The week unzipped: Withdrawals to soar as Scots make £1bn Christmas dash for ATMs

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 13:13

SCOTS will withdraw £1 billion from ATMs around the country in the run-up to Christmas, according to Clydesdale Bank.

The first weekend of December and the last weekend before Christmas are the two biggest spending weekends of the year. The weekend immediately prior to Christmas Day sees the value of ATM withdrawals increase by around 25 per cent as seasonal celebrations move in to full flow. Clydesdale Bank, which has 450 cash machines in Scotland, estimates that more than 110 million will be withdrawn from ATMs over that weekend alone.

On average, cash-happy Scots will take out 40 every time they visit an ATM, 10 per cent more than in November. Across the UK as a whole people will be withdrawing 11bn at a rate of up to 1m per hour over the month.

No excess

SCOTTISH motorists pay the lowest insurance premiums in the UK, according to research from moneysupermarket.com The comparison website analysed one million insurance quotes over the last year to find the UK hotspots for the cheapest and dearest car cover. Scotland dominates the top ten with seven of the cheapest areas for car insurance.

Vehicle owners in Dunfermline and Glenrothes land had the best deals in the postcode lottery with the lowest typically around 374. Residents of Dundee, Aberdeen, Grangemouth, and Elgin also pay as much as 500 less on their premiums then motorists in other parts of the UK.

Emergency help

MORE TH>N has launched an iPhone application that provides support to drivers at the scene of an accident.

The Car Claim accident tool guides users step by step through safety precautions at the roadside and prompts victims to enter vital information about the accident, such as witness details.

There is the option to take photos and the application finds and uploads the driver's current location using GPS. All the information can then be e-mailed to an address of the user's choice.

This is the first time a UK insurer has taken advantage of such mobile phone technology.

Mortgage trim

ABBEY lowered fixed and variable rates on a selection of high loan to value (LTV) mortgage products. The bank cut its fixed rate by 0.2 percentage points for home owners borrowing over 80 per cent of their property's value. Abbey also reduced tracker mortgages at 85 per cent LTV by 0.1 per cent. In addition the bank offers a new three- year fix charging 4.39 per cent at 75 per cent LTV with a 995 booking fee.

Leeds Building Society introduced a one-year fixed-rate mortgage at 2.99 per cent for borrowers with a 35 per cent deposit. After the term has finished, the product reverts to base rate plus 2.99 per cent, currently 4.39 per cent, for a further year. The product allows 10 per cent capital repayments each year without penalty.

Society move

YORKSHIRE and Chelsea building societies announced plans to merge. The enlarged society will have assets of 35bn, 2.7 million members and a network of 178 branches. The new Society will be known as Yorkshire Building Society, though the Chelsea Building Society name will remain a separate and distinct brand within the Yorkshire.

The merger is expected to be completed by April 2010, subject to approval from members and the FSA's confirmation.