Dear Listener

No preliminaries this week. Time is short as I am heading off for an exclusive invitation to the verdict of the Trial of the Pyx. It is the formal occasion when a judge called The Queens Remembrancer sitting in a court pronounces our coinage of valid weight and metallic content (or not of course but that has seldom happened). You may think it doesn’t matter too much now – what with 10p coins and below made of steel – but this ancient ceremony which began in its present form in 1282 is taken very seriously both by Royal Mint and the Government. So much so that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be speaking at today’s lunch.

The Goldsmith Company is in charge of it and has spent three months assaying the gold, silver, and cupro-nickel coins made by the Royal Mint. The coins were chosen randomly at the Opening Ceremony on 7 February. You can read my account of that here www.paullewis.co.uk/archive/saga/2012/20120401News.htm

And you can follow my live tweets of today’s event www.twitter.com/paulleiwsmoney.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

The eagle-eyed will recall that the newsletter last week mentioned a tentative fifth item about HMRC. It did not happen. But the story has developed since then and we are returning to it this week. Since Tuesday 650,000 people have been clocking up fines of 10 pounds a day which could go on for 90 days and then have another 300 pounds added straight after that. Their offence is that they have not filed their 2010/11 tax return and it is now three months past the deadline. We look at delays on the phone line you have to ring to get these fines cancelled.

Faster payments which became law on 1 January this year should mean that payments from one bank or card provider to another are, well, faster. And on the whole they are. So if you transfer money to a family member or a business or pay off your credit card the money should move the same day. But some popular brands seem to be outside this useful system. We reveal who they are – and why.

If you pay your household energy bill by monthly direct debit you get the best deal on price. But we ask what is the cost to you of the large credit the energy company builds up on your account. How do they work out the monthly charge. And what can you do to challenge it or get a credit balance refunded.

The Financial Services Authority has ordered a 110 pound million compensation scheme for people who lost money in the Arch Cru investment debacle. Arch Cru paid IFAs high commission and made questionable claims about the risk of the fund. The bill for the compensation will be paid by the IFAs who sold it. But that could send a third of them bust. And that will push the balance of the cost onto all other financial advisers who never recommended the funds in the first place. We ask if that is fair.

Almost 70,000 households on benefits are being warned by the DWP that their benefit will be cut next April when the controversial benefits cap – 500 pounds a week for couples/parents, 350 pounds for childless singles) comes in. But there are concerns that the letters are being sent to many households who will not be affected. And some ways of mitigating the reduction are not mentioned in the letter.

Five items will stuff full our 24 minutes of prime time Radio 4. Find out if we squeeze it all in by listening live at midday on Saturday, to the repeat on Sunday 9pm, or anytime online at www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. Remember you can put in a regular order for our podcast. More than 200,000 listen that way each week. It is 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 do not subscribe. And you could join more than 31,100 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 am awake at twitter.com/paullewismoney. My blog www.paullewismoney.blogspot.com covers one of the stories this week – and many other things.

I am back on Wednesday with Money Box Live at 3pm taking questions on the costs of childcare.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS. I will be on Breakfast on BBC One on Saturday talking about one of the items in our programme probably around 0850. And back on Breakfast on Thursday morning with another money story, probably 0640 and 0820. But times can and do change at short notice.

e-mail Paul Lewis