The announcement was made to staff after just a day when RBS and Lloyds confirmed plans for £ 40 million worth of government money being ploughed into them.

This news comes on top of RBS confirming last week that they are going to be axing 3,700 branch staff and will see offices in Southampton, Southend, Leicester and Sheffield being affected.

Chief Executive of HSBC UK, Paul Thurston, said “This restructure is an essential part of the streamlining of our business and the migration of activities into centres of excellence around the country.”

Having already being labelled a “fundamental mistake” by union leaders, employees at the lower wage end of the scale are most likely to be affected. Rob MacGregor from Unite’s national office said “The union does not believe this will do anything to improve the company’s performance.”

This bad news will take HSBC job cuts total this year to 3,400. The bank did not have to take the government bailout but instead raised £ 12 billion from shareholders earlier this year.

In the past many people have switched their credit card debts onto a 0 percent balance transfer credit card, which has given them a long period of interest free credit within which to repay the transferred balance without being charged any interest on the debt. However, these cards usually charge a balance transfer fee of around 2-3 percent of the amount being transferred, and in some cases this can come to a lot of money, which may put people off from doing this.

Industry officials have recently said that a more suitable alternative for those that do not wish to have to pay these costly transfer fees would be the life of balance transfer credit card. In the same way as the 0 percent balance transfer card consumers can transfer their existing credit card balances on to these cards. They are then charged a very low rate of interest on the transferred balance for the life of the balance, as long as they ensure that they make at least the minimum monthly repayment required.

One credit cardholder recently stated: “I wanted to try and shift my debt from my existing cards, which charged a high rate of interest, to an interest free balance transfer card, but providers were asking for a large amount by way of transfer fees. I then decided to transfer to a life of balance transfer card, which saves me money in interest and gives me more time to clear the balance that I transferred.”

Whilst using debit cards is largely free in the UK for UK consumers the story is quite a different one abroad, and many people fail to realise this. The hefty charges that can be applied for debit card transactions whilst abroad can quickly add up, and the cardholder may suddenly find that if they have been using the card on a regular basis they owe a small fortune in fees. Using credit cards abroad is also costly due to various fees and charges that are applied, and again customers can come back to a nasty shock when their credit card statement arrives.

Fees for over the counter transactions as well as currency conversion fees can all add up, but many consumers take their cards with them and use them on a daily basis without realising how much they could be clocking up in charges. One consumer said: “I went abroad and thought that I would be fine to use my debit card whilst I was over there. However, I was shocked when I saw my bank statement and realised how much I had been charged in fees and charges. Never again!”

Consumers are now being urged only to use their cards if they really need to and to consider another form of currently such as traveller’s cheques. For those planning to take their cards abroad it is advisable to contact the lender or bank and find out just what your charges are so that there are no really nasty shocks.

The new scheme will allow the cardholders to get instant discounts at participating retailers without having to redeem points and vouchers, so consumers will be able to enjoy a hassle free way of getting their credit card rewards. Whilst the credit card giant handles payments for nearly ninety thousand retailers, it has not yet revealed how many of these will be taking part in the new rewards scheme.

Many industry officials have attacked other rewards based schemes because often the cardholder finds it too difficult, confusing, or time consuming to redeem their points, and they end up going to waste. However, the instant benefits that this new rewards scheme will provide means that this should not be an issue.

There are many other credit card providers that offer rewards based cards such as cash back cards, air miles cards, travel rewards cards, and a variety of others, but it has been revealed that an alarming number of people fail to redeem their rewards for one of a range of reasons, which means that they end up not benefiting from having a rewards based card at all. Industry officials have pointed out that rewards based cards are best suited to those that pay their balance off in full each month, as otherwise the interest charged can outweigh the value of any rewards received.

The BBA advised that over the month £ 218 million had been repaid to credit cards while £ 135 million had been repaid to overdrafts and loans.  The overall spending on credit for the month was down by 8.9% from the previous year.  Along with this the number of purchases on credit cards also fell to £ 98.2 million, down by 5.9% on the previous year.

With the current climate it seems that consumers had turned away from borrowing and more toward saving, which showed with £ 4 billion being paid into banks during the month.

Chief UK Economist at HIS Global, Howard Archer, said “Going forward, consumer borrowing will be limited by ongoing very tight lending conditions, while many people are likely to be increasingly keen to rein in their borrowing.”

“Rising debt levels, historically low household savings rates, plunging house prices and sharply weakened equity markets mean that there is a pressing need for many consumers to improve their finances. Furthermore, we suspect that very serious concerns over jobs and the economic outlook will cause people to try to save more, if they can.”

• Do Not Get Rid Of Your Credit Cards
• Cash Back Credit Card Usage Increases
• Cap The Credit Card Charges

One thing that has come out of the research is the way people are spending, by shifting from using credit cards, etc to using now preferring to use cash.  26% of Scots are preferring to purchase using cash which is up on the same time last year.  Londoners are about 20%, 29 in the Midlands, Wales and the rest of the South and 18% of Northerners.

On the up is the amount of 18-24 year olds using plastic to make there purchases, around 30%.  Peter Brooker, Head of Corporate Affairs at Paypoint says “”Young people may be storing up trouble for themselves, by racking up higher and higher debts on their credit cards, which they might not be able to pay back. Even much as worrying, only 10.9 per cent of this age group have had their credit card limit reduced, compared with 14.7 per cent of the 35-44 and 12.5 per cent of the over-55s.”

He continues “The credit crunch, economic downturn and widespread job losses have undoubtedly had an impact on people’s spending habits. Not just how much they spend, but how they spend it.  Overall, people in the Midlands and Wales seem to be taking a responsible approach, with more turning to cash to manage their spending more effectively (69 per cent) and far fewer maxing out on their credit cards – 2 per cent against 24 per cent of Londoners – which could explain why they are still less concerned about their debt level.”

“The most worrying aspect of the research is the attitude of young people who are continuing to rack up debts on their credit cards (at least, those who have them) and could well be storing up problems for themselves later as the economic crisis bites deeper. People who take a more careful approach and stick to cash – so spending only what they have – will emerge from the recession better able to recover financially.”

Recent additions :

• Credit Cards To Hit £ 7 Billion
• Credit Cards Costing More
• How The Mighty Have Fallen

Spokes woman for Moneyfacts, Michelle Slade said “I doubt we will see lenders cutting rates on credit cards, usually lenders only cut rates to attract customers.”

She advises that the only lender to offer cards linked to the base rate is the Co-operative Bank which will see holders of Gold and Platinum credit cards gaining from a 1.5% interest rate drop although with the Gold card having a £120.00 annual fee the interest rate will be around 19.4%.

Mortgages that the Co-operative Bank offered via Northern Rock and Yorkshire Building Society the cut passed on.

On the other hand the largest credit card provider, Barclaycard, has advised that it would not be be changing their interest rate (14.9%) due to the recent drops and a spokesman says “The primary factor in our pricing is risk, not the cost of money, so the cut will not have an immediate effect.”

Recent additions :

• Charity Credit Cards
• The Xmas Purchase Solution
• Declined Applications For Financial Products

The Easy Shop Card, which is linked to Argos, has been condemed by MP’s and debt experts alike as ” wicked ” and is something that they have been warning people to stay away from. 

As has been revealed by Argos sales this year compared with last are down 9% so a way of getting those figures back up they believe that the Easy Card will help during this vital period.  An example of how the product would work would be is you looked at spending £ 100.00 using this new product.  To repay this over a 27 week period would mean the consumer would be paying back interest of £ 35.00 on top of the £ 100.00 which in itself equates to an APR of 227.  This new product has been produced in association with Provident Financial.

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP says “A lot of people are finding it increasingly difficult to borrow from the mainstream high street banks.”

“Many may well feel they have to fall back on things like this. There is a real risk of a very large number of people being exploited as a result.”

He continues “In my view it is wicked to be promoting such high interest cards and loans at Christmas, when people feel under pressure.”

He is not the only person to have a similar view on the new product, Louise Bond from uSwitch said “Despite the recession, life does have to go on but we strongly advise people not to be lured into this type of deal.”

“It may seem like a quick fix but will cost you dear in the long run.”

She added “Despite being attached to a well known high street brand, people shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is anything other than a sub-prime loan.”

And from the other side the company Provident Financial push the product as a simple way to borrow and spend and the product is advertised on their website as “We have teamed up with high street retailer Argos to give you a great way to shop  -  the Easy Shop card; a plastic card that lets you shop at Argos, without the worry of overspending.”

The word from Argos is “By law, home creditors must advertise their lending rates as an annual percentage rate.”

“Home credit companies have suggested for some time now that APR can be misleading because their loans are repaid over a short time period.”

Provident said “Our charging structure is fundamentally different to that of other lenders.”

“Provident home credit has a single, up-front, fixed charge that customers see from the start, which includes interest on the loan, the cost of the agent’s weekly visit to the customer’s home and the fact that the total amount to repay will never go up  -  even if payments are missed.”

Recent additions :

• Declined Applications For Financial Products
• Different Types of Credit Cards
• Cash Withdrawls In the UK