What do you want Martin to ask Mark Hoban, Treasury Minister?

donny-gal

Martin

Do you refer the person you are meeting (particularly political ones), to the website here, so their secretary/ies can peruse and see what the "normal man in the street" is concerned about?

DG

joolsiow

Martin, I would like you to ask Mr Hoban why credit card interest rates are as high as up to 35% plus, when the base rate is half a percent. We are being treated in an appalling manner, with the banks riding rough shod over the British public. In America there is a usary law to prevent this legalised robbery, does he not think it is about time this was introduced in Britain, and our rates could then be capped to a sensible level?
Thank you

Gallovidian

The Information Commissioner has issued guidance on automatic/tacit renewals:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/automatic_renewals_gpn.pdf

Excerpt:

"When an individual agrees to purchase a policy or membership, there must be a clear and prominent statement explaining that the contract will be renewed automatically. It should also explain that the same card details given for the initial payment will be used unless the individual tells them otherwise. The individual should be required to mark a check box to indicate his agreement."

Emphasis added by myself.

Please ask why insurance companies are not obliged to follow this guidance.

Green_Fairy

I would like to ask a question about the age at which a woman is entitled to claim state pension - I was born in 1953 and have just found out I have to wait until I am nearly 65 before I can claim my pension - I have a friend who is only 6 months older than me who will be entitled to her pension nearly 2 years before me! How has this been worked out - it certainly is not a fair way. I have budgeted over the past few years in the assumption I would be claiming a state pension at 60 and now suddenly they have moved the goal posts again - first of all I would have had to wait until 63 (under the Labour government) and now I have to wait a further 2 years. How do the government expect women of my age to be able to suddenly rearrange all their finances and plans to accommodate this?

davidvernon

Why does a similar fund in a UK pension gain a lower annuity value than a European one, and what is the minister doing to ensure british people who are paying into pensions are treated like their european counterparts when it comes to buying an annuity?

chaos63

I would like to know what the future of Face2Face Debt Advice (former Financial Inclusion Fund) is after March 2012 and whether lessons have been learnt from the way things were handled earlier this year, or will the confusion and chaos be repeated!

talexuser

I'd like to know why the Governor of the Bank of England still has his job when he has failed in his inflation remit for years now and their inflation forecasts are always wrong - and why he was recently honoured in light of his appalling record given the state of the country.

Is it because the Government tacitly wants a level of inflation that they can get away with the voters to reduce the debt in real terms and therefore have a deliberate policy to rob savers of their hard earned money?

Mu72_2

Please could you ask him to simplify savings accounts, especially those for children. Due to restrictions on how much can be paid in, taken out, the number of transactions etc, my children have now got FOUR savings accounts each, at the age of 6 and 4 - with the same bank (Halifax)!!!

Their grandparents pay into a regular saver, which allows regular payments; then this is transferred once a year to a (slightly) higher interest account; but as the interest on this is not great, we've opened a 3 year fixed rate bond for each of them too. This only allows 1 deposit and withdrawl, with not even the interest being allowed to be paid in (thereby removing any hope of compound interest!) so we've had to open a 2nd bond each for them a year later.

This is ridiculously over-complicated and instead of offering the customer choice and flexibility, makes it harder for the customer to understand the best account(s) to choose, and harder to get the better rate of interest. It only serves the banks themselves!

Patsee_2

Despite government hype and various ministerial pronouncements over the need to control bank profits and corporate tax havens, adjustments the government is planning to the tax acts of 1988 and 2009 will engineer the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle to the ultra-rich that this country has seen in a century. The Guardian says:
"under the new proposals, companies will pay nothing at all in this country on money made by their foreign branches" and "still be able to claim the expense of funding its foreign branches against tax it pays in the UK".
How does this make sense when even David Cameron says he'd love to see tax cuts but while we're borrowing 11% of GDP this would not add up?
For a detailed explanation of this "heist of the century", see George Monbiot's full article in the Guardian on Monday 7th February 2011.
We need a taxpayers' tsar!

tgrant67

Why are companies like FirstPlus still able to adjust their rates arbitrarily. Surely there should be some legislation which states rates must be linked to something whether that be BoE Base Rate or the LIBOR rate. As I understand (and I may be worng) these are the 'commercial' rates they are charged if they want to borrow money.
They justified (in writing) using the BoE or LIBOR rate to increase their rates when they were going up, but now those rates have declined there is no 'link' and it is purely a decision to alter the rates based on "market conditions".
Seems wrong to me.