MONEY MORSELS
Ticket tangle
RAIL passengers are still not being told when they could get a cheaper fare by seven out of ten ticket machines. A progress report from the Department for Transport revealed that the majority of machines still aren’t warning passengers when they could save money by moving the time of their journey, even though the deadline was supposed to be May 2017.
Power surge
HUNDREDS of thousands of families will see their energy bills soar as 61 cheap fixed-rate deals come to an end over the coming weeks. Comparison service Energy Helpline says these customers who locked in to these deals a year or two ago, when prices were much lower, could see their bills jump by up to £418 a year unless they switch.
Investment scam
THREE men who encouraged elderly and vulnerable people to buy ‘worthless’ shares in a firm that supposedly ran medical clinics in Dubai have been handed jail sentences. Victims lost £1.4 million and two of the men, brothers Michael and Paul Moore, are already serving jail time over a separate investment scheme. They were sentenced to an extra 15 months and nine months imprisonment respectively. Dr Muhammad Aleem Mirza got a 15-month sentence. A fourth man, Samrat Bhandari, is sentenced in January.
Housing go-slow
HOUSE price growth could grind to a halt next year because of a lack of homes on the market and buyers struggling to raise a deposit. However, prices are likely to rise in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the North-West of England, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Nuisance callers
POLICE searched two addresses in Nottingham as part of a probe into a network of people suspected of making hundreds of millions of nuisance calls. The companies are believed to have bombarded victims with automated calls about personal injury claims. Computers and data were seized.
Mortgage finder
L&C has launched an online tool to help borrowers find the best home loan. Its mortgage finder at landc.
co.uk/online/mortgage-finder asks questions about your income and spending, employment and savings. It then searches thousands of mortgages and recommends a deal based on the information you provided.
Scottish taxes
MIDDLE-CLASS savers in Scotland will have to reclaim tax on their pension contributions. As part of changes to tax rates and bands, the SNP government has increased rates from 40 pc to 41 pc for people earning between £44,273 and £150,000. Investing firm AJ Bell says 898,000 higher- rate taxpayers will need to ask HM Revenue & Customs to pay them the extra 1 pc in the new tax year.