:00:00. > :00:15.Before that, we have this week's Your Money.
:00:16. > :00:21.This is Your Money, your weekly guide to making the most of your
:00:22. > :00:24.cash here every weekend on BBC News television available all week on the
:00:25. > :00:28.BBC iPlayer. More and more people are seeking
:00:29. > :00:33.help for problems with payday loans. What alternatives are out there?
:00:34. > :00:37.Peter tut ton from the debt charity StepChange has the answer for us in
:00:38. > :00:42.a moment. In recent weeks and months, the talk in most of the
:00:43. > :00:46.media's been about the return of a bouyant housing market. For some
:00:47. > :00:50.parts of the country, the property picture looks bleak with nearly half
:00:51. > :00:56.a million homes stuck in negative equity. As we approach the end of
:00:57. > :00:59.the tax year, we look at common mistakes people make with savings
:01:00. > :01:09.and investments. We have tips for how to avoid them.
:01:10. > :01:15.There's been a big rise in the number of the people struggling with
:01:16. > :01:19.payday loans. The step change debt charity says nearly 67,000 people
:01:20. > :01:24.asked for its advice last year. Up over 80% on the year before. The
:01:25. > :01:31.average client who asked for help had an overall debt of over ?1700
:01:32. > :01:36.spread across three payday loans. But what are the alternatives? Peter
:01:37. > :01:42.from StepChange debt charity joins me now. Peter, there's been a rise
:01:43. > :01:47.of people getting into duct. Why are we seeing this rise? Why are there
:01:48. > :01:52.more people finding themselves in this sort of trouble? A third more
:01:53. > :01:56.people contacted our helpline service, in particular a rise in
:01:57. > :02:01.payday loans. It is because times are still very hard. Household
:02:02. > :02:06.incomes have been hit hard over a long peered. People are struggling
:02:07. > :02:11.to make ends meet. People are struggling with basic things, paying
:02:12. > :02:17.the rent and fuel bills. People are using credit to fill that gap.
:02:18. > :02:21.Problem is, if you're using a payday loan, a short repayment peered, you
:02:22. > :02:26.create a bigger gap next month. You get into the cycle of having to use
:02:27. > :02:32.more and more credit to make ends meet and you fall over badly. I
:02:33. > :02:36.imagine people going to payday lenders have exhausted what they can
:02:37. > :02:41.with banks. What other credible alternatives are out there? A lot of
:02:42. > :02:45.the people we see will have a lot of outstanding credit with mainstream
:02:46. > :02:50.lenders like banks. The first thing they are exhausting with the banks
:02:51. > :02:55.is if you are using a payday loan because you can't get credit from
:02:56. > :02:59.the banks but are making payments to other credit, first thing to do is
:03:00. > :03:05.ask for help. Rather than think, get more credit, ask for help from your
:03:06. > :03:09.lenders, get some advice. We would expect lenders to be showing people
:03:10. > :03:15.in hardship may need to pay less for a period of time until they get back
:03:16. > :03:19.on their feet. It may be credit but utility providers and landlords.
:03:20. > :03:24.Credit is not the answer to financial difficulties. If credit
:03:25. > :03:30.can help you. Before taking it, you think, can I afford to make it pay
:03:31. > :03:35.it back? If you can pay it back there are other things like credit
:03:36. > :03:39.unions. They are still patchy but there's a lot of work going on.
:03:40. > :03:44.Local authorities are working to try to get more provision. Do shopping
:03:45. > :03:49.around. You may be able to get a cheaper loan. Look at a loan that
:03:50. > :03:54.takes longer to pay back. Less pressure on your next month's
:03:55. > :03:58.finances. When people call your charity, what do you offer them? The
:03:59. > :04:03.first thing is we reassure people there is a way out of debt. It looks
:04:04. > :04:08.like a nightmare but people can get out. We help people budge he and
:04:09. > :04:13.prioritise what's important. We find people are not able to pay for food
:04:14. > :04:17.because she are paying credit agreements. Firstly, make sure you
:04:18. > :04:22.can pay for your essentials. We help negotiate with creditors,
:04:23. > :04:27.affordable, sustainable solutions. Other solutions. We can help with
:04:28. > :04:31.things like bankruptcy and things like that. There are a range of
:04:32. > :04:37.options out there rather than using credit you cannot afford. Get some
:04:38. > :04:40.advice if you're struggling. Peter, thank you.
:04:41. > :04:45.It will cost you more to post a letter from the end of the month.
:04:46. > :04:50.Royal Mail's announced price inceases. The price of a first`class
:04:51. > :04:55.stamp will increase by 2p. A second class stamp goes up 3p. If you want
:04:56. > :05:05.to send a large letter, that anything up to 100 g, you'll have to
:05:06. > :05:10.pay 3p more. Or second class is a rise of 4p. These prices kick in on
:05:11. > :05:15.31st March of the In spite of what you're told, many
:05:16. > :05:20.parts of the UK are not experiencing record house prices. Nearly half a
:05:21. > :05:23.million households in the UK are still in negative equity meaning
:05:24. > :05:27.their homes are worth less than their mortgages. That can make it
:05:28. > :05:33.impossible for such people to sell up and move on. Overall, 8% of
:05:34. > :05:37.borrowers are in that situation. In are parts of the country where house
:05:38. > :05:43.prices are falling, the problem appears to have got a lot worse.
:05:44. > :05:46.Brian Milligan's been finding out. In many parts of the UK, whole
:05:47. > :05:50.communities have been left behind by the house price recovery elsewhere.
:05:51. > :05:55.Take this street in West Yorkshire where many houses are still worth
:05:56. > :06:04.less than their owners' borrowed to buy them. This one is worth 75,000
:06:05. > :06:10.but the mortgage is for ?95,000 to sell it, the owner would have to pay
:06:11. > :06:16.the ?20,000 different back to the Bank. I'm paying ?250 per month
:06:17. > :06:22.extra on top which is barely affordable. They new that full well
:06:23. > :06:27.when I was negotiating with the bank at the time. But it is the stress
:06:28. > :06:32.involved, really. A negative equity map of the UK shows a country of
:06:33. > :06:38.huge housing contrasts. While London has just 1% of borrowers in negative
:06:39. > :06:43.equity. In Northern Ireland, 41% of mortgages are affected. In the north
:06:44. > :06:47.of England 16% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth. A
:06:48. > :06:53.situation that's got worse in the last six in months. You are finding
:06:54. > :06:58.there's still a lot of people with negative equity? Like others, this
:06:59. > :07:02.Tyneside lettings agent has seen a boom in business from those in
:07:03. > :07:06.negative equity. Those who cannot sell try to rent their homes
:07:07. > :07:11.instead. Some find banks and building societies unsympathetic. If
:07:12. > :07:15.you're in negative equity, I do feel sorry. It may be a decision that's
:07:16. > :07:19.out of your control. You're not able to sell your properties because
:07:20. > :07:25.you're left with that deficit of ?20,000 which I'm sure the bangs and
:07:26. > :07:29.mortgage lenders will want repaying. Negative equity is only really a
:07:30. > :07:34.problem if you have to sell. Some lenders say they will transfer a
:07:35. > :07:39.mortgage in negative equity to a new home if you have a per ninety job
:07:40. > :07:43.and can pay extra. The advice is ask. They may allow you to take the
:07:44. > :07:50.mortgage with you and take that loan that you owe to the next property.
:07:51. > :07:57.It is not disastrous if that happens. Talk to your lender as
:07:58. > :08:01.early as possible. Most of the 463,000 borrowers in negative equity
:08:02. > :08:04.remain stuck until their houses go up in value. Some with blighted
:08:05. > :08:12.homes across the north are being told that could take another five
:08:13. > :08:20.years. The big six energy firms have been
:08:21. > :08:25.told to hand back over ?400 million back to customers. Credit left in
:08:26. > :08:31.customer accounts when people move or switch suppliers has accumulated
:08:32. > :08:37.over the past six years. It is estimated 300 million people are
:08:38. > :08:43.affected. It is investigating whether the return of money to
:08:44. > :08:49.customers complies with existing rooms.
:08:50. > :08:52.Enable married couples and civil partners to determine how their
:08:53. > :08:58.property is shared if their relationships breakdown. Couples can
:08:59. > :09:03.make pre`nup actuals but courts don't always uphold them.
:09:04. > :09:09.Some tenants are being ripped off by rogue let he is agents who take
:09:10. > :09:14.thousands of pounds as holding depot its, refuse to let them move in and
:09:15. > :09:20.pocket the cash. Around 500 cases have been reported to Trading
:09:21. > :09:24.Standards authorities in the last couple of years but Shelter say this
:09:25. > :09:28.is just the tip of the iceberg. Fed up with high mobile phone bills?
:09:29. > :09:36.They could become a thing of the past. WhatsApp, being bought by
:09:37. > :09:41.Facebook for ?12 million say it will add a voice calling function. It
:09:42. > :09:44.wants its app to be on every phone in the world.
:09:45. > :09:50.The end of the tax year is almost here. But have you made the most of
:09:51. > :09:55.this year's allowance? In the rush to allocate your cash it is always
:09:56. > :10:03.East why I to fall foul of mistakes which could cost you dearly.
:10:04. > :10:08.Tomorrow Stevens joins us now. Tom, why do people leave it to the last
:10:09. > :10:12.minute? That is one of the key mistakes people make at this time of
:10:13. > :10:16.year. They leave their ISA allowance to the last minute. It is great we
:10:17. > :10:20.are talking about savings now but people should be thinking about
:10:21. > :10:23.savings all the way through the tax year and not just right at the end
:10:24. > :10:27.which is when they are more likely to make a mistakes. Do you think
:10:28. > :10:33.this is the biggest mistake people make every year? It is a key
:10:34. > :10:37.mistake. Others are people tend to hide in the perceived safety of
:10:38. > :10:42.cash. That's a mistake at the moment because cash rates on ISAs are
:10:43. > :10:46.extremely low and in fact, below the rate of inflation. You're losing
:10:47. > :10:52.money over time by doing that. The third mistake is people put all
:10:53. > :10:58.their eggs in one basket. A lot of our viewers are quite risk averse.
:10:59. > :11:03.They are happiest in cash. What would you say to them? There things
:11:04. > :11:07.you can do which are not as safe as cash. So you do need to take a
:11:08. > :11:12.slightly higher risk by going into the stock market. But you can spread
:11:13. > :11:17.your money around in what's called a multi`as set fund. It spreads your
:11:18. > :11:21.money between shares, bonds, property and cash. By doing that,
:11:22. > :11:25.you reduce your risk but open yourself up to the better returns
:11:26. > :11:32.you can get from these assets than pureeing cash. `` pure cash of the
:11:33. > :11:37.Many of our viewers will not have taken up their whole allowance. What
:11:38. > :11:40.can they do at this late stage? Investigate the idea of starting a
:11:41. > :11:46.monthly savings plan. If you put your money all in at one go you risk
:11:47. > :11:51.getting in at a bad time in the marketment if you drip your money in
:11:52. > :11:56.across the year, once a month put the same amount in. You will smooth
:11:57. > :12:01.your returns. You will ensure you invest at the bottom of the market
:12:02. > :12:07.as well as at the top. You put yourself in good regular savings
:12:08. > :12:13.habits. Your advice, get a plan basically, and have it lined up in
:12:14. > :12:20.advance? Yes. Easier said than done? It is extremely easy to do. You can
:12:21. > :12:27.save from as little as ?50 per month and once you've done it, set it up,
:12:28. > :12:32.you can forget about it. Tom Stevenson from Fidelity, thank you.
:12:33. > :12:37.The message is have a plan. And get started. Thank you. That's all from
:12:38. > :12:42.Your Money for this week. News, tips, information on savings,
:12:43. > :12:47.borrowing, pensions, any time you like online.
:12:48. > :12:51.You can get updates by following our feed on Twitter.
:12:52. > :13:04.We are back next week. Goodbye for now.
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