Credit card rate hikes

BBC Radio 4's Money Box Saturday 30 September 1204 BST, Sunday 1 October 2102 BST, On Radio 4 and online Programme transcript

Nineteen providers have put up the interest rates on 38 cards since the Office of Fair Trading forced down penalty charges.

Typically they have risen by 2% on purchases and by 3% for cash withdrawals.

If you have £1,000 of debt on your card, and make only the minimum payment every month - usually 2% of the balance - using an average interest rate, that increase means it would take you two years and nine months longer to clear the debt, and would cost you an extra £320.

We asked money saving expert Martin Lewis if the OFT's initiative has backfired - and if cheap deals are a thing of the past.

Further information:

Credit card users repaying debts

Credit card issuers raise rates

External links and helplines

---

Standard Life

We speak to Trevor Matthews following the insurer's results

Hundreds of thousands of Standard Life shareholders found out this week how the company has performed following its flotation on the stock market in July.

In its first set of results as a company, Standard Life reported pre-tax profits of £206m for the first half of 2006, somewhat lower than analysts had predicted.

It revealed it had decided to set aside £100m as a reserve against the number of customers who are choosing to cash-in their policies.

And it also confirmed that 270,000 policyholders have failed to come forward so far to claim the free windfall shares they are entitled to as a result of the demutualisation.

We spoke to Standard Life chief executive of life and pensions Trevor Matthews.

To claim your shares send an e-mail to [e-mail]

Further information:

Insurer acts on unclaimed shares

External links and helplines

---

Financial education

School children will be taught some personal finance from 2008

There have long been calls for personal finance to have a more prominent place in the national curriculum.

And from 2008 it is expected to form part of a new qualification called Functional Maths.

The Financial Services Authority is at the same time launching a campaign to improve knowledge of personal finance in 4,000 schools across England and Wales.

Bob Howard reported on whether these changes are going to give young people the money skills they need.

Further information:

Call for better money skills

External links and helplines

---

Company pensions

Many salary-related schemes have been closed to new members

In the week investment bank Goldman Sachs added its name to those circling around closed occupational pensions, we examine what it means if your pension is in line to be bought by a bank or insurance company.

We spoke to Mark Wood, chief executive of Paternoster, one of the firms recently licensed by the Financial Services Authority to buy final salary schemes.

And we asked actuary Robert Meeks whether this is a good deal for pensioners.

Further information:

External links and helplines

---

Age discrimination

Employers will be able to insist you leave your job at 65

It will be illegal to discriminate against an employee under the age of 65 on the grounds of age from Sunday.

The new laws will have an impact on recruitment, training, promotion, redundancy, retirement, pay and pension provision.

Employers who break the new rules could face a tribunal and end up paying unlimited compensation.

But the rules will now not be applied to occupational pensions for another two months.

To discuss the implications we spoke to Dorothy Henderson, employment lawyer at Travers Smith, and Joanne Segars, the new chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds.

Further information:

BBC News Website: End of Ageism?

External links and helplines

---

Money Box will be broadcast on Saturday, 30 September 2006, at 1204 BST on BBC Radio 4 and online

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Samantha Washington
Reporter: Bob Howard