STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

ON MY credit card bills, there is a statement date and a payment date. Can you explain what these mean? I. C., Bath. The statement date is the day on which your spending for the past month is tallied up, and your monthly bill is set in stone and sent out to you in the post.

The payment date for this bill is normally around 25 days later.

anything you spend after the statement date and before the payment date will appear on the following month’s bill. I HAVE inherited a pension annuity from my husband and will receive it in monthly instalments. Do I have to pay tax on it? A. L., Hull. IN mOsT cases, income tax will be payable on an annuity paid to a widow or widower after their spouse’s death. however, there is no tax on joint-life or guaranteed pension annuity payments in certain circumstances.

To be free of income tax, the husband must have died under the age of 75 on or after December 3, 2014, and the widow must have first started to take the annuity payments on or after april 6, 2015, for the payment of a joint-life or guaranteed pension annuity. MY WIFE has shares in Aviva and has always had dividends sent by cheque. But we have received a letter saying they will now only be paid by bank transfer.

She prefers to receive all payments by cheque, so she can see what she’s getting. Will Aviva offer this service on request? H. S, Sunderland. NO. sINce November, all aviva dividends have been paid directly into nominated bank accounts. The company says 56,400 dividend cheques were not cashed last year, so this new system will ensure that everyone gets their money. I READ in Money Mail about the case of David Burnett, who used your template letter to claim compensation for being sold an annuity that didn’t take into account his health conditions. How can I get hold of this template letter? A. M., by email. IF YOU have access to the internet, visit

thisismoney.co.uk/annuity-letter. If you don’t, ask a relative or neighbour, or try your library’s computers to access the web.