This is Money Blog

Fraud: How I was fleeced on my bank card

I am currently watching my bank account being emptied and it's not down to overspending.

In the past I have been cynical about the threat of card fraud but now it's happened to me, it seems I was the only one who has not suffered before.

Here's what happened. I was having lunch in a restaurant on Friday. I handed my Lloyds TSB debit card to pay the bill - £32.95 - and the waitress put my card in her chip and pin machine. I tapped in my number. She told me it hadn't gone through and the terminal said she had to phone for clearance. Not having any cash on me I told her to do that: my first mistake, letting the card out of my sight.

After at least 10 minutes she returned and said the bank needed to talk to me. I followed her to the reception and took the phone. A woman at the other end said she was from HSBC and she had my bank, Lloyds TSB, on the other line and needed to verify my identity: what was my date of birth, did I share the account with anyone and what were the first and third letters of my mother's maiden name.

I thought it was odd but I was in a hurry, it was a small amount, I had been to the restaurant often and added to that, the waitresses were telling other customers to pay by cash because they had problems with their card machine. Anyway, the amount was verified and I went off in a huff, wishing I'd knocked the service charge off.

I decided to check my bank balance when I got back to the office because a conversation with my ever-cynical husband had raised doubts over whether something fishy had happened. And there it was - a £32 transaction for somewhere abroad plus a £1 handling fee.

I haven't been abroad since June and the account is in my name only. I called Lloyds and was told there were signs of fraudulent activity on my account. That £32 had come from a taxi firm in Canada. Apparently, a lot of card fraud is from Canada at the moment. I was told to destroy my card and that all was now sorted and I wasn't to worry. Unfortunately, as of today more than £720 has been taken from my acccount and although Lloyds tell me I'll get it back in 'seven to 10 days' it seems I've got at least one more fradulent transaction to go through yet.

My question is, what else could I have done? I reported my concerns about fraud less than an hour after they had happened. Yet I am still having to wait to get my money back and frankly, it could take ages. I have never disclosed my PIN. I've not used unsafe websites. I do hope that I get the funds recredited soon but at the moment, I wonder how long it will take for the Canadian fraudsters to empty my account.

- Charlotte Beugge, Deputy Personal Finance Editor, Daily Mail

>> Latest news and advice on fraud

Someone's been sitting on my cash

I received my energy bills from Powergen yesterday and finally decided to claim back my overpayments. The bill informed me in huge letters: 'You are £129.42 in credit.' But underneath it said: 'We will carry your balance forward to the next statement.'

Oh no you won't I thought. Why should they sit on my cash? It's estimated that these energy companies sit on hundreds of millions and possibly billions of pounds of our money by charging too much on direct debits.

Even the regulator, Ofgem, has no idea how much of our money they are sitting on - and what's more they are under no obligation to reveal the figures. In their home countries, most of our foreign-owned utilities refund overpayment - but not here. Instead they keep our cash, earn interest on it and use it to boost their profitability.

So why not claim it back?

I was forced to sit on hold for 12 minutes before I got through but at least it was a free number. The call centre operator actually checked whether she could send me a cheque. The cheek of it - it's my money. Then she asked whether I wanted the whole amount back.

I said yes - unless they wanted to send me some extra so I could earn interest on their money  for a change.

So in seven to 10 days I should receive a cheque. You might think £129.42 is a small sum to bother about but multiply that by the number of customers and you've got a hefty pile of cash.

And this is the middle of the summer - my credit balance is only likely to increase over the coming three or four months.

There's one other piece of good news for the Hazell household. This excess means I must be using less electricity and gas than last year because I'm on a fixed price tariff.

Our energy bill for the last year is a tad under £825 which is quite a bit less than the national average and shows the benefit of cracking down on standby, turning off lights and generally being an energy miser.

Tony Hazell, Money Mail editor

RELATED STORIES ON THIS IS MONEY:

>> Fuel bills update: Should you switch?

>> Energy giants cash £1bn overpayments

>> Energy firms sit on direct debit millions

Easyjet, cancellation and travel insurance claims

The Hazell family is currently rather irritated with Squeezyjet. I'm normally a great fan of this low cost airline. It's efficient and you get what you pay for. I'll have no truck with people who turn up just before check in closes and then moan that they can't sit next to their nearest and dearest. You know how the system works and if you can't bear to be parted for a couple of hours then get there earlier!

So what's my problem? Well, my son's back is in plaster and his consultant says he can't fly so we've had to cancel our holiday.

So I log on to the website and search for the cancel button. I'm not expecting any money back, you understand. I just want to cancel and get a letter (for which I'm willing to pay a modest fee if necessary) confirming it so I can make a claim on my travel insurance.

There's no way to cancel online so I send an email. The auto response doesn't answer my query neither does the next email to arrive which, bizarrely, apologises for the long wait. In fact I have waited mere minutes and this is clearly a copy of a response sent to someone else in relation to a completely different question.

So I then phone and am told that I'm not allowed to cancel the booking and must become a no-show. Who, precisely, does this benefit I wonder?

I must wait another eight weeks before I can make an insurance claim. But from Easyjet's point of view there were 10 of us on this flight in school holidays. A return to Portugal on our flights is currently selling for £218.98 plus taxes, so that's more than £2,000 worth of seats they could resell if they accepted our cancellation.

There's also the not insignificant fact that they are sitting on our taxes. As I said we don't want a penny back from them (except the taxes) we just want to have a letter confirming we've had to cancel.

I know their aim is to cut out unnecessary admin but   I really can't see how anyone benefits from this policy.

- Tony Hazell, Money Mail Editor, Daily Mail

Other blogs...
> BA lost baggage... and customer service goes missing too
> Now Ryanair charges for NOT taking a bag
> Overdue airline compensation rules
> Don't cry for me Argentina Airlines

And advice...
- The latest advice on travel insurance and holiday money

Switching is great - But why all these problems?

While it's a good idea to switch energy suppliers, it seems to throw up a huge number of problems.

Money Mail has written on the customer service problems at British Gas, many of which can be blamed on its computer system not accepting transfers properly. But it's not just BG. I persuaded my 70+ widowed mother to move her gas and electricity last year and frankly, wish I'd never done so.

While the gas went through easily and with no problem, the electricity has been a nightmare. She moved from EDF to Atlantic and, as far as we knew, it all went through OK - eventually. There had been problems with a mythical second meter which were eventually cleared up and from December, her direct debits with EDF were stopped and she started paying Atlantic instead.

Last month she received a confusing letter from EDF which basically said that she owed it money, but not to worry, she should carry on with her direct debits as usual. Difficult considering she wasn't paying them. I emailed them but got rebuffed because I wasn't the account holder.

So I rang up instead and pretended to be my mother instead - and was told that there was no problem, it would write to confirm this. The next letter of course said nothing of the sort - it just said that as direct debit payments had stopped, it would bill quarterly instead.

I rang, again pretending to be my mother, and was told I should ignore that letter, it didn't mean anything. I just wonder what the next mail will bring.

- Charlotte Beugge, Money Mail

PS - Get our latest advice on whether to switch your energy supplier here.

TalkTalk: Is it worse than British Gas?

I've often considered running an award for the worst customer service. British Gas would obviously be a contender but my vote goes to TalkTalk.

I moved there last year for free broadband - but boy have I regretted it as I spend endless hours on the phone dealing with a call centre in India or, more often listening to Thunderclap Newman's Something in the Air. I now know every note and word of that song. I hear it in my sleep and hum it as I walk the streets. 

My call waiting service stopped working properly when I was 'upgraded' to 8 megabit broadband toward the end of last year. I finally gave up attempting to get it put right. Life is too short and they seem to be incapable of fixing it. 

The latest battle is getting calls to mobiles blocked to prevent my teenage son running up three-figure phone bills. You might think that this is fairly straightforward, but nothing is straightforward with TalkTalk.  I originally made the request on March 16 and was told it would take three to five days.

When my massive April bill arrived last week I discovered they had not been blocked. I called immediately and, after 40 minutes on the phone, was promised they would be blocked and offered a refund.  At the weekend I received a text saying the problem was solved. It wasn't. I called again on Monday and after 30 minutes on hold and being cut off twice I eventually spoke to a man who told me I simply needed to key in an activation code (the first I'd heard of it). He also said the call waiting would be fixed and promised to call at 8.15 on Tuesday morning. 

The call never came, when I used the activation code I received a helpful message saying I wasn't subscribed to the service. And neither my call waiting nor caller display work. So I've now taken a step backward.

I wasted a further 25 minutes on the problem this morning but somebody who identified herself as 'Anthea' promised the services would be set up in 'two to four hours'. That was at 10.35 am; I am highly sceptical.   I an now keeping a diary of the number of hours I spend on the phone trying to get TalkTalk to fix what should be straightforward problems.

What is most galling is the record message saying: 'We apologise for your continued wait. We will answer your call shortly.' They're not sorry at all. If they were they would do something about waiting times.  TalkTalk has the worst customer service I've ever experienced (and I'm a former NTL customer, so I know about poor customer service).

Perhaps you've experienced worse. Let me know.

- Tony Hazell, Money Mail

See also -

This is Money's TalkTalk special, with news, advice and debate

Talking the Talk Talk

Teenage car insurance woes

Aaah! I'm suffering car insurance agony with my 17-year-old son. Our insurance is coming up for renewal and we'd like to put my son on it. We've rung around and been quoted £400 without him and £1,400 with him. It's hardly as if we drive a souped up car. We've got a 1 litre S-reg Nissan Micra.

Now, I understand that teenagers are more risky, but if they're this expensive to insure on our policy how the hell can they be expected to buy their own insurance? You can just see the mindset - 'I'll drive without cover and risk the £250 fine' - which is what thousands choose to do.

What's really shocked me is the rise in premiums since we put other son on the policy five years ago - that cost around £700. One insurer told us it would be cheaper to insure for any driver over 17 than for our son as a named driver.

The problem is I promised to get him driving lessons if he promised never to ride a motorbike - a fair compromise if you've seen the stats for motorbike accidents among youngsters.

There must be a sensible solution here, but I can't see it. Meanwhile my wife is spending the week on the phone searching for a cheaper insurer while I brace myself to lose a sizeable chunk of money for daring to want my son to learn to drive responsibly.

- Tony Hazell, Money Mail

>> News and advice on car insurance 

Talking the Talk Talk

They talk the talk but can they walk the walk? Talk Talk have been enticing customers with high profile advertising but the recent experiences of myself and colleague James Coney suggest their customer service doesn't match their marketing.

When I was 'upgraded' to 8 meg broadband my phone network services stopped working. So call waiting and caller recognition stopped working. The initial customer service while I was trying to resolve this was crap as one call centre passed me to another and nobody had the slightest idea how to solve the problems. Their service provider Opal claimed it was a problem with my phone, which turned out to be baloney.

Now I have caller recognition but it turns out, that despite their claims, Talk Talk cannot offer the same call waiting service as BT. Their upgrade means that when someone calls they just hear a constant ringing giving the impression that either I'm out or can't be bothered to answer the phone. This, I'm told is progress. I call it incompetence.

James Coney meanwhile has no broadband or phone at all  - which was particularly useful when he was trying to file a late story on Tuesday. He was promised it would be fixed in 48 hours but has just received an automated text promising another update in 48 hours. Fortunately he is an office-based journalist or he would be completely unable to work.

As it is he's having to run up a mobile phone bill because he can't make calls from his landline. He's looking forward to a rebate on his bill for services not provided.

Perhaps the regulator should insist that before it can advertise for any more customers Talk Talk should first have to provide a decent service to its existing ones.

Tony Hazell, Money Mail

>> More on mobile phones and broadband

My clash with Herts police

I am sure many working mothers wish they were in two places at one time. I, however, apparently achieved this feat - at least I had, according to Hertfordshire Constabulary.

This week I received a speeding notice, saying that on January 3 at 2pm I had been filmed speeding in Watford - and there was photographic evidence to prove it. The police were prosecuting and I could either take a three point penalty on my licence and a £60 fine or go to court.

Fine... except on January 3 at 2pm I was at my desk in Kensington, West London and my trusty Renault Clio was parked outside my house in deepest sarf London. As my husband can't drive, the only obvious speedster was our 10 month old who gets up quite a speed on his baby walker but isn't quite tall enough to reach the pedals on the car. Also, as I've never been to Watford - it's the frozen north to those of us from down south - I was intrigued to know how I'd managed to break the law there.

But I had, according to the lovely lady at Herts Police, who despite having my name and details wouldn't give me hers. And no, I couldn't see the photographic evidence. Fortunately, two days later a far more public-friendly lady from the rozzers called to admit that they had keyed my registration in incorrectly - my number ends in a D while the speed freak's number ends in 0.

It all goes to show that while the camera may never lie, a typist's inputting can - and can cause a whole load of stress. I was ready to fight this in court but that's because I'm seriously bolshy. But I can see how it's easy to pay up, because you're certain they can prove their case. Has anyone else fallen foul of the boys in blue in this way?

- Charlotte Beugge, Money Mail

Mobile phone for grown ups please

High drama in the Hazell household this weekend when my wife dropped her mobile phone in a pint glass of water. So I now face the trauma of entering a mobile phone shop and dealing with a teenager who wants to sell me an MP3 player, multiple downloads, camera, diary and tennis racquet all in one.

Both my wife and I are in love with our existing mobiles. They were made by Nokia and fold open to reveal - joy of joys - a qwerty keyboard. These phones have allowed us to communicate by text with our teenagers without having to grapple with the mysteries of intuitive spelling or continually tap the same number to reveal a single letter.

But guess what? It appears nobody now makes this style of phone.

Are the manufacturers not aware that people over the age of 40 buy phones and might even buy them more often if they could only figure out how to use them? Have they never figured out why so few of us text or timed how long it takes us to send a short text on a normal phone?

I don't want a personal organiser, access to the internet or any other add-ons. I just want a phone that folds open to reveal a qwerty keyboard. Surely one manufacturer can find it in their heart to give us a phone we can text on.

Any ideas, anyone?

- Tony Hazell, Money Mail

A new way of watching DVDs

Enjoy watching TV series on DVD? Constantly buying or renting them? Sick of paying massive amounts of money for them? Read on.

Like many people without Sky or Sky+, the future-Mrs-C and I enjoy watching television series on DVD.

The theory is this:

You can be selective.

You watch less TV overall, because you only watch things you want to watch and avoid channel surfing.

You don't miss or forget to record an episode.

You don't get all those annoying commercials.

But this can be pricey. Typically a recent box set of a new TV series will set you back around £40. This is a lot of money for something most of us will only watch once.

I tried renting the series from online DVD rental websites. But you have to be sent one disk at a time. So frequently I would be sent disks one and two, but then face an excrutiating three month wait for disk three.

So I am going to try something new. Buying and selling on Amazon marketplace.

If you have not heard of Amazon Marketplace, it is a place where normal punters, like you and I, can sell and buy their wares. If you go to most items for sale on Amazon under the price that it is selling the item will normally be the words 'Used and New'. Click on this and you will see the marketplace.

Unlike eBay, it is not an auction, so you can set the price of what you want to sell. As soon as someone meets the price, you post it to them.

Amazon deducts from the sale price a sellers fee, and VAT, while you set the postal costs. Before you even advertise the item Amazon will tell you how much you stand to make.

Last year I ordered series 5 of 24 before it was released. By doing this it cost me £29, as opposed to the full retail price of £49.99.

I watched it once and then lent it to a friend. Since then it has been gathering dust on my bookshelf at home.

Yesterday I sold it for £28. After seller's fees were deducted I pocketed £25. So essentially I paid £4 to watch this TV series. That is less than I would have paid to rent it.

So this is my new 'thing' for the year. I've just ordered The Wire. I'll let you know what happens when it comes to selling it.

If you have any other ideas to save money, like this, then let me know.

James Coney, Money Mail

My TalkTalk broadband upgrade problem

I spent 2006 trying to save cash as one of Money Mail's Money Misers. Swopping energy, internet and broadband suppliers and some juggling with credit and loyalty cards eventually left me more than £1,200 better off.

One of the most frequent questions I've had is whether I ran into any problems. The answer is 'no' except for on my phone and broadband. I swopped to TalkTalk and initially all was well, but since the line was upgraded to 8megabit broadband my phone has never worked properly. And the customer service has ranged from irritating to pathetic.

All I want is a call waiting service that tells callers when I'm on the phone and lets me switch between callers. Instead when I am on the phone callers get a constant ringing with no message leading them to believe that we are out and our answerphone isn't working.

I've been passed from pillar to post (or more accurately India to Warrington) and receive regular texts telling me they have fixed it but several weeks later it still doesn't work. This makes it: difficult for me to work from home; impossible to get through to my wife when she is talking to her mother/sister/work colleagues and enormously frustrating for anyone trying to call me.

So why am I blaming my broadband upgrade? Well, my brother in law, has never had a decent internet connection since BT 'upgraded' his broadband to 8 megabits. BT has sent him from India to Wales and back as each side of the business has refused to take responsibility.

So, I wonder are we the only people having this problem, or are there more general problems with the 8megabit broadband that no-one is telling us?

- Tony Hazell, Editor, Money Mail

Useful link - News, features and advice on broadband

New Year, new Talk Talk problem

Oh deary me.

As readers of this blog will know, before Christmas I signed up to TalkTalk's free broadband forever package.

I had emails from some of you that had problems with TalkTalk saying I was an idiot. Afterall, I have reported at length the delays and confusion that many Money Mail readers have suffered trying to get their free broadband up and running.

To be fair though, those of you that are up and running, rave about the unlimited 8Mb broadband you get and the free international calls all for £19.99 a month.

Anyway, TalkTalk convinced me that there problems were at an end.

So I signed up on November 24 and up until last Friday - my activation day - everything had been going smoothly. I have even made some international calls.

I had switched phone lines, my wireless router and modem (which I opted for instead of the one you automatically get) and all the relevant documentation and start up disks had arrived.

This included a letter announcing my activation day would be: January 5.

So Friday arrived, I turned on my router to get a broadband signal......nothing. I tried to go through the start up disk....but of course, I couldn't because my router was not up and running.

After 45 minutes of faffing around the-future-Mrs-C convinced me to call TalkTalk.

I got through quite quickly and went through the identification check and then explained my problem.

The customer services assistant told me: 'You are not yet live. Your broadband has not been activated. Can you call back next week?'

I sighed. 'But my letter says today is my activation date.'

Assistant: 'That's just an estimated date.'

'But that is not what the letter says. It says that January 5 is my activation date. There is nothing that tells me this is an estimated date. What is the point in sending out a letter if that is not the date of activation. I've just spent 45 minutes trying to figure out what is going on.'

Assistant: 'It is just an estimated date. Call back next Friday and we will tell you then if you are live.'

And so that was that. Go on, tell me 'I told you so'. I could have argued for longer -but that would have got me nowhere. So all I can do now is wait another week and see if I am live then.

James Coney, Money Mail

A coincidence or a bit rich?

Yesterday I got a letter from Natwest. I hold a current account with them.

The letter informed me that they had reviewed my account and that as a result I was being given an extension of my overdraft.

On all my current accounts I apply for a permanent £200 overdraft. I rarely go overdrawn but I think its good practice to have this kind of buffer just in case one month I happen to slip into the red. The buffer would stop me from being charged.

Natwest had decided that I can now be trusted with an overdraft facility of £1,250. To take advantage of this all I have to do is nothing.

Now, call me cynical, but it does seem a bit of a coincidence that just four days after Natwest hiked its overdraft rates for the second time in three months that all of a sudden they are bumping up customers' overdrafts.

On my particular account the rate has moved to 18.9 pc, from 15.98 pc at the start of September.

Over the course of a year on my original £200 overdraft this increase of rate would have cost me about £6.

However, now with the increased facility an overdraft, assuming I used it to its full extent, which obviously Natwest would like, I would pay £236.25 in interest. That's a whopping £200 more than I would have paid with my original overdraft.

And I don't suppose that it has passed you buy that it is also Christmas - a time when a lot of people need that extra credit.

I hate to think of the extra cash banks across the country rake in from tactics such as this.

James Coney, Money Mail

Time for Talk Talk to come up trumps

FROM the moment it launched the free broadband forever offer Talk Talk has been in the headlines.

At first it was all about the great offer. In case you missed it, you get unlimited free international and UK calls, and 8 meg broadband for £20.99 a month. That's it.

Then it all went pear-shaped as customers began to complain of almighty delays, poor customer service, and a never-ending array of excuses as to why they could not get connected. Money Mail received hundreds of complaints, and many customers that had initially signed up changed their mind and went back to their old broadband provider.

And it was all because someone had badly underestimated the demand for this product.

Eight months on and the problems seem to have died down. There are more call centre staff and waiting times are down to about a month. Those that have successfully been connected are very happy indeed.

And so, with the arrival of a new computer at Coney HQ this week, I decided to put Talk Talk to the test. I have signed up. And I fully intend to let you all know how it went.

Well, part one, actually becoming a customer presented some initial problems.

You see I wanted a wireless modem connection, and I wanted to know if the free international calls included calls to mobiles.

I spent at least 20 minutes flicking through the Talk Talk homepage trying to find answers to these questions and then, when this proved unsuccessful, trying to find a phone number.

Now, I use websites alot. And especially those run by phone companies and banks. So I should be able to find a phone number. But I couldn't.

So I'm sorry to say it, at the first hurdle. I resorted to calling the Talk Talk press office who gave me the freephone number I could use to.

For the record it is: 0800 049 1002.

Anyway, once I got through it was all plain-sailing. Questions answered satisfactorily (yes you can get a wireless modem, and only mobile calls to Canada and the USA are included) I simply had to say yes and no a few times and I was signed up.

My phone calls should start going through Talk Talk within three weeks, and the broadband should be up and running in the New Year.

We will see.

James Coney, Money Mail

Australia is overrated

There are many small pleasures in life that cost nothing. There are equally many expensive things that are a waste of time.

We were having this discussion in Money Mail the other day, and have decided to open this out to debate.

What things do you think are overrated and what is underrated? Here are some things to get you started:

OVERRATED                                 UNDERRATED

Tumble driers                          Starting a new notebook

Australia                                USA

smoked salmon                        dill

going to the gym                     table tennis

coffee shop chains                   watercress

mini bottles of water                clean bed sheets

Tetra Pak milk cartons               milk bottles

main courses                          starters

James Coney, Money Mail

House price crash?

House prices is an often debated subject, but I just thought I'd weigh in with my two-pennyworth. I should probably declare an interest first. I am a (potential) first-time buyer.

There has been a lot of talk in the past week about income-multiples, the amount times your salary you can borrow. This is because Abbey has now said it will lend five times income. Plenty of banks lend more than this.

Now, personally I wouldn't take out a 100% mortgage at five times income. Do the math, as they say in the States.

If two of you both earn £30,000, you can borrow £300,000 - enough to get you a decent pad in most cities. Your mortgage rate will be about 5.8%, and that means your monthly repayments are £1,800. Your take home pay on £30,000 is around £1,825. That is ridiculous.

It means one of the couple pays the mortgage and the other foots the cost of all your other bills and expenses. And here is another thing.

As I was writing about the five-times mortgage last week I stumbled across some statistics from Nationwide BS. It has figures showing first-time buyer affordability as a percentage of take home pay.

It's an index, so shows a comparison over time. It shows that shortly before the last big house price crash in 1989-1990. Back then affordability was at 146. As prices fell so it meant more could afford to buy and affordability plateaued at around 49.

Now the index is back up to 116. Now that is a little way off the previous high. But now look at this figure. But that's not all. It also has an index showing first-time buyer house price to earnings.

This ratio tells a similar tale. In late 1989 the ratio was 3.9. In 1994 it was 2.4, and now it is a staggering 5.0. It passed the 1989 mark of 3.9 midway in 2003.

Now let's add this to the mix: as a nation we spend more than 20% of our disposable income servicing all our various debts, including mortgages and credit cards. This proportion was exceeded only once on record and that was - you guessed it - back in 1989-1990.

The first time buyer's problems have been exacerbated by our attitude to housing. It seems that everyone wants to own a rental property. As soon as house prices rise, first-time buyers start to struggle. Meanwhile those better off and homeowners already think about splashing out on a buy-to-let. The more people do this, the more it worsens the housing situation for first-time buyers. There are fewer properties for them to buy, demand is high and prices increase again. And so the spiral goes on.

Okay, there are other arguments. You could pay interest-only on that 100% mortgage until you start earning more. That's a big gamble. You could move to a cheaper area. That has its own cost implications - quite often causing transport costs to rocket by more than your mortgage repayments would be.

With homeowners borrowing more, housing supply short and interest rates looking like they are about to go up again, I get the feeling those who have just stepped on the ladder could be in for some tough times ahead.

James Coney, Money Mail

Everything's fine.....honest

Here is a marvellous bit of spin.

City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, has announced a £455,000 fine for Loans.co.uk. It found that the company exposed 14,400 customers to the risk of being sold payment protection policies that were unsuitable for their needs.

You've probably read all about these policies - they are insurance that will guarantee your payments on a loan if you lose your job or cannot work. However, many customers later find that the policy was never any use to them and they can never claim.

The FSA has been cracking down on their sales.

Loans.co.uk is always advertising on TV - its most recent ad has Phil Tufnell strolling around a call centre talking about how great it is to borrow money.

What makes a former England cricketer an expert on finances is beyond me, but some marketing genius seems to think he is.

Anyhow, back to the FSA fine. What did Loans.co.uk have to say about the fact it would have to pay almost half a million quid after being found at fault for selling failures?

Well, this: Loans.co.uk agrees settlement with FSA.

What? Agrees! I suppose that's the same way that a driver who parks on a double yellow line agrees a settlement with the local council of a £60 fine?

The press release continues: Loans.co.uk announced that it has reached a settlement with the FSA......

What a crazy bit of spin.

James Coney, Money Mail

>> Read about This is Money's campaign on payment protection insurance

The end of free banking? I don't believe it

OVER the last year Money Mail's Fair Play on Charges campaign has helped hundreds of you reclaim thousands of pounds worth of reclaim charges for slipping a few pence overdrawn.

There are hundreds of you with legal actions still pending, and the Office of Fair Trading is also investigating whether the bank charges are unjustified.

Banks are clearly feeling threatened. They are going to have to explain why exactly is it costs up to £39 to send out a letter telling you that your account is overdrawn.

What annoys me most about this situation is the consistently petulant tone of the banks that readers keep telling me about. They are making threats that any lowering of charges - similary to the cap recently imposed on credit card charges - will mean the end of free banking in the UK.

We are almost alone in the world in having standard bank accounts which do not have an annual fee - and. boy, don't the banks like to remind us of it.

I get the feeling that they are rather miffed that we have taking to querying their charging structures and are not saying 'thank you' for what they call 'free' banking.

Their argument reminds me of Jack Nicholson's character in the film 'A Few Good Men'.

In this film, Nicholson plays a senior US Marine Colonel who cracks under the pressure of a court case because he is offended that lowly lawyer Tom Cruise is quizzing him about the murder of a man under his charge.

Nicholson tells Cruise: 'I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to. '

See what I mean?

Well, forgive me for not being so grateful. Not paying an annual fee for my banking is one thing, but 'free banking' - don't make me laugh.

Banks are likely to make profits of £36 billion this year - that is £26,000 a minute, or £555 for every man, woman and child in the UK. Meanwhile personal debt is around £1.2 billion. Something is awry here.

Banks say the reason that they will have to start charging people for accounts is because they will be losing money by administering unauthorised overdrafts.

But that is the point. Their charges are only supposed to be recouping costs. They should not be cross-subsidising one area of business with another. No-one believes that the estimated £4.7 billion they rake in every year on unauthorised overdraft charges just covers their costs. What costs are there? Show us.

If they do start charging for accounts because they need to make up the money they are losing from charges then customers who never go overdrawn would have the right to complain about subisdising those that do.

But this is the bank's game. They want to divide consumers. They want to get those that never go overdrawn to side with them.

Consumers are cleverer than that though. They know the banks are making a mint.

Then you have to ask what would happen to the massively lucrative packaged account market that UK banks run?

It is estimated that the banks make at least £530million from these alone, but if we started to have to pay to get a standard accounts too where would it leave the fees consumers pay for their packages?

It's a tough call. The fees will have to rise and surely, once a customer is paying more than £200 a year for a bank account they will start seriously thinking about the value they get.

Whatever happens we have seen a healthy shift in power. Consumers are learning to fight back against big banks and, so far, have been winning the battle.

Let's just hope it continues.

James Coney, Money Mail

Lloyds TSB - You have let me down

I LIKED Lloyds TSB.

When my friends asked me which bank they should switch their accounts to, I said with confidence: Lloyds TSB.

I liked the fact that they charged 4 pc on their current account. I liked their internet banking service. And most of all I liked the fact that if you went overdrawn without permission for the first time in 12 months they would let you off a charge. Better still, if you were overdrawn by less than £10 they would also let you off.

Heck, even their packaged accounts are good, as long as you know how to use them.

But then on Friday I discovered that the £10 buffer and the first-time overdrawn waiver were being taken away from customers.

This effectively means that if you go just 1p in to the red by accident you will be charged £30. And from here further charges can spiral you in to debt.

They say this won't happen. But over the course of Money Mail's Fair Play on Charges Campaign I have seen it happen to readers time and time again.

Our most recent Bad Banks league had Lloyds TSB sixth, with just 7 pc of the hundreds of complaints Money Mail had received. This is commendable when you consider that Lloyds has the biggest share of UK current accounts, some 24 pc of the market, and 10 million individual accounts.

And the reason for this satisfaction was the buffer and the waiver. Without these, previously happy customers are going to start feeling aggreived.

When I met Lloyds execs earlier this year they were understandably chuffed about this feat. Their press office has always been proud of the positive PR that it gave them - and understandably so. They boasted that Lloyds thought it was unfair to charge customers for small mistakes.

So I can only assume that it is some senior number-cruncher that has made this volte face. It certainly can't be anyone that understands about customer satisfaction.

They have obviously looked at the amount of customers that go a few pence overdrawn every year and thought to themselves: 'hey, here is a chance to boost our profits'.

And now I feel like Lloyds TSB has let me down personally because I thought they were a good bank. I thought they offered something a little bit different from their rivals: a desire to keep their customers happy.

I am off to tell my friends that I have changed my mind.

James Coney, Money Mail

The little things that make you happy.....

OFTEN there is little real value to be had in a supermarket.

Shopping in one can be a pretty miserable experience at the best of times, but on a Sunday morning and in miserable weather it can be soul destroying.

In my tiny corner of south-west London there is little option but to head in to one if you need some fruit and veg on a Sunday. So that is where we found ourself yesterday.

It's hard to tell what value-for-money actually is when you shop these days. There are so many multi-buy offers, different pricing methods for the same products that you cannot compare anything.

The-future-Mrs-C and I use the '£1 per item' technique to judge whether we have shopped well. This means if you have, say, 14 items it should come to no more than £14. Any more than this and you have shopped badly. It's not scentific, but I reckon its a good measure. (We also play 'guess the price' before we pay. Whoever's guess is most out has foot the bill.)

Of all the things to cheer me yesterday, the trip to the supermarket provided an unlikely tonic. We came away with 28 items for £19 and all thanks to a basket that was brimming with items reduced because they had hit their 'sell by' date. It saved us £9 - and they were all things we actually wanted before we went in.

Each of us in the UK chucks out £420 of food a year. And much of that is perfectly edible, but just past its sell by date. And it wouldn't surprise me if quite a lot was made up people throwing away items they bought in 'buy one, get one free' offers, or 'two-fors' that they didn't really want or need.

You have to be so careful not to fall for these tricks because it can send your supermarket bill creeping higher and higher, and leave you with a cupboard full of stuff you never really wanted.

But when you do come away feeling like you have saved some money it is a genuine feeling of happiness indeed!

James Coney, Money Mail

Points make prizes

Although summer is now becoming a distant memory many people are already planning next year's holiday or even a winter break.

As Brits we shell out a lot of money on holidays and although costs are coming down thanks to the internet we are getting away more often.

It's now become accepted that if you take a flight you'll earn points to redeem on future journeys. So why shouldn't you earn points when you stay in a hotel, given that this can be just as expensive? There are a few schemes about but they're all quite restrictive.

I've just seen a clever new scheme from InterContinental which has its own branded hotels and owns the Holiday Inn chain. While you earn points if you stay in any of its 3,600 hotels you don't have to redeem the points there.

InterContinental has a deal with more than 500,000 other hotels around the world to let you use your points there. What a great idea.

I bought some shares a while ago in the Hilton Group for the perks attached. As a shareholder I get discounts at Hilton hotels around the world. But what if I don't want to stay in a Hilton all the time or there isn't one in the city I'm visiting?

Any loyalty scheme which can give you access to more than half a million hotels can't be bad. The Nectar reward scheme is getting better as you don't have to use the points in Sainsbury to reduce your shopping bill. You can use the for days out, CDs, clothes etc.

Isn't it time other loyalty programmes took note? Shouldn't British Airways and Virgin Atlantic negotiate a deal so you can use points at the rival's airline?

Millions of pounds lay unused on loyalty and reward cards. Some people forget to use the points but for others they just can't find a use for them and using them to simply get a couple of quid off the shopping bill isn't very exciting.

Points make prizes, Bruce Forsythe used to say. Let's make sure they do.

- Justin Harper, Money Mail

Running on empty

I, LIKE many other readers, have wasted hundreds of pounds on gym membership. The concept of shelling out all that money in the hope it will spark me into life every morning or evening on the way to and from work has failed more than once.

Health clubs make a lot of money out of inactive members, especially in London where monthly rates are often close to £100.

I think I may have broken free from the treadmill turmoil and found the answer in the form of runningmate.co.uk. While the idea behind it is straightforward it is actually a very clever and effective service.

Basically it's a personal trainer who takes you on runs. I went on a free introductory run this morning with runningmate's friendly Scottish founder George.

Runs are designed for your level of fitness and take you on scenic routes around Chiswick and nearby districts in West London. George talks to you all the way through motivating you and taking your mind off the fact you are hitting the streets at 7.30 in the morning.

He'll even carry your water bottle if you ask nicely! Rates start at about £20 a month.

Sadly, the service is only available in Chiswick but I have a feeling if will be rolled out to other parts of the capital through word of mouth. I came into work this morning feeling refreshed and raring to go.

Goodbye Holmes Place. Thanks for having me - and my money.

Justin Harper, Daily Mail

A cycling manifesto

GENERALLY speaking, drivers don't like cyclists.

And I can understand that. But do drivers really hate cyclists more than other road users? Probably not. I reckon there are the same proportion of bad cyclists as there are bad drivers. Which means there must be more bad drivers since there are simply a greater number of car users.

It seems to me that much of the anti-cyclist sentiment comes from the fact that cyclists can get to the front of traffic jams and weave their way through the queues, leaving fuming drivers sitting there.

Now I must declare an interest, I am a cyclist. But I'm not going to be a cycling apologist - because I agree that there are stacks of terrible people on bikes out there. There are three reasons why I cycle to work. It's quicker than the tube, it's cheaper and being able to get a bit of fresh air every day is great.

And for those sceptics, it really is cheaper and quicker. My bike cost me £300. Even if I don't look after it will last three years. Extras (clothing, lights, batteries, bags) are another £200. Roughly its £300 a year.

A one month tube card costs £99.

I live in Balham in south west London. The Mail's offices are on High St Kensington. As you can see this requires two changes on the tube, plus a 10 minute walk at either end and waiting time. All in all, its a 45 minute journey. If the tube has delays it can take more than an hour.

To cycle takes 20 minutes. Even if the journey gets disrupted it only takes 25 minutes.

So I have decided it is time for a change. It is time for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers to sign a truce.  Here is my manifesto for change:

Cyclists

- For goodness sake, wear a helmet. I know it means you have to do your hair again when you arrive.

- Wear bright colours.

- Buy lights.

- Signal.

- Don't undertake cars that are indicating left.

- Don't jump red lights, and please, if you are at a crossroads wait for your lights to turn green rather than watching for the other lights to turn red.

- Don't cycle with headphones on or while chatting on the phone.

- If another cyclist has overtaken you on the road don't then push in front of them at the next set of lights. They will only have to overtake you again.

Drivers

- Don't overtake a cyclist and then immediately turn left afterwards.

- Don't get annoyed by cyclists because they can weave their way through a traffic jam. It is not their fault you are in a car.

- Signal.

- Look before opening your car door.

Pedestrians

- Look before you cross. Just because a road is quiet does not mean nothing is coming.

- Don't walk in the road. You don't want cyclists on the pavement, so stay off the road.

Let me know what you think.

James Coney, Money Mail

Car insurance confusion

EVERYONE knows that you should shop around for cheaper car insurance your policy comes up for renewal.

But what happens if you get a cheaper quote from the same company that you have been offered your renewal quote from?

This is precisely has just happened to me.

My old car insurance policy with M&S Money expired this month. They gave me a renewal quote of £500 (forgive me for not using the actual figures).

I had no problems with M&S, in fact I quite liked their policy - it gives you free European cover and breakdown assistance. But anyhow, I decided to go online and find see if there were cheaper quotes out there.

A range of companies came up that were cheaper than my renewal quote - and bizarrely, M&S was one of them. It was giving me a quote of £400.

I called M&S Money to find out what was going on. They asked me if I had found a cheaper quote and I told them that online I was able to get £400 from their own company.

'I'm sorry,' said the customer services adviser, 'but we can't match that quote.'

'But it's your company,' I said. 'I have typed in all the details exactly the same as the renewal letter you gave me. Nothing has changed and yet the online quote is cheaper.'

'I don't know what that is. But I can't match it,' came the reply. I hung up.

So I then applied online for the M&S policy. They sent me documents so I rang the number on my renewal letter to let them know I would not be taking them up on their renewal quote. They asked why and I explained the situation. Again I was told that they could not match the quote.

'We're sorry about that you've found another insurer,' said the adviser.

Yesterday, I received a letter from M&S Money saying: 'We are sorry you are leaving us.' I rolled my eyes.

And the moral: Always shop around for a new insurance policy. You may find a better deal - even if it is with your old insurer.

James Coney, Money Mail

Are PayPal users really better off?

CALL me cynical, but I can't help but think there is an alternate motive behind the press release from PayPal that has just arrived in my inbox.

It is warning small businesses not to fall behind in the ultra competitive market.

Apparently one in five purchases that occur online would not have otherwise happened on the high street, creating an extra £3.2billion in consumer spending each year.

PayPal says the internet is the most prosperous place for businesses to survive.

So, why the scepticism you may ask? Well, not us let forget that today all businesses on eBay, which owns PayPal and for many people is one and the same organisation, are going on strike.

They are in dispute over an increase in sellers fees for businesses, claiming that the site is being geared towards individuals.

So in this context does this not sound a little bit like sour grapes? That perhaps PayPal is sending out a warning shot to businesses not to mess with it or else risk missing out?

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this is just another example of a company trying to cover up some bad publicity by creating some good publicity of their own.

And on that issue of publicity PayPal also appear to have ditched their previous PR company and are now being represented by a company called Lansons. For those outside the media world, this will mean nothing. But Lansons are one of the most savvy and demanding PR agencies in the financial services sector.

After months of foul publicity, much of it prompted by Money Mail's own investigation in to Paypal, the company now seems to have got fed up with its old agency and wants someone to get it some positive mentions in the press.

Sadly, with our post and email inbox still bulging with complaints about PayPal they are not going to be able to do this by putting a nice gloss on the surface. It is going to take a more serious review of its internal complaints system.

James Coney, Money Mail

What happens with your travel insurance?

There could be some very nasty surprises if you are one of the thousands of travellers caught up in the current airport chaos and are hoping to claim on your travel insurance.

Now, while you will be covered by EU regulations for some delay, whether you will be able to claim on your policy for loss, inconvenience, delay or damage caused to your possessions could be down to the goodwill of your insurer.

You see, the problem is that while some policies cover travellers for these things when they are caused by terrorism your insurer will argue that this will not apply because there has been no terrorist action - just the threat of it.

And financial research company Defaqto reckons that while many policies cover you for delays in take-off their terms surrounding the claim can be onerous. This is because you will have to claim that you checked in and then waited 8 to 12 hours. What is happening to many flyers at the moment is that they are not even being able to check-in so there is no proof of the delay.

Further, your valuable possessions that now have to go in the hold of the plane will not be covered for breakage or loss unless they are stored in a lockable case or bag.

However, you may be able to claim for them on your home insurance.

It is the AA who have hit the nail on the head they. Its main bit of advice is: Check with your travel insurer what is and is not covered.

And I suspect that with the volume of claims likely to be high that the answer will more often than not be: Nothing.

James Coney, Money Mail

>> www.thisismoney.co.uk/insurance

Who'll sponsor George Michael's tour?

At the weekend I went to Fruitstock  - a free festival sponsored by Innocent, the people who make the fruit smoothies. It takes up a big chunk of Regent's Park and features world music, lots of stalls and activities for children.

It's easy to be cynical with corporations getting involved in all facets of our lives. We're all used to seeing football shirts, bus shelters and even eggs sponsored by companies.

Now we are seing events being sponsored by corporations too. The Rolling Stones are regularly sponsored by American Express when they go on tour. And 02 sponsors the England rugby team to train in the park under the full glare of the British public.

It will take time to see how people respond to this type of subliminal advertising. But if Fruitstock is anything to go by we have nothing to worry about.

It goes to great efforts to promote environmentally-friendly pursuits, involves other companies working in the organic food sector, educates children with book-readings and free classes not to mention promoting farmers' markets.

So don't be surprised when you see your favourite pop star's tour sponsored by a High Street bank or airline. It would be a brave organisation to sponsor George Michael's upcoming tour - Weight Watchers perhaps?

Justin Harper, Daily Mail

Sometimes you get what you pay for

Okay, there was a slight mishap on my recent holiday.

To cut a long story very short, we (me and my fiance, her mum, and two sisters) turned up at the airport to discover that actually the flights we had confirmed with British Airways from Gatwick to Barcelona left precisely seven days earlier. We hadn't turned up late, it was just that they had been booked incorrectly.

I'm not going to point any fingers of blame (but needless to say the-future-Mrs-C will not be booking our honeymoon).

Now when you have booked a return flight and you do not take the outbound trip you automatically lose the inbound flight.

Airlines are completely within their rights to do this. It is essentially to stop you from buying a cheap return flight because it costs less than going one way.

Having carried a letter in Money Mail just a couple of weeks ago about this subject I knew this already so as the flight disaster unfolded I was well aware of the grisly fact that we had lost all our flights before the BA staff told us about it.

Now in the course of what was a long day at Gatwick all of us eventually managed to get where we were going. For £122 extra per person we were able to get confirmed return flights (albeit coming back to Heathrow and a day later than intended) and fly out to Spain stand-by that day.

The four ladies were able to squeeze on a flight five hours later than intended and were in Barcelona by bedtime. I arrived later*.

There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing all that day at Gatwick Airport as we went from check-in desks, to customer services desks, to stand-by desks and back again on several occasions.

And at every turn the BA staff were fantastic. They came up with sensible options of what we could do and help us out as much as they could. The airport was heaving as it was the first week of the school holidays, but they were patient and helpful (and I know what you are thinking: 'Of course they were helpful. You are a journalist for the Daily Mail.' But I promise you, they were never aware of this fact).

Even more staggering was that they all knew that we were not stuck because of a mistake out of our hands......it was entirely a situation all of our own making.

As I finally sat on my flight I felt a pang of regret about a recent Blog I wrote about getting cheap flights. I was prepared to fly budget. My fiance's mum had insisted on BA.

I just wonder. If I had flown budget would I have got the same level of help? Would I have been able to get on another flight that day at no extra cost? Would I have been able to reconfirm flights back for such little cost?

I doubt it. But I wonder if I have learnt a lesson.

James Coney, Money Mail

* If you really want to know how I got to Barca then here it is. I flew to Madrid on the last flight that night, slept on the airport floor and then went on the Metro at 6am to go to Atocha station where I took a five hour train journey to Barcelona.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/travel

The Inheritance Tax shock

One in five homes will be worth more than the inheritance tax threshold of £285,000 by 2020, according to some research that has landed on my desk from Halifax.

That means the beneficiaries of 4.5 million homeowners would have to pay inheritance tax at 60 pc.

Which leads me to this thought: Are we about to get to the stage where people are actually trying to make their houses worth less, rather than more, in order to push the price below the inheritance tax threshold?

Imagine it. Couples in their 80s with a house worth £300,000 putting stone cladding on the outside walls, Christmas lights on the roof, and installing an avocado coloured bathroom all in a desperate bid to reduce the price of their house by £15,000 before they die.

We could be seeing a sudden wave of pensioners being dragged into court charged with tax evasion, for ripping out a fireplace and installing uPVC windows on their two-up, two-down in Croydon.

Is this not the price we will all have to pay for the luxury of high house prices? Halifax thinks not and wants the inheritance tax bracket to be raised to £430,000.

At the other end of the scale first-time buyers are more streched than ever. The number of people entering the market is at a record low. If you want an indication of the plight then hows about this.

Imagine you and your partner decided two years ago you wanted to buy a house. The average price was £157,091, so you put aside £650 a month (its a lot, I know) in order to save for a 10 pc deposit. You reach your target two years later.......only to find that you now need another £3,000 to get to your 10 pc deposit because of the continued house price growth.

And at current growth every month you are £350 further away from your target as house prices grow by a further £1,000.

Life maybe rosy if you are already on the ladder. Just remember that at the end of it that there could be a price to pay.

James Coney, Money Mail

Useful links

Latest on house prices - www.thisismoney.co.uk/houseprices

News and advice on inheritance tax - www.thisismoney.co.uk/iht 

Bank charges fight goes on

There is good news for all of those current account customers trying to get their bank to refund unauthorised overdraft charges.

A legal test case that caused bank charges complaints to be thrown out of the courts has been settled.

The case, which we revealed a week ago in Money Mail, was against Lloyds TSB brought by a customer trying to reclaim thousands of pounds of bank charges and was scheduled to be heard by London Mercantile Court.

This would have provided grounds for a precedent that other similar bank charges cases being heard by the small claims court could have followed. As a result many were thrown out or stalled.

However, after a chat with a spokesman for Lloyds TSB I discover that they have now paid back the dipsuted charges. She says that Lloyds had not been aware that its legal argument was being considered as a test case.

The case passed on from the small claims court to the higher Mercantile Court because it had been so technical.

This had alerted other regional courts where judges had decided to put claims to refund bank charges on hold.

However, after the case had been transferred to the Mercantile Court it was settled by Lloyds. Now all the other cases that had been delayed by judges have been . Many have now been settled by the banks.

It means that no bank has yet defended a court claim from a customer seeking to have bank charges refunded.

I passed this good news on to Marc Gander, from bank charges website Consumer Action Group. This group has done some sterling work in helping current account customers understand their legal rights when it comes to unauthorised charges.

Mr Gander says: 'I think that this goes to show that the banks really don't want to go to court and are in disarray.'

And he could well be right. During our campaign Fair Play on Charges we have entered into a bit of a circular conversation with banks.

Every time I ask them about charges they reply that they are part of the terms and conditions of the account. But that doesn't mean they are fair, I reply. That doesn't mean that they reflect the true cost of operating the unauthorised overdraft.

And you can guess what the response is. 'They are part of the terms and conditions of the account.'

And so it goes on. I'm sure you'll be hearing plenty more on this from me....

James Coney, Money Mail

- For a full list of Bank Charges stories click here or see here...

• Campaign: Fair play on bank charges
• How to reclaim bank charges
• How to reclaim credit card charges
• How to reclaim payment protection insurance premiums (on loans and credit cards)
• Analysis: Is this the end of free banking

Fairground attraction

When you go on holiday you do things you wouldn't normally do at home. This can involve paying over the odds for meals, drinks and tacky souvenirs. I think the same is true of fairgrounds. During the summer they pop up all over the place from village greens to any green space to be found in our towns and cities.

Fairs fill you with that holiday emotion and make you part with your cash a lot easier. The stalls where you can win a giant teddy bear for competing a simple task like hooking a fish out of water is a particularly favourite. The lure of winning a Shrek twice the size of myself or a talking doll is sometimes too much to resist.

I thought I'd learned my lesson but oh no at the weekend I found myself with rod in hand trying to fish a polar bear from a tiny pond while my wife clapped with anticipation at the thought of taking home a cuddly prize. As we were guaranteed a prize I just couldn't lose. Or so I thought.

For just £3 I was given two goes to catch a bear, which I managed to do twice. My prize was a bear no bigger than an apple which must have retailed at about £1.50 on a good day.

The attendant must have seen the disappointment in my face as she offered my the chance to 'max up' to a bigger prize. For another £3 I was guaranteed a bigger toy if I successfully completed the task again. As I dutifully fished around for two more polar bears my wife jumped up and down waiting for her luxury gift.

Could it finally be one of the giant white bears nailed to the stall? Not likely. Instead I got a pink dragon about the size of a bottle of mineral water - the small ones! For my £6 I 'won' a fluorescent dragon which must be worth about £2.50, on a good day.

Like a child being told the tooth fairy doesn't exist I trudged away accompanied by my wife asking what happened to the original teddy bear I won.

Damn it! I was had twice.

- Justin Harper, Money Mail

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