Dear listener,

(WARNING: There’s quite a bit of waffling (aka wittering) before you get to the asterisked list of items in the programme.)

On Thursday I was at an international conference (in London but with an audience from 27 countries) on responsible credit. When it was planned in May the concern was about customers of banks who had borrowed more than they could afford to pay back. But by the time the high powered panel from America, Scotland, Portugal, Brussels and London sat down, things had changed. Now it is the banks themselves who are struggling to repay dodgy loans secured on dodgier collateral.

So pity poor Eric Leenders from the British Bankers’ Association – a frequent Money Box guest and an effective advocate for the banks – whose presentation was described as “rubbish” by his co-panellist John Taylor, the boss of the US based National Community Reinvestment Coalition. At first John – who was still wearing his “Obama for President”’ badge – whispered his view to me (I was chairing). But then began his own presentation by repeating it loudly to the entire audience.

My favourite quotes of the morning though were from Professor Udo Reifner from Hamburg University for Economics and Politics. He said banks should not be looking for creditworthy people but at peopleworthy credit. And added that the only safe banks were socially responsible banks who had avoided what he called “hazardous financial waste”.

*** The heads of 20 countries which represent the biggest economies in the world are meeting this weekend in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis. And Gordon Brown wants them to discuss his answer first – coordinated global tax cuts to help avoid a recession of 1930s proportions. A live report from Washington.

*** Meanwhile in the UK party political wrangling continues over which taxes should be cut, by how much and where the cost will come from. Top think tank boss tells us what we can expect in the pre-Budget report a week on Monday and what the other parties propose.

*** No sooner had we seen the figures showing unemployment rising towards two million than thousands more job cuts were announced by BT, GlaxoSmithKline, RBS, Leyland, JCB, Friends Provident, Virgin Media, Taylor Wimpey and Yell. How can you defend yourself against the financial consequences of unemployment?

*** Bank rate falls but the interest charged on credit cards is rising. Why is the average rate now more than five times the Bank rate? We get answers.

*** The Competition Commission wants to ban the sale of payment protection insurance with the loans it is supposed to protect. Lenders must wait 14 days after selling the loan before they try to flog the insurance as well. Outrageous say the sellers. Tremendous say the campaigners. Ding ding, seconds out. Hear the fight on…

…Money Box – Saturday at noon, repeated Sunday at nine. You can listen to all the items on all our programmes through our website. And all Money Box programmes are available on a podcast you can download or subscribe to. And if you want to read what was said we publish a transcript by Monday or Tuesday which is available forever. Service or what!

Best wishes,

Paul

PS Don’t forget the programme taster on BBC Breakfast between quarter to nine and nine o’clock. If you miss it, you can watch it on the web until Wednesday after which it will be replaced by Samantha Washington’s midweek money headlines.

e-mail Paul Lewis