Money Box

Latest Episodes:

MBL: Financing Electric Vehicles May 26, 2021

Show notes

One in four of us is considering buying an electric car, according to the energy regulator Ofgem. So, what are the finances of going electric? They often cost more to buy but the claim is that they can be cheaper to run. Adam Shaw and guests discuss the cost of buying, insuring, charging an electric vehicle and the tax breaks you get if you buy or lease an electric car through a business?

Adam is joined by Ginny Buckley, founder of electrifying.com, an electric car advice site & Hayley Jay, business specialist sales, from the car dealership Furrows. And we hear from listeners about their views on electric vehicles.

Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

FCA to force firms to treat customers better May 22, 2021

Show notes

Financial firms are being told they will be forced to treat their customers better under plans by the regulator for a new “Consumer Duty”. It will set down a higher level of consumer protection that firms will have to follow. The consultation on the plans has just been published and the new rules should be in force by the middle of next year. Paul Lewis talks to Nisha Arora, Director of Consumer and Retail Policy at the Financial Conduct Authority.

Money Box continues to get complaints from customers who have current accounts with the online firm Pockit. They tell us that the money in their accounts - often thousands of pounds - has been frozen, sometimes for months. Virraj Jatania, Pockit’s founder and Chief Executive, provides some answers.

Every month millions of people in the UK use the social media platform TikTok. It specialises in short videos normally made by individuals on their mobile phone and edited to music. The videos cover everything from comedy to dance to money. But we hear about concerns that these videos encourage young people to get into bad money habits.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Researcher: Sowda Ali Reporter: Dan Whitworth Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Alex Lewis

MBL: Mortgages & the Pandemic May 19, 2021

Show notes

Buying a house with a mortgage is one of the biggest commitments we make in life.

The pandemic has seen households managing lower, unpredictable incomes with furlough and government grants on offer. What effect has that had on lenders and their decisions to approve or decline applications? If you’re trying to get one or switch to a better deal - how are you finding it? What new mortgage products are banks and building societies now offering borrowers?

Charmaine Cozier is joined by: Runouska Dass, Independent mortgage broker Keith Barber, Director of Business Development, the Family Building Society

Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

Difficulties claiming Personal Independence Payment benefit May 15, 2021

Show notes

Many people on Disability Living Allowance are rejected when they are assessed for the newer benefit Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Paul Lewis hears about some of the experiences of claiming PIP and discusses with Daphne Hall, vice chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers and Dr Jim McCormick, chair of the Disability and Carers Benefits Advisory Group.

More than 100,000 couples in the UK divorce each year — around 40% of marriages. It is over 20 years since divorcing couples could bring the value of pensions into the pot when they share their assets. But only one out of every eight cases take pensions into account as part of the financial settlement. So why is pension sharing at divorce forgotten in so many cases? Paul Lewis speaks to Jo Edwards, head of Family Law at Forsters.

Up to a quarter of a million people over the age of 70 get no state pension - but around half of them could. Former pensions minister Steve Webb explains all.

It’s nearly three months since we first reported that people were suffering weeks of delays when they try to access their pension funds invested with Prudential. Since then those weeks of delays have turned into months… and still the problems continue. Dan Whitworth investigates.

Researcher: Anita Langary Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Alex Lewis

MBL: The Cost of Pets May 12, 2021

Show notes

Last year families spent nearly £7 billion on their furry friends. Pet ownership has soared and so has the number of services on offer for the modern-day pooch.

Felicity Hannah and guests discuss the rising costs of buying a pet, keeping it well & safe, whether to insure it and the demand to cater for all their needs from luxury food to care day.

Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

Is new guidance on selling high rise flats fit for purpose? May 08, 2021

Show notes

Mortgage providers are refusing to follow new guidance intended to help hundreds of thousands of people who are unable to sell or re-mortgage their flats because of the cladding crisis. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, RICS, issued the guidance to its members across the UK just two months ago. But Money Box has learned that despite being involved in preparing the guidance, many lenders aren’t following it - leaving people struggling to sell because buyers can’t borrow the money they need.

Welfare benefits expert, Anna Stevenson from Turn2us outlines how people on Universal Credit will be able to get cheap broadband and some free calls from June 1st and discusses other discounts on utilities for people on benefits.

National Savings & Investments does not use two factor authentication when you log on to your account. Is that a security risk? Paul Lewis talks to Adenike Cosgrove, a cyber security strategist at Proofpoint.

And nearly two million workers who do more than one part-time jobs are excluded from being automatically enrolled into a works pension - but many are not aware they can join anyway. Pete Glancy, Head of Pensions Policy, at Scottish Widows explains the rules.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sowda Ali Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Alex Lewis

MBL: Personal Banking and the Pandemic May 05, 2021

Show notes

The Covid-19 pandemic has placed a huge amount of pressure on banks and customers alike. How have you - and your bank or building society - adapted? Felicity Hannah and guests explore how the Covid-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we manage our money and whether those changes are here to stay.

E-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk with your personal banking stories, questions and experiences.

Have you changed your banking habits? Has your access to support, products or services altered? What is your bank or building society doing well and what could be done better?

Joining Felicity are: - Julie Ann Haines, CEO Principality Building Society - Alex Neill, CEO of Resolver complaints website - James Daley, consumer campaigner and founder of Fairer Finance

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producers: Smita Patel and Diane Richardson Editor: Alex Lewis

How does the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme work? May 01, 2021

Show notes

9 in 10 of us use direct debits to pay some or all of our regular bills. 4.5 billion payments were processed in the UK in 2019. It’s a simple way to pay - you sign a mandate with a business or organisation and they take agreed amounts on a specified date. They come with a guarantee which protects you if payments are taken mistakenly. Or at least that’s what a Money Box listener thought when a payment for his gym membership went wrong.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have soared in value beyond any other asset. Ten years ago one Bitcoin was worth one US dollar - today one is worth 53,000 US dollars - nearly £42,000 pounds. One big concern with buying, storing, or selling cryptocurrencies is how secure it is. Paul Lewis talks to an investor who discovered £11,000 had gone missing from his account, as well as cryptocurreny expert Kate Boucherel.

Last week the High Court ruled that high cost lender Provident could move forward with a scheme to pay redress to customers to whom it had mis-sold loans. Provident has said that it can't afford to pay customers with valid claims the full amount of compensation they should receive - despite other parts of its business being very successful. Paul talks to Sara Williams, founder of the debt advisor website Debt Camel.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Researcher: Sowda Ali Reporter: Dan Whitworth Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Alex Lewis

Dementia & Money Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

Adam Shaw looks at dementia and money.

Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

Can number spoofing be stopped? Apr 24, 2021

Show notes

The regulator Ofcom tells Money Box people shouldn’t trust Caller ID. It says the spoofing of numbers can be stopped, but to do so will take years. Spoofing has been used by fraudsters to convince thousands of people they are being called by banks or HMRC and trick them into handing over tens of thousands of pounds.

It's more than two years since the collapse of London Capital and Finance where investors lost £237m. This week the government announced a new scheme in which almost 9,000 people will get some of their money back.

Why do many banks charge 39% interest on overdrafts but pay less than 1% on savings? Listener Edwyn describes the difference as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘scandalous.’ Paul talks to Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

And what happens to your pension if you die before drawing it? Romi Savova from PensionBee explains.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sowda Ali Producers: Ben Carter and Joe Kent Editor: Alex Lewis

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