16/08/2014 Your Money

That is coming up after this, Your Money with Declan Curry.

Hello and welcome to Your Money. Your weekly guide to making the most

of your cash. Till death do you part, how to track down the pension

money you are owed after your partner dies. A guide to the virtual

currency of bitcoin. And what bank account should you pick if your

A`level results have sent you the college?

Hello. When your husband or wife dies, you don't always know what

arrangements they have made for both of you in old age. The pensions

minister warned this week that more than 10,000 retired widows have less

money than they should have because they have lost track of their little

husband's pensions. Tom McPhail is pensions expert `` is a pensions

expert. Does that estimate sound about right to you, 10,000 widows

who should be getting pension money but are not? Yes, it may well be

more than that. It is important to bear in mind that it is not just the

widows or widowers may be losing out, in some cases it is former

spouses. They may also potentially have a claim if they still have some

financial dependency on an ex`partner. There is clearly a lot

of money not ending up where it should. Estimates of ?3 billion.

This should be allocated to people. Thousands of widows and widowers are

missing out financially. How do you start the process of tracking this

money down? Do you need to work out where your late partner worked and

then go to that place of work and say, was there a pension? The

obvious starting point is any paperwork. There is the Government

pension tracing service which you can find on the Government website.

There are commercial organisations that also offered to do this,

sometimes for a fee. You do not need to pay them to do that. Go back to

former employers, to any old pension schemes you do know about, and ask

the question. They will ask for information like date of birth,

national insurance number etc. You can always ask a financial adviser.

Hopefully through one of those free sources you can track down any money

you are entitled to. You could be going back over decades past

employment. Former employees `` employers from 20 or 30 years ago.

You mentioned former husbands and former wives, and that they may also

be entitled to some money. What about civil partnerships? Generally

it is at the discretion of the pension scheme as to how they

allocate death benefits. The obvious starting point would be current

spouse. Anybody who can demonstrate financial dependency, and this may

be a respective of whatever the deceased member's instructions

were... Anyone who can demonstrate they had genuine financial

dependency on that individual may have a legitimate claim on death

benefits distributed by the pension scheme.

Thank you very much. If you think you have lost track of a pension,

Tom mentions the Government run service which can help you track it

down. If you are a saver and you are

hoping for a rise in interest rates later this year, you will not be too

pleased by the latest tea leaf reading from the Bank of England.

Governor Mark Carney had earlier hinted the Government should not

rule out an early rise in interest rates. Now he seems to have changed

his mind. It next year after all. People who go to food banks to get

emergency supplies of food are to be given free advice on how to manage

their money and avoid debt. A pilot scheme will be launched by the the

Trussell Trust this September. It is being paid for by a donation from

money campaigner Martyn Lewis. And the Premier League is back this

weekend. If you live near a ground, it may make your house or flat more

valuable. Prices of homes near Premier League rounds have more than

doubled in the last five years. A change in overdraft charges at

HSBC and first direct. At the moment if you go deeper into the red

without advance permission, you are charged a one`off ?25 fee. From

November, that will be replaced by a fee of ?5. You will be charged that

every day that you are over your agreed limit. There is a cab. ``

Capp. HSBC and first direct will text you

if you go over your limit. If you get the balance back by 11:45pm, you

will not be charged the fee for that day. Bitcoin is, you may or may not

have heard of them. Some people get very excited about them. Others

think they are enormously risky. We asked our technology expert to give

us the lowdown on bitcoin 's. Here in the traditional seaside town

of Swanage in Dorset, a bar of chocolate from the local newsagent

will cost you 65p, or 0.019 bitcoin 's. Andy James, owner of the

newsagents, started accepting the currency this summer. He is the only

bitcoin trader in time. The or the customer comes in, selects the item.

We select bitcoin payments on the screen. That opens up what we need.

Then we put the mountain. For instance, ?1 50. `` the amount in.

It puts a cold on the screen. The customer scans that with their form

and accepted. It sends the bitcoin is from their accounts to our

account. His first customer was Scott Green. A friend of mine sent

me a photo of the bitcoin logo in the window. I came down here to buy

a kit cat just to see if it would work. I thought if you can buy a kit

cat in Swanage, this guy is the limit. There are about 11 million

bitcoin is in the world right now but you will never see one because

they have no physical appearance. They are created by computers

solving complicated maths problems online. That means you can only buy

them or spend them using your computer or your smartphone. The

value also goes up and down a lot. Are they safe? The bottom line is

no. If the value was to drop, there is nothing to boy it up. If there is

a run on the pound, the Bank of England stepped in. If there is a

run on bitcoin, nobody steps in. If trust breaks down it is worthless.

There have been a lot of high`profile thefts. Tens of

thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin tab and stolen. In the UK

there is a steady stream of bitcoin buyers. Digital currency? I have

never heard of it. I have never heard of it. But I probably would

use it. I would, yes. It sounds really interesting. If it was

introduced to me I would probably use it. I would, yes. It sounds

really interesting. If it was Used it once before to receive money. It

was a website job that I did. It is good. A little bit slow. Bitcoin

describes itself as experimental. Obviously it is a risky investment.

But here in Swanage it is a currency that may just float.

If you got the A`level you needed, congratulations, you're off to

university. Time for a few extra lessons on managing Your Money. What

is the best bank account for you to get? Matt Saunders is from go

compare in Cardiff. A great university city. Bank accounts for

students, they offer all sorts of free gifts and inducements. Now they

ever worth the gift on the wrong or should you look beyond the flashing

gimmickry and look at the essentials of the account? Exactly right. The

key rule for choosing any financial product is to do your research, make

sure you understand what your incoming and are going to be whilst

you're at university. Choose the products that are right for you.

There are a number of gimmicks and inducements to encourage students to

take certain accounts out. The advice would be to look at what the

inducements are, or the benefits. Is it something you would normally

purchase? Is it something you are looking to purchase? Is it something

you are going to use? Way that up against the potential for the

flexibility account against overdraft charges and overdraft

interest you may be paying on the accounts offering these inducements.

How big the overdraft is, how long it will last etc. No exactly. It

comes down to how you are going to use the account. Look at what

overdraft is suitable for you. If you're looking to borrow money from

the bank, you are looking for the cheapest possible option. This is

not free money. You are expected to pay that back at the end of term or

the end of your education. Look at your ability to pay it back. Is

there much of a difference between the accounts? They tend to look

fairly similar. The overdrafts are detailed as guaranteed or limited.

The limits are not applicable to all applicants. There are credit

searches to decide what the limit is. The guaranteed limits are

guaranteed when you apply for the account provided you are accepted.

If you know you will be using ?1500 on the account it is worth going for

the account but if you might need more, take a risk and go for the

higher limit itches and guaranteed. Thank you. That is all from us. You

can keep up`to`date all week long on the BBC business website. On social

media we have updates on Twitter. More next week. Thank you for your

company today. Goodbye. The headlines are coming up. Now,

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