Walletpop weekend link log

abi
Apr 4th 2009 at 7:41AM

Filed under: Mortgages, Loans, Investing, Retirement, Technology and Online

The end of the tax year is upon us in just a few hours' time, so if you're an ISA saver hoping to make use of this year's allowance of £7,200, you'll have to act very swiftly. The Times has some last-minute words of advice here, and if there's anything else you think you might have forgotten, This is Money have posted up a helpful check-list.
If you're in the throws of a tricky mortgage negotiation you may be amused to read this story in The Telegraph, which tells how Alison Godfrey, a frustrated would-be homeowner from Sydney, Australia 'tweeted' about her annoyance at delays to her mortgage application on Twitter, then had her loan approved the next day after it was read by the bank's head of customer services. Could this be why this once-fun service is suddenly full of grievances about people's banks?
Of course, it's not been a great week for banks. First the G20 protests, now The Guardian has got wind of a new online marketplace that allows people to go about their financial business with no involvement from the bank whatsoever. Zopa matches up borrowers with those who want to lend and seems to be attracting a lot of happy customers, with better rates all round. Also, it'll never need to take a pension...
Fred Goodwin, meanwhile, has dashed any vague hopes that he might be about to go quietly, and has stated that he still intends to claim full £703,000-a-year whack despite a flurry of rumours yesterday that he might consider a 'voluntary reduction'. The Independent tells how RBS shareholders 'jeered and heckled' the bank's current directors, who have now brought in 'more lawyers than you can shake a stick at' to try and re-negotiate Sir Fred's contract, so far to no avail.