:00:00. > :00:00.they try to reach out to voters. Now it is time for Your Money with
:00:07. > :00:14.Declan Curry. Hello and welcome to Your Money,
:00:15. > :00:17.your weekly guide to making the most of your cash, here every weekend on
:00:18. > :00:22.BBC News television and available all week on the BBC iPlayer.
:00:23. > :00:25.Bill shock - tens of thousands of complaints about mobile phone bills
:00:26. > :00:29.and the contracts we sign. We've got some tips on how to get the best
:00:30. > :00:33.deal, and how to avoid unexpected charges.
:00:34. > :00:35.Taken for a ride - how to avoid big charges when you park on private
:00:36. > :00:38.land. And glum in the sun - fraudsters
:00:39. > :00:46.steal ?7 million from holiday-makers every year. We'll see how we can
:00:47. > :00:49.avoid them. Here's something many of us have had
:00:50. > :00:53.at least once, a mobile phone bill that's much bigger than we expected.
:00:54. > :00:56.Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland says this weekend they had
:00:57. > :01:03.28,000 complaints about mobile phone bills and contracts last year.
:01:04. > :01:06.Everything from the cost of using the internet abroad on your mobile,
:01:07. > :01:12.to unclear terms in the contract, to phones that don't work. Ernest Doku
:01:13. > :01:21.is from the website uSwitch - he's the expert there on mobile phone
:01:22. > :01:25.costs. The core point, and it's one you can address as well, is that
:01:26. > :01:30.there's just too much bad behaviour by the mobile phone industry.
:01:31. > :01:33.Certainly. I think things have got better but there's still a long way
:01:34. > :01:38.to go. A lot of the major changes that have happened in the industry
:01:39. > :01:42.that have benefited consumers, moves to make zero 800 numbers free, moves
:01:43. > :01:46.to make costs lower, a lot of them have been brought in by Ofcom
:01:47. > :01:50.regulations, rather than providers being better behaved. They did it
:01:51. > :01:54.because they were told to. It's not always from the goodness of their
:01:55. > :01:58.hearts. Other changes are bringing down prices, giving you more data
:01:59. > :02:01.for your money. A lot of those have come from massive competition
:02:02. > :02:05.between the providers. Things are getting better but there's a long
:02:06. > :02:09.way to go. And some regulation from Europe as well. When you get the
:02:10. > :02:13.phone, how do you work out what's best? Whether it should be a monthly
:02:14. > :02:18.contract or pay-as-you-go? It's horses for courses in that regard. A
:02:19. > :02:21.lot of providers move towards contracts because you get the
:02:22. > :02:26.greater deal of minutes, texts for your money. If you are very chatty,
:02:27. > :02:29.you want a tariff that gives you a wealth of minutes. As there was a
:02:30. > :02:39.move towards smartphones and having data heavy contracts, that was the
:02:40. > :02:42.way to go. Du, as a purchaser of a mobile phone, there is an obligation
:02:43. > :02:45.on you to sit down and think, how many free minutes and my likely to
:02:46. > :02:48.need, how many texts, how much data? Certainly. A lot of providers are
:02:49. > :02:52.giving flexibility in that regard. Vodafone, as regards to data, you
:02:53. > :02:57.have three months. You can go crazy, you get a test plan to see where you
:02:58. > :03:00.might see it. If you are a heavy, medium or light user. A lot of
:03:01. > :03:03.things enable you to get a feel for where you sit and make sure you are
:03:04. > :03:08.getting the right plan for your usage habits. What if your mobile
:03:09. > :03:12.phone 's and offer a service where you got three months, I think you
:03:13. > :03:16.are on the wrong deal? Can you change it? I would err on the side
:03:17. > :03:19.of caution initially. Opt for a lower price plan. If you are
:03:20. > :03:24.reaching those higher caps, certainly you have the option to
:03:25. > :03:28.shop around or bump up grades, which costs a bit more but it's definitely
:03:29. > :03:32.worth it for the peace of mind. You mentioned some of the costs of no --
:03:33. > :03:37.using mobile phones abroad have been capped, but not all of them and not
:03:38. > :03:41.in all parts of the world. When you are travelling abroad it is a
:03:42. > :03:45.massive concern to make sure you are using the right amount of minutes,
:03:46. > :03:48.texts and data. The first thing you do, as soon as you pack your
:03:49. > :03:52.suitcase, tell your provider that you are going a little bit ahead of
:03:53. > :03:56.time, tell them where you were going and how long for. They often have
:03:57. > :04:00.different plans or bundles they can have -- add-on to the tariffs, to
:04:01. > :04:06.make sure you are spending the right amount of money. Three have a plan
:04:07. > :04:10.which allows you to dip into your pool of domestic minutes, texts and
:04:11. > :04:15.data and use them abroad. But you've got to tell them in advance. Of
:04:16. > :04:19.course. And it's not just mobile phone bills that are causing money
:04:20. > :04:23.problems, there's been a big rise in the number of people asking for help
:04:24. > :04:27.with their council tax bills. The debt charity StepChange says it
:04:28. > :04:29.helped over 45,000 people who'd fallen behind with their payments
:04:30. > :04:36.last year. If you are struggling to pay your bill, the charity says you
:04:37. > :04:38.should get in touch with your local council's payment department, tell
:04:39. > :04:40.them you are having difficulties and that you'd like to discuss a payment
:04:41. > :04:44.plan with them. This would interest you if you owe money to payday
:04:45. > :04:48.lenders. The companies that charge thousands of percent in interest if
:04:49. > :04:51.you don't pay back quickly enough. The new financial watchdog says it
:04:52. > :04:54.will review how companies treat borrowers who are in trouble. That
:04:55. > :05:00.will happen in April. The watchdog says its new, tough rules should
:05:01. > :05:05.drive one lender in four out of business. The news says fraudsters
:05:06. > :05:08.are stealing more money using our bank and credit card. It turns out
:05:09. > :05:12.many of the thefts are very low-tech, snatching the card out of
:05:13. > :05:16.the cash machine when we are not looking, for example. Top advice
:05:17. > :05:19.from the banks, don't let anyone distract you with anything if you
:05:20. > :05:23.are using a cash machine or paying an card at the till. And if someone
:05:24. > :05:27.brings up saying they are the bank or police and they need your
:05:28. > :05:32.security code, they are lying. Don't give it to them! We will talk more
:05:33. > :05:36.about how you can protect yourselves from fraud when we're booking our
:05:37. > :05:42.holidays, that'll be in a few minutes. The minimum wage is to go
:05:43. > :05:46.up in October. Workers over 21 will get an extra 19p an hour. That
:05:47. > :05:53.brings the Minimum Wage Commission ?6.50. A rise of 3%. 18 to
:05:54. > :06:00.20-year-olds will get an extra 10p an hour. Their minimum will rise to
:06:01. > :06:07.?5.13. 16 and 17-year-olds will get 7p more. That brings their minimum
:06:08. > :06:10.to ?3.79. If you've parked on private land and you've got a
:06:11. > :06:15.shocking bill for it afterwards, what can you do about it? Ramzan
:06:16. > :06:20.Karmali knows. I was amazed to get a ticket. Last month, this man
:06:21. > :06:24.received a parking ticket in the post were leaving his vehicle in a
:06:25. > :06:27.McDonald's car park for more than an hour. He felt he'd done everything
:06:28. > :06:32.possible to avoid this nasty surprise. Having got into the car
:06:33. > :06:36.park, there are restrictions there. As I was definitely going to be
:06:37. > :06:40.there more than 16 minutes, I asked the staff whether I can park more
:06:41. > :06:46.than 60 minutes. The staff said, guess, you can park it. Had they
:06:47. > :06:51.not, had they declined my request, I would have gone back to the car and
:06:52. > :06:55.driven off. 1.8 million private parking tickets are issued every
:06:56. > :06:59.year. Though the vast majority once given out on public roads.
:07:00. > :07:03.Surprisingly, very few others appeal against these fines. Just over
:07:04. > :07:08.13,000 others took the matter further. If you do appeal there is a
:07:09. > :07:11.good chance you could win. Just under half of motorists successfully
:07:12. > :07:13.got their fines rescinded. So why don't more of motorists successfully
:07:14. > :07:15.got their fines rescinded. So why don't more others fight these fines?
:07:16. > :07:18.The body that oversees private car parking companies insist the process
:07:19. > :07:24.to make an appeal is fair and relatively easy car park and are not
:07:25. > :07:29.happy with it, the right to the person who has issued it to them and
:07:30. > :07:34.they then cancel it. They don't have the right to go to an independent
:07:35. > :07:38.appeals others to have their case considered independently. That are
:07:39. > :07:43.really important benefit. They have to demonstrate it is a binding
:07:44. > :07:46.contractual agreement. But this campaign disagrees. He believes the
:07:47. > :07:49.process is still stacked up against the motorist when dealing with
:07:50. > :07:54.private car park operators, and that there's only one way of making sure
:07:55. > :07:58.you get a fair hearing. I want my day in court if you are going to
:07:59. > :08:03.pursue this. If you go to court, I want you demonstrate why, there --
:08:04. > :08:07.that there was a contract. You are entitled to receive the money,
:08:08. > :08:12.three, it's not a penalty and four, that what you've asked for is a
:08:13. > :08:15.genuine pre-estimate of loss. Despite the signs, McDonald's
:08:16. > :08:19.doesn't receive any of the money from the fines they are issued. It's
:08:20. > :08:25.a third party that once their car parks. A McDonald's have issued an
:08:26. > :08:29.apology and cancelled the ticket. Holidays, they are supposed to be
:08:30. > :08:32.fun in the sun but there's less to laugh about if you are ripped off.
:08:33. > :08:35.The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says fraudsters stole ?7
:08:36. > :08:41.million from holiday-makers in 2013. There were over four point --
:08:42. > :08:44.thousand 500 cases of booking fraud, that includes accommodation that
:08:45. > :08:48.didn't exist or fake plane tickets. The travel group ABTA says nine in
:08:49. > :08:54.100 holiday-makers hand over money to travel companies without checking
:08:55. > :08:58.if they are the real deal. Sean Tipton is from ABTA. That -- talk us
:08:59. > :09:02.through some of these problems. First of all, accommodation that
:09:03. > :09:06.doesn't exist. It's a growing problem. We noticed over the last
:09:07. > :09:09.year or so that we are getting many more calls from members of the
:09:10. > :09:12.public to have been defrauded in this way. The travel industry is
:09:13. > :09:14.quite an attractive area for fraudsters. It's one of the few
:09:15. > :09:18.places where you pay large amounts of money upfront for something you
:09:19. > :09:30.don't get till months down the line. If accommodation doesn't exist, you
:09:31. > :09:32.put a nice picture of a beautiful villa online, faked up some reviews
:09:33. > :09:35.from customers who'd never stayed there. The people involved will ask
:09:36. > :09:37.you to pay by bank transfer, which is something we recommend you do not
:09:38. > :09:40.do. That is important. You Low if you pray by bank transfer into a
:09:41. > :09:43.private individual's account. It doesn't necessarily mean they are
:09:44. > :09:48.fraudulent, but if they are, it is virtually impossible to get your
:09:49. > :09:53.money back. That should be a warning bell for you. Precisely. And there
:09:54. > :09:56.are ways around this. There are companies that feature villa online
:09:57. > :10:00.where you can pay by credit or debit card. That's the way to protect
:10:01. > :10:04.yourself is something goes wrong. Fake airline tickets. You Low they
:10:05. > :10:07.are a growing problem, particularly for flights to Africa. You are
:10:08. > :10:11.paying upfront for something you won't be receiving until months down
:10:12. > :10:16.the line. You want to be sent a fake ticket, you will just be fobbed
:10:17. > :10:20.off, the ticket is on its way, we're having a problem with the airline.
:10:21. > :10:23.It gets to a few days before your travel and no ticket appears. These
:10:24. > :10:27.companies nearly always insist you pay by bank transfer. If you do
:10:28. > :10:32.that, it is like passing money, in cash, to a total stranger. Is it
:10:33. > :10:36.something you can check directly with the airline, or would you be
:10:37. > :10:41.better of booking directly with the airline, at least you know then?
:10:42. > :10:45.These companies, they will be travel agencies but they won't have
:10:46. > :10:49.licenses at all. If you see one of those licences in place, you won't
:10:50. > :10:53.need to worry about this. You can check with the airline, but it's
:10:54. > :10:58.much better to go with a traditional agent who is licensed. We've got the
:10:59. > :11:01.Commonwealth Games, the World Cup and religious pilgrimage take place
:11:02. > :11:06.every year. This group travel is also vulnerable. Very vulnerable.
:11:07. > :11:11.You are talking about sports events, which by their nature are hard to
:11:12. > :11:17.get hold of tickets, rooms are at a premium. Prizes will be advertised
:11:18. > :11:22.not ridiculously low, not silly, but they are a lot lower than packages
:11:23. > :11:26.on sale. Again, pay by bank transfer. It's the same issue. Also
:11:27. > :11:30.religious trips, we see this every year, particularly trips to Saudi
:11:31. > :11:36.Arabia for the harsh. People can lose tens of thousands of pounds. If
:11:37. > :11:41.you take all the precautions I do still get ripped off, is there any
:11:42. > :11:47.redress afterwards? You should report this to the police. Action
:11:48. > :11:51.app fraud is the website to go to. That is all from Your Money this
:11:52. > :11:54.week. There is news about savings, mortgages, pensions and loans on the
:11:55. > :11:58.Your Money pages of the BBC's website. And updates by following
:11:59. > :12:23.our feed on Twitter all week long. If you have got outdoor plans for
:12:24. > :12:28.the west of the weekend, things are looking pretty decent. I pressure is
:12:29. > :12:30.still largely in charge, for most of us things are looking largely dry