Spot the dog: the world’s worst funds

Tim Bennett rounds up the personal finance news, including: mortgage advice for new parents; the worst-performing funds; and how to avoid racking up crippling debts.

Some of our biggest lenders continue to cover themselves in shame. Having lent riotously before the credit crisis, they now find any excuse not to. This week, it's parents who should watch out. As Anna Mikhailova warns in The Times, anyone who has had a child recently may find their ability to borrow curtailed.

For example, Yorkshire Building Society has automatically reduced the amount someone can borrow by 15%. It's a similar story at ING Direct. Fortunately, no such reductions currently apply at Virgin Money or NatWest and the reduction is less dramatic at HSBC.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.