2019

The PPI deadline might've passed a while back, but if you're one of the millions of people who reclaimed part of the more than £38,000,000,000 paid out, you need to know about the tax on PPI reclaim amounts. This is automatically deducted, even though most people don't need to pay it. So if you've been paid out within the last four years, you could be due £100s back.

If you started university between 1998 and 2011 in England or Wales, or since 1998 in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you'll have a Plan 1 student loan. While much is written about whether those with savings should overpay the current English Plan 2 student loans, there's little out there about Plan 1. I wanted to change that, so here's a video explaining how to decide... 

Is your electricity and gas provider unfairly sitting on £100s of your money? Over 70% of us pay energy bills by direct debit – a good thing, as it gets you the cheapest rates. However, it can give firms the chance to build up a reservoir of customers' money. It's time to get that money back!

Beware student loan statements, they're dangerous and misleading. I wish I could tell you to rip 'em up without looking at them, but occasionally there's practical info you need. Over five million uni leavers still have outstanding loans. Many panic seeing £100s interest added each month – a financial canker that's led some into making catastrophic decisions.

No matter how dire your money situation seems, there is always hope. Things may never be perfect, but they can improve and taking action is the best way to make that happen. The team recently forwarded me an email from Jay, which exemplifies that in beautiful technicolour detail. And Jay has now kindly given me permission to reproduce it.

Nick Cann used to be the boss of the Institute of Financial Planning, a great communicator who'd also dabbled in stand-up. I too am in the financial world, a communicator by trade, and once dabbled in stand-up. I met Nick to give him an award for fundraising after he'd had his serious 'brain attack' and lost most of his ability to talk.

I can reveal that on 1 October, it is almost certain the energy price cap rate, for all but those on prepay meters, will drop by roughly £80/year. This means 11 million households on these tariffs will get cheaper deals. Yet that worries me. It risks giving people a false sense of security that they're getting a good price – when nothing could be further from the truth. 

It's enough to make even the Great Train Robbers blush. A staggering £30 BILLION of payment protection insurance (PPI) has had to be repaid, typically £3,000 each, due to systemic mis-selling. Yet still no one has been prosecuted for fraud.

Never owned a home? Open a Help to Buy ISA – even if you've no savings, just put £1 in. This special ISA – that gives first-time buyers up to £3,000 free towards their first mortgage – closes to new applicants on 30 November 2019, so there's now less than six months left. Yet open one before then and you bag the facility in case you ever need it later.

On 1 January 2019, a cap was introduced on the prices that energy firms could charge on their standard (ie, default) tariffs.