:00:12. > :00:15.said, not so fast. Hello and welcome to Your Money `
:00:16. > :00:18.your weekly guide to making the most of your cash, here every weekend on
:00:19. > :00:27.BBC News television, available all week on the BBC iPlayer. Capping
:00:28. > :00:31.pension charges. We'll look at the Government's plans ` to let you keep
:00:32. > :00:33.more of your savings for yourself. Defective clutch. Faulty brakes.
:00:34. > :00:36.Kevin Peachy looks at complaints about second`hand cars and how you
:00:37. > :00:41.can protect yourself from a dodgy dealer. Keeping the roof over your
:00:42. > :00:44.head after a divorce. We've got news on how mortgage companies deal with
:00:45. > :00:47.child support payments ` they're not all the same. And there's advice on
:00:48. > :00:55.how mothers can protect themselves and their children. And another way
:00:56. > :01:00.for the energy companies to put up your bill. We've got the details on
:01:01. > :01:03.that. If you're working ` and you're saving for your old age in one of
:01:04. > :01:06.the new Government`backed pension plans ` you pay someone to look
:01:07. > :01:10.after that money. You might not realise it, but you do ` it's called
:01:11. > :01:14.a management charge. The Government says it wants to cap those charges `
:01:15. > :01:18.at somewhere between 0.75% and 1%. That may not sound like a big
:01:19. > :01:22.number, but let me show you how it all adds up. The Government says if
:01:23. > :01:25.you save in a pension for 46 years, starting with ?100 pounds a month `
:01:26. > :01:29.and increasing the amount you save by 4% every year, a 1% charge would
:01:30. > :01:40.cost you ?170,000, taken out of your pension pot. That calculation
:01:41. > :01:43.assumes the fund grows by 7% a year. The pensions expert Malcolm Maclean
:01:44. > :01:50.is with me ` he's a consultant at the firm Barnett Waddingham.
:01:51. > :01:59.When we talk about these management charges, what percent of what? Of
:02:00. > :02:01.the fund. You put money on by way of the fund. You put money in by weird
:02:02. > :02:04.contributions, your employer puts money in, the government gives you
:02:05. > :02:11.tax relief and then you are old pension ought. Every year, there is
:02:12. > :02:17.an annual management charge on that. If the charge is 1%, and you have
:02:18. > :02:24.?10,000 in the box, 1% of that is ?100. The second year, that happens
:02:25. > :02:29.again. At the end of year two, you are
:02:30. > :02:36.paying charges on what was paid in and year two and years three, GPU on
:02:37. > :02:42.your one and year to end US lead. Yes, because the service is ongoing
:02:43. > :02:46.and the fund managers and pension administrators have to be paid every
:02:47. > :02:52.year. But they are helping themselves year after year to money
:02:53. > :02:56.they have managed already. Yes, but with investments, you constantly
:02:57. > :03:02.have to check on the months which them, but most people don't actually
:03:03. > :03:09.understand this. He raised a good point. When you talk about 1%,
:03:10. > :03:15.people think, that leaves 99% for me. But it makes a big difference in
:03:16. > :03:19.long`term investments. If we spammed this over 40 years, there is a lot
:03:20. > :03:29.of money coming out and the government is getting a little bit
:03:30. > :03:34.worried about it. Now is the time to look at this and see if it should be
:03:35. > :03:40.capped will stop the cap, if it goes ahead, it will come in from next
:03:41. > :03:45.April. I think it is probably likely to happen. And this will only apply
:03:46. > :03:49.to people saving in the new Government backed workplace pension
:03:50. > :03:55.schemes, the scheme the people were signed up for this they didn't have
:03:56. > :03:58.their own plans already. Yes, that is being phased in and not everybody
:03:59. > :04:04.is in it yet. It will cause problems, because some employers
:04:05. > :04:08.have planned scheme already and will have to unscramble it to take
:04:09. > :04:13.account of any new cap coming in. You do wonder why they did not have
:04:14. > :04:17.the cap in place will stop we have been talking about this for years.
:04:18. > :04:24.But there is a problem. Many of the new schemes brought in recently are
:04:25. > :04:31.not charging 0.75%, they are only charging 0.5%. What would worry me
:04:32. > :04:39.slightly about bringing in a cap, is that if your scheme charges only
:04:40. > :04:45.0.5%, it is likely that the charges might be increased. You mean the
:04:46. > :04:53.pensions industry would use the cap as an excuse to put the prices up?
:04:54. > :05:00.It might just happen. One of the things worrying people is that
:05:01. > :05:04.ultimately the employer chooses the scheme. We started with the big
:05:05. > :05:10.employers and are moving through to the smaller employers. Many of them
:05:11. > :05:15.don't understand pensions and are not interested in them, and could
:05:16. > :05:18.sign up to something that doesn't fit the individual. There are
:05:19. > :05:23.downsides to this, but I think it is going to happen. It
:05:24. > :05:30.Well, it wouldn't be an edition of Your Money without some mention of
:05:31. > :05:32.energy bills. This week we have two. Don't like your energy prices?
:05:33. > :05:36.The Government says switch to a cheaper company. And now you'll be
:05:37. > :05:39.able to do that faster. The Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, says we should
:05:40. > :05:42.be able to change companies within 24 hours. At the moment, it can take
:05:43. > :05:46.up to five weeks. If you're organised and pay your energy bill
:05:47. > :05:50.quickly ` five of the big six energy firms will give you a discount. It
:05:51. > :05:53.can be as much as 40 quid a year. Well, now they're all getting rid of
:05:54. > :05:55.it. The companies blame new rules from the energy watchdog. The
:05:56. > :05:59.Government's scheme to help people with little savings buy a house or a
:06:00. > :06:02.flat has had its first success. The Financial Times says the first house
:06:03. > :06:04.purchase under phase two of the Help`to`Buy scheme was completed
:06:05. > :06:07.last Wednesday ` a ?153,000 two`bedroom flat in Dartford in
:06:08. > :06:10.Kent. The borrower had a 5.5% deposit. Under the scheme, the
:06:11. > :06:13.Government guarantees to pay up to 15% of the loan to the lender` if
:06:14. > :06:18.the borrower gets into financial trouble. New plans to attract
:06:19. > :06:21.Islamic finance to the UK. The Prime Minister says Britain will become
:06:22. > :06:24.the first non`Muslim nation to borrow money by issuing an Islamic
:06:25. > :06:27.bond ` under the rules, the Government can't pay interest like
:06:28. > :06:35.it normally does, but it can pay a profit. He also announced plans for
:06:36. > :06:37.a new Islamic index on the London Stock Exchange. Islamic investments
:06:38. > :06:42.are thought to be worth ?1.3 trillion a year.
:06:43. > :06:45.Seven million second`hand cars are sold in the UK every year, but
:06:46. > :06:49.buyers don't often like what they find under the bonnet. Consumer
:06:50. > :06:53.groups say used cars bought from independent traders top the list of
:06:54. > :07:01.consumer complaints. Kevin Peachy steers us through this story.
:07:02. > :07:11.Used`car dealers are often depicted as lovable rogues. The epitome of
:07:12. > :07:14.ducking and diving salesman. But data from citizens advice shows
:07:15. > :07:22.there are more consumer complaints by far about second`hand cars than
:07:23. > :07:27.any other product. 22 postgraduate Natasha bought a Nissan Micra for
:07:28. > :07:34.thousands of pounds, almost with a clutch to feel within two weeks. She
:07:35. > :07:39.was given a replacement. But then on the way back, the brakes failed. I
:07:40. > :07:45.want my money back, I don't want to buy a second`hand car again. Now the
:07:46. > :07:51.government says it is time to tackle the rogue traders. They are going to
:07:52. > :08:00.find that action is being taken against them. That consumers will be
:08:01. > :08:03.informed about how to get the rights. They will have to shape up,
:08:04. > :08:08.because they are not going to get away with it stop but then industry
:08:09. > :08:14.trade body says that reputation is unwarranted. Used`car dealers are a
:08:15. > :08:19.charismatic people in many cases. They call a spade a spade, but they
:08:20. > :08:24.are the salt of the Earth and quite honest people in many cases.
:08:25. > :08:31.Unfortunately, there is a nucleus of rogue operators, which there are in
:08:32. > :08:36.any sector, and those operators should the identified. We work very
:08:37. > :08:42.hard to drive those people out. Now all sides of the debate will have a
:08:43. > :08:47.say, because the Government is looking at the source and solution
:08:48. > :08:51.to these used`car rights. They will report back in the spring. In the
:08:52. > :08:57.meantime, the message to anyone buying a car is to triple check you
:08:58. > :09:01.are not buying a wreck. Cross`reference the documents and
:09:02. > :09:03.use a database to check the history. Take an expert with you to look over
:09:04. > :09:10.the technical aspects of the vehicle. If the seller is part of an
:09:11. > :09:12.approved scheme, there is more chance of getting help. What are
:09:13. > :09:18.your rights if you discovered a problem that wasn't pointed out? If
:09:19. > :09:23.something goes wrong within the first few weeks of buying it, we
:09:24. > :09:30.would see you're to repair or money back. If something happens six or
:09:31. > :09:33.seven or eight months down the line, you have to prove the fault
:09:34. > :09:37.was there at the time of the sale. If you fall in love with that card,
:09:38. > :09:44.remember to do your homework before you buy it or you could be left
:09:45. > :09:47.heartbroken. Talk about excess`ss`ss baggage.
:09:48. > :09:50.According to the Belfast Telegraph ` Passengers on a plane got a shock
:09:51. > :09:53.when they realised one of their fellow travellers had taken a snake
:09:54. > :09:56.on board. EasyJet said the animal was harmless and those on board were
:09:57. > :10:00.not in any danger. You do wonder what the Ryanair charge might be for
:10:01. > :10:03.that. If you split up from your partner, you could be forced to keep
:10:04. > :10:06.your ex's name on the mortgage if you're with a lender that doesn't
:10:07. > :10:08.count child support payments as income. Sarah Pennells, editor of
:10:09. > :10:15.the personal finance website Savvywoman. The rules vary from
:10:16. > :10:22.lender to lender, but what is the basic story? The problem is there is
:10:23. > :10:25.not any basic story, because the couple of lenders will not take
:10:26. > :10:29.child support into account a tall as income. A couple of others will take
:10:30. > :10:35.about half of the value into account. The majority of lenders we
:10:36. > :10:40.spoke to which take child support into account if it was backed by a
:10:41. > :10:43.payment order or court order. The problem is dumb parents make a
:10:44. > :10:49.private arrangement between them, in which case they would not fall into
:10:50. > :10:53.that category. Going back ten steps, there will be some parents, mostly
:10:54. > :10:59.mothers, for whom child`support payments may be the only income they
:11:00. > :11:07.have in which case how do they keep up payments? They might get child
:11:08. > :11:12.benefit or tax credits on top, but again, some lenders take a different
:11:13. > :11:16.approach as to whether or not they take tax credits into account. For
:11:17. > :11:19.those mothers, the option is not to have a mortgage or get someone to
:11:20. > :11:24.guarantee the mortgage for them, which is where the ex`husband might
:11:25. > :11:28.have to be left on the mortgage or appearance. That is not an option
:11:29. > :11:33.for all couples getting divorced, so it can be a serious problem. You may
:11:34. > :11:38.not be aware of your lender has that bothers you, because it is not
:11:39. > :11:42.something you check when you are in wedded bliss and taking out the
:11:43. > :11:47.mortgage between you and you think everything is going to last for
:11:48. > :11:51.ever. That is exactly the point, because although lenders will have
:11:52. > :11:56.information on their websites about it, but if you have no thought of
:11:57. > :12:02.getting divorced when you do get the mortgage, why would you check out
:12:03. > :12:07.their policy on child support? One lender ignores it completely and
:12:08. > :12:11.another lender accept it if you have banks take on showing it has been
:12:12. > :12:15.paid for three months. It is not the kind of thing you check until you
:12:16. > :12:21.get divorced and you may realise you're stuck with the wrong lender
:12:22. > :12:24.and your options may be limited. What were you saying about
:12:25. > :12:29.separating parents making private arrangements? This is something that
:12:30. > :12:35.has become more popular. The child support system is changing. The
:12:36. > :12:40.Child support agency is going to be replaced. Part of the Government's
:12:41. > :12:47.policy is to get more parents to make private arrangements between
:12:48. > :12:51.them. In future, parents would have to pay to use the service, so there
:12:52. > :12:55.is an incentive to do it, but they might be penalised by their lender.
:12:56. > :12:59.That's all from Your Money for this week. Keep up to date all week long
:13:00. > :13:02.` with the Your Money pages on the BBC's website. You can get updates
:13:03. > :13:04.by following our feed on social media ` we're @ BBC Your Money.
:13:05. > :13:11.We're back next week. Bye for now.