The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.
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In this special edition of Money Box Live, presenter Felicity Hannah has been out to Weeton Barracks in Preston to see how soldiers juggle their finances whilst leading an often unpredictable military life. We look at the benefits of life in the forces – from financial help to buy a home to generous pensions and special payments to encourage you to stay on longer. And we examine the challenges of…
This week has seen a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as John Healey was appointed the announcements began. First came the announcement to cut VAT on household energy bills from October, next a plan to cap bus fares in England from January, then a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England starting from April. But what about that…
Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through. Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is where a buyer suddenly drops…
Urgent action is needed to help people in their sixties on low incomes who face a delay of up to a year before they can claim their State Pension. That is the main recommendation of a new report from the Work and Pensions Committee. Pension age rises over the next two years from 66 to 67 and the committee of MPs fears some of the people affected by that delay face poverty unless the benefit rules…
New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin. BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estimates that a 100mn…
A deadline approaches for 860,000 self-employed people and landlords who must start reporting their income and expenses in a new way. It is called Making Tax Digital and it affects small businesses with a turnover or gross income above £50,000 a year. They have until 7th August to report their income and expenditure to HMRC. What do they need to know? It is “unacceptable” that the government has…
We look at whether artificial intelligence is a help, or a hazard when it comes to helping you with your personal finances. One in five adults in the UK - around 11 million people - are already open to the idea of using AI to manage their finances, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But using AI to manage our money is not without risk. The FCA, the organisation tasked with keeping us…
Parliament was asked this week to help tens of thousands of young adults get access to their own money. It is sitting in the state-backed Child Trust Funds set up more than 15 years ago with contributions from the government, parents and other relatives. However, because these young people have learning disabilities the legal process for getting hold of their own money can cost more than the…
Buying a flat used to be a stepping stone to owning a house – but has this all changed? Research is telling us that the gap in price between flats and houses has hit a 30 year high. According to the property platform Zoopla, so far this this year two-thirds of one and two-bedroom flats listed for sale still haven't been sold. The leasehold system in England is being blamed, in large part, for the…
More than 15,000 people have responded to a Government review into access to banking services in just three weeks since it opened. The review comes after a decade which has seen almost 7,000 bank branches close, with hundreds more happening this year and some announced in just the past few days. Richard Lloyd, a former Director at the consumer group Which?, gives his first interview since being…
We’ve seen a big fall in the number of bank branches over the last decade. Around 6,700 bank and building society branches have closed since the beginning of 2015, according to Which? With more due to close this month. Now the government is carrying out a review following concerns about the reduced access to face-to-face banking, and how this affects banking customers both in towns and in rural…
Capita chiefs promised MPs on the Public Accounts Committee it would fix long-running problems with its administration of one of the biggest pension schemes in the country by the end of this month. Tens of thousands of retired and serving civil servants have been reporting long delays to payments, leading to serious financial hardship to pensioners and their families. But Money Box has learned the…
Six million people who expect to be paying housing costs once they've stopped working say they don't know how they'll be able to afford it. That's according to new research from pensions and investment firm Royal London. It surveyed 4,000 people and says the findings suggest around 1 in 3 UK adults are already paying, or expect to pay, rent or a mortgage once they've retired. What can be done to…
