August 2018

Wonga has gone into administration, marking the end of the road for the UK's largest payday loan firm. Below you can read MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis's view.  Before we hear from Martin, from what we know the administrator Grant Thornton says all outstanding loans remain subject to the terms agreed with Wonga and customers should continue to make payments in the usual way. Grant Thornton also says customers with mis-selling claims should contact it – you'll be dealt with an 'unsecured creditor', but don't expect to get much back as there's a long list of people owed money when companies go into administration and customers are rarely anywhere near the top priority. 

The growth of household bills has risen faster than inflation over the past 12 months, the MSE Bills Tracker has shown.

TSB customers should urgently check their credit scores after the bank admitted there were delays updating the credit references following its major IT problems in April. The bank said there have been delays updating the three UK credit agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (formerly Callcredit), about its customers – meaning some credit scores may be out of date, which could affect their ability to borrow money. Following initial concerns raised in a Which? story, TSB confirmed to MoneySavingExpert the delays began in April, but said it started sending over the information in July and from September everything should be up to date. The latest problems follow a major IT meltdown in April, which left customers locked out of their accounts, direct debits cancelled and a huge rise in fraud cases. TSB has confirmed the credit score delays are linked to the IT problems from earlier this year. See our TSB banking chaos – your rights guide for more information. You can check your credit score for free using our Credit Club, plus see our Credit Scores guide for more information.

The best buy mortgage fixes have barely moved four weeks on from the base rate rise, with some lenders even dropping their rates, meaning there is still a window of opportunity to lock in low rates for anyone with up to six months left on their current deal.

TSB has crashed to the bottom of our banking customer service poll, with almost half of those who rated it describing its service as 'poor' over the last six months.

A merger between Npower and SSE has been given a provisional green light, meaning the big six energy firms could be reduced to five.

British Gas has been ordered to pay out £2.65 million in refunds and compensation by energy regulator Ofgem for a string of anti-consumer incidents, following an investigation and subsequent campaign by MoneySavingExpert.com.

O2 now offers 'custom' tariffs which allow customers to choose how and when they pay for a device – but you could save £100s/yr by shopping around.

Part-time commuters who travel on Great Northern and Thameslink services could be eligible for additional compensation following major disruption earlier this year.

House of Fraser is set to announce a spate of store closures this week – as its website remains down more than two weeks after it was bought.