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I recently answered a frequent question in one of my standard mailouts which received a massive response so I am reprinting it on my blog for you to come back to if needed. Part 2 will be a further blog when sent out to my database, here is part 1:

Auto Express has published its list of award winning cars which I am listing below staring with their car of the year, The Mini. It is the first time the Mini has won the Auto Express car of the year award even though it is now into its third generation.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Mini (marque) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well done Mini, still one of my most popular cars and still providing great value for money with the rates we can currently offer. Other awards are as follows with one or two shockers. For full details of the awards you should subscribe to Auto Express:

Car Of The Year                  Mini (on offer)

Best City Car                       Skoda Citigo

Best Supermini                     Ford Fiesta (on offer)

Best Premium Small Car      Mini (on offer)

Best Compact Family Car    Seat Leon (on offer)

Best Crossover                     Nissan Qashqai (on offer)

Best Family Car                   Mazda 6 (on offer)

Best Estate Car                    Seat Leon ST

Best Compact Executive     BMW 3 Series (330d on offer)

Best Executive Car              Audi A6 (on offer)

Best Luxury Car                  Mercedes S Class

Best Hot Hatch                    Seat Leon Cupra (on offer)

Best Coupe                          Jaguar F-Type (on offer)

Best Convertible                  Audi A3 Cabriolet

Best MPV                            Citroen Grand C4 Picasso

Best Compact SUV             Porsche Macan

Best Large SUV                  Hyundai Santa Fe (on offer)

Best Roadster                      Porsche Boxster

Best Pickup                          VW Amarok

Best Performance Car          McLaren 650S

Design Award                      Volvo Concept Estate

Green Award                       BMW i3

Special Award                     Tesla*

Best Van                              Ford Transit (on offer)

Safety Award                      Nissan Safety Shield**

*The Tesla has received the award for its efforts in bringing luxury and speed to electric cars and without the backing of old established manufacturers. They are even in the process of installing fast superchargers at key locations that will allow drivers of their cars to ‘top up’ in half an hour giving a range of 170 miles (a full charge takes longer but offers a range of just about 300 miles), a 0-60 acceleration of 4.2 seconds and the level of luxury and gadgetry you wouldn’t even find in a top of the range premium brand. Who said electric vehicles are dead?

**Nissan Safety Shield is a range of safety devices fitted across much of their range of new cars showing that they take safety very seriously.

So there you have it. Auto Express’s list of their top cars, many of which we have on special offer. So get your quote requests across as soon as possible. By Graham Hill

Road rage is on the increase and is having more of an effect than simply a momentary explosion of anger. A road rage incident can affect both parties to the point of casting a black cloud over their day and negatively affect their mood. It can also, in more extreme cases, lead to more serious verbal or physical violence resulting in injury or worse.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

On TV we tend to only see the results of severe road rage when someone is killed but every day road rage occurs on our roads leaving both parties seriously stressed. Black Box Insurer, Ingenie, carried out a survey in which 70% of respondents said they had been involved in road rage over the last 12 months.

65% said that they were not the ones that instigated the road rage although 85% admitted to showing the signs of road rage on occasions. Dr Lisa Dorn of Cranford University is a Driver Behaviour Expert and believes that more should be done in this area. When psychologist, Dr Dorn, started studying this area there were 6,000 – 7,000 deaths each year but whilst this has now dropped to 1,700 this is still too high.

Road safety has greatly improved with the development of technology, both inside and outside cars, road signage has improved and roads are better engineered, all of which has improved the accident and death rate. According to Dr Dorn ‘The way in which you need to continue to improve road safety is by educating drivers.’ According to the good doctor drivers take risks that have nothing to do with their skills or knowledge, they take them because of their emotional condition, the situation they are in.

There are the sensation seekers who are looking for a ‘buzz’. They can often find it through driving. For this character an open country road with lots of bends and hills on a sunny day would be a great temptation which would lead to some very erratic and dangerous driving. These conditions would act as a trigger for those seeking an exciting experience that could often lead to road rage in them if they are stopped during this experience by a tractor or slow driver in their way.

The other type of person most likely to become embroiled in road rage is the angry person. Being angry, for non driving reasons, can result in aggressive behaviour behind the wheel. Dr Dorn says, ‘Put that into a traffic situation and you have a driver who frequently experiences frustration and may intimidate other road users. The focus is not on the road but tunnelled towards letting off steam.’

If accidents are to be avoided and bad feelings resulting from road rage to be eliminated drivers’ attitudes must be changed but there is no ‘silver bullet’ that will resolve this psychological problem. Having said that Dr Dorn points out that, ‘There is a psychology tradition to behavioural change and dealing with different personalities and a methodology that is fairly well researched.’

She points out that there is a need for drivers to develop the ability to self reflect on their personal driving style. Pass your test and you never have to do anything ever again, you are a safe and competent driver. But there are many times during your lifetime of driving when something happens to heighten the risk to your driving performance. For example, being pregnant, being sleep deprived, stress at work, divorce, loss of a loved one, financial worries, all could have a major effect on your alertness and driving.

There are laws and regulations that govern the roadworthy condition of the car but what about the condition of the driver? It might seem crazy (and it does to me) but she is suggesting that just as you unlock the car, put your seatbelt on and start the engine without thinking you should also ask yourself, ‘How is my driving going to be affected today?’

A moment of focus on your driving rather than your need for a buzz or the problem that is pre-occupying your mind may help with your attitude towards your driving. Other suggestions are, be aware of anyone trying to pass by tailgating you, keep an eye in the rear view mirror and find a safe place to move over and let them pass. Focus on the present moment and your driving, not your destination. Hold your hand up by way of an apology to a fellow motorist if you make an error whilst driving, it’s surprising how that small gesture can take the immediate heat out of a potential road rage situation.

Avoid making eye contact with an aggressive driver in a confrontational situation. Dr Dorn also suggests that everyone should take responsibility for their driving and consider their mental condition to be as important to their safety as putting on a seatbelt. My opinion is make sure you buy a car with air conditioning and make sure that it is working, staying physically cool whilst driving is as important as staying mentally cool. By Graham Hill

Years ago, a well-known comedian, Jasper Carrott, had a routine that included a part where he read out reasons given to an insurance company by drivers trying to explain the cause of their car accident. They all sounded ridiculous but apparently quite genuine and very funny.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

I was reminded of this routine whilst reading the causes given to the Highways Agency why people had stopped on the hard shoulder of a motorway. I should point out that it is illegal to stop on a hard shoulder unless there is an emergency. It is also illegal to drive down the lane of a motorway if a red X is displayed above it, something that is appearing more frequently as the Highways Agency open up hard shoulders for drivers to drive along at various times of the day.

Between July and September last year there were 2,062 instances of drivers braking the law by stopping on hard shoulders for reasons other than an actual emergencies. According to the Highways Agency, drivers that ignore the law could face a fine and points on their licence if they break either law.

The Central Motorway Police Group sent out over 700 letters to motorists misusing hard shoulders between September 2013 and April 2014 resulting in just 20% repeat offences. They seemed to be quite happy with that! Why aren’t they banning the drivers for 5 years for a repeat offence, ridiculous?

HA1-000949 (Photo credit: Highways Agency)

Anyway, here are the ten most dopey reasons given by drivers as to why they stopped on the hard shoulder:

• One motorist pulled over because they saw fire” on their dashboard display, it later turned out it was the name of the Adele track they were listening to.
• One motorist parked up and fell asleep on the M6.
• People stopping to read a map or check their sat-navs.
• Traffic officers stopped with two cars on the hard shoulder – the owners were half way through the selling and buying process for one of the cars.
• One driver realised their car insurance policy was up for renewal – they were ringing around for quotes to renew.
• A group of motorcyclists parked on the hard shoulder on the M1 to review their route and have a drink.
• Taxi drivers waiting on the hard shoulder around Heathrow airport for their client’s flights to arrive.
• A mobile phone operator, stopping at regular intervals in their private car carrying out signal tests on the hard shoulder.
• A driver who stopped to pick flowers.
• Have you broken down Sir? No, came the reply, we are taking pictures of our new born grandchild (in their open top sports car) as it is a lovely day.

Sadly not in the same league as Jasper Carrott, who is making a comeback by the way, but all pretty dopey and potentially dangerous! By Graham Hill

Following on from my last piece it seems that 1 in 6 applications for finance were rejected last year according to statistics revealed by OceanFinance.co.uk. It will be interesting to see how this compares to 2014 following the introduction of the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules in April of this year.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

They found that more than a third of the adult population (38.6%) applied for finance of some form or another over the last 12 months. This was an increase from 2013 when 33% applied for one or more of the popular credit products. Men are more likely to apply than women by quite a margin, 43.6% vs 34.4% over the last 12 months.

The age group most likely to apply for credit are 25 – 34 at 60.6% whilst only 17% of the over 55’s applied for credit according to the stats. The most likely decline would be if you apply for an overdraft at nearly one in five declines (18.6%). 16% of those applying for a personal loan get declined.

The good news for applicants last year, not so sure the same will apply this year, is that car finance applications were most successful with just 11% being rejected. Applications for a first mortgage was the type of  finance that lenders liked the most as they were most likely to be accepted, no doubt helped along by the Government incentives reducing the risk. 84.5% of all applications were accepted over the last 12 months.

The type of lender most likely to lend to applicants are what are known as ‘crowd lenders’ or ‘peer to peer lenders’ with an acceptance rate of 86%. It was also found that rather than operate a straight accept or decline process applicants were offered a higher rate of interest if they were felt to be higher risk, particularly when applying for credit cards.

I fear that this will all change dramatically over the coming year – for the worse! By Graham Hill

As the new rules imposed upon consumers and small businesses via lenders by the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) start to take affect there is a worrying undercurrent starting to gather momentum. Earlier this year I was in a meeting with directors of one of the biggest lenders in the car finance industry.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

I asked what they believed the effect would be of the forthcoming FCA regulations and the rules that had started to filter through. Their response was, at the time, quite dismissive. They pointed out that they had been in the motor finance industry since 1959 and by now they actually knew how to underwrite a customer.

Whilst they weren’t prepared to share actual numbers with me they explained that the amount of delinquency was minimal (that’s the amount of defaults and arrears) and it was certainly manageable so the idea of a Government body telling them what they needed to look out for when underwriting a customer was frankly – ludicrous!

The idea that you needed to carry out some strange affordability tests and have copies of umpteen bills and proofs was simply several steps too far. We all had a bit of a laugh, a cup of tea and a chocolate Hob Nob before moving onto the next item for discussion.

Fast forward a couple of months and that same company is suddenly asking for more information, copies of tax returns, 3 months bank statements and a tree’s worth of paperwork to prove the person is who they say they are. So what has happened? Fines, that’s what has happened. The lenders who are new to the rules of the FCA have been told that if they don’t tow the line they will be fined – and I mean FINED!

Last year the FSA and FCA dished out £472 million in fines, even what many would consider to be minor breaches attracted fines measured in tens of thousands of pounds. So suddenly lenders have had a wake up call and who suffers? Other than brokers like me, the customers – that’s you!

Let me give you an unbelievable example, traditionally lawyers have been extremely low risk applicants as they generally operate as partners which means that all of their personal assets are on the line when taking out finance. In a recent application, out of 5 partners 4 had houses worth over £1 million and not one had a mortgage, the fifth had a house worth £800,000 with a £200,000 mortgage on it.

The company had been trading over 20 years and neither the company nor the partners had a blemish against them. Perfect you would think. Ohhh no, we even had last 3 months bank statements available showing a balance never less than £70,000 but their year end is September so the last accounts to be completed were for September 2013, which had not been finalised so the last audited accounts available were 2012, too old for the lender, or should I say the FCA when testing for affordability.

The lender then wanted management accounts, which the company doesn’t run. As the senior partner pointed out, they make obscene amounts of money, as explained by their accountants once a quarter, so why would they need to know how much they spent on paper clips or stamps? So no accounts dated within the last 12 months and no management accounts – customer declined.

After appeal we managed an acceptance but with a much larger initial rental to which the customer said no – or words to that effect. The times are certainly changing and in my opinion – not for the better. But the real reason for writing this piece is to warn you if you are due to arrange finance for a new car.

First of all forget the fact that you have had finance before, many funders now ignore that totally, you will be treated as a brand new customer. Make sure that you prepare for finance as I explain in my book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide (available on Amazon), make sure that your last 3 months bank statements are looking good and if they don’t, wait till they do and make sure there are no returned (bounced cheques/direct debits) items on the statements, that would be a straight decline.

Get a copy of your credit report and see what it says, make sure there are no mistakes on there, it is simple enough and that extra bit of preparation could be the difference between getting a car or not. Oh and use a proper broker that can make sure that he can help you along the process, you often only have one shot at finance so don’t let a bucket shop blow it for you. By Graham Hill

As you know I like a funny story and this one made me smile. A young lad of just 17 years his age had a rather sporty looking Corsa which he had fitted with a Carrot telematics box, as required by his insurance company, in order to bring down the cost of insurance. The black box measures his driving style, speed, acceleration and smoothness and adjusts his insurance cost accordingly.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Unfortunately the young lad was devastated to find that his pride and joy had been stolen from outside his place of work in Oldham. However, the black box is also fitted with GPS which pinpointed the location of the car which the police managed to locate a couple of hours later and to the driver’s delight the car was in perfect condition other than a broken window.

However, his concern next turned to his black box, knowing that the car was probably stolen by joyriders and could have seriously damaged his driving score, escalating his insurance through the roof. Having contacted Carrot they found that during the two and a bit hours during which the car had been stolen the thief scored a perfect 10, the first time since this young driver had taken out his insurance.

The even better news was that Carrot allowed him to keep the score which will contribute to his overall score for the year. Brilliant news but I have news for you mate – it was probably your dad who nicked the car! It also suggests that if you are a young driver with one of these black boxes fitted, let your mum or dad drive your car occasionally, it could dramatically improve your score and reduce your insurance costs. By Graham Hill

If you are a Formula 1 team boss you will be spending small fortunes to squeeze a little extra out of your cars in order to win races. The component parts they spend most time developing their cars around are the tyres whilst, at the same time, the tyre manufacturer providing all the tyres to the teams, is looking at ways to improve grip and thereby handling whilst reducing drag.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Tyres are a very critical part of an F1 car and with the new limits on the amount of fuel you can start a race with the tyre manufacturer has also to consider fuel consumption. But what does all this mean to the likes of you and me?

If you are anything like me, when you need a couple of tyres, you search the Internet for the cheapest premium brand with little regard to the characteristics of the tyre and whether the tyres will provide optimum performance, grip and fuel consumption without the noise of tyres on road drowning out the soft sounds of Luther on the stereo system.

So do we know and understand enough about the tyres we have fitted on our car? I would suggest not because at some point our lives may actually rely upon our choice of tyre. So let me enlighten you with a few of the basics and some of the latest developments, some of which we should thank F1 designers for.

Our first consideration is price which can vary considerably, not only between tyres but at different times of the year. This is because the price of the three most important component parts fluctuate massively in the open market, independent of each other, these being rubber, steel and oil.

In order to make tyres more efficient, long lasting and safer more and more money has to be invested each year which adds to the cost of the tyres. Legal demands such as the fitting of Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) to all cars manufactured after November 2012 adds to the cost.

The current systems rely upon a transmitter fitted to the valve and powered by a small battery but the latest developments will result in a microchip being embedded within the tyre without the need for a battery. But this type of development costs a fortune which has to be recovered out of the price that tyres are sold at.

Not only will the microchip satisfy the legal requirements it will also monitor tyre temperature and performance that will allow the car settings to be optimised. In future the chip will also interact with weather conditions to influence the car’s behaviour. As the chip tells the car about the tyre’s temperature and pressure this information could then be used to adjust braking, steering and ESP responses.

Dunlop are looking at how the chip technology could be used to manage the tyre throughout its life, telling the driver about tread wear and condition. Even better news is that the tyre manufacturers believe that the new chip technology will be cheaper to fit that the current tyre pressure monitor systems required by law.

The main problem is that of retro fit, whilst the manufacturers agree that the new technology can be easily integrated into new cars it is proving to be a challenge to fit into existing cars – but it is being worked on. As mentioned earlier the component parts of the tyre come at a highly fluctuating cost so the manufacturers are looking at ways alternatives can be used.

Currently they are working on alternatives to oil, something that has been ongoing for many years but the latest advances in replacement commodoties have been made in the development of alternative and more sustainable rubber. The new rubbers are being extracted from maize, soya and even dandelion plants.

The rubber is extracted from the dandelion roots and believe it or not, according to Continental brand manager, Peter Robb, ‘It offers the most potential for the biggest impact on tyre manufacture for years.’ One of the biggest advantages is that the plants can be grown close to the manufacturing plant reducing delivery time and costs.

They reckon that they will have tyres using this new rubber by 2020. The new type of natural rubber will also have the benefit of being harder and longer wearing and some claim that CO2 emissions could be cut by 10g/km. Also the harder compound will reduce road noise. Another area of development at the moment is airless tyres being held up by a series of vanes.

This development is being pioneered by Bridgestone but it is suggested that this is years away from fruition as the development so far has produced tyres with a maximum load capacity of 410kg and a top speed of 37mph. Way to go methinks! Another challenge faced by manufacturer is the desire of drivers to have large, more aesthetically pleasing wheels fitted to their cars.

Apparently this is particular to the UK. The rest of Europe is not so concerned so the manufacturers are trying to come up with a solution that still makes the car look attractive but makes the tyres more environmentally friendly with lower rolling resistance, lower road noise, better fuel consumption and using less materials.

Electric vehicles may lead the way with the new BMW i3 having 155/70 R19 fitted. Quieter tyres are also on the way as the demand from drivers increase and legislation tightens. Continental developed the Contisilent tyre originally for the Audi RS6 fitted with very wide and low profile tyres.

Dunlop Tyres (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They managed to substantially reduce the noise by fitting a foam strip to the inner surface of the tyre circumference. This acted like a damper reducing vibrations that transmit through the suspension and body into the cabin. The manufacturers will be paying more attention to this technology as legislation becomes stricter. So there you have it a roundup of the latest tyre technology. Airless tyres and dandelion rubber. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Dunlop reveals tyres that can ‘talk’ to car (telegraph.co.uk)

You know how much I despair of the consumer credit legislation in the UK but I equally despair of the legal system in this country and not just because of the EU interference in the way we administer our own citizens. I read copious amounts of text in order to come up with interesting items for my newsletter and my blog.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

Some of what I read is funny and some very sad with some combining sadness with total injustice. For example there was a lady in Leicestershire who had an accident whilst on a mobile phone and driving at the same time. Sadly she collided with another car and two children were killed.

In my book, as a dad of three kids, that comes close to making the case for bringing back capital punishment. But our ridiculous legal system only found her guilty of careless driving resulting in an 18 month ban and a £3,000 fine. But it gets worse. As the lady was driving on company business there was a health and safety issue, surely her employer should be held liable for the actions of the employee who was taking a call whilst driving.

Apparently not so according to Leicester police who decided not to prosecute because ‘The call received by the driver was of a social nature and not work related, and therefore it did not fall within the Health and Safety at Work Act.’ How appalling is that? I would also suggest that the police take a more careful look at the act because it is my belief that whilst at work the law would cover personal calls.

The fact is that it is a disgusting end to an appalling crime. At the other end of the spectrum if you accelerate through a puddle and splash pedestrians or mount a pavement you could receive an on the spot fine of £100 and 3 points on your licence (this can be reduced by taking a safe driving course).

Since August of last year when the new laws, which include lane hogging and tailgating, were introduced 5,472 drivers have been caught. But just when you think that the new laws could be preventing accidents through better awareness and fines it comes to light that 5 forces, Northumbria, Dyfed-Powys, Durham, South Wales and Cleveland are not stopping inconsiderate drivers at all because they don’t have the facilities to offer the education courses. Is it me or are we seeing the fabric of this country deteriorating? Something really does need to be done. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• States With The Harshest Penalties For Texting And Driving (cheapcarinsurance.net)

I know I keep whinging on about the FCA and their new rules but I am genuinely worried about the affect it is having on the ability of lenders and intermediaries to do business and for genuine borrowers to be able to take out finance. As a result I’ve become pre-occupied with the subject of affordability and how lenders can analyse the application from a client to assess whether the customer should receive the finance or not.

Thinking of a change but unsure as to the best way to finance your car? Then you need a copy of my car finance book, Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill. Click on the link below to buy the best car finance book on the market, available as a Kindle Book and Paper Back.

The problem that lenders have faced for years is – will the applicant make his repayments? The only way they have been able to assess this is by combining historical data with statistics to arrive at a pretty Heath Robinson credit score.

From the information obtained from the credit reference agencies combined with the lenders own score card requirements a further analysis takes place using statistics to arrive at an acceptance, decline or an acceptance subject to certain conditions or additional information.

For example if you are married with children in a house that you ‘own’ you are less of a risk and more likely to pay than a single person with no dependents living in rented accommodation. The fact that you own your house and have made your mortgage payments on time contributes towards your credit score but the fact that you are married with dependents is part of the lender’s score card. Now here is the confusion created by simply looking at your credit score.

Your credit reference agency score could be excellent because you have a credit card with a £2,000 limit on it that is paid on the button each month with a small balance on the card that every 3 months is fully paid off. All other payments are made on time including your mortgage which shows you own your property and you have no adverse whatsoever on the file.

But just because you have an excellent credit score doesn’t mean that you can afford to take out a finance agreement that will cost you £500 per month. You may show that historically you have met all your commitments and therefore represent a good credit risk but where is affordability in all this?

The lender’s own score card may show that having responsibilities, like a mortgage and children, living in a certain area in a certain job may statistically make you a good risk, there is nothing to prove it and I believe that it is this shortfall that has caused the Government via the FCA to force the lenders to test the ability to pay rather than the intention to pay.

But my question is this – if, through some twist of fate or luck the system worked – why try to fix it to the detriment of all concerned? We know that short term or pay day lending is a totally different type of product and given the distress that the collection and ability to rollover the debt, thereby substantially increasing the amount owed, causes consumers, it makes sense that lenders apply a more stringent set of affordability tests.

But that doesn’t apply to normal lending where the lenders have many years of experience under their belt and know who represents a good risk and who represents a bad risk. It’s a little like Ford identifying a problem with Focuses manufactured between 2010 and 2012 but recalling all Focuses ever made just to be on the safe side. It’s ridiculous.

In my simple opinion the ‘problem’ is being approached from the wrong end as I believe that generally most people have the intention to pay and have already personally checked the affordability of the finance out of their income. If someone dies in a car accident the Government doesn’t stop everyone from driving.

Lessons need to be learned, addressed and repaired to prevent it from happening again. The same applies to lending. But it already does. The lenders would soon go out of business if the number of defaults and arrears kept increasing so they are obviously refining their credit underwriting but even the lenders don’t have access to a crystal ball to see into the future.

The Government needs to spend money on helping those with debt problems, assist them in managing the debt and help them to recover with least pain to them and their family. When it takes two and a half years for the Financial Ombudsman to review a complaint it is clearly here that effort and money needs to be funnelled not into affordability checks that the lenders do quite adequately.

I ask the question again, what happens to those that wish to borrow money for a car in order to get to work or get their kids to school when the lender, after applying the new tests says no? The whole FCA concept has been ill conceived and badly thought through and for once it has nothing to do with the EU. By Graham Hill