30/08/2014 Your Money

Hello and welcome to Your Money ` on TV, on your computer,

on your tablet, on your mobile ` it's your weekly guide to making

Back to school for most children in England from Monday,

and many will have a new subject to tackle ` Financial Education.

Will this mean that they'll be able to keep their personal finances

Leaky pipes, broken boilers, peeling wall paper `

just some of the complaints tenants make that are often ignored.

We've got a report on a new type of landlord that may,

on the surface, seem appealing to many renters out there.

If you're looking to go abroad and need a new passport or even

a visa, you could sign up to a number of websites that promise to

But often they're not all what they seem.

When children at secondary schools return

from their summer break, they'll have a new topic to tackle, for

Financial education is to become part of the national curriculum.

To help us answer those questions, I'm joined by Russell Winnard,

senior consultant at the charity the Personal Finance Education Group.

England is starting these lessons from Monday, but Scotland, Wales,

Northern Ireland have had these in place already. They have financial

education integrated into different areas of their curriculum.

education integrated into different areas of their Schools in England

have delivered financial education but we have never before seen it as

a statutory element, and that is what is so exciting for us, having

campaigned hard, to see it come to fruition and be delivered for young

people. Why do we need these classes? There is a huge need.

Financial products become more difficult and complex, there are

thousands of financial products out there, and less and less young

people are seeing physical cash. They are not getting those skills of

money management from an early age. What exactly will they learn? There

is a wide range of course kills through a subject called

Citizenship, ranging from budgeting skills to looking at money in the

public sector. `` a wide range of core skills. Are you hoping for a

GCSE or an A`level in personal finance? There are already providers

who will give you GCSE equivalents. That is not something we would seek

to follow. It is more about providing a core level of financial

understanding for young people. If they want to further that with a

GCSE or an A`level equivalent, absolutely, but we need everyone to

have a degree of financial education. What about at home? When

I was growing up, my mum and dad taught me everything I need to know

about personal finance. We not seeing that same level of education

from parents? Parents have a big role to play in financial education.

They can follow the practical evidence, `` practical elements,

taking them out to the shops, spending money, making decisions.

But we need that to be followed up with financial education in schools

to ensure there is consistency in what young people are taught. Some

people might argue that these financial institutions which put

together the documentation for complex products, maybe they should

make the language simpler, it's not really up to schools to teach

children, maybe we should teach institutions how to write documents

properly? It is a two`way process. We are working closely with the

financial services industry, but if young people are informed and ask

the questions and nowhere to go to ask questions, they are more

accessible to them. Thank you very much, very interesting.

Now, if you're one of nine million people who rent their home,

you may be used to dealing with hazards like leaky pipes, broken

Most landlords are perfectly decent, of course, but a new form

of renting is about to arrive in the UK which could put an end to some

Brian Milligan went in search for his ideal pad.

We have a fault for access. And around to the kitchen. `` a f o b.

It may look like an ordinary flat, but tenants will find renting a

different experience. The landlord will be a corporate brand. If

tenants are happy, they should stay longer and the company will make

more money. In theory, a virtuous circle. For many renters, the idea

of having a company as a landlord is pretty inviting. In a previous flat,

this lady complained once too often about a faulty boiler and exposed

wires and was given notice on Christmas Eve. A corporate landlord

might offer her more security. If you pay your rent on time as a good

talent, there is no reason you couldn't stay indefinitely. `` a

good tenant. As a renter, that is attractive. Renting from a company

has all sorts of other advantages. The landlord is not going to sell

suddenly, there is no letting agent involved who will charge hefty fees,

and if something goes wrong with the boiler, you simply tell the

concierge. It all sounds attractive, but is it really? Hello, generation

rent? The first development in archway

will be totally unaffordable for ordinary owners, according to one

sceptic. I would love to live there but I will not be able to live in

that development in archway. The company says it has not yet worked

out what it will charge, but it rejects any accusation that it is

aimed only at wealthy tenants. We want to be average market rent, we

are not high`end luxury, that's a small sector of the market. We want

the middle tranche, so we are not going for the top end. The first

flats will be available for rent in north London in two years. The

company is promising to build 5000 across the south`east. If they prove

popular, the idea could just alter the whole rental landscape.

Have you put in a claim for PPI only for it come back rejected?

Or perhaps you've not got as much as you'd have expected?

Well, you never know, you could be in for a windfall.

The financial regulator, the FCA, has told banks

and other financial services companies to reopen 2.5 million old,

So if you made a mis`selling complaint between 2012 and 2013,

you might receive a cheque if you weren't paid fair compensation.

Do you use your smartphone to make payments and transfer money?

Ever worried that your personal and financial details are safe?

Well, you'll be pleased to know that a new kitemark to help people

identify trustworthy apps and websites has been launched.

Barclay's Pingit mobile payment service and Barclays Mobile Banking

are the first products to have been independently assessed in order to

be awarded the new British Standards Institution kitemark

All of you searching for decent returns

on your saving pots have ploughed a record ?18.4 billion into stocks

However, data from the HMRC reveals that

the amount of money we're placing in cash ISAs has fallen by 5%

year`on`year, with a total of ?38.8 billion placed into these savings.

Are you getting ready to head out to the shops

You'll probably know, then, that sending a youngster back to school

is a pricey business and, to confirm this, new research from Santander

Credit Cards reveals the staggering cost of going back to school.

It's found that the cost of preparing a child for the new

And you might want to think twice about driving junior to school

On average, parents spent ?220 on fuel every year

and they clocked up an additional 1,285 miles on their vehicles.

And we can't forget school uniforms, the biggest outlay for parents

Parents are spending nearly ?100 on them. But don't think that once

the school term begins, the spending stops.

The biggest regular outgoing per child per week are school trips,

followed by packed lunches, extra`curricular activities,

So those summer holidays maybe drawing to an end and, for many,

especially those with school`aged children,

they may be putting their suitcases away until their next break.

But for those of you not restricted to when you go

away, you may be thinking about an autumn or even a winter break.

This is the time to for you to pay attention, as you need to be

aware that there are many websites out there trying to help part you

These outfits claim they've got the authority to speed up

your passport or visa applications, but the reality is they don't.

And many people end up paying for something they could've done

With me now is Sean Tipton from ABTA, the travel association.

Sean, are more people turning to these types of sites after

the problems the passport office was having earlier this summer?

We had hundreds of people contacting us, really worried about the fact

they might be in danger of losing holidays because of the backlog at

the passport office. In reality, the passport office did a great job

getting them out in time, but people were still worried. If you put into

a search engine, how to renew my passport quickly, a number of

companies, straight away. They make grandiose claims. I saw one that

said, unlike the passport office, we don't have a backlog. Bluntly, they

cannot fast track your passport. The only people who process and renew

the passports are the passport office. What are the things they do?

They will claim they can do things faster than the passport office,

that they keep a running check on the status of the application. I saw

one that said they would do that and they gave you a premium rate number.

You would phone that number, get put on hold, get charged ?1 50 per

minute, and then somebody would say, oh, your application is going

very well. The only people who know are the passport office. When you

renew your passport, go directly to the official government website. The

fees there are set out clearly, there are higher charges for a

premium service, but they are at a fairly reasonable level, and if a

company claims they can do something faster than the passport office, it

is impossible, walk away, don't give them any money. There are sites

which will do it for you which are legitimate, but how do you spot the

difference between the legitimate ones and the rogue ones? There are

companies that offer to get visas for you. In many cases, you have to

go in person to the Embassy of the country concerned, and that involves

a day off work, so companies say they will do it for you. That is

perfectly legitimate and it adds value. At once more, with visas, not

just for passports, there are countries, like the USA and

Australia, where you can get an electronic Visa online. The

Australian one is free, the American one is $14. Companies say they can

do that for you and they charge you sometimes considerable amounts of

money, but all they do is forward on the details you give them directly

to the authorities concerned of the relevant countries. Just be careful.

If you want to know the right sites to go to, go to our website. In

terms of freezers, go to the Foreign Office and their travel advice

sections for any place in the world. `` in terms of visas. Your top tip

is always to go to the official... ? Always go through official channels.

If you are not sure, look on our website or the Foreign Office

website and we will direct you to the correct channels. If you have

lost money like this, you should report it to the national fraud

centre: it will cost up to 40p per minute

and a mobile phone. Or visit the website. `` on a mobile phone. You

can go direct to Her Majesty's passport office. That is all from

Your Money this week. You can keep up`to`date on the BBC website.

On social media, we have updates and Twitter:

more next week. Thank you for watching today.

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