in a row, and made no move on its £200 billion efforts to boost the money supply.

The decision comes despite figures this week showing a two-year high for manufacturing activity, recovering mortgage lending and a raft of positive Christmas trading updates from across the high street.

Although the UK is expected to have finally emerged from recession in the final quarter of 2009, experts predict the MPC will leave interest rates on hold well into this year to avoid threatening a fragile recovery.

The Bank's programme of quantitative easing to support the economy is due to end next month, when rate-setters will make a fresh assessment of its impact alongside the latest forecasts on inflation and growth.

Lee Hopley, chief economist with the EEF manufacturers' organisation, welcomed the MPC's decision to hold while the strength of the recovery "remains in doubt".

"There are a number of potential pitfalls even as the UK economy starts growing again, including cautious consumers, questions over the public finances and a still-fragile banking system. The MPC is right to stick until the economic picture becomes clearer," she said.

The MPC will have digested a wide range of more positive data at its two-day meeting after a torrid 18 months for the economy.

Manufacturers enjoyed their best month for two years during December, according to survey data from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply. CIPS also reported an eighth month of growth from the UK's dominant services firms.

Meanwhile the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in November also reached the highest level since March 2008, while the Halifax recorded a sixth successive month of rising property prices

Source: Press Association

Property is now affordable for first-time buyers in nearly four out of 10 areas of the UK, research has suggested.

The average first-time buyer property could now be bought by someone on average earnings in 39% of local authority districts, according to high street bank Halifax.

The situation is a marked improvement on 2007, the year in which house prices peaked, when homes in only 6% of areas could be bought by someone on average earnings.

Potential first-time buyers on average pay would need to have spent around 27% of their disposable income on mortgage payments in November 2009, almost half the 50% they would have spent on them in June 2007, and below the long-term average of 34%.

The improvement in affordability was brought about by a combination of lower interest rates and house price falls.

But many first-time buyers have been unable to take advantage of the situation due to the tighter lending criteria being employed by banks and building societies in the wake of the credit crunch.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that the average person buying their first home with a mortgage put down a deposit of 25% of their property's value for most of 2009.

However, there is some evidence that institutions are beginning to loosen their lending criteria, with a recent report from the Bank of England showing lenders had increased mortgage availability during the final quarter of 2009, particularly for those borrowing more than 75% of their home's value.

Sorce: Press Association

The Office of Fair Trading is due to announce whether it plans to take any further legal action against the banks over unauthorised overdraft charges.

It will be the first time the trading watchdog has set out its position on whether it plans to continue its investigation into the charges following last month's ruling by the Supreme Court.

But the group is expected to say it has decided not to take any further action against the banks on the issue.

The Supreme Court ruled at the end of last month that the charges do not come under the OFT's regulation under unfair contract rules, dashing the hopes of thousands of consumers who had tried to reclaim them.

Customers who go into unauthorised overdraft or breach their agreed limit can be charged as much as £35 or more for a single bounced payment, although campaigners claim the actual cost to the banks could be as little as £2.50. The charges generate around £2.6 billion of revenue a year for banks, and are used to subsidise free banking for other consumers.

The High Court test case was brought by the OFT and seven banks and a building society after thousands of consumers started to reclaim the charges.

The Government has indicated that despite the outcome of the ruling it will ensure the system of unauthorised overdraft charges is made fairer for consumers in the future. It said it would work with the OFT and Financial Services Authority to create a new framework for fairer bank charges, but warned it would take action if a voluntary agreement with the banks could not be reached.

Source : Press Association

Growth in the UK economy is set to pick up gradually next year but the economic recovery will be "fragile", a leading business group has said.

The CBI predicts that the UK will exit recession in the fourth quarter of 2009, helped by consumer spending ahead of the VAT rise in January.

But the group says the economy is unlikely to have returned to pre-recession levels by the end of 2011.

It says unemployment will peak at 2.8 million - lower than first forecast.

"Although the first few months of 2010 will be difficult, growth will gradually pick up and increasing confidence and demand will lead the UK into a more positive 2011," said John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director general.

"Consumer spending looks to be slightly more resilient than we first thought, and a weaker pound will help to support export growth.

"However, the economy will be on a fragile path of very slow growth, as we continue to feel the lasting effects of the financial crisis."

Growth forecasts

The CBI's latest quarterly economic survey forecasts:

• a return to growth in the fourth quarter of this year, with the economy growing 0.5% quarter-on-quarter

• annual growth of 1.2% in 2010, followed by growth of 2.5% in 2011

• after "constrained wage growth" during 2009 and 2010, average earnings will rise by 3.9% in 2011

• UK interest rates to start rising in spring next year, reaching 2% by the end of 2010

• the consumer prices index level of inflation to rise sharply following the rise in VAT in January, before easing back and falling below the Bank of England's target rate of 2% in 2011

• oil prices to rise to almost $100 a barrel by the end of 2011 "as the global economy recovers with a relatively limited oil supply".

The group's forecast for the economy is slightly more optimistic than that of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

The Treasury expects economic expansion of 1.25% in the fiscal year 2010, rising to 3.5% in each of the following two years.