This piece first appeared in Saga Magazine in July 2013
The text here may not be identical to the published text  

Money News July 2013

Wave cash goodbye, retirement poverty, Call back scam, No banknote woman

FIRST CONTACT
When your debit or credit card expires the chances are it will be replaced by a card that has a new ‘contactless payment’ feature – look for the four waves symbol.

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These cards can be very useful for paying amounts up to £20 instantly without entering a PIN. More and more retailers are installing machines to take them – including Marks & Spencer, local stores that use PayPoint, and coffee shops such as Prêt à Manger. It is a quick and convenient way to pay. But beware. You may end up paying with a card you did not intend to use. The terminals will take a payment if your card is two inches or less away. So even if you go to pay with one card a different contactless card in your wallet or purse may have the money taken off it if it is close by. Some customers have reported that cards can be read up to a foot away – a claim retailers and the trade body Cards UK denies.

People over 60 living in London should take special care. Buses in the capital now allow payment by contactless card. But over 60s with a Freedom Pass and a contactless payment card in their wallet or purse may find that the full pay-as-you-go fare of £1.40 may be taken from a contactless card if they place the whole wallet or purse on the payment pad.

The problem will get more expensive later this year when barriers at London tube and train stations will also accept contactless cards. If you put the whole wallet or purse on the pad and have a contactless card in it you could end up paying the full £8 price of a one day Travelcard or more in some cases.

If you have a contactless card keep it well away from payment pads or terminals until you want to pay with it. One way to stop it being used by accident is to wrap it in aluminium foil or keep it in a metal case. If you do not want a contactless card, some banks – but not all – will reissue a card without this feature.

SCAMWATCH
Never feel ashamed if you have been conned. The people who do it for a living are very good at it. A new con technique rings you and then lets you call back. That makes you feel safer. For example the crook may say he is from your bank but ‘don’t tell me anything. Look up your bank’s number and call it.’ So you hang up, check the number for your bank and dial it. But what you don’t know is that the crook has simply not hung up. That keeps the line connected to your phone. So when you pick up the phone and dial your bank you are still through to the crook who called you in the first place. You may not hear a dialling tone – though some of the cleverer ones may even play one down the line to you. When you think you are safely speaking to your bank the scamster may warn that your cards have been compromised and ask you to enter your numbers and PINs using the telephone keypad. They then offer to send a courier round to your door to collect the cards and destroy them before issuing you with new ones. Once they have got cards and PINs they go off on a spending spree with your money. These scams are estimated to steal more than a million pounds year. Don’t let it be from you.

BLEAK OUTLOOK
One in seven people planning to retire this year will rely entirely on the state for their pension. That finding came from research done by Prudential into the retirement expectations of the class of 2013 – men and women who reach state pension age this year. The good news is that six out of seven will have some other private or company pension. But for many it will be very little. Nearly one in five (18%) will have an income below the minimum income needed to keep above the poverty line. That is estimated by Joseph Rowntree Foundation at £8254 a year (£158 a week) for a single pensioner. Among women the figure is nearly one in four (23%) who will be below that level.

The research also found that people do not know what their state pension will be. If your state pension age is more than four months ahead you can get a forecast of your state pension from the government’s new website https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-statement.

If you have too few National Insurance contributions to get a full pension you may be able to pay extra to fill the gap. You can get more guidance and apply for a statement of your National Insurance record here https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/why-pay-voluntary-contributions.

NO WOMAN OF NOTE
The only woman to feature on a Sterling banknote – apart of course from the Queen – is to be replaced by a man. From 2016 social reformer Elizabeth Fry is to lose her place on the fiver to Sir Winston Churchill. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King made the announcement as one of his last acts before he retires – his job will be taken this month by Canadian Mark Carney.

The note will feature a 1941 photograph of Churchill against a background of the Houses of Parliament showing the time at 3 o’clock – the moment when, on 13 May 1940, Churchill told the House of Commons “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Churchill won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. The wartime premier will join scientist Charles Darwin (£10), Economist Adam Smith (£20) and engineers Matthew Boulton and James Watt (£50).

Meanwhile in Europe the new lowest value €5 note features the goddess Europa – in watermark and hologram – taken from a 2000-year-old image on a vase in the Louvre museum. The new €5 notes were issued in May and are the start of a new series – the first change in euro notes since they were issued on 1 January 2002.


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