Browse content similar to 15/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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they try to reach out to voters. Now it is time for Your Money with | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Declan Curry. Hello and welcome to Your Money, | :00:07. | :00:14. | |
your weekly guide to making the most of your cash, here every weekend on | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
BBC News television and available all week on the BBC iPlayer. | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
Bill shock - tens of thousands of complaints about mobile phone bills | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
and the contracts we sign. We've got some tips on how to get the best | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
deal, and how to avoid unexpected charges. | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
Taken for a ride - how to avoid big charges when you park on private | :00:34. | :00:35. | |
land. And glum in the sun - fraudsters | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
steal ?7 million from holiday-makers every year. We'll see how we can | :00:39. | :00:46. | |
avoid them. Here's something many of us have had | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
at least once, a mobile phone bill that's much bigger than we expected. | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland says this weekend they had | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
28,000 complaints about mobile phone bills and contracts last year. | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
Everything from the cost of using the internet abroad on your mobile, | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
to unclear terms in the contract, to phones that don't work. Ernest Doku | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
is from the website uSwitch - he's the expert there on mobile phone | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
costs. The core point, and it's one you can address as well, is that | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
there's just too much bad behaviour by the mobile phone industry. | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
Certainly. I think things have got better but there's still a long way | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
to go. A lot of the major changes that have happened in the industry | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
that have benefited consumers, moves to make zero 800 numbers free, moves | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
to make costs lower, a lot of them have been brought in by Ofcom | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
regulations, rather than providers being better behaved. They did it | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
because they were told to. It's not always from the goodness of their | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
hearts. Other changes are bringing down prices, giving you more data | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
for your money. A lot of those have come from massive competition | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
between the providers. Things are getting better but there's a long | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
way to go. And some regulation from Europe as well. When you get the | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
phone, how do you work out what's best? Whether it should be a monthly | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
contract or pay-as-you-go? It's horses for courses in that regard. A | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
lot of providers move towards contracts because you get the | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
greater deal of minutes, texts for your money. If you are very chatty, | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
you want a tariff that gives you a wealth of minutes. As there was a | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
move towards smartphones and having data heavy contracts, that was the | :02:30. | :02:39. | |
way to go. Du, as a purchaser of a mobile phone, there is an obligation | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
on you to sit down and think, how many free minutes and my likely to | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
need, how many texts, how much data? Certainly. A lot of providers are | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
giving flexibility in that regard. Vodafone, as regards to data, you | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
have three months. You can go crazy, you get a test plan to see where you | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
might see it. If you are a heavy, medium or light user. A lot of | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
things enable you to get a feel for where you sit and make sure you are | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
getting the right plan for your usage habits. What if your mobile | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
phone 's and offer a service where you got three months, I think you | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
are on the wrong deal? Can you change it? I would err on the side | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
of caution initially. Opt for a lower price plan. If you are | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
reaching those higher caps, certainly you have the option to | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
shop around or bump up grades, which costs a bit more but it's definitely | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
worth it for the peace of mind. You mentioned some of the costs of no -- | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
using mobile phones abroad have been capped, but not all of them and not | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
in all parts of the world. When you are travelling abroad it is a | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
massive concern to make sure you are using the right amount of minutes, | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
texts and data. The first thing you do, as soon as you pack your | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
suitcase, tell your provider that you are going a little bit ahead of | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
time, tell them where you were going and how long for. They often have | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
different plans or bundles they can have -- add-on to the tariffs, to | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
make sure you are spending the right amount of money. Three have a plan | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
which allows you to dip into your pool of domestic minutes, texts and | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
data and use them abroad. But you've got to tell them in advance. Of | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
course. And it's not just mobile phone bills that are causing money | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
problems, there's been a big rise in the number of people asking for help | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
with their council tax bills. The debt charity StepChange says it | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
helped over 45,000 people who'd fallen behind with their payments | :04:28. | :04:29. | |
last year. If you are struggling to pay your bill, the charity says you | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
should get in touch with your local council's payment department, tell | :04:37. | :04:38. | |
them you are having difficulties and that you'd like to discuss a payment | :04:39. | :04:40. | |
plan with them. This would interest you if you owe money to payday | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
lenders. The companies that charge thousands of percent in interest if | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
you don't pay back quickly enough. The new financial watchdog says it | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
will review how companies treat borrowers who are in trouble. That | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
will happen in April. The watchdog says its new, tough rules should | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
drive one lender in four out of business. The news says fraudsters | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
are stealing more money using our bank and credit card. It turns out | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
many of the thefts are very low-tech, snatching the card out of | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
the cash machine when we are not looking, for example. Top advice | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
from the banks, don't let anyone distract you with anything if you | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
are using a cash machine or paying an card at the till. And if someone | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
brings up saying they are the bank or police and they need your | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
security code, they are lying. Don't give it to them! We will talk more | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
about how you can protect yourselves from fraud when we're booking our | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
holidays, that'll be in a few minutes. The minimum wage is to go | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
up in October. Workers over 21 will get an extra 19p an hour. That | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
brings the Minimum Wage Commission ?6.50. A rise of 3%. 18 to | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
20-year-olds will get an extra 10p an hour. Their minimum will rise to | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
?5.13. 16 and 17-year-olds will get 7p more. That brings their minimum | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
to ?3.79. If you've parked on private land and you've got a | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
shocking bill for it afterwards, what can you do about it? Ramzan | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
Karmali knows. I was amazed to get a ticket. Last month, this man | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
received a parking ticket in the post were leaving his vehicle in a | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
McDonald's car park for more than an hour. He felt he'd done everything | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
possible to avoid this nasty surprise. Having got into the car | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
park, there are restrictions there. As I was definitely going to be | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
there more than 16 minutes, I asked the staff whether I can park more | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
than 60 minutes. The staff said, guess, you can park it. Had they | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
not, had they declined my request, I would have gone back to the car and | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
driven off. 1.8 million private parking tickets are issued every | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
year. Though the vast majority once given out on public roads. | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
Surprisingly, very few others appeal against these fines. Just over | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
13,000 others took the matter further. If you do appeal there is a | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
good chance you could win. Just under half of motorists successfully | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
got their fines rescinded. So why don't more of motorists successfully | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
got their fines rescinded. So why don't more others fight these fines? | :07:14. | :07:15. | |
The body that oversees private car parking companies insist the process | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
to make an appeal is fair and relatively easy car park and are not | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
happy with it, the right to the person who has issued it to them and | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
they then cancel it. They don't have the right to go to an independent | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
appeals others to have their case considered independently. That are | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
really important benefit. They have to demonstrate it is a binding | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
contractual agreement. But this campaign disagrees. He believes the | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
process is still stacked up against the motorist when dealing with | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
private car park operators, and that there's only one way of making sure | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
you get a fair hearing. I want my day in court if you are going to | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
pursue this. If you go to court, I want you demonstrate why, there -- | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
that there was a contract. You are entitled to receive the money, | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
three, it's not a penalty and four, that what you've asked for is a | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
genuine pre-estimate of loss. Despite the signs, McDonald's | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
doesn't receive any of the money from the fines they are issued. It's | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
a third party that once their car parks. A McDonald's have issued an | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
apology and cancelled the ticket. Holidays, they are supposed to be | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
fun in the sun but there's less to laugh about if you are ripped off. | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says fraudsters stole ?7 | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
million from holiday-makers in 2013. There were over four point -- | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
thousand 500 cases of booking fraud, that includes accommodation that | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
didn't exist or fake plane tickets. The travel group ABTA says nine in | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
100 holiday-makers hand over money to travel companies without checking | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
if they are the real deal. Sean Tipton is from ABTA. That -- talk us | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
through some of these problems. First of all, accommodation that | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
doesn't exist. It's a growing problem. We noticed over the last | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
year or so that we are getting many more calls from members of the | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
public to have been defrauded in this way. The travel industry is | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
quite an attractive area for fraudsters. It's one of the few | :09:13. | :09:14. | |
places where you pay large amounts of money upfront for something you | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
don't get till months down the line. If accommodation doesn't exist, you | :09:19. | :09:30. | |
put a nice picture of a beautiful villa online, faked up some reviews | :09:31. | :09:32. | |
from customers who'd never stayed there. The people involved will ask | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
you to pay by bank transfer, which is something we recommend you do not | :09:36. | :09:37. | |
do. That is important. You Low if you pray by bank transfer into a | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
private individual's account. It doesn't necessarily mean they are | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
fraudulent, but if they are, it is virtually impossible to get your | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
money back. That should be a warning bell for you. Precisely. And there | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
are ways around this. There are companies that feature villa online | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
where you can pay by credit or debit card. That's the way to protect | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
yourself is something goes wrong. Fake airline tickets. You Low they | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
are a growing problem, particularly for flights to Africa. You are | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
paying upfront for something you won't be receiving until months down | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
the line. You want to be sent a fake ticket, you will just be fobbed | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
off, the ticket is on its way, we're having a problem with the airline. | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
It gets to a few days before your travel and no ticket appears. These | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
companies nearly always insist you pay by bank transfer. If you do | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
that, it is like passing money, in cash, to a total stranger. Is it | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
something you can check directly with the airline, or would you be | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
better of booking directly with the airline, at least you know then? | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
These companies, they will be travel agencies but they won't have | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
licenses at all. If you see one of those licences in place, you won't | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
need to worry about this. You can check with the airline, but it's | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
much better to go with a traditional agent who is licensed. We've got the | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Commonwealth Games, the World Cup and religious pilgrimage take place | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
every year. This group travel is also vulnerable. Very vulnerable. | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
You are talking about sports events, which by their nature are hard to | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
get hold of tickets, rooms are at a premium. Prizes will be advertised | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
not ridiculously low, not silly, but they are a lot lower than packages | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
on sale. Again, pay by bank transfer. It's the same issue. Also | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
religious trips, we see this every year, particularly trips to Saudi | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
Arabia for the harsh. People can lose tens of thousands of pounds. If | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
you take all the precautions I do still get ripped off, is there any | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
redress afterwards? You should report this to the police. Action | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
app fraud is the website to go to. That is all from Your Money this | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
week. There is news about savings, mortgages, pensions and loans on the | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
Your Money pages of the BBC's website. And updates by following | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
our feed on Twitter all week long. If you have got outdoor plans for | :11:59. | :12:23. | |
the west of the weekend, things are looking pretty decent. I pressure is | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
still largely in charge, for most of us things are looking largely dry | :12:29. | :12:30. |