Dear Listener

Pity the 1.9 million customers of Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland and the Republic – and some who live in the rest of the UK as tweeps from England and Scotland have reminded me.

They have been without access to their bank accounts for more than two weeks and have now been told that it could be two more weeks before things will be back to normal. Or, to put it in cautious bank-speak - It is our expectation that by the week of 16 July the vast majority of customers will return to a normal service. Hopes that it would be sorted out this week or even next were dashed by the banks on Wednesday when it said:- next week (commencing 9 July) will be the final week of any significant delays for Ulster Bank customers.

Yesterday the Chief Executive of Ulster Bank, Jim Brown, told Northern Ireland MLAs on the Stormont Enterprise Committee that he would review whether to take a bonus this year if one was offered. The bank confirmed this morning he would not be getting one.

RBS head of Corporate Banking Chris Sullivan explained to the Committee why Ulster Bank had been left last in the queue:- It is purely because of the way the system is built, it was originally an RBS system, then NatWest came along and Ulster Bank was put on later, and those processes have to run in that order.

Two and a half weeks since the main computer stopped updating the bank accounts of the nearly 17 million customers of the RBS group, RBS and NatWest accounts are now largely sorted. But the few bumps in the road predicted by RBS Retail banking chief Susan Allen, who appeared on Money Box two weeks ago, have certainly been hit by some Money Box listeners.

Rob tweeted: NatWest lost two large cheques. Error at Crawley Voucher Processing Centre still NOT resolved. Tony: I have a NatWest business account. Some receipts took 8 days to clear. Who got the interest? Not me. Jon: Yesterday [Wednesday 4 July] my NatWest card was declined, even though I had used the cashpoint an hour before. Just three of many such comments.

There is still no information on any of the Group websites about claiming compensation. The bank just re-iterates its initial promise that no customer will be left out of pocket. That applies to customers of other banks who have seen payments made from a RBS/NatWest/Ulster Bank delayed or missed.

The original glitch – which we now know was the failure of a software update – happened on the night of 19/20 June. By the time the vast majority of Ulster Bank customers get access to their own money again four weeks will have passed. That includes four Friday pay-days, one end of the month pay-day and, as Ulster businessman Morris Crawford told me on BBC Breakfast on Thursday, a VAT deadline for many businesses who have to pay HMRC on 30 June.

Bonus? I think Mr Brown is lucky to get paid at all for this month of hell.

***IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

If you are thinking of buying an annuity do not expect very much. Even if you have 100,000 pounds the current top rate for a fixed annuity at 65 is barely 6000 pounds for a man and 5750 pounds for a woman – and that will not rise with inflation. To index link your retirement income you can take 40 per cent off. Annuity rates have fallen by more than a quarter in four years. Is Quantitative Easing – aka printing money – to blame? If so magicking another 50 billion quid out of thin air can only make things worse.

Your car springs a fuel leak on the motorway. The emergency services clean it up. A Highways Agency 4x4 arrives and sprinkles some absorbent powder on the wet patch. Then sends you a bill for more than three hundred pounds which your insurer will not pay. Find out why those helpful Highways Agency traffic officers, who are in fact contractors hired by the Agency, may charge you for their time – there and back.

A timeshare company is charging one elderly and disabled couple more than 2500 pounds a year for two weeks maintenance on property they have not visited for ten years. And we discover that even dying cannot relieve your family of perpetual timeshare obligations. Why are they allowed to:- visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:5)?

A Supreme Court Justice says that England and Wales should have a law to protect cohabitants from financial loss when their relationship ends, in an important judgement on what the Scottish law – which gives them such rights – means.

That will probably do for our 24 minutes perhaps with a line or two of News in Brief. Find out by listening live at midday on Saturday, tune in to the repeat on Sunday 9pm, or catch up 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 the more than 35,900 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 am awake at twitter.com/paullewismoney.

I will be back with Money Box Live on Wednesday at 3pm to take your questions on tax and tax credits. You can email questions through our website or call on the day.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS I am on Breakfast on BBC One on Saturday probably around 0845 trailing one of the items from Money Box. And on Breakfast again on Thursday morning usually at 0640 and 0820 but times, and even the day, can change.

e-mail Paul Lewis