:00:00. > :00:10.Now on BBC News, this week's Your Money with Declan Curry.
:00:11. > :00:14.Hello and welcome to Your Money, your weekly guide to making the most
:00:15. > :00:16.of your cash, here every weekend on BBC News television, available
:00:17. > :00:23.Free money to pay for double glazing or a new boiler.
:00:24. > :00:28.We'll tell you who can get it and how to apply for it.
:00:29. > :00:31.Credit unions receive high profile backing and are seen as better
:00:32. > :00:34.alternative to payday loans, but how good a deal do they really offer?
:00:35. > :00:37.And we'll be looking at the range of new protections for consumers,
:00:38. > :00:55.It is the height of summer, but if you want the government to pay for a
:00:56. > :01:00.new boiler or double glazing, now is the time to act. Some households in
:01:01. > :01:02.England and Wales could claim up to ?7,000 to make their homes more
:01:03. > :01:05.energy efficient. Brian Horne is from the
:01:06. > :01:08.Energy Saving Trust, a charity which offers independent advice on how to
:01:09. > :01:19.use less energy and cut bills. This is the Green Deal. This is the
:01:20. > :01:26.second ago ministers have had at this. What is on offer? What is on
:01:27. > :01:36.offer is a grants to help you with the cost for energy efficiency, such
:01:37. > :01:41.as boilers and insulation. You can get up to ?7,000. Yes, that is the
:01:42. > :01:46.only amount you will get. If you do not have a solid wall, there is not
:01:47. > :01:50.much, but there is still money on offer for other households. The
:01:51. > :01:54.government says it is a big pot of money but it is first`come,
:01:55. > :01:59.first`served. It is quite a large pot of money compared to what has
:02:00. > :02:07.been spent. This is not money that you have to pay back? Nope. It is a
:02:08. > :02:11.grant. Who can get it? It is open to households in England and Wales.
:02:12. > :02:16.There is a similar scheme in Scotland but it is not the same. You
:02:17. > :02:22.need the right insulation measures to have the recommended by the bout
:02:23. > :02:27.in order to apply for it. That is going to be the catch, that you need
:02:28. > :02:31.to do the work first before you can get the money back, and a lot of
:02:32. > :02:35.this work can be expensive. Well that puts people off? It is a
:02:36. > :02:40.cashback. You install the measures and claimed the money back, but it
:02:41. > :02:46.gets paid back within ten days or so. You still have to the money up
:02:47. > :02:49.front. Or pay for it. And those are some of the schemes there are.
:02:50. > :02:55.Perhaps there are parallel schemes that allow you to get a hold of the
:02:56. > :02:59.money. Talk us through the process. If you decide that you are going to
:03:00. > :03:04.put in fresh insulation in the loft, what is your starting point? First
:03:05. > :03:10.of all, you need an energy performance certificate that is less
:03:11. > :03:14.than two years old, and that has to recommend improvements that you want
:03:15. > :03:18.to make. Then you find the disturbed installers or providers who are
:03:19. > :03:26.impaired to do the work, then you apply for a voucher and get the
:03:27. > :03:31.money. That is the critical first stage. And who does the assessing?
:03:32. > :03:37.Ed will either be a domestic energy assessor or a green deal assessor.
:03:38. > :03:42.Many households are ready have energy performance certificates, but
:03:43. > :03:46.not all. Can you get anyone to do the work? They have to be a Green
:03:47. > :03:57.Deal installer or provider. ;`) very much. `` thank you very much.
:03:58. > :04:00.For more information on the Green Deal generally, you can visit
:04:01. > :04:07.or in England and Wales, phone the Energy Saving Advice Service, 0300
:04:08. > :04:11.123 1234. That will cost up to 10p a minute on a landline, up to 40p a
:04:12. > :04:14.minute on mobiles. Lines open Saturday until 2pm, Monday to
:04:15. > :04:16.Friday, from 9am to 8pm. In Scotland it's a different number,
:04:17. > :04:19.Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282. That's free from landlines, up
:04:20. > :04:22.to 40p a minute on mobiles. Lines open until 5pm on Saturday; Monday
:04:23. > :04:25.to 40p a minute on mobiles. Lines open until 5pm on Saturday, Monday
:04:26. > :04:30.to Friday, 8am to 8pm. The Green Deal is not available in Northern
:04:31. > :04:45.You will have seen that the Bank of England's top boss may not wait
:04:46. > :04:50.until next year to cut interest rates up. The financial company
:04:51. > :04:53.which specialises in utterly savers who live off the interest says it is
:04:54. > :04:58.about time. I do not think that is one of the utterly savers that they
:04:59. > :05:04.specialise in `` specialise in on the screen. It would be music to the
:05:05. > :05:10.ears of so many people over 50 who rely on the savings of income
:05:11. > :05:14.and... If interest rates do rise earlier than expected, he will do it
:05:15. > :05:18.because he wants to cool down the housing market by making mortgages
:05:19. > :05:21.more X than the, but there are fears that they could become more
:05:22. > :05:25.expensive for homeowners who might not be able to keep up with their
:05:26. > :05:30.mortgage payments. The resolution foundation which looks at low`paid
:05:31. > :05:35.families said last month that 1.1 million already have an home loans,
:05:36. > :05:39.and their repayments of a lot more than one third of their income. ``
:05:40. > :05:51.repayments and the credit reference company says
:05:52. > :05:55.this weekend that a rise in the core interest rates to just 2% would put
:05:56. > :06:01.the average repayment for a new mortgage up to ?13 per month, double
:06:02. > :06:05.what homeowners say they can comfortably afford. We will get some
:06:06. > :06:09.advice on how to beat the rise in interest rates in next week's
:06:10. > :06:13.programme. The Archbishop of Canterbury loves them, Camilla the
:06:14. > :06:17.Duchess of Cornwall is a member of one, credit unions. What did you
:06:18. > :06:20.think I was talking about? They say they can help people manage their
:06:21. > :06:24.finances and they are cheaper than payday loans, but only one in 50
:06:25. > :06:31.people use one, so why aren't they more popular?
:06:32. > :06:36.But some's shop workers are amongst the least well`paid in the country,
:06:37. > :06:39.with many earning less than ?10 an hour. To prevent them having to
:06:40. > :06:43.borrow from payday lenders, retailers are launching a new credit
:06:44. > :06:47.union which could benefit for a million people. Those providing the
:06:48. > :06:58.cash include a former participant in Dragon's Dan. It is a cancer on our
:06:59. > :07:02.society, payday lenders. There is a requirement out there. At the
:07:03. > :07:08.moment, we are seeing payday lenders charging up to 17,000% APR just to
:07:09. > :07:13.lend someone a couple of hundred pounds. It is ridiculous. Despite
:07:14. > :07:17.such high`profile support, credit unions are not widely popular. Even
:07:18. > :07:23.in South Wales, where levels of need are high, all 2% of the population
:07:24. > :07:30.uses them. One reason is that even though a members can borrow cheaply,
:07:31. > :07:34.savings rates are poor. Typically, savers only find out what their rate
:07:35. > :07:38.of return will be when the dividend is declared at the end of the year
:07:39. > :07:41.all stop often, this same savers could actually make twice as much
:07:42. > :07:46.money simply by putting it in a current account. So who in their
:07:47. > :07:57.right minds would put their money into a credit union like this one?
:07:58. > :08:02.The answer is people like Kate and her family. She has been saving and
:08:03. > :08:06.borrowing with a credit union for 15 years. Until we told her, she did
:08:07. > :08:10.not know what rate of return she was getting, but she is not concerned
:08:11. > :08:15.about it. Overall, the benefits to me are not in that return, they are
:08:16. > :08:19.the fact that I know the money is being used to support other families
:08:20. > :08:25.that need it more. The return you got on your savings last year was
:08:26. > :08:32.actually 0.25%, does that surprise you or were you? No. `` or were you.
:08:33. > :08:39.Perhaps it should, but there are other benefits. Her credit union
:08:40. > :08:43.agrees that savings rates have to improve if there is to be better
:08:44. > :08:47.take up. Since the change in the law, this one has been one of the
:08:48. > :08:52.few to introduce fixed rates. When they did, savers came flocking. It
:08:53. > :08:57.was a tremendous experience for us and gave us a lot more options. All
:08:58. > :09:01.of the sudden we have the capital we needed to lend out and grow the
:09:02. > :09:04.credit union. And that is a lesson for credit unions across the
:09:05. > :09:12.country. They can become more popular, but only by working harder
:09:13. > :09:16.to attract the savers they need. You could be in for a shock if you
:09:17. > :09:23.commit a motoring offence behind the wheel, because there is a plan for a
:09:24. > :09:27.big rise in fines at Medecins courts in England and Wales. Here are some
:09:28. > :09:33.of the proposed changes. Fines for speeding on a motorway could go up
:09:34. > :09:42.from 10,000 `` 2000 ?500 to ?10,000. Driving without a helmet could incur
:09:43. > :09:47.a ?2000 fine, and the cycle racing that is unauthorized could see a
:09:48. > :09:52.fine of ?800. Another offence, or sale of alcohol to a drunk person,
:09:53. > :09:58.don't know weather it produced up to that in, but the fine could be
:09:59. > :10:03.?4000. `` don't know why the producer put that in. The post
:10:04. > :10:06.office and Marks Spencer have all launched new current accounts
:10:07. > :10:11.recently. Virgin Money is expected to follow suit. This week, Tesco got
:10:12. > :10:19.into the act, but does it give us a better deal? It also pays interest
:10:20. > :10:24.if you pay in more than ?750 a month. But experts say some other
:10:25. > :10:28.accounts, like those at the TSP on a nationwide, may pay you more in
:10:29. > :10:32.interest. If you are one of the many waiting for a new passport and you
:10:33. > :10:36.are worried you might not be able to go on holiday, you may not get much
:10:37. > :10:39.Cindy from air travel insurance company. The trade company for the
:10:40. > :10:44.insurer says lessees will generally not pay out if you have to cancel
:10:45. > :10:49.your holiday because sharp passport was late. One in Scherer has been in
:10:50. > :10:56.touch with us to say it will pay refunds to people waiting for their
:10:57. > :10:59.passwords that are passports. The we are getting more rights when
:11:00. > :11:06.shopping online. The cooling off period has been extended to 14 days.
:11:07. > :11:14.Companies will not be able to sneak in extras for insurers by telling us
:11:15. > :11:18.unless we opt out. There is no surcharge for paying by credit card.
:11:19. > :11:26.You will not be able to be charged anymore. And retails will not be
:11:27. > :11:36.able to charge more than a local rate for helpline numbers. ``
:11:37. > :11:43.retailers. We have been chomping to talk about this. The phone numbers,
:11:44. > :11:49.I noticed a lot of discussion on Twitter about this, that these
:11:50. > :11:56.numbers were supposed to be scrapped by now but still have lots of
:11:57. > :11:59.companies using them. That is right. These regulations, the basic
:12:00. > :12:03.principle is it should be no more expensive to contact a company than
:12:04. > :12:09.it is for you to ring a neighbour. What we've seen is companies have
:12:10. > :12:13.come up with a plethora of different, normally very expensive
:12:14. > :12:22.numbers to ring them on. What these regulations say is they must use
:12:23. > :12:29.numbers of local rate. The trouble is for some people, they may find
:12:30. > :12:41.the wait for five numbers are included in date `` they've may find
:12:42. > :12:46.the 0845 numbers are included in their phone bill. The principle is a
:12:47. > :12:50.sound one. Especially for the big retailers who have departments that
:12:51. > :12:56.know about this. They should be doing a lot better than having
:12:57. > :13:02.expensive numbers on the website. Should this change have happened
:13:03. > :13:08.already? They have had the notice and the rules came in yesterday. The
:13:09. > :13:12.companies really should be on the case and it should be no more
:13:13. > :13:19.expansively make that phone call. You bought something, it's not
:13:20. > :13:25.right, it does not fit, you are sending it back. Any changes? You
:13:26. > :13:31.can send it back now, you have 14 days to cancel the sale. You have
:13:32. > :13:34.another 14 days to send it back. What the regulations say is it
:13:35. > :13:41.should be made much clearer if you have to pay to send them back. You
:13:42. > :13:47.should be re`funded the delivery cost unless you as for something
:13:48. > :13:56.like express delivery. I have seen a few websites are saying there is a
:13:57. > :14:01.restocking charge of 20% of the goods. What they should be saying is
:14:02. > :14:05.you have to pay for sending them back but they should not be applying
:14:06. > :14:15.a blanket charge for a restocking if the goods are essentially pristine
:14:16. > :14:19.condition. Thank you very much. That is it from us for the week. You can
:14:20. > :14:24.keep up`to`date with all the news about the pound in your pocket and
:14:25. > :14:29.your rights and the energy news of the week. Updates are available on
:14:30. > :14:51.social media. More next week. This is BBC News. Let us bring you
:14:52. > :14:55.up`to`date with the headlines. Pro`Russian separatists should down
:14:56. > :15:00.a large military transport plane in the east of Ukraine. 49 were killed
:15:01. > :15:02.in the attack. Iran says it