Money Box

A Money Box investigation has found that two of the biggest broadband providers are charging people up to £90 a year to keep their email address if they switch to another supplier. The regulator Ofcom has told Money Box that it has written to the firms and may take further action. Nearly two million savers will miss out on more than £100 million a year income following the announcement this week o...

Unexpected bills from video games and apps? The online world of video games and apps can be financially treacherous, filled with loot boxes and micro-transactions. They can mean large, unexpected bills through the relatively new phenomenon of in-game purchases. Louise Cooper and guests discuss what your consumer rights are if things go wrong. Guests: Dr Jo Twist, CEO at The Association for UK Inte...

Should the unwed lose out on a benefit paid to married people? Bereavement Support Payment is available to the widows, widowers or surviving civil partners of people who died on or after 6 April 2017. There's additional money if they have children. A recent High Court judgement held that the Pensions Act, by excluding bereaved unmarried partners from claiming Bereavement Support Payment, contraven...

This week Louise Cooper asks how you can negotiate the best broadband deal. How do you know if you’re paying too much? What’s the best way of securing a better deal? What are your rights if you’ve been overpaying? What are the best deals available at the moment? Guests: Selina Chadha: Director of Consumer Policy at Ofcom Adam French: Consumer Rights Editor at Which? Guy Anker: Deputy Editor at Mon...

Money Box has found that there has been a big increase in the number of young adults being taken to court for unpaid debts. Court records show that last year around 160,000 people in their twenties were given County Court Judgments in England and Wales - a rise of 30 per cent from the year before. How a £3 month long trial for a dating website ended up costing one user £300. And Jon Douglas visits...

Wedding planning can be stressful and expensive. Venue, catering, flowers...the list goes on. Charmaine Cozier and guests talk through the best ways to budget and negotiate on price. Guests: Lisa Garwood-Cross, Living Thrifty Eve Obasuyi, Money Medics Ruby Norris, Wedding Ideas Magazine Gary Rycroft, Joseph A Jones Solicitors Email questions and experiences to moneybox@bbc.co.uk Producer: Ben Cart...

One of the most important rights that Europe gave us was the freedom to live and work in EU countries and retire there. About a quarter of a million UK pensioners live in the EU and draw their UK pensions and, in most countries, still get the winter fuel payment. But will that continue post - Brexit? A Money Box investigation by Dan Whitworth has found more than 1000 people making the most serious...

What are your rights when that dream holiday you've saved up for gets cancelled or you experience problems during the holiday itself? Paul Lewis and guests answer your calls and emails. Guests: the travel journalist Simon Calder and consumer champion Helen Dewdney. Email: moneybox@bbc.co.uk Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Emma Rippon

Home owners are at risk of losing large amounts of money when selling their properties by using so called quick sale estate agents. That’s a warning from Trading Standards. It’s told Money Box it’s seen dozens of examples of people losing tens of thousands of pounds from the market value of their homes when agents exploit people who are desperate to sell quickly. In the first half of last year pri...

The gig economy is booming in the UK. More than a million people are using online platforms to secure jobs. Some people say that Uber drivers and couriers are the poster boys and girls for an exploited part of the workforce. Others argue the flexibility of working when and where you want works perfectly for those who don't want a 9-5 job. Adam Shaw hears the good, the bad and the ugly tales from t...

Four students studying at Durham University received a surprise bill for Council Tax. They were billed hundreds of pounds for a period when no-one was living in the property over the summer. After Money Box got in touch, the council looked again at it and concluded that the request for payment was made in error. The charge has now been cancelled. It also reviewed their council tax records for 2019...

For many young people buying a home can seem like an impossible dream. High property prices, no way of saving for a big deposit and worries about paying for a hefty mortgage. But it's not all doom and gloom. Plenty of people are buying their first homes and the programme will hear from some of them. There are some cautionary tales though and we'll hear about those too. Felicity Hannah is joined by...

Council tenants on Universal Credit are much more likely to be in rent arrears than those who don’t get the benefit. That’s according to research carried out by Money Box. We surveyed local authorities for 12 of the largest cities across Britain and found tens of thousands of people having to manage this debt. The numbers also suggest not only are people on the benefit more likely to be in arrears...

The world of the influencer is a lucrative one. Online stars made $8bn in 2019 and it's not just household names that are earning money. Louise Cooper and her guests explain how you can make money from your social media presence. Louise talks to - Beckii Cruel who posted videos of herself dancing to Japanese pop music in the late 2000's and ended up 120,000 subscribers to her Youtube channel. Sara...

History is littered with tales of financial error – many instantly familiar even though they may have taken place several centuries apart. Why do we keep on making the same mistakes with our money and what can we do to stop making them? Paul Lewis discusses with Russell Napier, the Keeper of Edinburgh's Library of Mistakes, Prof Nicky Marsh who is writing a book on the history of financial advice...

Money is one of the top three strains on relationships and it’s a common cause of rift between family and friends. You might be cautious and risk averse and hate to see your partner frittering their money away on new clothes and nights out; while they might think you should stop being so miserly with your cash and splash out once in a while. Earlier this year Ruth Alexander introduced ‘The Money C...

The Government has accepted all but one of the recommendations made by Sir Amyas Morse in his review of the controversial 'loan charge'. This means that 11,000 people will be let off paying money to HMRC. They had signed up to schemes that paid part of their salary as a loan. Promoters of the scheme had told them that meant they were not liable to income tax but had ended up receiving bills for th...

From a housing cooperative near the city, to an organic farm in the sticks, communal living can vary enormously. So what are the financial pros and cons of a shared lifestyle? Adam Shaw visits a co-housing scheme in Leeds where residents enjoy the privacy of their own home, whilst sharing meals, cars and mortgage costs. How much can they save on their monthly bills and what are the downsides of li...

It's been described as a "David and Goliath" contest. Hundreds of leasehold home owners have joined together - for the first time - to begin a legal fight to take control of the freehold on their properties. They want investment companies, which bought the freeholds, to sell them for a fair price. Renovare is a new 'banking solution' for ex-offenders, charging £7.99 a month for its services. We sp...

Over 90% of all new car purchases are made using some form of finance. And yet research suggests the vast majority of buyers don't understand the contracts they're signing. If you're the proud driver of a shiny new motor, how much of the small print did you read before leaving the showroom? Do you know what are your obligations if you become ill soon after getting your car? And how important is th...

For many households, Christmas is the most expensive time of year. Food, drink, presents - the list of things to spend money on can be endless. Many of us will be using debt as a way to make that spending happen. Figures this week show that there is so much unmanageable and unsustainable debt in the UK that just the fees and charges on it all work out at nearly £1000 for every single adult in the...

How much financial support is available for foster carers looking after children in need? Around 65,000 children live with foster families across the UK. Foster carers provide a safe and stable place for them to live when they can't live with their families. It may be for a few days or even for their entire childhood. But as a foster carer, what help is there if your finances don’t cover the bills...

With fewer than two weeks to go until the 2019 General Election, Money Box takes a personal finance look at the manifesto pledges of the four main parties. Among the subjects covered are issues like workers’ rights, benefits and taxes. Hear the Chancellor, the shadow Chancellor, as well as Liberal Democrat and SNP spokesmen on finance, talk through their promises and how they’d bring about the cha...

What can and can't bailiffs do when they knock on your door to collect a debt? What happens if it's not your debt, or you've paid it off already? And can you refuse them entry? Louise Cooper is joined by Matt Hartley from Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline and Business Debtline; by Russell Hamblin-Boone, CEO, Civil Enforcement Association, the trade association representin...

Money Box has learned that an increasing number of families who bought new build freehold homes are finding a few years later find they cannot sell them. It's down to the annual charges made to pay for things like maintenance of roads, streetlights, and parks. In many cases the local council will not take on these costs so, through a management company, developers impose a so-called rentcharge on...