MONEY MORSELS

Postbox crime

CROOKS are attaching fake letter boxes to the outside of homes in a bid to harvest bank statements and other personal information they can use to steal householders’ cash. Residents in Manchester have seen the boxes appearing on doorways and porches. Police are investigating.

Interest free

VIRGIN Money has relaunched its 40- month interest- free balance transfer card until June 30. There is a 2.53 pc transfer fee — £63.25 on a £2,500 debt — and interest-free purchases for three months.

Uninsured cars

DRIVERS could have their car seized by police if they forget to renew their motor insurance, warns the AA. In the past seven years, 979,000 uninsured cars have been taken by police. Always keep a note of when your insurance is due for renewal.

Shop around

HOMEOWNERS are losing £37 million a year by automatically renewing their home insurance rather than shopping around for a better deal. The typical annual increase is £9 per policy, research from Money-supermrket found. You could save £59 a year by switching.

Holiday help

MORE than 166,000 travellers claimed on their travel insurance for medical treatment last year, says trade body the Association of British Insurers. The average claim was £1,200. Insurers also paid 160,000 claims for cancelled holidays and 87,000 for lost baggage and money.

Buyer boost

NORWICH & Peterborough building society is offering buyers with a 10 pc deposit a top five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 2.93 pc. Monthly repayments on a typical £150,000 loan are £706. The total five-year cost, including a £1,295 fee, is £43,655.

Scam alert

STUDENTS are being tricked into handing over personal information in exchange for a non-existent grant from fraudsters masquerading as the Department for Education. Crime reporting centre Action Fraud is advising students not to click on unsolicited emails.

Cost check

A NEW mortgage calculator helps borrowers who part-own and partrent their property to work out what will happen to their repayments when interest rates rise. Shared

ownershipcalculator.com also allows borrowers to estimate these costs as they increase the proportion of the property they own.

Rich pensioners

RETIREES have seen the value of their homes climb by £9.24 billion — an average of £2,096 each — this year, according to figures from Key Retirement. Over-60s in London have enjoyed a £21,000 surge.

Bill blues

BRITONS are paying an extra £811 million every year in charges for exceeding the monthly data and call limits on their mobile phones, according to comparison site uSwitch. The average customer pays an additional £40 a year.