15/03/2014 Your Money


15/03/2014

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they try to reach out to voters. Now it is time for Your Money with

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Declan Curry. Hello and welcome to Your Money,

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your weekly guide to making the most of your cash, here every weekend on

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BBC News television and available all week on the BBC iPlayer.

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Bill shock - tens of thousands of complaints about mobile phone bills

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and the contracts we sign. We've got some tips on how to get the best

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deal, and how to avoid unexpected charges.

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Taken for a ride - how to avoid big charges when you park on private

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land. And glum in the sun - fraudsters

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steal ?7 million from holiday-makers every year. We'll see how we can

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avoid them. Here's something many of us have had

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at least once, a mobile phone bill that's much bigger than we expected.

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Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland says this weekend they had

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28,000 complaints about mobile phone bills and contracts last year.

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Everything from the cost of using the internet abroad on your mobile,

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to unclear terms in the contract, to phones that don't work. Ernest Doku

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is from the website uSwitch - he's the expert there on mobile phone

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costs. The core point, and it's one you can address as well, is that

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there's just too much bad behaviour by the mobile phone industry.

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Certainly. I think things have got better but there's still a long way

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to go. A lot of the major changes that have happened in the industry

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that have benefited consumers, moves to make zero 800 numbers free, moves

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to make costs lower, a lot of them have been brought in by Ofcom

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regulations, rather than providers being better behaved. They did it

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because they were told to. It's not always from the goodness of their

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hearts. Other changes are bringing down prices, giving you more data

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for your money. A lot of those have come from massive competition

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between the providers. Things are getting better but there's a long

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way to go. And some regulation from Europe as well. When you get the

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phone, how do you work out what's best? Whether it should be a monthly

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contract or pay-as-you-go? It's horses for courses in that regard. A

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lot of providers move towards contracts because you get the

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greater deal of minutes, texts for your money. If you are very chatty,

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you want a tariff that gives you a wealth of minutes. As there was a

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move towards smartphones and having data heavy contracts, that was the

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way to go. Du, as a purchaser of a mobile phone, there is an obligation

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on you to sit down and think, how many free minutes and my likely to

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need, how many texts, how much data? Certainly. A lot of providers are

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giving flexibility in that regard. Vodafone, as regards to data, you

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have three months. You can go crazy, you get a test plan to see where you

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might see it. If you are a heavy, medium or light user. A lot of

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things enable you to get a feel for where you sit and make sure you are

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getting the right plan for your usage habits. What if your mobile

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phone 's and offer a service where you got three months, I think you

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are on the wrong deal? Can you change it? I would err on the side

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of caution initially. Opt for a lower price plan. If you are

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reaching those higher caps, certainly you have the option to

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shop around or bump up grades, which costs a bit more but it's definitely

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worth it for the peace of mind. You mentioned some of the costs of no --

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using mobile phones abroad have been capped, but not all of them and not

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in all parts of the world. When you are travelling abroad it is a

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massive concern to make sure you are using the right amount of minutes,

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texts and data. The first thing you do, as soon as you pack your

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suitcase, tell your provider that you are going a little bit ahead of

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time, tell them where you were going and how long for. They often have

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different plans or bundles they can have -- add-on to the tariffs, to

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make sure you are spending the right amount of money. Three have a plan

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which allows you to dip into your pool of domestic minutes, texts and

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data and use them abroad. But you've got to tell them in advance. Of

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course. And it's not just mobile phone bills that are causing money

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problems, there's been a big rise in the number of people asking for help

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with their council tax bills. The debt charity StepChange says it

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helped over 45,000 people who'd fallen behind with their payments

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last year. If you are struggling to pay your bill, the charity says you

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should get in touch with your local council's payment department, tell

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them you are having difficulties and that you'd like to discuss a payment

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plan with them. This would interest you if you owe money to payday

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lenders. The companies that charge thousands of percent in interest if

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you don't pay back quickly enough. The new financial watchdog says it

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will review how companies treat borrowers who are in trouble. That

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will happen in April. The watchdog says its new, tough rules should

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drive one lender in four out of business. The news says fraudsters

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are stealing more money using our bank and credit card. It turns out

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many of the thefts are very low-tech, snatching the card out of

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the cash machine when we are not looking, for example. Top advice

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from the banks, don't let anyone distract you with anything if you

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are using a cash machine or paying an card at the till. And if someone

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brings up saying they are the bank or police and they need your

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security code, they are lying. Don't give it to them! We will talk more

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about how you can protect yourselves from fraud when we're booking our

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holidays, that'll be in a few minutes. The minimum wage is to go

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up in October. Workers over 21 will get an extra 19p an hour. That

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brings the Minimum Wage Commission ?6.50. A rise of 3%. 18 to

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20-year-olds will get an extra 10p an hour. Their minimum will rise to

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?5.13. 16 and 17-year-olds will get 7p more. That brings their minimum

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to ?3.79. If you've parked on private land and you've got a

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shocking bill for it afterwards, what can you do about it? Ramzan

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Karmali knows. I was amazed to get a ticket. Last month, this man

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received a parking ticket in the post were leaving his vehicle in a

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McDonald's car park for more than an hour. He felt he'd done everything

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possible to avoid this nasty surprise. Having got into the car

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park, there are restrictions there. As I was definitely going to be

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there more than 16 minutes, I asked the staff whether I can park more

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than 60 minutes. The staff said, guess, you can park it. Had they

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not, had they declined my request, I would have gone back to the car and

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driven off. 1.8 million private parking tickets are issued every

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year. Though the vast majority once given out on public roads.

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Surprisingly, very few others appeal against these fines. Just over

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13,000 others took the matter further. If you do appeal there is a

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good chance you could win. Just under half of motorists successfully

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got their fines rescinded. So why don't more of motorists successfully

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got their fines rescinded. So why don't more others fight these fines?

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The body that oversees private car parking companies insist the process

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to make an appeal is fair and relatively easy car park and are not

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happy with it, the right to the person who has issued it to them and

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they then cancel it. They don't have the right to go to an independent

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appeals others to have their case considered independently. That are

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really important benefit. They have to demonstrate it is a binding

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contractual agreement. But this campaign disagrees. He believes the

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process is still stacked up against the motorist when dealing with

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private car park operators, and that there's only one way of making sure

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you get a fair hearing. I want my day in court if you are going to

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pursue this. If you go to court, I want you demonstrate why, there --

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that there was a contract. You are entitled to receive the money,

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three, it's not a penalty and four, that what you've asked for is a

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genuine pre-estimate of loss. Despite the signs, McDonald's

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doesn't receive any of the money from the fines they are issued. It's

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a third party that once their car parks. A McDonald's have issued an

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apology and cancelled the ticket. Holidays, they are supposed to be

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fun in the sun but there's less to laugh about if you are ripped off.

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The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says fraudsters stole ?7

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million from holiday-makers in 2013. There were over four point --

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thousand 500 cases of booking fraud, that includes accommodation that

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didn't exist or fake plane tickets. The travel group ABTA says nine in

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100 holiday-makers hand over money to travel companies without checking

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if they are the real deal. Sean Tipton is from ABTA. That -- talk us

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through some of these problems. First of all, accommodation that

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doesn't exist. It's a growing problem. We noticed over the last

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year or so that we are getting many more calls from members of the

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public to have been defrauded in this way. The travel industry is

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quite an attractive area for fraudsters. It's one of the few

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places where you pay large amounts of money upfront for something you

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don't get till months down the line. If accommodation doesn't exist, you

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put a nice picture of a beautiful villa online, faked up some reviews

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from customers who'd never stayed there. The people involved will ask

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you to pay by bank transfer, which is something we recommend you do not

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do. That is important. You Low if you pray by bank transfer into a

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private individual's account. It doesn't necessarily mean they are

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fraudulent, but if they are, it is virtually impossible to get your

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money back. That should be a warning bell for you. Precisely. And there

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are ways around this. There are companies that feature villa online

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where you can pay by credit or debit card. That's the way to protect

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yourself is something goes wrong. Fake airline tickets. You Low they

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are a growing problem, particularly for flights to Africa. You are

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paying upfront for something you won't be receiving until months down

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the line. You want to be sent a fake ticket, you will just be fobbed

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off, the ticket is on its way, we're having a problem with the airline.

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It gets to a few days before your travel and no ticket appears. These

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companies nearly always insist you pay by bank transfer. If you do

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that, it is like passing money, in cash, to a total stranger. Is it

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something you can check directly with the airline, or would you be

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better of booking directly with the airline, at least you know then?

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These companies, they will be travel agencies but they won't have

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licenses at all. If you see one of those licences in place, you won't

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need to worry about this. You can check with the airline, but it's

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much better to go with a traditional agent who is licensed. We've got the

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Commonwealth Games, the World Cup and religious pilgrimage take place

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every year. This group travel is also vulnerable. Very vulnerable.

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You are talking about sports events, which by their nature are hard to

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get hold of tickets, rooms are at a premium. Prizes will be advertised

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not ridiculously low, not silly, but they are a lot lower than packages

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on sale. Again, pay by bank transfer. It's the same issue. Also

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religious trips, we see this every year, particularly trips to Saudi

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Arabia for the harsh. People can lose tens of thousands of pounds. If

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you take all the precautions I do still get ripped off, is there any

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redress afterwards? You should report this to the police. Action

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app fraud is the website to go to. That is all from Your Money this

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week. There is news about savings, mortgages, pensions and loans on the

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Your Money pages of the BBC's website. And updates by following

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our feed on Twitter all week long. If you have got outdoor plans for

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the west of the weekend, things are looking pretty decent. I pressure is

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still largely in charge, for most of us things are looking largely dry

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