Money Box

Bailiffs and Premium Bonds

We'll discuss proposals to reform the bailiff industry, hearing from a man whose small parking fine ballooned into a debt of more than £400 once bailiffs got involved. Paul Lewis interviews the minister responsible for the planned changes: will they be fair on both creditors and debtors and will they…

11 Jul 25 min

Water Bills and How to Save?

New research, seen exclusively by Money Box, suggests a third of households in England and Wales are trying to cut the amount of water they use to help reduce their bills. The research comes from the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol which worked with the Financial…

4 Jul 24 min

Avoiding Scams and Changes to Wills

Hundreds of millions of pounds was stolen from people in 2024 by thieves who tricked them, manipulated them, and then drained their bank accounts. The latest figures from UK Finance show that more than £450m was handed over to criminals in that way. That was slightly less than in 2023…

27 Jun 24 min

'Making Tax Digital' and Bank Charges

Hundreds and thousands of sole traders and landlords are facing a significant change in how they file their tax returns. In less than a year 800,000 people with a turnover of above £50,000 who fill out self assessment tax returns will have to fill out summaries four times a year,…

20 Jun 25 min

Fraud Crackdown and Is Cash King?

The fight against what is called push payment fraud - when victims are groomed and manipulated into transferring money to criminals - took a huge step forward in October when new regulations for banks and other finance companies were introduced to make the banks involved liable for the losses. It…

14 Jun 24 min

Money Box Live: The 'Sadmin' of Bereavement

Earlier this spring the Financial Conduct Authority warned that some banks and firms lack empathy when dealing with bereaved customers and called for them to do more. Money Box Live received a huge response from our listeners when we covered the story, with emails from listeners about how they coped…

10 Jun 28 min

Cancer Costs and Mortgage Deals

Around 1 in 2 people living in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime according to Cancer Research UK. That stark statistic is a reminder how the disease can impact families up and down the country, but it's not just the health of people diagnosed that can…

6 Jun 25 min

Money Box Live: Move or Improve?

If your home isn't working for you, should you pack up and move or get the builders in and improve? Moving is expensive, aside from the price of the house there's Stamp Duty and solicitors fees to think about. So, is it worth getting the builders in instead if you're…

3 Jun 29 min

Wealth Divide and Domestic Abuse

People over the age of 60 hold nearly £3 trillion of wealth in the value of their homes, almost all of it mortgage free. That is more than half of all housing wealth in the UK. Under 35s by contrast control only £600 billion and half of that is mortgaged…

31 May 25 min

Pensions Minister and Poor Bereavement Service

In an exclusive interview with this programme the Pensions Minister has talked about the government's plans to reform the UK's pension system. Torsten Bell has said that pension schemes should be moving more of members' money out of shares and into infrastructure projects where returns are higher. And he announced…

24 May 25 min

Money Box Live: School Wraparound Care

Parents typically pay an average of more than £80 per week for a childminder and £66 per week for after-school club, to cover the hours they're working. That's according to the latest data from the charity Coram Family and Childcare. This week a new trial of free breakfast clubs launched…

21 May 28 min

Investing in Gold and Accessing Child Trust Funds

Money Box investigates fees being charged of teenagers who are struggling to access their child trust funds. We speak to an 18 year old who agreed to pay a claims management firm 25% of his fund plus VAT, not realising he could do it for free. Lord David Blunkett was…

17 May 25 min

Money Box Live: Social Housing

New analysis shows that some parts of England have waiting lists for social housing that exceed 100 years. Recently the government pledged £2 billion of new investment to build up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes. But will that be enough? Felicity Hannah is joined by Jasmine Basran of…

14 May 28 min

Tariffs, Pensions and Credit Card Debt

The stock markets have been on somewhat of a roller coaster since US president Trump announced global trade tariffs. Listeners emailed Money Box to tell us about the impact of the fall out in their pensions and investments. The advice from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association which speaks for…

10 May 24 min

Money Box Live: Will Tariffs Affect your Finances?

US Trade tariffs, stock market ups and downs, economic uncertainty. What do they all mean for your money? Since last Wednesday, when Donald Trump announced huge increases in tariffs for goods being imported by the USA, global stock markets have been in turmoil. Money Box Live is discussing what these…

7 May 28 min

Investments and Carers Allowance

Stock markets around the world have plunged in reaction to the import tariffs imposed by President Trump and then the retaliation of China which responded with its own tariffs on American goods. Economists have warned that this trade war could seriously damage the world economy, and make all of us…

3 May 25 min

April Bills and Child Benefit

The cost of just about everything we need to run a home will be more expensive for millions of households from Tuesday. Switching on the lights, turning on the heating, turning on the tap, calling your mum or your best friend, logging on to emails, will all cost more with…

26 Apr 26 min

Money Box Live: Spring Statement

As the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presents her Spring Statement, Money Box Live sifts through the details about what it all means for your personal finances. Changes to the welfare system have already been announced. It will be harder to claim a disability benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP) under plans…

23 Apr 30 min

Back Bills and Benefits

We report from Parliament as the Minister for Energy Consumers and the regulator Ofgem face questions from MPs about the banned process of back-billing. That's when energy suppliers wrongly send new bills for energy use longer than 12 months ago. We'll get reaction from Labour MP Bill Esterson who is…

19 Apr 24 min

Funeral Plan Compensation and Leasehold Reform

There will be no compensation for more than 46,000 people who lost thousands of pounds each when the funeral plan firm Safe Hands went bust 3 years ago. The regulator - the Financial Conduct Authority - was told this week it should consider compensating them after a report by Rachel…

12 Apr 24 min