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Money Box: Selftrade, Co-Op Bank, Pensions advice, Buy-to-let

Selftrade, Co-Op Bank, Pensions advice, Buy-to-let

26/04/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Selftrade, Co-Op Bank, Pensions advice, Buy-to-let

Paul Lewis asks why share platform Selftrade needs to know so much about its customers.

Paul Lewis asks why share platform Selftrade needs to know so much about its customers. And how safe is your mortgage/loan/insurance/funeral plan with the Co-Op Bank or Group?

SELFTRADE
Customers of the online investment platform Selftrade have been complaining about being told they must answer 39 detailed personal questions about their identity and wealth or risk having their accounts and their investments frozen. They say many of the 39 questions are unnecessary and intrusive such as 'total net worth' and 'over what timeframe was this wealth generated?' and in which country did it arise. Why are they being asked these questions? And does the firm have the right to do so under threat of freezing their assets?

CO-OP BANK
The Labour Party stamped its foot this week and announced it will leave the Coop Bank - and take its overdraft with it. The party cites 'commercial reasons'. Some local authorities have already gone. So should individual Co-op customers leave too? Just how safe is money/mortgage/loan/insurance/funeral plan with the Coop Bank or Group?

PENSIONS ADVICE
The Chancellor promised in March that everyone reaching pension age would be given "free, impartial, face-to-face advice" about what to do with their pension pot. And he would spend £20 million working out how to achieve it. One of the first things the money was used for was to change the word 'advice' to the word 'guidance'. And to describe the pensions industry as 'cool' on the idea would be to redefine absolute zero as quite chilly. So will it happen? And how?

BUY TO LET..
...or borrowing to invest as it might be called, was invented 18 years ago by mortgage lenders and the lettings industry to help people buy property on a mortgage to rent it out - and to boost both their businesses. The industry wants to celebrate this 'coming of age' by showing that buy to let is one of the best asset classes when it comes to getting a return on an investment. But is it?

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Selftrade, Co-Op Bank, Pensions advice, Buy-to-let

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