August 2020

Student loan interest rates will rise for many students and graduates from Tuesday 1 September, the Department for Education has announced. But repayment thresholds – which set the minimum annual salary at which graduates start repaying their student loan – will also rise by hundreds of pounds from next April. 

Energy supplier Bulb has paid out £1.76 million in refunds and compensation after overcharging customers, blocking switches and wrongly removing vulnerable customers from the Priority Services Register.

The competition watchdog has said the funeral market must be reformed after its investigation of the sector found high fees and "unacceptably low levels of care" – but it's warned it can't push ahead with major reforms, including caps on prices during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

TSB customers have been reporting problems trying to use the bank's online services this week – here's what we know so far.

The Post Office is to close its online shop at the end of the month, meaning you'll need to go to one of its branches in person to buy its products – but if you want to buy stamps online, there are still plenty of other options.

Up to 16,000 self-employed people who received Government grants to support their income during the coronavirus crisis have been paid too much after their payments were miscalculated. If you've been overpaid, the good news is you WON'T have to pay anything back – but you may now receive less than expected if you apply for the second income support grant.

Belgium, the Bahamas and Andorra are the latest countries to be added back on to the UK's travel exclusion list, after the Government announced anyone arriving from any of these three nations must quarantine for 14 days. It's also advised against all non-essential travel to the countries.

Energy bills will fall by a typical £84/year for 11 million households in October, regulator Ofgem revealed this morning – but most people can still save over £250/yr by switching supplier.

Barclaycard has apologised after admitting it may have raised customers' credit limits too high – and it's inviting those who think they may have been negatively affected to get in touch.

Some high-cost credit firms are allowing repeated borrowing which puts consumers at risk of building up high levels of debt, and using marketing messages that suggest customers can borrow extra money in order to fund exotic holidays, a review by the financial regulator has found.