It is the last thing that anybody was expecting, but the rate of inflation (according to one measure at least) has actually dropped.

What inflation does to your savings

The Consumer Price Index fell to 4% during march, down from 4.4% in February. It is thought that cheaper food and drink was what helped lower the rate of inflation. It is the last thing anybody predicted, and some are warning that thiis will be just a temporary dip in a otherwise  upward trend.

Really this does not qualify as good news for anyone except borrowers on variable rate mortgages. The dip in inflation will give ammunition to those who want to keep interest rates at their current low level for longer. It is thought that what lowered prices and therefore inflation during March was retailers responding to low consumer confidence.

The cost of bringing goods to market has continued to rise. Tax, below inflation pay rises and fears over job security have all meant that consumers have been unwilling to shoulder the increased cost of goods. Retailers have been left with little choice but to take a hit on profitability in order to keep sales volumes up.

Whether this can be counted as being good news for savers is highly doubtful. Although the drop in inflation means that mathematically speaking there are a few more saving products that will return a real-terms profit after tax concerns, the picture is not a happy one.  Inflation seems likely to resume its upward trajectory sooner rather than later, and in addition to this it makes further miserable low interest rate months more likely. For financial planners there are a lot of unknowns in the equation at the moment. The direction of both inflation as well as interest rates will be the things that they will bee looking to divine when they are peering into their crystal balls however.

If it were hackers that denied customers online access to their bank accounts, then it would be considered a major black eye for the bank involved. It is surprising then that a ban would cheerfully announce that its customers would be unable to access their accounts while sections of the website were down for maintenance.  Maybe if it were to just be for a day or so it would be an understandable inconvenience, but a full year?

This scenario is just what has happened with the website of  Halifax Bank of Scotland. It has been reported that the bank has sent out letters to customers who hold investment accounts with them, warning of the planned outage. The reason that they are given is that it is to allow a new site with improved usability and security to be created. The date that this site will be ready will be ready is April 2012, assuming that everything goes smoothly.

The letter warning that customers will not be able to access their accounts online included a link to a web page with a list of telephone numbers. With no access to their accounts online customers will have to use either  telephone or postal banking. While it is possible that this might appeal to those nostalgic for the 1980s, it must seem like definite inconvenience to customers who are accustomed to living in the 21st century.

Customers will find the site going dark after 18 April. A warning on the website reads “If you’d like to keep a copy of your most recent valuation, contribution history or any other information about your investments which we may hold online, please print these off by 18th April as they won’t be available to view online after this date”.

Considering the competition for customers it is amazing that a bank would consider having its website down for so long. Did they not get the memo about helpful banking?  It is also a bit surprising that nobody was able to think of a way to keep the existing service running while the replacement was designed and tested…

The Royal wedding is later this month, and today is the deadline which has been set as the deadline for approval by local councils. Local authorities have come under fire by the likes of the work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith for taking an unnecessarily  strict interpretation of health and safety rules.

Some councils have reportedly gone as far as to ban bunting, while others are issuing health and safety checklists. The issue is around public liability. Councils may be being criticised for being overly cautious for their approach to this issue, bu the danger of being sued if someone gets injured is real.

The idea that you should never do anything because of the fear of legal action should something go wrong is of course absurd. There are plenty who subscribe to this view however, to the accompaniment of hand-wringing  about ‘compensation culture’. The solution of course is to make sure that everything is properly insured.

We are used to insuring our houses and our cars, but the idea of purchasing public liability insurance would probably be furthest from the minds of most people when it comes to organising a street party to celebrate the royal wedding. As this blog post points out there is much the buyer needs to be wary about when it comes to purchasing public liability insurance to cover a street party type event.

There are often things which are excluded from policies – so the fine print needs to be checked carefully.   You might be considering hiring a bouncy castle for instance, what  after all symbolizes the superiority of  royalty better than a castle? You should think again, as most policies will not cover inflatables of this type. Similarly the setting up and  taking down of the event may not be covered, and, as always, it is important to make sure that the level of ‘excess’ is reasonable relative to the premium you are being charged.