Money blog: Widespread issues with card payments reported - as people turned away from supermarkets (2024)

Earlier this week, business presenter Ian King answered questions from Money blog readers about what the new Labour government means for their personal finances.

One question related to the two-child cap on child benefit - which Labour have at times suggested they're ideologically opposed to, but won't commit to changing because of the cost.

Responding to a question about whether taxes could be raised for oil and gas companies to pay for scrapping the cap, King said: "The Resolution Foundation has estimated that the two-child benefit cap will save the government £2.5bn during the current financial year - which would rise to £3.6bn if applied to all families claiming universal credit.

"Labour is committed to raising the levy on North Sea oil and gas producers from the current 75% to 78% - and has earmarked the money raised will go towards funding its wider plans for energy and, in particular, decarbonisation.

"It would be ill-advised to raise taxes further. The decisions it has made have already had an impact on investment in the North Sea, as I report here.

"And don't forget, the cap is not just about saving money. It's also about avoiding awkward newspaper headlines and stories about big families being paid a small fortune in benefits of the kind that embarrassed the last Labour government and angered so many of its traditional working-class supporters in particular."

You can read all 21 of King's answers here...

The UK's biggest supermarket chain has told customers its Express stores across England will close at 7.30pm instead of the usual 10pm or 11pm on Sunday - after England reached the Euro 2024 final.

It said the decision had been taken to allow its staff to get home or to the pub in time for kick-off at 8pm.

Employees who do not want to watch the match will be paid as normal, it said.

Stores will be open as normal the following morning.

England are playing Spain in the final - and will have the chance to become the first England men's team to win a major tournament since the World Cup in 1966.

By James Sillars, business reporter

Faltering expectations for imminent interest rate cuts are playing out in financial markets today.

The pound is at a four-month high versus the dollar at $1.28.

That has been largely put down to remarks by Bank of England rate-setter Huw Pill, the Bank's chief economist, that the timing of the UK's first rate cut was an "open question".

He spoke up just 24 hours after another member of the monetary policy committee ruled out personal support for a reduction on 1 August.

Jonathan Haskel said too many stubborn inflationary pressures remained.

As such, financial markets now see only a 50/50 chance of a rate reduction to 5% from 5.25% at the next Bank meeting.

The chance of a cut had stood at 60% at the start of the week.

The pound has lifted as higher interest rates are generally supportive of a domestic currency.

Elsewhere, the FTSE 100 has opened to a flat calm - up just a couple of points at 8,000.

A big focus for investors this morning was the interim decision by water regulator Ofwat on what suppliers could charge their customers over the next five years.

To give you some idea of the reaction, shares in United Utilities and Severn Trent opened up by around 2%. Those of Pennon, the company behind South West Water, were up by more than 6%.

Water companies in England and Wales have been told they will not be allowed to impose the hikes to bills they have demanded, the industry regulator has said in an interim verdict on their business plans for the next five years.

Ofwat declared that it was minded to slash, by a third, the combined increases that the 16 companies had submitted.

It left the average bill, the watchdog said, set to rise by £19 a year or 21% over the period.

Read our report here...

Meanwhile, more compensation, possible refunds and new customer panels have been announced as part of the government's "initial steps" towards ending what it describes as the crisis in the water sector.

You can read this story here...

The appearance of finer weather helped the economy recover some lost ground in May, according to official figures that were better than expected.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded gross domestic product growth of 0.4% in the month, compared with its earlier determination ofzero growth during April.

A poll of economists by Reuters had pointed to a 0.2% increase for monthly gross domestic product in May.

On a quarterly basis, the UK's interest rate-driven recession of the second half of 2023 ended at the start of this year as theBank of Englandended its rate hiking cycle which was designed to cool inflation by choking demand in the economy.

Read our full story here...

A common trick could get your car insurance down by £295.

Motorists aged between 25 and 34 save that figure on average by adding an experienced driver to their policy, Compare the Market has found.

Even younger drivers aged 18 to 24 - who often face the highest premiums - could also make big savings, an average of £281.

The typical premium for those aged between 18 and 24 is £2,140 - but adding a named driver brings that down by 15% to £1,859.

You can check how much you could potentially save in the table below...

In order for your policy to be valid though, all named drivers must use the car.

The cost of car insurance usually declines by adding an experienced driver to the policy, as insurers typically take both motorists' information into consideration when determining the premium, based on the car being shared.

If you add an additional driver and they do not use the vehicle, this can be considered as a type of insurance fraud called fronting.

If you are caught fronting, your policy could become invalid and you could face criminal prosecution.

Julie Daniels, motor insurance expert at Compare the Market, said the price of insurance had increased by 19% in the past year.

Germany's property industry is headed for a "bitter" crisis, the country's largest landlord has warned.

Higher interest rates have been hammering the property sector in Europe's largest economy, and could see several companies go bust in the near future, it is claimed.

Rolf Buch, chief executive of Vonovia, warned the country is "going to see an extreme number of bankruptcies over the next few months, maybe over the next few years".

"We're already seeing them today. It is going to be bitter," he said.

Meanwhile, renters are facing fierce competition for flats and Mr Buch said the market for these is "going to get worse".

The sector had previously seen a boom due to low interest rates and a strong economy, but this changed when rising inflation forced the European Central Bank to swiftly raise borrowing costs.

The industry is now calling on the German government to intervene.

The ECB cut its main deposit rate from 4% to 3.75% last month butbank president Christine Lagarde has indicated that benign economic developments mean further interest rate cuts are not urgent, with a robust labour market and resilient wage growth.

For Savings Guide this week, Savings Champion research and development managerDaniel Darragh gives us the lowdown on the best notice accounts on the market right now...

Notice accounts have seen a rally in recent times, with rates on the rise.

Some of these accounts are offering some of the highest rates outside of regular savings accounts.OakNorth's 95-Day Base Rate Tracker, paying 5.37% AER, and Vanquis's 90 and 60-Day accounts, paying 5.35% and 5.30% AER respectively, even beat any fixed-rate term accounts currently available.

A relatively unloved and often overlooked area of the savings market, notice accounts tend to offer higher rates than easy access accounts due to their restrictions on access, but they have greater flexibility of access than a fixed-term bond.

As the name suggests, notice accounts require you to give notice to access your money without a penalty. Usual notice periods range from 30 to 120 days, although there are some accounts on the market that require six months or even a year's notice.

While you need to give the required notice to access your cash on the majority of notice accounts, some will allow immediate access with a penalty equivalent to the notice period - although this is now less common. This penalty can be taken from the capital if insufficient interest has built up prior to access, so it's important to plan carefully as you could end up with less money than you put in.

It's also important to note that unlike fixed-rate bonds, notice accounts pay a variable rate of interest so are subject to fluctuations in rates over time. This is particularly pertinent given the speculation that the Bank of England is considering cutting interest rates in the coming months, which may well be passed onto savers in variable rate accounts by the underlying provider.

In the case of notice accounts, when rates decrease, the amount of notice given to customers varies from provider to provider. Some providers will give customers the full notice period, plus x number of days, before any rate reductions take effect – in essence, allowing clients to give notice and withdraw their funds from the account before the new, lower rate takes effect.

Other providers may only give a set amount of days, less than the notice period itself, which means that, even if you were to give notice on the day you were informed of the rate drop, your money would be subject to the lower rate for at least part of the notice period. As there is no hard and fast rule on this, it is important to check the terms and conditions of the account so you know what situation you will be in if or when rates start to fall.

For some people, not being able to access their money immediately is important to help them to resist dipping into their savings and it could also be a good way of getting a higher return on money that you know you will not need straight away – so could be a serious consideration for many cash savers.

The Danish capital might not be what comes to mind when you think of a cheap holiday - but if you're willing to help the community, you can earn yourself freebies and discounts.

Under a new scheme being trialled, visitors to Copenhagen can claim anything from a free lunch or glass or wine to a free kayak rental.

They can earn these freebies by completing tasks such as litter picking, travelling by public transport, cycling or volunteering in an urban garden.

The CopenPay scheme is being trialled from 15 July until 11 August.

Twenty-four attractions in the city are signed up to take part, including the Museum of Copenhagen - where you can claim a free coffee if you've walked there, travelled by bike or used public transport.

On certain dates, you can earn a free one-hour GoBoat cruise around the city, or a 45-minute free bike ride with Donkey Republic.

Officials have said if the trial is deemed a success, CopenPay could be rolled out throughout the year.