Zero growth in Q4

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

Economy flatlined pre-election

The economy didn’t grow at all in the last few months of 2019, according to yesterday’s official report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It’s the weakest quarterly growth since 2012. December’s general election provided a bit of a boost, leading to a last-minute recovery by the end of the year.

Spendy January

In brighter news, consumer spending grew by 3.9% in January according to data from Barclaycard. The spending spree followed a thriftier than usual Christmas period, and was largely driven by petrol prices and sales of takeaways and cinema tickets.

Pension tax relief

Chancellor Sajid Javid is considering a change to pension tax relief rules in next month’s budget, which could leave high earners worse off (paywall). Currently, tax relief is paid back into your pension at the same rate you paid income tax. However, the changes could see everyone get 20% tax relief instead, regardless of how much income tax they pay.

More complaints over high-cost loans

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) says it dealt with a whopping 4,535 complaints about high-cost loans in the last three months of 2019. That’s over three times higher than the same period in 2018. The most common complaint? Lenders not doing checks properly, leaving borrowers with extra interest and charges that they can’t pay.

N26 shutting up shop

The challenger bank has announced it’s closing all UK current accounts on 15th April. The German startup blames its departure on the “timing and framework” of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Any customers who still have money in an N26 account on 15th April will see it transferred into a holding account.