08/02/2014 Your Money


08/02/2014

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Now on programmer, Declan Curry is here with this week's Your Money --

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now on BBC News. Hello and welcome to Your Money,

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your weekly guide to making the most of your cash and available all week

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on the BBC iPlayer. The banks paying back billions for insurance we

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didn't need or could not use, the financial ombudsman is here to tell

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us how to get our money back and how to avoid the companies that want a

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bite of that cash. Websites offering services who can get you services

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free elsewhere, the Advertising Standards Authority is

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investigating. And how to stop mental health problems turning into

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money problems as well, the charity MIND is here with its best advice.

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One reason the economy has perked up, the sheer volume of money the

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banks are paying back to customers who were tricked into buying

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worthless insurance. Lloyds put another ?2 billion aside this week

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and that by's total bill is now approaching ?10 billion and the bill

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for all the banks is fast approaching ?20 billion. Robert

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Paxton says that is equal to 1% of the nation's entire annual economic

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production. The insurance itself, PPI is legal and for some people it

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is very useful but the problem was the banks sold it to many people who

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either did not need it or could not claim it when they wanted to. They

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are now getting the money back. How do you know if you are entitled to a

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refund? And how do you get the money if you can? Caroline Wayman joins

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as, first of all, do you have to contact the bank will be back get in

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touch with you? If you are unsure, get in touch with the bank of

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whoever sold it to you. It may be that you hear something that

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directly from the bag in which case you can respond but if you are in

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doubt, get in touch with the person who sold it to you. Is that as

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simple as having to find the name of that person or can you just turn up

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at your local branch and say, "I know I was sold this, I thing I

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should be getting money back" question mark you can do to a local

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branch but try to find any documents you have, root around in the loft

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and see if there are old documents that help you make sure you have

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copyright business but then give them a call, that is usually the

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easiest thing. If you are not sure, you can contact the ombudsman.

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Thinking of people who might not have all the documentation, they may

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have shredded it or thrown it away, that does not stop you pursuing a

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claim? Absolutely not. If you have not got those documents, tell them

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what you know and what you remember and they should be able to help you

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find out whether you were sold it and if you were, whether it was

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something you should have been sold. Whether you get in touch with the

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back of the other way round, do you have to approve that this insurance

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should not have been sold to you? Is the burden of proof on your

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shoulders? You don't have to demonstrate anything in particular,

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it is not a court case, you do not need to put together an argument

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about why it was mis-sold, you only need to say that you don't think you

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needed it or wanted it and you want them to look into it and tell you

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whether they can put it right. You have gone to the bank, the bank has

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come to you, you have put in the complaint and it is being looked

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at, the bank comes back and says they don't agree with you and don't

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think you I'm entitled -- you are entitled. If that happens, you can

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come to the ombudsman if you are not satisfied so it is usually worth

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letting the bank have the opportunity to finish the

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investigation but they say that they do not think you are owed anything,

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you can come to the ombudsman for free, we are impartial, we will take

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a look and we will let you know whether they have to put things

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right. You need to give the bank time to assess your claim but what

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if you think they are dragging their feet? Can you jump the queue by

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going to the ombudsman? The bank has got eight weeks to resolve the case

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so it is usually worth giving them that amount of time because

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sometimes they need to find their old records as well but if you get

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to the point where eight weeks have gone by and you have not had an

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answer and you are not happy, you can come to the ombudsman then. Lots

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of viewers and experienced the telephone ringing and at the other

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end of the line, it is a company saying that they think you are

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entitled to get the money back and they will get the money for you.

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Should you take the spoon of these companies and do business with them?

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You need carefully to think about whether you need the help. You do

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not need to go to a claims management company, you can come

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directly to the ombudsman, it is simple and free, not difficult at

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all and we can help people if they are not sure what to do. If you want

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to use a claims management company, that is fine but think carefully

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before you do because they will take up to 30% of compensation that you

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are due. That is the crucial point. They will take up to a third of the

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money? Yes. And the banks will process it for free and the

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ombudsman are doing it for free. So you would hand over money you would

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get any way to a company doing something that you can do for

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nothing. Why on earth would you use these companies at all? Yellow we

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would urge people to think carefully about that and say it is simple and

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easy to do. Come to the ombudsman and we will do it for free. If you

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think you have been sold this insurance and you're going to get in

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touch with your bank, is they limited there a time limit -- is

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there a time limit? You have got three years from when you knew or

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should have known there was a problem and that means you have to

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know about something specific to you so if you did something like making

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a claim, perhaps at that point you should have known and you would

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usually have three years from them but for many people, they have not

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had anything like that that they would know. If you are in any doubt,

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come to the ombudsman and we can tell you whether you are in time. So

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the clock does not start until you think that you should get some of

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this money back or the clock doesn't start until the bank gets in touch?

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That's right so you have to know there is a problem. Thank you very

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much, Caroline Wayman for that information about PPI.

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Three whole somebody's News, have you noticed your gas Bill come down

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in price? No, me neither. The price the energy companies pay has fallen

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by 16% since December. Independent analysts say that is enough to save

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?30 from the yearly gas bill for the MPs accuse the energy companies of

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ripping off consumers who do not pay their bills by direct debit, people

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who pay by cash or cheque typically pay ?114 per year more stop energy

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company so that is because it costs more to process their payments.

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House prices are still rising but the steam seems to have gone, the

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Halifax as prices rose by 7.3% between January last year and

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January this year. In December, the annual difference was slightly

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higher at 7.5%. In November, higher still at 7.7%.

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Renewing your passport and getting a new driving licence, filling out

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your tax return, some websites offer to help you with that but they may

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charge you for it. You could get the service for free elsewhere.

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Something big advertising watchdog is looking into.

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Part-time nurse Vanessa thought she was taking the easy option when she

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decided to file her tax returns using what she believed to be an

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official website. She was charged ?400 to file her return by tax

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return gateway .com and only later did she revealed she could have

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filed for free through the official government website. They serve small

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print on the bottom of the screen that they are not the HMRC and there

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is a link to go through to the HMRC but if you're somebody who is in a

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flap trying to get it done with children and life going on around

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you, you tend not to read small print. Vanessa has since got her

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money back and the website she used has been upgraded. In a statement,

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tax return gateway have said: So when should you be taking extra

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care when looking online? The problem arises when you want to get

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your passport renewed, for example, and you may enter that into a search

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engine. If you press return, you will get a number of sponsored

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websites, who pay to have their website at the top of your search

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list. If you enter into one of these companies like what example this

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one, you will see a pretty standard looking website that may or may not

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seem to be an official one. If you scroll down, it makes it clear

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indeed that this will be a fee-paying website who will charge

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you for a service that you could get for free elsewhere.

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But not all websites are as clear as they should be. The Advertising

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Standards Authority says it has received around 700 complaints in

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the last 12 months alone. Complaints we are receiving are about people

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being lit Billy Morgan misled the nature of service offered, if the

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other they be official when they are not -- about people being misled.

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People that they are left out of pocket for a service they would not

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have entered into had they known it was not official. How can you avoid

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making a mistake and getting something that you should have got

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for frequent Jamaat you should go onto the Government website and it

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is www .gov .uk. An search within the website for drivers licenses,

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passport or whatever because that is the official government website and

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you know then that you're dealing with the right organisation. None of

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the websites are doing anything illegal and search engines are

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working closely to make sure that adverts are not misleading.

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It is reckoned that 25% of people will have mental health problems in

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any one year and where there is a problem, there is usually a money

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problem as well. Beth Murphy is from MIND hooch offer help to people with

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mental health problems and employers and families. Welcome to Your Money.

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The main problem for money is because you become anxious and

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depressed, you lose your income, you become depressed and then you are in

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a money pickle. The same way as with physical problems, it often means

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people cannot work and need time off work and they don't have money

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coming in and with things like anxiety and depression, they can

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make it even harder for you to do something about that said you are

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building up a credit card bill perhaps. You are scared to open

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envelopes, things can escalate. And it becomes a spiral? Eleanor Gass,

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you have not got money in the house, you are not going out of the house

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and it builds up -- yes, you have not got money in the house. You need

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to recognise things early on. Element if you have lost your job

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and you are not working, perhaps your benefits have been cut,

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recognise that it is an issue early on.

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Where can you get support from? Professional advice? It depends on

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the issue. If you are in debt, it is important to seek help for that.

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Things like the national debt line where you can go and speak to them

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and consolidate your debts and find a way of paying them off more

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evenly. If it is your mental health which is a problem, anxiety or

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depression, bipolar, if things things are getting worse, it may be

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an idea to get additional support. If you have a runner to -- a

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relative, it is -- is it appropriate for an employer to step in and try

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and help with the spiral? It is always appropriate to speak to

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people. You should not assume you know what is going on for someone.

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Don't make assumptions about if they are depressed and have got money

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worries, talk to them about it. The reaction is almost always positive

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for people speaking about things. We are quite scared about things and

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there are so many stigma issues. Having a conversation can help.

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There can be a frustration on the part of a derivative of friends that

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you want to step in and fix it and make your friend better but that is

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not often in your power. You're just there to provide comfort and support

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rather than a solution? That is right. You cannot fix another person

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in that way but can give them support and make them feel that they

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are not the only person going through this and make them know they

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are loved and cared about and give them something like the space to

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talk about these things. And they are really positive.

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That is all for this week. There is news and information about saving,

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borrowing, spending on pensions on our pages on the BBC website. You

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can get updates by following our feed on Twitter. Thank you for

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watching. More again next week. Hope to see you then.

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This is BBC News.. The headlines: Britain braces

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