PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS
THE BANK OF FRIENDS LENDS
The actual banks might not be lending, but Brits have borrowed £7bn from their friends over the last year, according to research from the Post Office. Despite those figures, however, some 19 per cent claim not to remember how much they lent, while the most popular form of repayment is alcohol. Friends in the South East are the most generous, lending on average a total of £1,044 each.
MORE FIVERS COMING ON STREAM
The Bank of England is trying to flood the market with fivers. Speaking in Birmingham, governor Mervyn King said that “by Easter next year, the number of £5 notes dispensed from ATMs should have increased five-fold”. Surveys suggest that the demand is very high, but because few people or companies choose to bank them, the fivers in circulation are often of very poor quality.