Building societies' customers to get extra protection after mergers

Building societies' customers to get extra protection after mergers

Savers who have accounts with those building societies that are merging but will retain their individual brands need not worry about their combined savings exceeding the Financial Services Compensation Scheme maximum limit of £50,000.

Regulator the Financial Services Authority has announced that such building societies will be allowed to retain their own banking licences in future. This means you can save up to £50,000 with each brand and still have your money fully protected by the scheme.

The news will be a relief to members who have large fixed-term deposits in accounts with the Nationwide or the two other building societies it taking over: the Derbyshire, from tomorrow, and Cheshire on the 15 December.

A spokesman for the Nationwide says the societies plan to run indefinitely as separate brands, but if this changes in the future, savers will be warned.

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New guide helps with taxing issue of pension reviews

Those investors who want to put more into their pensions but are confused about their existing arrangements may be helped by a new step-by-step guide on how to review them. The guide, written by pension expert Nick Bamford, of independent financial adviser Informed Choice, analyses the four key areas of pension arrangements:

• Which charges are taken from your existing pension plan;

• Where your plan is invested;

• What benefits you get on retirement;

• What happens if you die.

The guide can be downloaded for free

How to throw the switch on expensive prepaid meters

A new service has been launched by comparison website uswitch.com to help Britain's 5.9 million prepayment meter customers switch to a cheaper deal.

Many prepayment meter (PPM) customers are on low incomes and tight budgets but pay the highest household energy charges.

At least 4.9 million of these could move to a cheaper PPM deal, saving up to £138, while those who are able to move away from PPMs entirely and switch to an online energy plan could save as much as £327.

The move follows Ofgem's energy market probe, which looked at why PPMs are more expensive than paying by direct debit or online energy plans. PPMs are on average £116, or 10 per cent, more expensive than paying by direct debit and £202, or 18 per cent, more expensive than online plans.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uswitch.com, says: 'Prepayment meters are expensive and should only ever be a last resort but, for many households, they are the only option.'

guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008