Dear Listener,

Water poverty. Even if you haven’t heard of it you probably have heard the thump of your water bill landing on the mat. It’s up 6% on last year in England and Wales and now costs an average £330 a year. With fuel prices up 15% and council tax around 4% higher in England and Wales, the rising price of water is sending some people down the spiral of poverty. We ask the Minister for Water (technically Minister of State – Environment) what he plans to do.

We’ve been sitting here all day watching the mortgage market tighten. Half a dozen lenders have withdrawn products or put up their prices. The trouble is there is a shortage of funds for them to borrow to lend to us. In the US the Federal Reserve (their Bank of England) announced on Friday it will make another $100 billion available to the mortgage lenders – on top of $260 billion already provided. We ask the Council of Mortgage Lenders if the Bank of England should do something similar here.

The Pensions Minister Mike O’Brien answers for his department’s actions on pension credit. Why has the target for claims been missed by half a million households? And what does he plan to do about it? His answer may surprise you. 

And the banks and building societies have refined the code which sets down how they run our current accounts, savings and credit cards. The new version – the first for three years – begins on Monday. Building Societies Association boss Adrian Coles tells us what’s good about it – and answers its critics.

If banking is your thing then tune in again on Monday for our phone in Money Box Live on that subject. Vincent Duggleby and guests will be here to talk your calls. See below for details.

But don’t forget to listen to Money Box on Saturday at noon or the repeat on Sunday at nine pm. Or you can listen when and where it suits you by downloading the podcast for your MP3 player. Or you can listen online. www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox .

Best wishes,

Paul Lewis

P.S. Don’t forget the live preview of Money Box on BBC1 Breakfast between 8.45 and 9 on Saturday morning.

P.P.S. BBC Radio 4's Money Box Live will be broadcast on Monday, 31 March 2008, at 1502 BST.

e-mail Paul Lewis