10/05/2014 Your Money

Hello and welcome to Your Money, your weekly guide to making the most

of your cash. Here every weekend on BBC News television and available

all week on the BBC iPlayer. Getting more from our savings. Banks

are told to make it easier to switch to a better account. We will find

out how we do it ` and if it is worth the effort.

A new car for the price of a second`hand one. We will show you

how it is done. And the long harm of the law. More

complaints about solicitors and the mistakes they make when we are

buying a home. We will find out how to avoid the worst blunders.

?4.3 billion ` that is how much extra the consumer group Which?

Thinks we could earn every year if our savings were released from bad

bank accounts. We have talked a lot in the past about switching our

current accounts. Which wants the banks to make it easier to switch

our savings accounts, too. Just 16% of those asked said they

had switched their main savings account in the last 12 months.

Why not more? Here is one possible reason. Just over 35% of those asked

said they had not switched to a better account because they thought

they were all as bad as each other. A whopping 75% said they did not

think banks do enough to help savers get a good deal.

James Daley is from the campaigning group Fairer Finance and David

Braithwaite is a financial adviser, from Citrus Financial Management.

What could the banks do? I think they could make the whole system

simpler is a good starting point. At the moment, you open an account,

it's got a great game and then 12 months later, even though it was

called an instant Saver, they have offered a similar account with a

different name, which is offering better interest. In many cases, the

big banks simply do not tell you what the rates of interest are for

all the accounts. How could it make us more aware of that? Should they

be writing to their customers every year, for example? They could do, in

these days, a lot of people do not open mail, why not text people?

Banks simply have not moved into the 21st century, with relation to

communication. Many people put the money the and forget about it. Could

we have a system where the bank were transferred automatically another

account? It sends a much simpler way of doing it. At least people would

know, this is exactly where your money will be in 12 months' time. If

they get in touch with you until you this, then you do nothing, the

responsibility would lie with you. You tend to do a lot of shopping

around and homework. It is very real that people will think, it is a year

that has passed and then having a look at it, marking it on a calendar

as you would a birthday. It does not highlight how to use the interest

rates actually are. People could be making better use of their money,

but the problem is, they are left to do it, when the banks should be

doing more. People are so used to not taking money out of for example

ISAs. People need to be aware that you can do that. Yes, part of the

problem is also that the transfer takes so long. The banking system

needs to move to a system where this can be transferred overnight. It all

sounds like a pipe dream. In terms of moving to a different ISA, how

would you best do that? You have to do your research. You need to simply

get in touch and see I have this with this bank, ISA the, can you

transferred it to this bank account? Unfortunately, it does take a few

weeks to go through. It could be simpler. Everything is simpler, we

all do Internet banking, like on the banks not deliver that speed to the

consumer. Now, regarding interest rates, who actually are the best, in

terms of offering best interest rates? The more you are prepared to

do, such as running it yourself on the Internet, the interest rates can

claim. You can get a three`year fixed rate of 2.7%. You can get a

better rate if you are doing it yourself, you just need to make the

effort. What about alternative to put your money, such as the

accounts? Yes, some of their rates and these are 5`6%, but a lot of

people are looking in the longer term to retain both the savings

account and the current account. Thank you very much. David, you stay

with us, because we will be talking to you slightly later on. , how

could you lose track of that money? But thousands do, The government's

got a Pension Tracing Service, to help people track down lost pensions

and 145,000 have used it. Anyway, pensions expert Tom McPhail at

Hargreaves Lansdown has come up with some tips to stop you losing track

of your pension in the first place. If you change jobs, see if it is

worth bringing your old and new pensions together in one pot. That

is called consolidation. You might lose out, so do the maths first.

If you move home, make sure you write to all your pension, savings

and investment companies to give them your new address. Do not forget

to tell your boss, as well. Keep the majority of your pensions

and investments on one platform, this will cut down on paperwork and

reduce the risk of money being lost. Make sure your husband, wife,

partner, children, local cats home ` whoever is going to get your money `

make sure they know where to find the relevant information. You can

write down a list of assets, and have it stored with your will.

Buying a car. To make the most of your money, is it is it better to

buy new or nearly new? Theo Leggett goes all Clarkson on us. Car sales

in Great Britain are booming. Sales increased by 8% in April and May

have been increasing for the past two years. Researchers showed new

one quarter of drivers want to get a new car with in the next five years.

The car is the biggest purchase people will make after buying the

house. A lot of the options are therefore important. As the car

going to be great for you, going to do the job for you, how much is

going to cost and to insure? You have to also budget as to how you

will pay for it and long you are going to keep the car, essentially.

Buying a car can be a very stressful process. You then need to go for the

make and model and then, do you go for a used car or a brand`new one?

Most of us would like a new canopy could get one. It is lovely and keep

clean and has that lovely new smell about it. But the moment we drive a

new car of the forecourt it loses an awful lot of its value. For the cost

conscious motorists, that is a big problem. Newcastle lose up to 40% in

value on the first year. According to research, it could work out

cheaper to buy a new one than a used car. You know about these things, is

it possible to get a new car for the same place or cheaper than a

second`hand car. It is possible if you know that a dealership. You can

also change the payment system. What if I do not want to pay in cash. Our

best customers are those who buy second or nearly new vehicles. This

has only six males on the clock is only two months old and has a saving

of nearly ?9,000. It is a new car, as long as you do not mean being the

second owner of the vehicle. There is a catch. And nearly new car will

have a second name on the document, which could mean it would depreciate

when you want to sell it on. But if you are looking at good value and

not too fussed about the number of previous owners, you can get some

fantastic deals. The most important thing is to do your research. If you

want to buy something brand`new or second`hand, you may find yourself

driving away with an absolute bargain.

His other car is a Morris Marina. When you bought your house or flat,

by the end of the process, were you still on speaking terms with your

solicitor? Still good mates? Mmm? The Legal Ombudsman ` unlike other

watchdogs, this one is not called Off`something. How delightful it

would be if it was called Off`brief or Off`Lightly, but it is not. The

legal ombudsman says the most complained about area of law is

residential conveyancing ` the law about buying and selling a property.

Tracy Kellet, aproperty expert at BDI homefinders is here, as is David

again. How do you pick the right legal

brain to take the pressure off you recommendation is first port of call

` communication is everything DAVID: the first thing you should not do is

skimp on your solicitor. You need to get yourself a good proper

solicitor. The first thing you need to do is get a recommendation from

somebody, somebody who knows about the subject, who has just bought or

sold a house. Taught talk to them about the individual be used. Pick

up the phone. Can you actually talk to them? The very important aspect

of this is communication and the solicitor you cannot talk to is a

hopeless situation. That is a very important point. It is about the

Pearson, not about the solicitor 's office itself. David, looking at the

figures, complaints of 215,000 last year. Is this telling is that

solicitors are lazy or under more pressure? I think there are maybe

more under pressure because house`buying has come up a lot. We

have property lawyers who will speed things through at a discount price,

but it does mean that some things get missed. But you are talking a

lot of money when you're buying a house, so if you are saving a couple

of hundred pounds, is it really worth it when you resell your house

and the person who is buying it has a solicitor who is going to have a

proper look at it? So, getting the discount is something of a false

economy? Absolutely. The requirements that the mortgage

companies need, legally wise, is much more strict and the require

much more paper than needed years ago. You often come up against this

wall of what you can do. You need this piece of paper which does not

exist from 25 years ago and that is where you need a good problem

solving solicitor. It is all about them being imaginative and

innovative in the approach, rather than simply ticking off a check

list? Yes, you need someone who will find ways around the inevitable

problems which will end up in your way and that will relieve you of an

enormous amount of stress and also protect you. You do need somebody

who does not miss any of the important little details.

Absolutely, and I bought a flat once and my lawyer found there was a

square metre of driveway that was not owned by anybody. What if I was

buying that flat and then somebody picks it up afterwards? It is all

very well know in a buoyant market. What you need to think about is, in

a slack market, you need to make sure what you have is as easily

sellable as you wanted to be when you need to get rid of that asset

and move on to a new home. There is a particular issue that the

ombudsman picks up on, it is people who think they have bought the house

or flat, they've got the keys, moved in, then it turns out they don't

actually own it, because the solicitor has not handed over the

stamp duty. There is a lot of this in the press, it is terribly scary.

It is an obvious failing, and it is actually fraud. It is not as

widespread as people believe, most of the things we're hearing are

about incompetence. Is there any way of checking the stamp duty has been

paid? What you need to look carefully at is the completion

certificate you get, which is a statement of accounts. Can you do it

without a solicitor? You can, it is not something I would recommend. We

had a client do that once and it caused no end of pain. If you buy a

property, and using a property lawyer, you're paying for somebody

qualified to do that job. You would not do your own brain surgery, so

why would you skimp on that? It is nice to have somebody to blame. If

you are employing somebody for that, you have redress, you can talk to

them about the solutions. I would never do something like that on my

own. How do you protect yourself? You told us how to find the right

solicitor, but mistakes are made. You have the legal ombudsman. They

seem to be pretty busy. They seem to have your back as well. Get a good

solicitor and you should not have any problems. Thank you, that is all

from us this week. You can keep up`to`date all week long with what

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