Dear Listener,

Just to be clear, that means the newsletter of Money Box Special rather than a Special Newsletter from Money Box. Because this Saturday we have the first of our summer series of Money Box Specials. This one on Saving and Investing. See below.

But first here is a quick round up of some of the week’s finance news.

For the 20th year in a row the National Audit Office has refused to sign off the accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions. The DWP underpaid £1.2 billion in benefits and overpaid £2.7bn. In a neater split than usual the overpayments fell into exactly equal thirds of £900m each due to customer error (they couldn’t understand the complex rules), official error (nor could the people who work there) and fraud (they could and saw an opportunity to steal).

HSBC was fined an astonishing £3,185,000 for failing to protect confidential customer data. The Financial Services Authority (which the Tories would abolish) found that customer information had been left on open shelves or in unlocked cabinets and sent in the post or with couriers without being encrypted. Two lots of data had been lost in transit.

There is barely a week to go before the 31 July deadline for renewing tax credit claims. One organisation estimates that £2.4bn will remain unclaimed. And if you pay tax through self-assessment don’t forget to make your mid-year payment to arrive by 31 July. Painful for you but my goodness the Chancellor needs it.

IN MONEY BOX SAVING AND INVESTING SPECIAL ON SATURDAY

An exclusive interview with the superstar of fund managers Anthony Bolton. Now in a guru role at Fidelity rather than actively managing funds, he tells us how to make money out of the stock market.

An in-depth look at Zopa the alternative to conventional saving and investing. Zopa is a market where people who want to lend money are paired up with those who want to borrow. There are ways to spread that risk and returns are said to be good, despite a few losses. Is it saving or is it investing? How does it work? And how safe is it?

Then our high powered panel will discuss all aspects (well a lot of them) of saving and investing especially the opportunities and the dangers. Among the savings topics scheduled to be discussed are fixed rates, National Savings & Investments, cash ISAs and those cunning tricks to make savings rates seem better than they really are.

On investments we will be looking at the stunning week for shares as the FTSE 100 index rises 10.5% in nine days and heads (at the moment) for its tenth successive increase. Is now the time to get back into shares or is it too late? What are the alternatives? Are structured products a good idea or an expensive trap? Is spread betting the way to make money on shares? And what about corporate bonds – or indeed gilts?

Lots of questions. Find out what answers we come up with by listening to our live Saturday Money Box Special on saving and investing. If you miss it the repeat has been moved to Wednesday at 3pm, where Money Box Live normally is. I say “repeat” but in fact that slot is four minutes longer, so it will actually be a lengthened repeat. Perhaps we   w i l l   j u s t   s p e a k   m o r e   s l o w l y. And you can hear the programme online at any time http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/default.stm with lots of links and further information. You can also contact us there because the team is still around all summer and loves to hear your ideas and stories.

And I will be on Breakfast BBC1 on Saturday this week for my trail as usual between 0845 and 0900.

This newsletter is also taking a break – it needs to lie out in the sun for a month to uncurl its edges. So make a note now to check your inbox on 28 August 2009 when it will be back!

SUMMER SERIES

THE MONEY GRAB – two parter on the corporate pay and bonus culture
Saturday 1 August with Alvin Hall
Saturday 8 August with Alvin Hall
MONEY BOX BEATS THE RECESSION – three specials
Saturday 15 August – small business finance with Penny Haslam
Saturday 22 August – the psychology of the recession with Penny Haslam
Saturday 29 August – the housing market with Paul Lewis

All repeated on Wednesdays at 3pm – not Sundays at 9pm. The excellent File on Four fills our Sunday slot.

Then on Saturday 5 September the world returns to normal with the regular season of Money Box – our 33rd since Money Box started in October 1977. Hear the old theme tune here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/2301847.stm

e-mail Paul Lewis