00:00welcome to cash chats the podcast from
00:01Be Clever with your cash that helps you
00:03make the most of your money I'm Andy
00:04Webb and I'm Amelia Murray today some of
00:07the stories we're looking at in your
00:08money this week are the latest Financial
00:11updates from the new government how many
00:13premium Bond winners never win a prize
00:17Crackdown that is all in episode 405 of
00:21cash chats now following the cut to the
00:23bank of England's base rate um we've
00:25done a separate video looking into
00:27detail on that so if you are watching or
00:29listening to the podcast on YouTube need
00:31to go over to our Channel and check that
00:33one out but don't do that until you've
00:34listened to everything else we're going
00:36to go through right now so other than
00:38this big change from the bank of England
00:39it's also been a big week for the new
00:42government and new Chancellor Rachel
00:43Reeves has announced some of the things
00:46that she will be doing and that's off
00:48the back of uh finally having a look at
00:51the kind of the bank balance for the
00:52country so to speak and they have
00:55discovered they say discovered there's
00:56you know disagreement about how much
00:58they would have known before coming into
00:59power or not but they have said that
01:00there is a 20 or 22 billion pound black
01:03hole depending on which figure you go
01:04for in the public finances that is a lot
01:07of money and that means money has to be
01:10found somewhere in one of two ways could
01:13well be in some kind of tax increases
01:15and in a moment I'll talk about those
01:16but the other way is more likely or
01:19likely as well is going to be around
01:20spending cuts and we've already had
01:22quite a big announcement there milia
01:24haven't we yeah I mean there's a lot of
01:27work to do kind of taking over from you
01:29know previous government and realizing
01:31yeah what needs to happen um so this big
01:35announcement this week has been around
01:36winter fuel payments so all pensioners
01:39in England Wales have been entitled to
01:41these payments since Tony Blair's
01:42government in 1997 and they get up to
01:45300 to help with their energy bills it's
01:47a lump sum once a year you have to have
01:50been born on or before 22nd of September
01:541958 um and yeah it's been this ongoing
01:57kind of expectation to to help older
01:59people people pay their energy bills
02:01however this big announcement means that
02:03from this year it will just go to
02:05pensioners claiming pension credit or
02:07other benefits such as universal credit
02:09or income support So essentially it's
02:11become a means tested benefit and Rachel
02:14Reed has said she didn't want to do it
02:16or didn't expect to but something has to
02:19give as as we know the issue is by
02:22making it means tested and lots of
02:24people have been featured in newspapers
02:26this week talking about how they just
02:30so for example there was a case study in
02:32a BBC article who said he's two pounds a
02:36week over this threshold to claim
02:38pension um credit and so he's still kind
02:42of technically struggling but he just
02:44doesn't make it to to kind of get the
02:46payment and they're saying around 10
02:48million pensioners in England Wales are
02:50expected to lose this payment and aguk
02:53the charity has a petition to try and
02:55stop this happening um so if you are
02:57affected what I've kind of seen report
02:59Ed is lots of people are actually
03:02eligible for pension credit so there's
03:04around 800,000 people who are but don't
03:06claim it so check agk has a calculator
03:09on the website and you may also be
03:11entitled to other benefits and grants
03:12you can check turn to us they have a
03:14benefits calculator and if you are
03:16struggling with energy bills or
03:17anticipate struggling in the winter do
03:20speak your energy provider and and have
03:21a look because lots of them offer grants
03:23or other support even if you're not a
03:25customer yeah and I think the thing
03:27about pension credit this is a story
03:28that comes around every year how many
03:30people who are eligible aren't getting
03:31it so that's you know this could
03:33hopefully maybe push more people there
03:35be more campaign from the government to
03:36try and get people to sign up for it and
03:38get that because you say it's not just
03:39about now the winter fuel allance but
03:41it's also I think the TV licensees
03:43looked loed into that as well and I'm a
03:44bits of piece so definitely if you're
03:46eligible you should be getting if you
03:47know someone who's older who's possibly
03:49in that bracket who doesn't have much
03:50money please sort of tell them about it
03:52or do the search online for them to try
03:54and get them signed up because it will
03:55make a huge difference because as you
03:56say that this is where maybe the
03:59controversy is not necessarily that it
04:00is means tested because there's
04:01millionaire pensions out there who don't
04:03need this extra money but just quite how
04:07potentially quite severe it is and you
04:09mentioned agk there they've said there
04:10are around two million people who are
04:12going to miss out on it they think who
04:13really need it who are really struggling
04:15so potentially we'll see some change
04:17there you never know but I think this is
04:19a sign of uh some hard decisions uh that
04:23are going to be coming along I've seen
04:24people you know speculation about is it
04:26another austerity and things like that
04:29we have to see see what comes along but
04:31off the back of that I did want to
04:33quickly talk about uh some of the
04:34speculation that's come through I I
04:36don't always like to do this I see
04:38things out there which are a bit
04:39clickbaity and saying these changes are
04:40coming to X and Y and they they probably
04:42AR no one said it it's just speculation
04:45but it is useful to kind of have a sense
04:46with all these kind of stuff going on
04:48exactly what we do know and what we
04:50don't know and uh what we do know is
04:54that there will be no changes to vet to
04:57um income tax and National Insurance
04:59they are not going to go up we know that
05:01they had it in the manifesto and they've
05:02doubled down they've said that again
05:03it's not going to happen but there could
05:05be other areas where they do try and
05:07find some money they need to find some
05:09money somewhere it's coming because
05:11there's this black hole that he's
05:12looking after plus other kind of
05:14spending plans that they'll want to put
05:15into place as well so the BBC's got a
05:18round up of some of the possible
05:19Alternatives so it's worth quickly
05:20talking about these the first one they
05:22mentioned is a the continuation of the
05:24stealth tax that you know you and I
05:25Amilia we've spoken about this a number
05:27of times on the Pod and I've mentioned
05:28it before that as well
05:30this is basically those income tax
05:31brackets which have been frozen for a
05:33good number of years now the previous
05:36government the T government they said
05:37they want to keep it frozen until uh
05:392028 now that could well stay in place
05:42it's very likely to stay in place rather
05:43than be removed and potentially could
05:45even be increased you know it could be
05:48going for longer so that wouldn't
05:49necessarily be an increase in taxes so
05:51to speak because the rates aren't going
05:53up but you will continue as you get pay
05:55Rises continue to see uh it's called
05:57fiscal drag basically see your earnings
05:59pulled into another tax bracket which
06:01means you may pay more tax on that
06:02additional money and maybe lose out on
06:04allowances elsewhere so that looks like
06:06it's probably almost likely going to
06:08happen to get some of this sort of money
06:10so we're that's sad news but probably I
06:12don't think any of us thought it'd be
06:14any different whoever got in uh they've
06:16also talked about and these things pop
06:17up quite often but changes to capital
06:19gains tax this is the one which most
06:21people aren't going to be paying in
06:23their normal life but if you have like a
06:24second home or you have shares and you
06:26sell those outsid any kind of allowance
06:28tax re allowances you have
06:30or any kind of you know collections or
06:31anything that basically anything
06:32valuable that when you sell it and make
06:34a profit you get tax on the profit and
06:35the system isn't necessarily the fairest
06:37system it's a bit kind
06:39of based on brackets but how much it's
06:41all bit confusing so potentially could
06:43be some reform there which could bring
06:44in some more money although getting
06:46controversy around that and potentially
06:47might mean some people find workaround
06:49there's always these workarounds these
06:51things aren't there uh another one and
06:53this is one I think actually possibly is
06:55is a good thing it could because it's
06:56really unfair and this is about pension
06:57tax relief at the moment the amount of
06:59tax relief you get is based on how much
07:02you earn and the more money you earn the
07:04more free money you get from the
07:05government when you put it into pension
07:07now the idea is to encourage you to save
07:09more put more away but it does feel
07:11quite unfair and always been talk about
07:13weather potentially you could see uh
07:15just a flat rate as a matter what you
07:17earn you get the same amount of tax
07:18release it' be a bit more for the lower
07:19owners a bit less for the higher earners
07:21terms of fairness I think that would be
07:22a good thing but again we don't know
07:23it's just speculation but that's
07:25certainly in the cards and the other
07:26thing in this BBC article is again one
07:29that always pops up again and this is
07:32around uh changes or an increase to
07:34inheritance tax uh which potentially uh
07:37could you know generate a decent sum of
07:40money although that one is more people
07:43get upset about that than they should
07:45they yeah people always have stuff to
07:47say about inheritance tax despite the
07:49fact that only one in 20 Estates pay it
07:52I oh yeah it's like it's such a hot
07:54heated conversation like whoever you
07:57talk to people always have like really
07:59feelings about it um which people well
08:04there's been sort of two sides uh of
08:06opinion to the next story and this is
08:08around energy tariffs so you might
08:11remember um you guys a few months ago we
08:14actually discussed this on the podcast
08:16this was around acquisition tariffs so I
08:19think it was a few months ago um offg
08:21was talking about lifting the ban on
08:23acquisition tariffs 6 months early and
08:26if you remember this ban was introduced
08:28in 2020 2 where the energy Market was a
08:32mess there was energy companies going
08:33bust every five minutes it was crazy um
08:37and they were told that they could not
08:38offer cheap deals to new customers if
08:40they couldn't offer the same thing to
08:41existing customers so off Jem's done a
08:43consultation and it's decided not to
08:45lift the ban six months early so it's
08:48going to continue till March
08:502025 um so energy companies were against
08:52the early lifting of the ban which kind
08:55of makes sense you know they don't need
08:56to lower prices and be more competitive
08:58if no one else is but consumer groups
09:01were all for it because they were saying
09:03it would generate more competition
09:05between suppliers and bring prices down
09:08and you know it's quite interesting what
09:09ofam has said it's saying the responses
09:12it received showed a strong feeling
09:14against short-term cut price tariffs
09:16that shut out as supplies existing
09:18customers it added that retaining the
09:20ban would mean customers don't have to
09:21keep moving to chase the best
09:24rate this is an interesting one isn't it
09:27um I'm always you know I've made a
09:30career last you know 10 years or so of
09:33finding those ways you can get a better
09:34deals by moving around by changing and
09:36switching and saving huge amounts of
09:37cash and you know that's why I'm sure
09:40you guys are watching it and listening
09:41to us now is because you want to do the
09:42same you want to get the best value for
09:44money you possibly can but if you really
09:48it those savings we're getting whether
09:51it's a switching deal or energy
09:52switching in the past or whatever it
09:53might be that money that we're getting
09:55those savings we're getting is at the
09:57detriment of the people who do nothing
10:00now obviously we want more people as
10:01many people as possible to take action
10:03and make these simple easy changes with
10:05their personal finance so they do have
10:06more cash available to use how they want
10:09but not everyone's going to do it so I
10:10kind of I do get that argument from the
10:12other side is like no let's just have
10:13fair prices for for everyone I do
10:15understand where that comes from but
10:17that's only true if you actually do get
10:18fair prices for everyone and what seems
10:20to be happening right now me you talk
10:22about consumer groups Martin Lewis has
10:23been really sort of noisy on this is
10:25really passionate about talking around
10:27energy in particular what's happened
10:28over the last few years
10:29but you know what's happening really is
10:31that you know he's saying this that the
10:32companies they're not giving those fair
10:34prices to everyone they're just sitting
10:35on the price cap and that's all they
10:38need to do they don't you know don't
10:39they don't have to charge less to get
10:41new people because everyone's doing the
10:42same um so this need to have this
10:44competition you know is something which
10:47help bring prices down for people who
10:48are switching and the cap is still there
10:50to protect everybody else at the moment
10:52though we're just pretty much all on on
10:53the cap um interest is worth sort of
10:56highlight as well later this month we
10:57will find out exactly what the new
10:59energy price cap is going to be when it
11:01changes in October and the moment it's
11:03looking like it could be a 10% increase
11:05so not too different to kind of those
11:06predictions early in the year but still
11:08Hefty jump up we've seen a couple of
11:09cuts and it go back up so it might be
11:11worth having a look now over the next
11:13few weeks looking at some of those
11:14comparison sites just to see if there is
11:16a fixed deal out there which will save
11:18you money basically it's lower than
11:20current prices means it's going to be
11:22lower than prices in October very likely
11:23lower than prices in January as well um
11:26and working out whether you can get into
11:27those right now just whenever we talk
11:29about these just be aware of course if
11:30there are exit fees if you did change
11:32your mind some of them don't have them
11:34some of them have them and they're not
11:35too bad but it's just worth looking at
11:37them if you think oh I'm not still not
11:39sure about it but certainly you can
11:41protect yourself of these increases that
11:42are coming probably from October until
11:44April next year um premium bonds it's a
11:48story that came through uh just this
11:50week which was really interesting I know
11:51lots of people listening and watching to
11:53this uh are interested in premium bonds
11:56and this was a good bit of research by
11:59investment firm AJ Bell they did a
12:01freedom of information request which
12:03basically you can contact them because
12:04it's from NSN government they can ask
12:05this information and they most cases
12:08have to give it um and the finding of
12:10this Freedom the key finding of this
12:11freedom information request was that two
12:14in three premium Bond holders have never
12:17won a prize ever that is a lot of people
12:21now I talked to you guys about premium
12:23bonds a lot and the Chan of winning it
12:25and explaining to you how you might not
12:27win anything but this is really
12:29interesting two in three people never
12:31win anything at all and they also broke
12:33it down so the average holding for
12:35winners in the year of June 23 to May 24
12:39so they cost those 12 prize draws the
12:41people who won the average amount they
12:42had in premium bonds was just over
12:44223,000 that's compared to everyone who
12:47has premium bonds the average holding
12:505,000 so it just shows you and again
12:53this is backs up the stuff that I've
12:54been telling you guys for years if
12:56you're going to win on premium bonds you
12:58need to have a lot of money in there
13:00generally to make it worthwhile I'm not
13:01saying you can't you hear stories of
13:03people who haven't got much and they win
13:05uh relatively big prizes compared to how
13:08much they've got or even really big
13:09prizes but most of the small and big
13:11prizes are going to people with a lot of
13:12money in there and in many cases I'm not
13:15going to repeat everything I've covered
13:16in other content do check out the
13:18article and video that I published
13:19earlier this year looking at um people
13:21with 50,000 PS in premium bonds how much
13:23they won over a year it's a good
13:24interesting comparison there as well but
13:27in that I also talk about how for most
13:29people you're probably better off just
13:30looking at other savings accounts
13:33although that's in light obviously of
13:35some changes happening to rates off the
13:37back of that base rate change coming
13:38soon they might be dropping down but
13:40when they drop you can imagine premium
13:42bonds are also going to drop very soon
13:44as well wouldn't be surprised to see
13:46that and if they do I'll obviously give
13:47you an update there God it's a huge
13:50difference isn't it the um the average
13:52holding for the winners compared to the
13:54overall average it's not just a case of
13:55like popping a few quid in to kind of up
13:57your odds it's like oh yeah go find
14:02yeah um yeah oh sad big reveal there um
14:07the next story again we have discussed
14:10this about the fake stamps on the
14:12podcast before and Royal M has now
14:15introduced a stamp scanner in its app so
14:19you can scan if you're not sure you
14:20bought some stamps you're not sure if
14:22they're real or not you can scan them
14:23into the app to identify whether they're
14:25legitimate or not um and if you remember
14:27the story this comes after the UK was
14:29flooded with fake stamps from China um
14:32Royal Male introduced a five pound fine
14:35for anyone who received mail uh with a
14:37counterfeit stamp on but has now put
14:40that on pause um and again the same
14:43advice is there you know if you're going
14:44to buy stamps try and stick to the post
14:46office or big High Street shops like wh
14:48Smith because there aren't the same
14:51requirements for kind of the smaller
14:52Corner shops they can just buy them in
14:54bulk from wholesalers um and they could
14:56end up with some dodgy ones yeah really
14:59um if you are still sending things I
15:01mean it's not that often that I do but
15:02still I good to I'll be using that if I
15:04when I finally do send some things um
15:07now you might have seen uh over the last
15:09year really but particularly more the
15:11last few weeks news about cine world the
15:13cinema chain struggling right and it's
15:15been in administration for a long time
15:16they're trying to restructure it um and
15:19what's been announced recently are some
15:21closures not a huge number of them it
15:23looks like just six have been announced
15:24to close although C World also owns
15:26picture house which is also closing a
15:27few more so the numbers a little bit
15:29more than that across the chain but even
15:30so not a huge number you might think so
15:32what a local Cinema's going but I think
15:35the story here and the interesting thing
15:36here is uh one of the things that cine
15:39world's really famous for is its
15:40unlimited membership you know people pay
15:43to get unlimited access to see as many
15:45films they want every every day every
15:47week you you know if you go to cinema a
15:49lot they can be pretty decent value for
15:50money so I was wondering well what does
15:52this mean for two things one what about
15:54if you're impacted directly by those six
15:59but also you know this is a
16:01restructuring plan it doesn't mean this
16:03is going to work they are still in
16:04trouble um now for some people it won't
16:07be an issue because they're paying
16:08monthly but there is a discount if you
16:10pay annually some people have paid
16:11Upfront for their pass for a whole year
16:13what does that mean so let's get the
16:14first thing first of all I contacted C
16:16just to check about this if you're
16:18impacted by the closures of your local
16:21cine and you have a membership they say
16:23they will be contacting you at the end
16:26September um and they will have the
16:27option then to cancel your memb
16:28membership if you want and you also get
16:31a prata refund of anything that's been
16:33unused now that's assuming they're still
16:35going of course uh and they haven't shut
16:37down completely but if that's the case
16:38you know look out for that but I don't
16:41know how because when you buy a
16:42membership you might choose one
16:44particular thing as your main one you
16:45might go to one as your main one but
16:47broadly speaking you're buying them in
16:48zones so you actually get you don't buy
16:50it just for the cine well Bradford which
16:52is closing for example you buy it for
16:54zone three or whatever it might be so it
16:56could well be that you actually have
16:58this membership and you want to use it
16:59one that's closing but because they
17:01don't identify you as someone who should
17:03be contacted you miss out I'm not saying
17:05that will happen but it's certainly
17:06something if you have one to think about
17:07right keep an eye on this if not be
17:09proactive in fact if you are concerned
17:11about it I would get in touch with them
17:13early yes the cinemas are still going to
17:14be open for the next few or few weeks
17:16and stuff but just get on it and see if
17:18you do want a refund do it as soon as
17:20you possibly can get that money back to
17:21you the other thing I want to talk about
17:23obviously is this this sense of uh
17:25remind me about consumer protection I
17:27talk about a lot this in section 75 of
17:29the consumer credit act this is if you
17:31buy something that costs more than1
17:33100 um but less than
17:35£30,000 and you use a credit card for it
17:38then if that company goes busted or
17:40something goes wrong with your order
17:41whatever it is then the credit card
17:42company is equally uh liable uh for
17:46compensating you so if you're paying for
17:48this monthly that won't count because
17:50it's a monthly cost if you've paid for
17:51it annually up front and you have used a
17:54credit card and let's say cine well does
17:56go under to go bus completely then
17:59that's a great way to you know get some
18:01of your money back afterwards because
18:02you you know you'll be protected so
18:05really okay it might not to do much
18:06about it right now I certainly wouldn't
18:08be buying a new one and committing to a
18:09sort of 12- month minimum term or
18:10anything like that in the first year
18:12although any will say the minimum term
18:13is now three months but I certainly
18:14wouldn't be putting too much cash into
18:16something but if you are going to do
18:17that whether this or something else just
18:19remember over 100 quid please do try and
18:22use a credit card for that just pay it
18:23off in full pay it off completely so you
18:25don't get charge interest but that is a
18:26really really important consumer
18:27protection and you know
18:29stuff will still cons shops and
18:30retailers and businesses are still
18:32struggling out there we will still
18:33continue to see places shutting down
18:35Brands we've known around for years and
18:37sadly some of them will still go so just
18:39do what you can to you know protect your
18:42spending and I'm one of those people who
18:44loves the cinema but just never goes and
18:47every time I go I'm just like oh my God
18:48I love this so much why don't I come all
18:50the time and then I never go but my mom
18:52goes religiously once a week with her
18:55gal Pals she calls them the golden gals
18:57and I think it might be a cine world
18:59where she goes and I think she's had
19:00rumors that that one's in trouble as
19:02well um but I think she pays very little
19:06so she's not really contributing to its
19:07survival she go she goes with the Mia
19:09Cat deal and she another pass I don't
19:13know what the pass is it might be like
19:14an over 60s one or like a chess one so
19:18she and her friends get to go for for
19:20yeah not a lot of money but she says
19:22it's always empty and it's a huge huge
19:24Cinema and it's such a waste yeah it's
19:27sad it's I love the cinema as well we
19:28have got loads of deals and ways to save
19:30over at be clash.com so go to our deal
19:32section and just search for Cinema or
19:34your individual Cinema chains and
19:36hopefully there be ways to help you
19:37bring down the price of what you pay
19:38although I you say if no one's paying
19:41any money they might not last too much
19:42longer but yeah yeah um right to finish
19:46off the last story is about there's been
19:48a Crackdown on scam calls so new rules
19:52from ofcom will force phone networks to
19:55block spoofed numbers from abroad so
19:57spoofed calls that's when frauders or
20:01you know dodgy people they can actually
20:03hide their number to make it look like
20:06it's a legitimate one there's all of
20:08these websites that make it really easy
20:10um it's a lot of kind of like IDE well
20:13they claim that you can either kind of
20:14joke so you can kind of hide your number
20:16and pretend it's something else or you
20:19know if you don't want people to see
20:20your ID you can kind of hide it but
20:22basically it's been used for bad um and
20:25basically what these scam callers so
20:27they've been calling from abroad and
20:28hiding behind a UK number or a trusted
20:32number from the UK and you know of
20:34course that you're less likely to pick
20:35up your phone to a dodgy overseas number
20:38I mean I just don't pick up the phone
20:40regardless anymore just like nope I
20:42don't know you we won't be speaking um
20:45but basically yeah they are now these
20:48these companies are going to be
20:49responsible for blocking these numbers
20:51some firms like BT already do it um and
20:54apparently they're blocking as many as a
20:55million calls a day um now these plans
20:58plans to block these numbers began in
21:00February 2022 so it's taking a little
21:02while to get in action um but yeah
21:04hopefully it's really going to to start
21:05cracking down on on these overseas scams
21:08ofcom is still wanting to fine-tune the
21:11rules so frauders can still get around
21:13them by spoofing mobile numbers which
21:15aren't kind of yeah they're not overseen
21:17by these rules but yeah with these scam
21:19calls they are going down but they are
21:21still really common so there was some
21:23figures that I saw that just under half
21:24of landlined and mobile users have
21:26received one in the last three months so
21:29yeah still R it's mad isn't it I I think
21:32the amount of technology that is
21:33available to the networks right they
21:37should be able to do something about
21:38they should do more about this you know
21:39the text messages that come around that
21:41look like they're legit and this number
21:43spoofing it's it's ridiculous how easy
21:46it is for people to do it and how little
21:47is done about it so hopefully this is
21:48just the start of of more that's going
21:50to come to kind of protect people but I
21:53mean the classic thing isn't it is just
21:54to be really careful you know if someone
21:56contacts you and tells you particularly
21:58if there's they from your bank or they
21:59want anything like your access to your
22:01computer or want you to give any sort of
22:03payment details just sort of go all
22:06right thank you very much hang up and
22:08then ideally find another phone which is
22:10harder to do now but particularly on you
22:11know find another phone or phone
22:12somebody else first and then go back
22:15find an official number for those people
22:16call them back and then go through the
22:18thing with them if it's legit then you
22:22take action but but yeah be really
22:23careful if you've been asked to do
22:24anything on your phone uh even if it
22:27looks legit or not we have packed a lot
22:29into this week's episode uh thank you so
22:32much for joining me an Amilia we really
22:34really appreciate it now if you do want
22:36to read the articles that we've spoken
22:38about today from a number of different
22:39Publications then you'll find them over
22:41in the show notes over at beever withy
22:44your.com and we'll be back with another
22:46show on Tuesday so see you all then
