Weekly Money: the stories we noticed 23 to 27 November

The personal finance stories you may have missed this week

While retailers tried to flog old stock, the Chancellor made his Autumn Statement (Getty)

27 November

Anyone struggling to pay for Christmas should resist the temptation to take out short-term credit. Citizens Advice reckons that taking out a payday loan to pay for Christmas could increase costs by almost £600.

The charity says the average spend for Christmas jumps from £821 to £1,413 if paid for with a typical payday loan of three months. Meanwhile dipping into an arranged overdraft can hike up costs by 15 per cent to £945 while paying for Christmas on a credit card can push the total cost up by 8.4 per cent to £891.

“It’s important that anyone thinking about turning to credit to help pay for Christmas understands the full costs involved and if they can actually afford to pay it back,” says Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice.

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The Financial Conduct Authority yesterday published proposals to introduce a deadline for making payment protection insurance complaints.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said the move was “disappointing”. He said: “Instead of rewarding the banks that have dragged their heels over paying out compensation, the FCA should be requiring firms to seek out customers owed money. Relying on consumers to complain, when many were unaware they’ve been a victim of mis-selling, has clearly not worked.”

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Tempted to seek out a bargain today? It could be a big mistake. Nearly a third will waste money on Black Friday, says the Charities Aid Foundation. They’ll end up giving items to charity or trying to flog them on eBay.

26 November

Barclays Bank has been fined £72m for failing to conduct proper anti-crime checks on a group of super-wealthy clients, because it did not want to “inconvenience” them.

The bank was so keen on a £1.88bn “elephant” deal that it ignored its own rules designed to safeguard against money laundering and financial crime, the Financial Conduct Authority said. The fine is the largest imposed in the UK for financial crime failings.

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Mortgage borrowing has grown to its highest level since August 2008, according to the high street banks. They lent £12.9bn last month as borrowers rushed to take advantage of low-rate deals.

Some 45,437 loans were approved for people buying a house in October with a total value of £8.1bn, a 21 per cent increase compared with October last year, reported the British Bankers’ Association. Meanwhile there were 24,275 approvals for remortgaging worth £4.2bn, a 34 per cent jump.

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The average two-year fixed mortgage rate has dropped to 2.67 per cent, the lowest on record according to Moneyfacts. Longer-term fixed rates are also dropping. “Competition among longer-term mortgage products has intensified thanks to near-constant base rate speculation,” said Charlotte Nelson of Moneyfacts.. The average five-year fixed rate has dropped from 3.96 per cent a year ago to 3.29 per cent today.

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Ticket fraud is on the rise and cost fans £1.3m in the last six months. Action Fraud reported 2,885 instances of ticket fraud in the half-year to the end of October. Crooks targeted fans seeking ticket for sought-after concerts featuring Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, the Foo Fighters and One Direction, as well as the Rugby World Cup. Victims typically lost £205.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe, of City of London Police said: “To avoid falling victim to this crime use authorised sellers and if you have doubts about a website, check out online reviews. When buying use a payment card and never transfer funds directly into another bank account.”

25 November

The headline-grabbing news in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement was his decision to reverse plans to reduce tax credits. However many workers will still end up worse off as tax credits are replaced by universal credit.

There was confirmation of a pay increase for pensioners who will get £3.35 more from next April when the state pension rises to £119.30 a week. The new state pension, which comes in for those retiring from next April, will be set at £155.65 a week.

Housing benefit is to be capped for new social tenants at private rental sector rates while anyone who receives housing benefit but goes abroad for more than four weeks will no longer have their rent paid.

He also announced an extra 3 per cent new stamp duty tax on buy-to-let landlords and second homes.

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What are the chances of you becoming a victim of identity fraud? As the nation goes shopping mad this week around what retailers have marketed as Black Friday, there’s a much higher chance of you becoming a fraud victim.

One organisation has renamed the shopping event – when retailers cynically try to flog old stock to unsuspecting punters – as Fraud Friday to warn people that crooks will be out in force to profit from those tricked into thinking they’re snapping up a bargain.

Identity fraud is on the rise. New figures published today by Cifas show a huge climb of 37 per cent in a year. It says there were 129,168 identity fraud victims between July 20114 and June 2015 compared to 94,356 in the previous 12 months.

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Do you think it’s acceptable to tell a few white lies on an insurance form to cut the cost of cover? One in three of the UK’s insured drivers believe some form of application adjustment to get a cheaper quote is acceptable, according to new research by LexisNexis.

The big problem is that if you do so, that’s insurance fraud and would invalidate any claim you subsequently make and could even leave you open to prosecution. The company reckons more than eight million drivers are at risk if they’ve been slightly less than truthful on their insurance application.

Bill McCarthy of LexisNexis, said “Many may not even recognise that adjusting or omitting information can constitute a type of fraud.”

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Tesco is slashing its reward scheme for Clubcard credit card users from 1 December, following similar changes for its World credit card customers on 1 November. It’s a further sign that the days of the lucrative reward card are numbered, reckons uSwitch.

However there still remain decent deals. Sainsbury’s Bank, for instance, is giving all new Nectar credit card customers who apply before 29 December double points on their Sainsbury’s shopping for the first three months as well as one Nectar point for every £5 spent on the card in other stores.

Meanwhile the American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday credit card offers 5 per cent cashback in the first three months (up to a maximum £100) and up to 1.25 per cent cashback thereafter.

24 November

The highest Winter Death total for 15 years is expected when official figures are released on Wednesday, warns Fuel Poverty Action. It points out that estimates earlier in the year suggested the figure would be 40,000. And the campaigning organisation warns there will be even further bad news for people struggling to pay energy bills in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement due to be revealed on Wednesday lunchtime.

“We anticipate that the government will announce a cut of all support for fuel poverty preventing measures, such as the so- called ‘Green Cap’ which used to pay for free, life-saving insulation for thousands of the most vulnerable households in the UK,” said Laura Hill of Fuel Poverty Action.

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Savers fed up with being let down by the big high street banks should look to building societies for better returns, advises Moneyfacts. “Some of the UK’s most well-known and trusted brands are paying savers dismal rates of interest,” warned Charlotte Nelson of Moneyfacts. “However, building societies are stepping up to the challenge.”

For example, the average two-year fixed rate bond from the main banks pays just 1.12 per cent, a massive 0.58 per cent less than what building societies are currently offering.

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Santander has launched a video relay service to help deaf customers. It’s available to help with day-to-day banking queries and transactions. The service - offered in conjunction with SignVideo - allows British Sign Language customers to place video calls to the bank through a free and secure video link on its website.

The video call connects to a BSL interpreter at SignVideo, who then phones the Santander contact centre to relay the conversation in real time.

23 November

This week marks the annual retail festival of Black Friday when shops flog off old stock to boost their profits. New research published today suggests that one in five of us - 11 million people - plans to shop in the Black Friday sales.

One average we plan to spend 10 hours Christmas shopping, according to Populus. But, even though people agree that Christmas is a time to give something back, almost one in three say they are too busy to do something for charity.

To encourage more people to help others at Christmas, Tuesday 1 December has been designated #GivingTuesday. Hannah Terrey of the Charities Aid Foundation, explains: “After the consumer frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people to do something for a good cause. It could be as simple as telling a friend about your favourite charity.”

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The most common time for web fraudsters to target victims is Black Friday and Cyber Monday as people head online in search of festive bargains. That’s why Action Fraud, the City of London Police and Get Safe Online are today launching a national campaign warning people about online crime.

Last Christmas individuals and businesses lost £16,426,989 to online crooks through web shopping and auction fraud, a rise of 42 per cent over 2013. To report a fraud and get a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

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Is it time for an eye test? Research from road safety charity Brake reveals that one in four drivers are risking their licence by not having a regular test. But this week you can get one for free through a link-up between Vision Express and the Road Haulage Association.

Motorists can get a free eye test through an online voucher which can be redeemed at any of the Vision Express’s 390 stores. It’s available at visionexpress.com/road-safety-week/ until 5pm on 30 November 2015 and can be redeemed until 31 December 2015.