Money Box

The UK government has urged Britons to avoid non-essential travel to anywhere in the world for 30 days to tackle the spread of coronavirus. Where does that leave people and their holiday plans? And what about future holidays?Joining presenter Louise Cooper to share their views:Simon Calder, Travel Editor at The Independent. Charlie Campbell, Senior Policy Adviser at the Association of British Insurers. Gary Rycroft, solicitor at Joseph A Jones & Co LLP.Email questions to moneybox@bbc.co.ukProducer: Darin Graham Editor: Richard Vadon

The financial fallout from the Corona Virus pandemic. Making sense of the help available.And the Chief Financial Ombudsman, Caroline Wayman, tells us that the banks warnings are not good enough and that they need to do much to stop people becoming victims of so-called "push payment fraud". We report on a "never seen before" fraud that lead to a ninety-one year old losing his life's savings. The criminals used the victim's driving licence to set up an account in his name, but under their control. They stole £90,000 over five months. When he became suspicious he contacted his bank but they refused to refund him. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Darin Graham Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

Whether you're young or old, rich or poor, how will the Budget affect your personal finances?Paul Lewis and a panel of experts give their opinions on how it will affect your wallet and take your calls.Our panel this week; Anita Monteith – Institute of Chartered Accountants Heather Self- Blick Rothenberg Accountants Tina Riches – Tax AidCall 03700 100 444. Lines are open from 1pm on Wednesday 11 March. You can also email moneybox@bbc.co.uk or tweet @moneybox

TikTok has been downloaded over 1.6 billion times and most of its users are young. They share videos and stream their activities live. The site allows people who have over 1000 followers to be given presents by other users in exchange for giving their account a 'shout out'. To give money you should be over eighteen. So how did a 9 year old girl gift thousands of pounds from her dad's bank account?It will be at least another two years before estate agents and the property business will be regulated - that estimate from the man the government asked to propose reforms.And why do student loan repayments take more from people who work and earn irregularly than if they had a steady salaried job?Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Daniel Whitworth Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

The traditional model of giving is in decline, no longer do people have a charity for life. Now the sector is coping with huge changes in the way people give from card payments, crowdfunding to adventure fundraising. Is sponsored skydiving becoming the raffle of the 21st Century?Technology offers huge opportunities as well as challenges, with new software making fundraising easier as well as connecting charities to donors across the world. But how can smaller charities tap into this potential?Louise Cooper and her panel of guests ask whether charities are ready for these changes and what they mean for donors.Joining Louise are- Kelly Southcott from charity consultancy Kivo Joe Saxton from charity research firm NPF SynergyEmail: moneybox:bbc.co.uk with questions and experiences for the panel.

People who bought leasehold homes from developers were "misled". That is the damning verdict of a report by the Competition and Markets Authority. They say its findings support calls for a change in the law in this area and that they are ready to take this fight to the courts to force developers to change their ways bringing new hope to leaseholders. Young savers in the government-backed pension scheme called NEST see their money grow more slowly than older people because their contributions are automatically put into a low risk, lower return fund.And after years where hundreds of thousands of students have overpaid their student loans by hundreds of millions of pounds, the Student Loans Company is starting to trial a system to automatically refund customers who have over-paid on their student loan repayments.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

Landlords and letting agencies who advertise property with a ban on renting benefits claimants - so-called "No DSS" clauses - risk legal action under anti-discrimination laws. So why do such restrictions persist? What can prospective tenants on benefits do about it? And what legal and financial risks are being run by landlords who display "No DSS" restrictions?Money Box Live takes your calls and hears from Polly Neate, the chief executive of the homelessness and housing advice charity, Shelter. And from John Stewart, policy manager of the Residential Landlords Association.Presenter: Paul Lewis Producers Paul Waters & Jordan DunbarEmail- moneybox@bbc.co.uk Twitter - @moneybox

A Money Box investigation has found that two of the biggest broadband providers are charging people up to £90 a year to keep their email address if they switch to another supplier. The regulator Ofcom has told Money Box that it has written to the firms and may take further action. Nearly two million savers will miss out on more than £100 million a year income following the announcement this week of cuts to National Savings and Investments interest rates. Is this the end of savings? From April the liability for any underpaid tax shifts from the contractor - IT expert, business consultant or indeed a care worker - to the firm that wants the work done. The result is that many big firms including banks are refusing to take on contractors unless they become employees for the short period they work there. The contractors say that cuts the fees they are paid, increases their costs, and removes their flexibility. Campaigners say contractors are leaving the UK and want the changes to be delayed.Presenter: Paul Lewis P

Unexpected bills from video games and apps? The online world of video games and apps can be financially treacherous, filled with loot boxes and micro-transactions. They can mean large, unexpected bills through the relatively new phenomenon of in-game purchases. Louise Cooper and guests discuss what your consumer rights are if things go wrong. Guests:Dr Jo Twist, CEO at The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) Alex Neill, CEO at Resolver David McClelland, technology journalistProducer: Ben Carter Editor: Hugh Levinson

Should the unwed lose out on a benefit paid to married people? Bereavement Support Payment is available to the widows, widowers or surviving civil partners of people who died on or after 6 April 2017. There's additional money if they have children. A recent High Court judgement held that the Pensions Act, by excluding bereaved unmarried partners from claiming Bereavement Support Payment, contravened the human rights of any children they might have. This week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament that he would look into what he described as an "injustice". Guest: Alison Penny, director of the Childhood Bereavement Network.Richard is 20 and earns £18,000 a year. He applied online for a credit card. When this was approved he was shocked to find he had an £8,000 credit limit. Guest: Peter Tutton, head of policy, StepChange debt charity. If you missed the January self-assessment tax deadline, picked up a £100 penalty and still haven't filed, there's another deadline. It's March 1st and if you have tax to p

This week Louise Cooper asks how you can negotiate the best broadband deal. How do you know if you’re paying too much? What’s the best way of securing a better deal? What are your rights if you’ve been overpaying? What are the best deals available at the moment?Guests:Selina Chadha: Director of Consumer Policy at Ofcom Adam French: Consumer Rights Editor at Which? Guy Anker: Deputy Editor at Money Saving ExpertEmail questions for the panel or top tips to moneybox@bbc.co.ukProducer: Ben Carter Editor: Emma Rippon

Money Box has found that there has been a big increase in the number of young adults being taken to court for unpaid debts. Court records show that last year around 160,000 people in their twenties were given County Court Judgments in England and Wales - a rise of 30 per cent from the year before.How a £3 month long trial for a dating website ended up costing one user £300.And Jon Douglas visits a bank that’s swimming against the tide by opening branches in rural locations. Presenter: Louise Cooper Researcher: Darin Graham Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

Wedding planning can be stressful and expensive. Venue, catering, flowers...the list goes on. Charmaine Cozier and guests talk through the best ways to budget and negotiate on price.Guests:Lisa Garwood-Cross, Living Thrifty Eve Obasuyi, Money Medics Ruby Norris, Wedding Ideas Magazine Gary Rycroft, Joseph A Jones SolicitorsEmail questions and experiences to moneybox@bbc.co.ukProducer: Ben Carter Editor Emma Rippon

One of the most important rights that Europe gave us was the freedom to live and work in EU countries and retire there. About a quarter of a million UK pensioners live in the EU and draw their UK pensions and, in most countries, still get the winter fuel payment. But will that continue post - Brexit?A Money Box investigation by Dan Whitworth has found more than 1000 people making the most serious complaints about maladministration at the Department for Work and Pensions face waiting 18 months before their case is even opened.And the campaigner trying to get Google to take action on adverts for unregulated investments.Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

What are your rights when that dream holiday you've saved up for gets cancelled or you experience problems during the holiday itself? Paul Lewis and guests answer your calls and emails.Guests: the travel journalist Simon Calder and consumer champion Helen Dewdney.Email: moneybox@bbc.co.ukProducer: Ben Carter Editor: Emma Rippon

Home owners are at risk of losing large amounts of money when selling their properties by using so called quick sale estate agents. That’s a warning from Trading Standards. It’s told Money Box it’s seen dozens of examples of people losing tens of thousands of pounds from the market value of their homes when agents exploit people who are desperate to sell quickly. In the first half of last year private parking firms requested 4.32m driver details from the DVLA so they could issue fines to motorists. This number of demands is 25% up on 2018 which was itself a fifth higher than 2017. We get many emails to moneybox@bbc.co.uk from listeners asking what they should do when they think they have been sent a demand which they believe is unfair. We speak to parking expert John Wilkie to find out.A Money Box investigation has found that councils around the country are charging students Council Tax over the summer holidays when they should be exempt. Last week we heard from a student at Durham University who'd been sent

The gig economy is booming in the UK. More than a million people are using online platforms to secure jobs. Some people say that Uber drivers and couriers are the poster boys and girls for an exploited part of the workforce. Others argue the flexibility of working when and where you want works perfectly for those who don't want a 9-5 job. Adam Shaw hears the good, the bad and the ugly tales from those working within the industry and he finds out how people can make the gig economy work for them.Email moneybox@bbc.co.uk with your experiences or questions for the panel.Guests: Nye Cominetti, economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation Max Dewhurst, courier and IWGB unionist Andy Chamberlain, Deputy Director of Policy and External Affairs at the IPSE.Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Emma Rippon

Four students studying at Durham University received a surprise bill for Council Tax. They were billed hundreds of pounds for a period when no-one was living in the property over the summer. After Money Box got in touch, the council looked again at it and concluded that the request for payment was made in error. The charge has now been cancelled. It also reviewed their council tax records for 2019/20 and found no other cases of students being asked to pay. We speak to the editor of the Council Tax Handbook.Police forces across the UK have seen a recent spike in cases of what is called courier fraud. Criminals persuade older people to take cash out of the bank and then give it to a courier to keep it safe. What can potential victims do to avoid being scammed?Earlier this year we looked at the history of financial mistakes. We asked listeners to get in touch with their biggest financial mistakes. A number of people told us theirs was buying a flat with Grenfell-style cladding and then being billed tens of tho

For many young people buying a home can seem like an impossible dream. High property prices, no way of saving for a big deposit and worries about paying for a hefty mortgage. But it's not all doom and gloom. Plenty of people are buying their first homes and the programme will hear from some of them. There are some cautionary tales though and we'll hear about those too.Felicity Hannah is joined by - Kate Faulkner, property market analyst and commentator, Ella Cheney, shared ownership programme manager at the National Housing Federation and BBC journalist Thea de Gallier who focuses on housing issues.Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Emma Rippon

Council tenants on Universal Credit are much more likely to be in rent arrears than those who don’t get the benefit. That’s according to research carried out by Money Box. We surveyed local authorities for 12 of the largest cities across Britain and found tens of thousands of people having to manage this debt. The numbers also suggest not only are people on the benefit more likely to be in arrears, but they’re likely to owe much more too. We find out why.Proposals about how to reform leasehold laws in England and Wales have been described as 'nothing more than tinkering' by campaigners. We speak to Professor Nick Hopkins the member of the Law Commission responsible for this report.And foreign exchange company Travelex is still closed for business after a ransom attack eleven days ago. We find out what this means for its customers.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Howard Mustoe Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon