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BBC Radio 4

Money Box

Mortgages are one of the most important financial products most of us ever come across, but they're also complicated. With more than 7,000 products on the market, how do you pick the right one for you?

It can feel pretty overwhelming and hard to choose the best product at a time when rates are held at 3.75% but expected to fall, and relaxed lending rules mean some people can borrow 6.5 times their salary over longer terms. 

We'll answer listener questions about trackers, what term you should pick, and what to do if you're a first-time buyer.

Paul Lewis is joined by Sally Mitchell, a mortgage advisor at Versed Financial, and Paul Broadhead from the Building Societies Association.

Presenters: Paul Lewis and Felicity Hannah
Producers: Sarah Rogers and James Graham
Editor: Jess Quayle 
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 11th February 2026)

Money Box Live: How to Pick a Mortgage

Debt charity StepChange says its research suggests around 2.5mn people who have debt on a credit card have paid more in interest, fees and charges over the past 18 months than they have repaid off the debt itself. Its survey of 6,000 adults, done by the polling organisation YouGov, found 1 in 20 adults had this persistent credit card debt. Its calling on the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to improve the lending rules to stop debt building up and and ensure banks are intervening sooner to support customers in difficulty. The FCA says its rules mean that lenders should only provide credit to people who can afford to repay.

The government has started a hardship fund because thousands of newly retired civil servants have been kept waiting months for their pensions to be paid. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents many civil servants, has described the situation as "catastrophic" and is calling for urgent action to put things right. In a joint statement Capita and the Cabinet Office said they are "deeply sorry for the worry, frustration, and distress this has caused." Adding they both take this responsibility "very seriously and are urgently working together to put this right."

New figures show that banks are refunding more of the money stolen from customer accounts, following new rules which force them to do so.

And as the big lenders offer mortgages worth six times people’s salary, what does this mean for borrowers?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th February 2026)

Credit Card Debt and Civil Service Pensions

Student loans and their impact on graduates’ finances have dominated the news recently. The average student debt in England for 2024 graduates was approximately £53,000, with repayments being made when salaries hit a certain threshold set by the government.

But, the finer details on who gets what and how it's all repaid varies vastly depending on when and where students study. Rules also differ vastly across the UK. 

Recent campaigns have highlighted 'Plan 2' loans which focused on students in England who studied between September 2012 and July 2023 and the Chancellor's decision to freeze the salary threshold for repayments on these loans for three years, which means some graduates will now have to pay even more.

In this episode we'll discuss the rules for current students, past graduates, as well as how maintenance loans are worked out and what support might be available.

Joining Felicity Hannah is Tom Allingham from student money website, Save the Student and Graham Wright from the University of the West of England Bristol and National Association of Money Advisors.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 4th of February 2026)

Money Box Live: Student Loan Debate

Billions of pounds is lost each year to fraud, be that by criminals simply stealing someone's money or by thieves tricking victims into giving them their details before draining their bank accounts. It's a crime that is massively under-reported, with very low conviction rates too. To tackle this, a new agency's been created called 'Report Fraud'. It replaces the problematic "Action Fraud" which had been the place for victims to report fraud for over a decade. Paul Lewis interviews Chief Superintendent Amanda Wolf who's the Head of Report Fraud.

There are calls for a cut in the interest rate on some student loans. In recent weeks some graduates have been saying they feel they were missold their loans, because they're only paying off interest on what they owe, despite high levels of payments. The Department for Education says that its making what it called "tough but fair" decisions to protect taxpayers and students. We'll discuss that with the Higher Education Policy Institute.

There is growing pressure from charities and MPs for the government to introduce statutory regulation of the bailiff sector in England and Wales as a matter of urgency. Campaigners say it's about making sure people who are in debt aren't on the receiving end of bad practice form bailiffs breaking the rules.

And half a million households on heat networks now have new protections when it comes to their heating bills.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Bisi Adebayo and Dan Whitworth
Researcher: Niamh McDermott
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast on Radio 4 12pm Saturday 31st January 2026)

Report Fraud and Student Loans

The number of people working past retirement age is growing. New analysis of tax data found a 12% rise over the past five years. It was carried out by the specialist employment law firm, Littler, which says official estimates for the last financial year show 2.1 million workers and self-employed people are over state pension age. 
 
For some people carrying on working is a positive choice. They enjoy the routine, like the social side, and of course the money but for others it’s much more about necessity, when pensions alone not stretching far enough.

But, how flexible are employers when it comes to older workers and what are the tax implications of collecting your state or private pension while still working? 

To talk it all through Felicity Hannah is joined by Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy at Pensions UK, Morgan Vine, Director of Policy at charity Independent Age and Julie Dennis, Head of Inclusive Workplace Strategy at ACAS.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 28th of January 2026)

Money Box Life: Working for Longer

The chair of Parliament’s Energy Select Committee has told Money Box it’s “vital” the Energy Ombudsman is given new, stronger powers as quickly as possible. Bill Esterson says that it is too easy for energy suppliers to simply ignore ombudsman decisions leaving consumers powerless. Energy UK, which represents suppliers, says customers have the right to expect a good service and, in the vast majority of cases, suppliers are able to work with the Energy Ombudsman to resolve cases within 28 days.

As people live longer healthier lives more and more are working longer - often well past the state pension of 66. A new analysis of HMRC data found a 12 percent rise in the number of people working past the state pension age over the past five years. What's driving that increase?

Top tips for filing your self-assessment ahead of the deadline next week.

And as the number of payments made by cheque drops, what does the future look like for their usage? 

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Haider Saleem
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 24th January 2026)

Energy Ombudsman Powers and Cheques

Buying a new car last year increasingly meant going electric. Around one in four new car buyers made that choice with almost half a million electric cars registered over the year, according to industry figures. That means there are more than 1.8 million fully electric cars driving around the UK, which is still only just over 5 per cent of cars on the road. But in the next few years, more motorists will start navigating the change because by 2030 the UK government is banning the sale of new petrol and diesel, with hybrids allowed until 2035. So how much do electric cars to buy and run, and how easy is it to travel long distances in them?

Joining Felicity Hannah are Stuart Masson from the website The Car Expert and Melanie Shufflebotham from Zap Map, which is an app and website showing where public charging points are.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle 
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 21st of January 2026)

Money Box Live: Do Electric Cars Add Up?

When it comes to keeping our homes warm nearly all of us rely on just a handful of big energy suppliers. And during the winter, especially with the cold temperatures, we rely on those suppliers to do their job. When they don't customers can firstly complain to their supplier but, if they're still not happy, they can take their complaint to something called the Energy Ombudsman. It's a free, impartial service and gets thousands of complaints every year. In most cases, when the ombudsman makes a decision, that decision is followed to the letter, quickly, by suppliers. But in some cases that doesn't happen - we investigate one listener's battle over a £1,700 bill.

HMRC has told MPs it's going to take more care in how it handles its effort to crack down on fraud and error, after a mistake which led to thousands of families wrongly losing their Child Benefit.

It was the Scottish government's Budget this week and there were quite a few changes promised for people's pockets, we'll round up the details.

And, there's a huge amount to think about when buying a home, from sorting the mortgage to getting quotes for removal companies, but one thing you might not be expecting is that your new home might come with rules telling you what you can and cannot do with it. Restrictive covenants are binding conditions written into the actual property deeds or contracts. What can you do to protect yourself from any financial impacts?

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Eimear Devlin and Phil Simm
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 17th January 2026)

Energy Bill Battle and Restrictive Covenants

There's a topic that often appears in the Money Box inbox, inheritance tax.

It's money paid by the estate of someone once they die, as long as the total value of all their property, possessions, cash and soon pensions are worth more than a fixed threshold set by the government.

At the moment Government figures say just 5% of estates actually pay the tax, so relatively low, but there are changes coming in this year and next which could increase that number.

Questions around who pays it and how much it is as well as the rules around passing on wealth to loved ones are never far away from the top of our in tray. So, today we'll answer as many as we can.

Joining presenter Felicity Hannah this week is Clare Moffat, pension and tax specialist at the mutual life, pensions and investment company Royal London and Nina Sperring, wealth protection solicitor and partner at the law firm Price, Slater, Gawne.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday the 14th of January 2026)

Money Box Live: Inheritance Tax

More than 60% of parents who lost their child benefit because the tax office believed incorrectly they'd moved abroad, were in fact eligible for the benefit, which is worth at least a hundred pounds a month. As we've reported on this programme before, the mistakes were made after travel data was used to conclude parents had permanently left the UK, but actually many of them had simply been on holiday. The scale of the mistake has been shown in a written question raised in parliament, where the government revealed that 63% of payments were wrongly suspended. HMRC has apologised to customers who had their Child Benefit suspended incorrectly. It also told us that it estimates that £270 million of Child Benefit payments were incorrectly claimed in 2024-25 – with unreported residency changes a leading cause. 

Credit card borrowing rose at the fastest annual rate for almost two years in November. The new data from the Bank of England shows that outstanding credit card balances rose to nearly 78 billion pounds, which is up almost 12 per cent on November the year before. What might be behind that rise?

And the pension ruling which could help boost your pension by 720 pounds every year.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 10th January 2026)

Money Box Life: Working for Longer

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