HSBC employee arrested on fraud suspicions

An employee of global banking giant HSBC has been arrested on suspicion of passing on confidential customer details to fraudsters, who used the information to defraud 16 of the bank's UK customers of a total of £220,000.

The man, Nadeem Kashmiri, was employed at the company's call centre in Bangalore, India, a fact that will only add fuel to the fire in the debate about offshore call centres.

Kashmiri was caught after he was alledgedly found accessing records he had no reason for looking at, and HSBC say that the affected customers have been fully reimbursed.

Mortgage exit fees 'illegal'

The BBC has a story quoting mortgage industry insiders who think that the size of mortgage exit fees is a 'scandal', and that some may actually be illegal.

Exit fees are a fee charged by the lender when you switch your mortgage away from them, and are supposed to reflect the administration costs incurred by discharging the mortgage, but with typical fees now rising to £275 or more - compared to £50 only a few years ago - many are saying that they are now a redemption penalty in disguise.

The possibility that the fees may be illegal comes about as all charges are supposed to be transparent in the original mortgage agreement, with it being made clear what the charges are for and any possibility that they may rise.

If exit fees are indeed a redemption penalty by another name, then, say legal experts, the banks may have a case to answer.

Fall in UK credit card debt

The latest figures from the BBA show that the UK's appetite for credit card debt may finally be slowing down, with repayments in April £251m higher than the new spending of £7.7bn, meaning an effective reduction in overall debt.

The fall in card debt was however offset by rapid growth in other forms of unsecured debt including personal loans and overdrafts, which rose by nearly £700m during the month.

Financial commentators continue to warn that many UK consumers are failing to come to terms with a severe debt problem, with over 1m people overstretched and struggling with their repayments, even to the extent of facing bankruptcy.