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calls. Hello and welcome to Your Money ` | :00:11. | :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. The | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
service that's supposed to stop unwanted phone calls. You keep | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
telling us it doesn't work. The boss of the Telephone Preference Service | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
is here to defend it. Saving money for the future. It's | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
never too early to start. But what's the best way to do it? The mother of | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
the one on the left finds out. And how can you save if you don't | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
have any money spare at the end of the month? We'll get some tips. | :00:43. | :00:49. | |
PPI. Cheap holidays abroad ` no catch. Shares that are an | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
unbelievable bargain. Investments in diamonds that are yet to be | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
discovered. There's no end to the ways that people try to part us from | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
our money over the phone. If only there was some sort of system we | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
could sign up for that said ` please don't call me, I'm not interested. | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
But there is! It's the Telephone Preference Service. I've signed up | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
for it. You've signed up for it. And yet the nuisance calls keep on | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
coming. Some of you got in touch when we last mentioned this. | :01:18. | :01:49. | |
And those were the polite comments. The Telephone Preference Service is | :01:50. | :02:03. | |
run by this gentleman. You are launching a new certification | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
scheme. How's that going to make difference? It is an accreditation | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
service for the telemarketing industry and brings all of the | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
existing legislation and best practice into one place to allow | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
companies to be assessed. It is there to combat the damage to | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
reputation done by companies like the one you just mentioned that | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
cause a lot of nuisance calls and complaints and are bringing the | :02:28. | :02:29. | |
legitimate telemarketing industry into disrepute. How does it change | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
the fundamental issue, which is that Telephone reference service does not | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
seem to work? The Telephone Preference Service is not a call | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
blocking system, it is basically a service that allows people to | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
register their telephone number, it is a free service and watch your | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
number is registered it is the law. It becomes a legal requirement for | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
companies to screen their lists and against the CPS file before making | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
the calls. The problem we have is that with companies that are willing | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
to ignore the law in order to take advantage of short`term financial | :03:07. | :03:08. | |
opportunities like some of the ones you mentioned, particularly PPI, and | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
often some of the calls come from overseas and are there to basically | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
just collected data through some sort of survey or a questionnaire | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
that is passed on to other companies that make further calls. That is the | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
fundamental problem. You say it is the law that if you register with | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
the service, these companies should not call you. They still call. They | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
do still call. There is not just one solution to this problem, there is | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
not a silver bullet. There are many things being done. One of the things | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
is the introduction of TPS assured, so that we can help differentiate | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
the legitimate telemarketers from those rules that we discussed. But | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
also there are many other things. `` those rogues we discussed. Everyone | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
with a stake in this problem, from government through to telecom | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
providers, one of the most serious things is enforcement. The Telephone | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
Preference Service does not have powers of enforcement. All of the | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
complaint data we collect we pass on to the Information Commissioner and | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
they are the organisation to issue fines of up to 500,000 pounds. So | :04:16. | :04:25. | |
you have no enforcement powers of your own? No. We run the service, | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
collect the numbers, and we talk to the companies that make the | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
complaints `` that get the complaint but all of the information is passed | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
to the Information Commissioner. Though these cold calling companies | :04:40. | :04:41. | |
should look at you register and note who does not want these calls, but | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
you cannot force them to do it and they carry on making the calls and | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
there is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing that the | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
Telephone Preference Service can do. What is the point of it? Today legal | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
requirement. But these companies keep ignoring it. `` it is a legal | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
requirement. Why is the law not enforced? The organisation with the | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
power to enforce the law is the Information Commissioner. One of the | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
things that the government is trying to do at the moment is lower the | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
threshold of the burden of proof for the Information Commissioner because | :05:21. | :05:22. | |
at the moment they have a high burden of proof to issue a fine. The | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
Information Commissioner has been issuing a lot more find recently, he | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
had been working hard on the issue of nuisance calls. But if the law | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
could be amended slightly to lower the burden of proof so they did not | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
have to prove significant damage or distress, they could law that to a | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
nuisance, I believe they will be able to issue a lot more find that | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
that would have a huge effect on the number of nuisance calls. Is it not | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
time to change the law a stage further and license direct marketing | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
companies and create a regulator with the power to strike them off if | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
they pester people? I think that that is something that has been | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
brought up in the past, the current government is not really, does not | :06:07. | :06:13. | |
want to introduce a amount of extra burden on businesses with additional | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
legislation. `` introduce a huge amount. Just out of curiosity, who | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
pays for the Telephone Preference Service? It is paid by the companies | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
that benefit from the calls being made. So this is self regulatory, | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
you're a creature of the cold callers, just a PR front. It is a | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
legal requirement. Any company making outbound sales calls need to | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
use Telephone Preference Service. These companies pay for you, that | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
means that you are never, ever going to get tough with them. I would be | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
happy to get tough with them. There are other people get with them, the | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
more people will want to use the Telephone Preference Service and the | :07:03. | :07:04. | |
less nuisance calls there will be. OK. If someone is getting these cold | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
today, aside from unplugging the phone, how should the deal with it? | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
How can people stop these calls? The first thing I recommended they must | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
make sure they are registered on the Telephone Preference Service. Then | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
they have the ability to make a complaint about any of the calls. | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
They can complain to the Telephone Preference Service or if it is about | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
a recorded message, that goes to the Information Commissioner. Thank you | :07:33. | :07:41. | |
for coming in. So now we are six. The last of the | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
Big Six energy firms has said it will put up its prices. E.ON has yet | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
to tell us by how much prices will rise ` the wicked tease ` but it's | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
coming. Three of its rivals ` SSE, Npower and EDF ` says they'll cut | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
their bills if the Government reduces green taxes. That might | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
happen in the autumn statement on the 5th of December. But the public | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
spending watchdog ` the National Audit Office ` has warned we face 17 | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
years of energy and water bills going up by more than other prices | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
or wages ` as we've got to pay for new pylons, wires and pipes. Savers | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
suffered too long from low interest rates, meaning you've got less to | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
live on? Don't bank on an earlier rise in interest rates just because | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
the economy is revving up. The Bank of England had said interest rates | :08:21. | :08:22. | |
would go up if unemployment fell below 7% ` now the bank's key | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
figures say unemployment might fall to that level faster than expected ` | :08:27. | :08:29. | |
but they might leave interest rates on hold anyway. What else is | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
happening with money? The cost of renting a house or a flat is up | :08:35. | :08:45. | |
again, 11% higher than last year. And one of the biggest banks is | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
scrapping the fee for bouncing a cheque or other payments. HSBC and | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
First Direct customers won't have to pay the current ?25 fee ` from | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
November 24th. It's something grandparents ask every Christmas and | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
every birthday ` should we save some money for the little darlings? What | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
IS the best way to save for children? The Government has a | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
savings plan for young people. It's the Junior ISA. One problem. Few | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
seem to have heard of it ` or know how it works. That may or may not | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
include new mum and Your Money reporter ` Maryam Moshiri. We asked | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
her to look into them. These babies are too young to know | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
what a piggy bank is for but many parents and grandparents believe | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
saving for their children or grandchildren now is the best way to | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
ensure they do not lose out in later life. Take`up of Jim Muir ISA since | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
their launch has been disappointing, with research showing some parents | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
find them too confusing to consider. `` take`up of junior Isa. There is | :09:45. | :09:54. | |
not a lot of time to go and investigate all of those issues. So | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
it gets really confusing where to start. You end up doing nothing. | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
Junior ISAs come in two forms, a cash ISA and a stocks and shares | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
one. The latest research shows that of the nearly 300,000 people who | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
chose to invest in an ISA, only a small number to us to invest in | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
stocks and shares. This did make the fact that stocks tend to outperform | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
cash, meaning the returns you get if you're kept back is invested in the | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
stock market could be much higher. For example, cash deposited in | :10:32. | :10:40. | |
stocks and shares Junior ISAs would give you a return of over 15%, | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
whereas the same amount invested in the Best Buy cash E.ON will divide a | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
return of just under 3%. Inflation, the rate at which prices increase, | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
is growing faster than the amount you get in interest. Over a | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
long`term and for a child that could be the next 18 years until they get | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
the money, that money could buy a very small proportion of what it | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
would buy today. Stocks and shares are risky and many parents are | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
unsure and prefer not to take that risk. It can beat him for parents | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
try to work out which kind of E.ON Jews. If they choose stocks and | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
shares, issued over the long`term do better. `` which kind of Junior ISA | :11:23. | :11:31. | |
to choose. You have to look at the charges. They can make a difference | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
over the longer term. Junior ISAs are not the best way to save for | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
your children. The advice is to save for your children. The advice and | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
image you shop around for in the long`term even the smallest amount | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
can make a big difference. It is harder to save money when | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
energy bills and food prices are rising so much. Many of us just | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
don't have spare money to put aside for a rainy day. Research from HSBC | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
this week says one in three adults would not last a week if we mist a | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
single pay packet. Around 9 million households have less than ?250 set | :12:13. | :12:24. | |
aside for safety set. A quarter of those people have nothing in saving | :12:25. | :12:33. | |
at all. Some people will have money left over, they just don't know it | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
is there. The first thing is to do a budget. Absolutely. Ideally, we | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
should have enough money to cover ourselves or six months, really. So | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
you should do a budget, work out how much money you need a month to keep | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
the roof over your head, multiply that by six, and that is the amount. | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
So if it costs ?1000 a month, you would need 6000 in a savings account | :13:02. | :13:10. | |
which you can access. That will sound like an impossibly high figure | :13:11. | :13:21. | |
for some will stop `` for some. Even one month is better than nothing. If | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
you lose your job, it usually takes six months to get back on your | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
feet, but even one or two months that you do not touch until it goes | :13:32. | :13:42. | |
pear shaped is a help. If you take a cold, hard look at how you spend | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
your money, some people will find things they can cut back on. You are | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
right, many are genuinely struggling, but with others it is a | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
lack of organisation. So if you look at what you don't have to spend on | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
and cut back on that for a couple of months. Concert tickets? Yes, going | :14:02. | :14:12. | |
out to eat, just go cold turkey and put the money aside. There are other | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
ways of looking at this, and that is to do something which owns you some | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
money. Yes, on my website, we are always advocating making some extra | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
money on the side. It could be making cakes, walking dogs. ?15 per | :14:32. | :14:43. | |
dogs per hour on it is good money. There are lots of ways of doing it | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
and it will help you sleep at night. That is all from the | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
programme this week. Advice on savings, borrowing and spending all | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
week long on the website. And you can get updates by following us on | :15:02. | :15:03. | |
Twitter. | :15:04. | :15:09. |