Dear Listener (skip to *** to miss out the chatter)

The Gherkin (officially 30 St Mary’s Axe) is one of London’s finest modern buildings but my visit there for coffee with Aviva – whose offices are next door in a square block – was not in the exciting interior of the upper floors but in a quiet little coffee shop on the ground floor which anyone can enter without sponsorship or security checks. Critical illness insurance has changed – that was the message the man in charge of it at Aviva, Richard Verdin, wanted get over to me. And he convinced me it had changed from its rather awful past of paying out too few claims, paying too much commission on sales, and saying too little about exclusions. So progress. But is it enough? And who should buy it? I will be investigating further.

Then to Birmingham for a conference of 300 debt collectors and their associated companies. The Credit Services Agency and Debt Purchase and Sales Group are the umbrella bodies for people who collect debts. And the debate I was chairing – moderating might be a better term – was about whether the balance of rights had shifted too far in favour of the debtor. The trouble with conferences is that the people who go are the good guys, the responsible ones who want to treat customers fairly and do not want to send a letter, still less a heavy, to the wrong person at the wrong – or even right – address. But the response from my twitter crowd @paullewismoney was that problems such as that are far from over. On the panel the CSA and DPSG bosses was balanced by the ex-CAB man who founded PayPlan – a free debt management organisation – and the head of Money Advice Scotland. More here http://www.csa-uk.com/page/annual-conference.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

It was November 2008 when Money Box first identified the high cost of replacement cars after a traffic accident. And 19 February this year when we reported on the ‘merry-go-round’ of costs as tow services, repair garages, claims management companies and personal injury lawyers all pay referral fees to one another to get hold of the details of accident victims and try to make money out their misfortune. This week the Government says it will ban at least some of those referral fees. What effect will it have?

Index-linked National Savings Certificates were withdrawn from sale this week. Half a million people had bought them since their launch in May was reported on Money Box. The NS&I boss explains why these popular certificates (and almost all other guaranteed products) were withdrawn – and when they might return. Until they do we look at what alternatives there are.

Have you heard of ‘trail commission’? Few investors have. It is the money that drips out of your savings pot every month into the coffers of your financial adviser. It carries on come rain or shine, gain or loss for as long as you have the investment. And although the IFA is supposed to offer some sort of service for taking it. Many (dare I say most?) do nothing. So a new service that offers to divert this revenue stream away from your old IFA, collect it, and give 80% of it back to you in cash is interesting. But will it work? The man who dreamed up the company and launched it is live on Saturday.

The Swiss government has pegged its currency to the Euro. Not because it likes the Euro but to reduce the value of what is more and more seen as the safe haven Swiss franc. We hear from Geneva what this will mean for the rest of us who do not have large amounts in Swiss bank accounts. And where is the safest haven now?

Four top items again this week. A couple of fifth and sixth stories were reluctantly dropped in the light of events. They may resurface next week. Tune in to see what else changes on Radio 4 at midday, or at 9pm on Sunday, or online anytime, or get the podcast at www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. Check out our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox to follow links, download transcripts, or send us stories or ideas you want us to look into. And Have Your Say on car insurance problems and costs.

This newsletter is available at bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter around the time it hits your inbox (tell your friends who don’t subscribe). And you could join the 11,111 (that’s eleven thousand and eleventy one) people who follow me on Twitter to enjoy (or rant about) my random but timely thoughts on money and a few other things whenever I’m awake at twitter.com/paullewismoney.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS I will be previewing Money Box on Breakfast on Saturday around at 0845 and I am on Breakfast in the week, usually on Thursdays and usually around 0640 and 0820 talking about a money story and answering emails and tweets. But the time, and occasionally the day, can vary.

e-mail Paul Lewis