Santander begins re-branding former Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches
The Spanish banking giant Santander has begun its re-branding scheme that will see all 1,045 branches of the former Abbey and Bradford & Bingley banks bear the parent name Santander.
Abbey was bought by the bank in 2004, which went on to buy both the Bradford & Bingley and the Alliance & Leicester in 2008.
The Alliance & Leicester branches are due to be renamed later on in the year.
The change will push the Santander brand up to the fifth largest bank accounts provider in the UK, with 25 million savings account holders and borrowers.
The re-branding process will cost the bank £15m, starting with 300 Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches in the south-east, followed by the remaining branches later this month.
As well as re-branding the branches themselves, around 9,500 staff have been issued with new uniforms, as well as 971 cash machines being branded with the new name, 27 company internet sites and thousands of separate items of stationary.
Alison Brittain, a Santander executive, said that now was a good time to have a new name on the High Street.
“The Santander brand is untarnished during the credit crisis, it is very strong and secure,” she said.
“We operate as a challenger on the UK High Street and, having 1,300 branches, it is going to be great.”
One advantage for holidaymakers travelling to Spain is that the bank’s UK customers can now also use Santander cash machines in Spain without paying any fees.
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IVA, debt management and bankruptcy debt advice for people in Bradford
Bradford is a City in West Yorkshire. It is situated 9 miles west of Leeds. It has a population of about 498,000. It was a boom town during the industrial revolution built on the textiles trade. This trade has been in terminal decline during the 20th Century. Bradford has seen huge growth in its immigrant population which is expected to account for 28% of the population by 2011.
Help With Debt advisors help people in Bradford with their debt problems.
This article is designed to help those in Bradford assess the help which is available to them and to read about the various debt solutions, and decide which is appropriate for them.
Residents in Bradford need Help With Debt Problems
This last year has been very hard for households and families up and down the land. The instances of debt problems are now on a marked increase and people in Bradford like elsewhere are struggling.
Some people will try to get advice from local debt charities whilst others will seek help from Citizens advice. For many there will be too long a wait for this advice or there will not be enough resource to deal with everybody.
Help With Debt advisors aim to fill that gap. They are always available on the telephone to provide advice and assistance for the people of Bradford.
Debt Solutions For Bradford residents
Help with debt advisors always offer free telephone advice and our solutions will be those that are right for you.
IVA – The IVA is well used alternative to bankruptcy which was brought in in 1986. The IVA allows a person to propose a settlement to those he owes money to. It is based upon what he can afford not what he is obliged to pay. The IVA once accepted binds all parties irrespective of whether they voted in favour of it or not and prevents any further action such as bankruptcy.. In most cases an IVA will last for 5 years. The IVA has had a bad press over recent years as too many companies sold them for profit and not because they were best advice. We only recommend and IVA where it suits you to have one.
Debt Management – A good Debt Management Plan will again allow someone to repay their debt at a rate they can afford for either a short time or for longer, as the situation determines. If your debt problem is temporary and your situation is likely to improve then a debt management plan could be the best solution. It should be noted that while the debt management company will attempt to get the creditor to cease interest and charges, these may continue thereby increasing the debt level over a period of time. A Debt Management company will tell you that they can reduce your debt payments and they will deal with your creditors for you. Most debt management companies will charge you anything from 15% to 20% of the amount you pay to your creditors as a fee. This is pretty standard for the industry.
Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy is an option for any individual who cannot pay their debts “as and when they fall due”. The Bankruptcy proceeding has two aims; To free the individual from the pressures of creditors (people they owe money to) to enable him or her to make a fresh start. To ensure that all assets (such as property and investments) are distributed fairly among the creditors.Bankruptcy proceedings will free you from the burden of overwhelming debt. The decision to apply for bankruptcy is a serious decision to make, and our expert advisors will give you free advice to guide you to make the right choice.
Information provided by Steve Thatcher of Help With Debt (UK) Limited and total debt solutions company.
For all further reading see http://www.helpwithdebtuk.com
For personal contact email sthatcher@helpwithdebtuk.com
For Steve’s thoughts see http://steves-debt.blogspot.com
If you have any debt problem whatsover either personal or corporate make Steve your first call all advice is free. Finally if in the UK and you need a friend to speak to call 01162171406
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Beat Absenteeism With The Bradford Factor And Leavemaster
The Bradford Factor is a unique formula that enables you to identify employees whose âlittle and oftenâ absences are damaging your business.
By giving each of your employees a rating based on the number and length of their absences, it enables you to differentiate between employees on legitimate sick leave and those who are disrupting your business by taking too many âsickies.’
Its calculation,: E x E x D, where E is the number of episodes of absence and D the total number of days absent, gives a rating to each employee based on the number and length of their absences over a rolling 52 week period; with employees with many short leaves penalized more than those with a small number of long-term absences.
So if an employee is off for 10 straight days on long-term sick leave, but this is their only episode of absence in a year, their Bradford Factor will only be 10:
1 x 1 x 10 = 10
But if another employee takes a one-off sick day on ten different occasions over a year, their Bradford Factor will be 1000:
10 x10 x 10 = 1000
This would highlight the need to address the situation with the employee.
How does The Bradford Factor reduce absenteeism?
As well as providing managers and HR departments with clear evidence of absenteeism, the Bradford Factor deters employees from taking unwarranted sick days.
Knowing it will give them a high Bradford Factor score, staff are discouraged from calling in sick when they’re not really ill, especially if their organisation has a âtriggerâ system in place whereby mandatory action is taken against employees whose score reaches a certain level.
Why use LeaveMaster to calculate the Bradford Factor?
Calculating the Bradford Factor manually or using a spreadsheet, for every employee across an organisation, is cumbersome, complicated and laborious.
And to be effective as a deterrent and if the statistics are to be used in disciplinary hearings, the process for calculating the Bradford Factor needs to be full-proof and the data indisputable. But the exponential nature of the formula means that even the smallest mistake can double or triple an employee’s score, leading to unwarranted disciplinary action and a possible loss of confidence in the system.
To free you of the burdensome administration time and potential for error that comes with calculating the Bradford Factor manually, LeaveMaster automatically calculates the ongoing Bradford Factor score for every employee in your organisation for you; even intuitively taking into account non-working days such as weekends and bank holidays.
