Dear Listener

Apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week. We blame the continuing technical problems. If you see strange characters in your newsletter this week they are punctuation marks like apostrophes, pound signs and so on. I have tried to avoid them. So if a question ends in a full stop please do not email us. It is deliberate.

Move your money. Or at least check what your savings (if you have any) are earning and then find the best rate and then – move your money. The consumer group Which estimated this week that savers lose nearly 13 billion pounds by leaving their savings languishing in accounts that pay 0.5 per cent or even as little as 0.1 per cent.. It says that out of more than 1800 savings accounts and cash ISAs in banks and building societies one in five paid less than 0.1 percent and four out of ten paid less than 0.5 per cent.

Considering that the best pay more than 3 per cent and Bank of England figures show 972 billion pounds in such accounts, it is quite easy to see that 13 billion could be lost by not picking the best account.

Of course, if everyone moved their money the banks would pretty soon change the rates. But the point is well made. You can check the best rates for different types of accounts at the not for profit website www.savingschampion.co.uk.

And talking of websites, check out the Money Advice Service site which lets you estimate the first year cost of a new baby. Click on Baby Costs Calculator here http://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/parents. It says the cost can range from 1,600 pounds to 7,200 pounds. Some say that is too much, others that it is too little. One correspondent said wait until they are old enough to need shoes THEN you will find out the expense. See what you think.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

We start with a tale of two cottages. A fire in the chimney of cottage one quickly spreads through the thatch to cottage two. Both are burned to shells. Cottage one is insured and the insurance company will pay for its rebuilding. Cottage two was not insured. We ask if the insurer of cottage one will pay for cottage two to be rebuilt. There is a clue to the answer in our subtitle for this story which is: why you must buy insurance for your own home.

After that the Great Child Benefit Debate. Or the battle of the fairnesses. Fairness 1: It is not fair that the tax of the lowest paid 6/7ths of the population should be used to pay child benefit to the richest seventh. So it is fair to take child benefit away from them. Fairness 2: It is not fair that a single earner household will lose child benefit at 43,000 pounds but a dual-earner household will keep it up to 84,000 pounds between them. So it is fair for the plans to be changed or scrapped. We debate the choices the Chancellor will have to make on this policy before his Budget on Wednesday.

Many High Street banks are ending their safe deposit box facility or charging more for it and cutting the convenience. We look at where you can store valuables safely.

A letter arrives for someone else but to your address with the word Urgent on the envelope and mention of bailiffs inside. We find out what you should do and whether by opening it you become liable to prove you are not the person addressed.

Maybe we will squeeze in another item, maybe we will not. Listen on Saturday at midday, or Sunday at 9pm, or anytime online at www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. Remember you can put in a regular order for our podcast. It’s free.

There is more information on our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox where you can also download transcripts of past programmes and send us ideas or problems you want us to look into.

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 more than 27,900 people who now 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. And there’s a blog as well www.paullewismoney.blogspot.com – latest about how a mansion tax might work.

Vincent Duggleby is here on Wednesday with Money Box Live on Wednesday at 3pm. He will be talking mainly about mortgages but in the light of any changes in the Budget which will be at 12.30 that day. I will be live all day Wednesday on the News Channel and BBC2 talking about the Budget. And Money Box Budget Call is at 1230 on Thursday to answer your questions on how it will affect you. Details next week on our website.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS. I will be on Breakfast on BBC One, perhaps twice, on Saturday talking about our tale of two cottages. And back on Breakfast later in the week, probably on Thursday 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