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Money Box: Pay day loan redress, Insurance premium tax

Pay day loan redress, Insurance Premium Tax

31/10/2015

Pay day loan redress, Insurance premium tax

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Pay day loan redress, Insurance premium tax

A look at the payday loan redress, insurance premium tax and foreign payment troubles.

A look at the payday loan redress, insurance premium tax and foreign payment troubles, plus a 'vishing' update.

Payday lender Dollar Financial UK - which operates under four brands: The Money Shop, Payday Express, Payday UK and Ladder Loans - has been ordered by The Financial Conduct Authority to repay customers £15.4m after lending money it knew they couldn't repay. Some customers were also double charged an administration fee - and then charged interest on the extra fee. We'll talk to Paul Blomfield MP who launched a 'charter to stop the payday loan rip off' in 2013 and Russell Hamblin-Boone, Chief Executive of Consumer Finance Association who represents 10 different payday businesses who make up 60-70% of the market.

From 1 November the Insurance Premium Tax will increase from 6% to 9.5% for everyone with car insurance, pet insurance, home insurance and health insurance. This is a 58% increase expected to cost customers an extra £1.5 billion a year. What can people do to keep their premiums down? Louise Hanson, Director of Advocacy at the Association of British Insurers talks us through the issues.

Figures from the RBS Group seen by BBC Radio 5 live show the extent to which victims are losing out to scammers. From January to September this year almost 5,000 of the bank's customers fell victim to various scams - at a total cost of more than £25m. 70% of its customers who fall victim to a scam do not get a single penny back. So what can they do to provide better protection to their customers?

Low income people are losing out on getting the Warm Home Discount worth £140 when they swap to a smaller energy provider which doesn't offer the rebate. People are being encouraged to switch by the Government's current campaign called 'The Power to Switch' which has been running throughout October. But the Government's website only has a list of the suppliers that DO participate in the scheme - rather than those who don't. Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch will in live in the studio to provide some clarity.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Andrew Smith.

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