Business minister Norman Lamb said the agreement with payday loan firms was a 'step in the right direction'. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian Payday loan companies have promised to improve the way they sell credit to borrowers under voluntary guidelines agreed with the government.Lenders have until 25 July 2012 to add the new commitments to their existing codes of practice. These include a promise to increase transparency about loan repayments so borrowers are not surprised by hidden payments, robust credit and affordabillity assessments to make sure loans are suitable for the borrower, and more help for customers in financial difficulty by freezing charges and interest.Where borrowers have failed to make repayments on the due date, lenders have also agreed to send further regular reminders ... Continue reading →

Sir Clive Thompson, former Farepak chairman, faces a disqualification hearing at the high court. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian Victims of the collapse of Christmas hamper firm Farepak could be a step closer to justice as the company's directors face a judge in London's high court.Farepak was designed to help low-income customers save for Christmas by taking monthly payments throughout the year and turning them into either food hampers or vouchers for use in shops during the festive period. The company went bust on 13 October 2006 with customers losing an average of £400, and a campaign group Unfairpak was launched.About 5,900 Farepak customers who paid money into their accounts after the company went bust received cheques in September 2009, but many are still ... Continue reading →

The Money Advice Trust said it was dealing with customers' debts with 'everyone from Argos to Littlewoods to smaller name companies'. Photograph: Newscast/Alamy People running into trouble with debts owed to catalogue companies now outnumber those who struggle with rent, mortgages and payday loans, according to a debt charity.More than 13% of calls to the National Debtline in the first quarter of 2012 were about catalogue debts, a figure that has increased year-on-year since 2007 from 8%.The number of people struggling with catalogue company debts is almost on a par with those struggling with widely publicised energy debts. Only council tax arrears, credit and store cards and bank loans and overdrafts prompt more calls to the charity."Catalogue debts go largely unmentioned in public these days, ... Continue reading →

Call centres have become the norm for many big business, and in turn have been replaced with automated services. Photograph: Creasource/Corbis How easy is it to find out basic information over the phone about products and services from some of the biggest names on our high streets? I had to ring up Burger King recently to double-check the prices of a number of the items on its menu.I initially spoke to the PR person who said the best way to do it was to ring the local branch and ask. "Really?" I said. "Just call them directly and they'll give me the information?"OK, it sounds an obvious thing to do, but I couldn't quite believe you could get through to a local branch of an ... Continue reading →

Cheers: Greek wine has been praised for using characterful native grape varieties. Photograph: John Kolesidis/Reuters The Greek economy may be in tatters but one of the country's more unexpected exports is doing exceptionally well. More than 70% of the Greek wines entered in the world's biggest wine competition have won medals, with six bottles taking gold.At the 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards, now in their eighth year, the tasters went through 14,119 wines from around the globe, awarding three golds to Greece's Gaia Wines. Three other wineries, Lyrarakis, Estate Argyros and Domaine Gerovassiliou, also took home gold."The home market in Greece has collapsed and exports are its number one priority," said Greek wine writer and chair for Greece at the awards, Nico Manessis. "This is ... Continue reading →

One of Britain’s leading high street banks has been downgraded by the ratings agency Moody’s. Santander UK, which has more than 25 million customers and more than 1,400 branches had its credit rating downgraded together with 16 Spanish banks. The agency said that the Spanish government’s ability to provide support to the institutions had been reduced. In cutting the long-term debt and deposit ratings by “one to three notches”, Moody’s cited Spain’s soaring unemployment, which stands at 24 per cent, the possibility that property loans will not be repaid in full and concerns that the banks may find it more difficult to raise money in the market due to the debt crisis. The credit rating cuts by Moody’s follow concerns over the country’s deepening recession ... Continue reading →