Annie

Also, if your hotel has to close because of the lockdown, they should give you a refund or offer an alternative date! If you’ve got train tickets booked, you should be able to refund them (unless on a super cheap non-refundable tariff), less an admin fee (usually £10).

While I like the convenience of things like tap and pay, I’m a big advocate for cash in the majority of instances. I like to be able to see how much money I’m physically spending, and when I was hugely in debt about ten years ago I used cash envelopes to budget for bills each month. It really helped stop me applying for credit and learn to live within my means!

Getting rid of cash altogether alienates many people, so I’m hoping it won’t happen. However, an argument I had with the grocery shop cashier suggests shops will try to push it. (Argument: cashier told me to pay by card, even though I had the cash in my hand. Insisted I had to pay by card because cash wasn’t safe to handle – I said I had no card that could be used and he could either accept my cash or put everything back on the shelves. It was my Big Shop. He chose to take the cash – proving that they DO take cash, but try to push card payments wherever possible!).

Hi John,

A bank transfer is when you send money directly from your bank to another bank account. You need to make sure you know and trust the person you’re transferring the money to – unlike things like cheque fraud, it’s much harder to reclaim losses from fraudulent transfers.

If someone you don’t know is asking for a bank transfer, do serious research! If you think it’s legitimate, but don’t want to transfer, find out if there’s another way to pay them – for example, on a credit card, which offers you more protection.

Hi Susan,

These changes CAN come into effect pretty much from now. Your bank has to write to you (this could be a text, email, or alert on your banking app, instead of a letter) to let you know if your overdraft is changing.

Some have already introduced the new rates in July, including: Nationwide, TSB, First Direct, Barclays, and Santander. Halifax and Lloyds are already on 39.9% rates and didn’t change (unless customers asked). Banks changing in August include HSBC, RBS (Natwest Select) and M&S Bank.

If you have a £500 emergency overdraft, it’s important to find ways to pay it off ASAP as the 0% leniency that was introduced in April is ending – so you’ll start paying fees.

A very relevant piece this week: https://www.moneymagpie.com/save-money/how-to-make-your-own-face-masks

Make face masks at home for free (or very little money) – ideal now that they’re compulsory in shops from next Friday!

So now things have started to reopen – have you been into town yet? Or are you still waiting for things to settle down?

I’m in York, and what’s been interesting here is how many places haven’t opened yet. They’ve got signs up saying “we’re opening in the next week/fortnight” because they, too, want to make sure they avoided ‘the rush’ that was anticipated last weekend. I think many shop owners want to see what’s working for other retailers before they make changes to their own store layouts etc, too.

I prefer shopping online anyway, especially as I’m disabled and some shops aren’t equipped to handle the simple “Excuse me, do you have a policy for Blue Badge holders?” question when faced with a very long queue. I even had one ask me to show the badge… when I said “well, it’s in my car…” they told me off for not having it on me! (You have to leave it in your car when you’re parked in a disabled bay, that’s literally the point of it). On good days, I’m happy to queue – but standing for a long time is not possible most days so a clear policy of how to handle it would be helpful.

What do you all think about masks? Should they be compulsory in shops?

Hi Dean,

The good news is that you can gift your children £3,000 each every year without any tax implications for either you or them. If you didn’t give them anything in the previous tax year, you can gift £6,000, as you can roll last year’s allowance over.

If you want to give them more, you absolutely can. The risk here, in terms of Inheritance Tax, is if you die within 7 years of providing that gift. If you do, then the money you give them is subject to IHT on a tapered scale – so, if you die one year after the gift, it’s a lot more IHT than if you die six years later.

While this may seem a concern, the way to look at it is this: even if they do have to pay IHT on the tapered scale (which we hope won’t be the case and that you’re in good health!), it will still be less than if you waited to leave them all the money in your will. So, gifting cash now can be a good way to reduce your inheritance tax bill.

The main thing to be cautious about, though, is if you think you’ll need state-funded assistance (such as a care home or home visits from carers) in the next few years. Or, if giving the money away means you won’t have much to live off and you’d need to claim state benefits. In both instances, giving your money away is seen as Deprivation of Capital – and could exclude you from making those claims. So, the main thing here, is to give away only what you can afford (even though it’s tempting to help children out as much as possible!).

I hope that helps 🙂

Hi Ruth,

Our information is correct – however, if you are paid monthly, you may have worked during March but not been eligible for furlough.

The payroll is not by February/March – it’s 19th March as long as the employee has had their RTI submission from accounts to HMRC by that date. That means that someone starting in the beginning of March may not be eligible for furlough if they are paid monthly – because RTI submissions are usually completed only a few days prior to payday. The full Government advice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

So, you could’ve started on 1st March (or even at the end of February, if your first week’s pay was rolled onto March’s pay) and still not be eligible.

You say you were on the payroll on 16th March; had your RTI been submitted by then, or did you start your job on that date? If the latter, you wouldn’t be eligible (unless the RTI had been submitted prior to 19th March which, if you’re paid monthly, is unlikely). If the former, you ARE eligible for furlough if your employer is choosing to use the scheme.

Originally, the advice was 28th February as the cut-off, but this was revised in March to the 19th March RTI date to reflect the number of people left out of the scheme. (see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/furlough-scheme-cut-off-date-extended-to-19-march)

I hope that helps!