Dear Listener

Remember inflation? After dozing quietly for some years it is now threatening to outgrow the prudent corner and gobble away at our savings. At 4.4% the Retail Prices Index is the highest it’s been for 15 years. And we hear that the Bank of England will keep on raising interest rates until inflation gets back in its basket. Ouch.

Meanwhile how can we protect our savings and keep our mortgage affordable?

We hear that the High Street banks are getting tougher on people who are victims of card fraud or ID theft. They are not always covering the losses in full.

If you hear the screech of tyres it could be politicians doing a U-turn. People who chose to pay extra national insurance contributions to protect their state pension may have paid too many after the Government reduced the number needed to get a full pension. Until this week Ministers ruled out giving them refunds. Now they say they will – to some people. And only if they ask.

Seventeen companies that sell plans which are supposed to help people manage their debt were told to change their adverts this week. The Office of Fair Trading says the adverts make false promises and fail to give proper warnings. Companies that don’t make changes could lose their credit licence.

That’s all in a packed Money Box on Saturday at noon, Sunday at 9pm and any time on the web. And there’s more information on our website about all these items.

Paul Lewis

e-mail Paul Lewis