Money Video round-up: the personal finance news of this week
Personal Finance Editor Simon Read discusses Help to buy Isas, mortgages for over-65s, pension woes for women, and credit card deals warning
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Your support makes all the difference.Help-to-Buy Isas: How to get a grant of up to £6,000 for your home deposit
We'e getting closer to the introduction of the new Help-to-Buy Isas on 1 December. They will allow first-time buyers saving for a deposit to save up to £200 a month in a dedicated Isa that the Government will top up by 25 per cent, up to a maximum of £3,000. Accounts can be opened with a one-off lump sum of up to £1,000 in addition to the monthly maximum. Couples buying together will be able to combine their bonuses, meaning a potential boost of up to £6,000 towards a deposit.
Can you get a mortgage if you're over 65?
The Mortgage Market Review took effect from April 2014 and has forced banks and building societies to be much more stringent about who they lend to. As a consequence it has become much more difficult to borrow for a mortgage, and particularly so for older borrowers. There are some lenders, often smaller building societies, that take a more individual approach and are therefore more welcoming to the over-65s.
Government faces legal challenge over women who've lost out on pensions
Women face losing around £36,000 worth of pension because they were given inadequate notice of crucial changes to the State pension age. As a result many are facing real hardship and experts wanr that the government has left hundreds of thousands of woman in financial risk by not making sure they knew that they would have to wait for a State pension payout. There are calls for the government to face legal action from campaigners demanding fairness and justice.
The WASPI campaign for justice
Watch out for changes to your credit card
Expect some changes to your credit card terms as plastic card companies react to an upcoming EU cap on interchange fees. On 9 December credit and debit card processing fees, paid by a retailer’s bank to the cardholder’s bank, will be capped at 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively. The idea behind the move is to ensure that businesses will no longer have to pass excessive fees onto their customers.
But credit card companies could scrap reward deals as a result, or even introduce or raise fees once the new cap is in place, warns Moneyfacts. Capital One has already removed its cashback rewards, while Tesco Bank, NatWest and RBS have changed or withdrawn their point schemes. From next year, Santander is increasing the yearly fee on by £12 on its 123 credit card.
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