This is Money Podcast

It’s a really fun show this week and a fantastic antidote to the Bake Off and Brangelina hysteria. For the initiated, two well-known Hollywood actors announced their divorce this week and the makers of televised cake-making competition revealed they were moving it to Channel 4 from the BBC. And we don’t care. Not that making cakes doesn’t get a look in. It does but with the usual financial twist. How to save money baking is one of the more popular stories of the week. Have you any idea just how cheap it is to make a scone? Rachel Rickard Straus, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost also find time to be utterly horrified about the cost of a wedding. Tip: Get married abroad, says Lee. Also discussed are:Retweaked economic forecasts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)The idiocy of the lifetime Isa – another ill-conceived, complicated tax change from the previous Chancellor House prices Fluffy surveys from banks Shrinking products – that get smaller and smaller to keep the price the same And are we losing control of our money? Enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now that cash machines hardly ever distribute five pound notes, the Bank of England decided it was time to issue a new, modern plastic one - to great fanfare.But the question on everyone's lips is why was it Winston Churchill and not Keith Richards on the note. This is just one of the conundrums in this week's round-up of the best of the week's money news.Also on the show...Banks under investigation for using interest rate cuts to punish customersPensions are just too confusing aren't they?Why do we spend so much extra while on holiday?All that data you've handed over may come back to haunt you in a big wayAnd more... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the team from This is Money join Share Radio’s Georgie Frost for an entertaining look back at the week’s big stories from the disgusting tricks hidden in cancer insurance small print to the birth of a new money superhero, Scam Man.Also on the show:Why banks are refusing to grant overdrafts to youngsters. Are they overeducated and misunderstood or just living in the wrong part of town? Did baby boomers really steal all the money and run away?Did Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney cut interest rates too soon? Or was he misled by bankers who promised to pass on the cut to saving AND mortgage customers but didn’t.Editor Simon Lambert explains his new investing technique: Doing Nothing. Consumer Affairs Editor Lee Boyce lifts the mask to reveal himself as the face of a new Beat the scammers campaign. Everyone needs to know these terrifying tricks of the tricksters. Do you have too many legs to claim on your critical illness insurance?Banks insult their customers yet again – this time with another round of ‘We’ve cut your savings rate’ hate mail. ‘Just kill the account!’ says Simon. It’s a brilliant time to fix your mortgage – surely these rates won’t last for very long.Why are rare 2p coins so popular?Would you take a pay cut for an extra day off a week? And a bit more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take a look back at some of the recent major financial events that have affected us all. It's been a bumpy ride and it's time to take stock. The team from This is Money with Georgie Frost of Share Radio explain the fallout of the EU referendum, the collapsing pound and interest rates, Santander 123, complicated Bank of England decisions, inheritance tax and loads more. As ever, they explain what it all means and what it means for the pounds, the euros and dollars in our pockets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the country was feeling good about its record medal haul in the Rio Olympics, suddenly consumer confidence appeared to be looking healthy too. But behind the rose-tinted sunglasses, a bubble of household debt was competing in a new kind of race with rival, the house price bubble, to see which will burst first.It’s neck and neck.Household debt is at terrifying levels. If consumer spending is on the rise, it’s likely that credit cards are a driving force. More than one in 10 households (1.6m) are in extreme debt, where 25% of monthly spending is servicing cards, loans and other debts - not including mortgages. Wages are stagnant yet house prices appear to keep on rising. That cannot last. We’re here to help. But the conclusion from This is Money’s consumer affairs gurus Rachel Rickard Straus and Lee Boyce is there’s not a lot individuals can do. Best thing, at the very least, is to try to avoid the increasingly clever scams and rip-offs. There’s some horrific tricks and it's almost impossible to tell a deal from a con. We offer some tips on what to look out for. Also, further proof emerges that George Osborne’s legacy as Chancellor is peppered with the wacky and unworkable, as his help-to-buy Isas are shown to be largely useless. Mobile phone companies, energy companies and travel companies are as sneaky as ever. First Utility charges one of its customers to STAY with First Utility. Strange times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week This is Money editor Simon Lambert and consumer affairs editor Lee Boyce explain the peculiarities of inheritance tax - and then ask why on earth it has to be so complicated. The team also discuss the watering down of the once quite fantastic 123 account from Santander - and whether it's still a good deal. Lee has a moan about train fares and they ask whether Essex really is the happiest place to live in the UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, it's just what we've all been waiting for - another report on the banks.This week, the CMA delivered its recommendations to shake up the current account market. Were they any good? And should we even bother trying?After all, the banks themselves already offer us free money, savings account-smashing interest rates and lots of other goodies.Simon Lambert and Rachel Rickard Straus, join Georgie Frost in the Share radio studio for the This is Money Show to talk banks and much more.Also on today's show, we ask if now is the time to buy a bargain property as Brexit worries deliver price cuts, whether Help to Buy needs to be axed and if a fixed rate mortgage still beats a tracker.Simon also has an idea for a new Office of Budget Simplicity designed to cut through daft ideas like the family home inheritance tax break.Listen to the show, leave us a comment or rate it and subscribe to the podcast.Thanks This is Money Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The whole financial system has failed us. Bankers not content with stealing £500bn in the financial crisis have just been handed billions more by their boss at the Bank of England in a desperate attempt to prop up the economy. We have the lowest level of home ownership for 30 years – to the point of ‘national emergency’.The economy is regressing.House prices are falling. The pound is collapsing. Foreign companies are queuing up to grab our cut-price industrial crown jewels.As well as printing more money to hand to bankers this week, the head of the BoE Mark Carney also announced a cut in interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% - tantalisingly close to zero. People will borrow more and spend more, is the idea. This time the bankers won’t keep the money for themselves. This time it’ll be different. The economy will be saved!Listen to Simon Lambert and Rachel Rickard Straus pull this argument to pieces as they explain the corruption and the social and financial divides that now define Britain. Of course, there are other winners from the Bank Rate cut.A few borrowers with tracker mortgages will pay less.Also under the microscope: Banks’ complaints procedures are still useless – don’t they just fob you off to the ombudsman at the first opportunity? PPI refunds are still on the agenda – some people seem to have forgotten that banks just added it to loans without asking.And cars. Thank heavens for classics and even the duff ones. They’ll always be there for a little light relief. Unless you’re not interested. With Georgie Frost. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a well-known fact that everyone who works for a bank is a sociopath and thief who doesn’t sleep at night, not because they have a conscience, but because they’re vampires (ugly ones) feeding off the goodwill of the living. Ok, it’s not a fact. But the way some of them behave it’s not difficult to think bad things. This week, we expose Lloyds Bank as liars, look at just how sneaky NatWest has become with its charges and how Santander lured in millions of savers with a deal that’s suddenly proving that it was too good to be true after all. If you’ve had a letter from Lloyds bank apologising for having to drop its interest rates because of market pressures, this is not true. Simon Lambert has checked the company accounts. Lloyds has also this week announced the closure of branches and thousands of job losses. It blames Brexit. Really? Might it not be the rise of digital banking and the pointlessness of branches that are either shut when you need them or full of angry customers in long queues waiting to discuss the rubbish service, terrible accounts or the bank’s long history of mis-selling? NatWest charges business customers 66p for every £100 they deposit in their accounts IN CASH, (see paragraph one), along with other sneak-based atrocities. The bankers at this one might go down in history as being first to introduce negative interest rates to the UK. And the big one…Santander looks set to diddle its 123 account holders out of much-needed cash by slashing the interest rate on balances up to £20,000 – shortly after increasing the monthly fee by a blood curdling 150%. Is this true and if it is what’s the best way to deal with it if you’re a customer? Elsewhere, savings rates are now so low that an account offering an execrable 1.3% was closed after four days because it was so popular. This might be the end of banking as we know it. It’s certainly the end of saving. In other news, credit card debt is a massive problem. Around five million cardholders will need more than 10 years to clear their debts. More than a million will never clear it. This affects the whole economy.Also starring Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost, it’s actually a fun show. Listen now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Exploited! Barmy Army!’ ‘Exploited! Barmy Army!’Come on? Who still remembers the early 80s war cry from post-punk nihilists, The Exploited?And who else thinks it could equally now apply to first of the big post-Brexit foreign business invasions – the Japanese takeover of British chip-making legend, Arm?With the pound down 20% against the yen since the referendum, heavily indebted Japenese company Softbank has made a massively overvalued offer to buy the crown jewels of mobile phone components. It’s apparently banking on Arm’s future role in the ‘internet of the things’.Barmy Arm-y! Is Britain about to be exploited by the suddenly wealthier rest of the world?What on earth is the internet of things? If none of this makes any sense, relax, Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Rich Browning are on hand to explain it all in this week’s fun look at week’s events. Also on the turntable… What should our new Government ministers tackle first? Pensions, Housing, Transport? Simon has a plan. Who is the greediest of them all? The Post Office is paying NOTHING to savers and tops the latest League of Shame. Why’s the country now obsessed with the idea of becoming a millionaire? Be prepared for a shock when you work out how many lifetimes it might take to achieve it.And finally…What would be your first job if you were Prime Minister? An extra holiday anyone? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.