April 2024

The Co-operative (Co-op) Bank has now been taken over by Coventry Building Society in a deal that went through on 1 January 2025. However, it's still very early days and the two brands will continue to operate separately for now.

If you've got debt on a Barclaycard, it's likely the minimum you have to repay each month will be cut from next week, as the bank is changing how repayments are set for millions of customers. If you're unaware and pay interest (so aren't on a 0% deal), and don't act, you could stay in debt for many years longer and pay possibly £1,000s more in interest.

If you're a Subway Rewards member, you have until 5pm today (Tuesday 14 May) to spend any points you've built up – or lose them entirely. After this, Subway will switch to a new app-only loyalty scheme and any remaining points you have WON'T be moved over.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has responded to calls from MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis to address high standing charges, fix broken smart meters and tackle the lack of competition in energy switching.

Over 4,700 people have signed a petition calling on Nationwide – a building society owned by its customers, who are known as members – to let them vote on its decision to buy rival lender Virgin Money. The petition argues there's "no guarantee" the proposed £2.9 billion deal will benefit members "in any way", though Nationwide says the move will enable it to offer "better mortgages and savings rates".

Royal Mail is temporarily waiving its £5 penalty fee for anyone who receives a letter with a fake stamp on it while it takes fresh action against counterfeits. It's also developing a new tool that will help people to check whether a stamp they've bought is legitimate before using it. Here's what you need to know. 

Music streaming service Spotify has announced it's hiking the prices on most of its paid plans by up to £2 a month (£24 a year). Below we explain who's affected, when you'll see the changes and how to cut costs – whether you want to stick with Spotify or not.

A new online service designed to simplify how you check and pay for voluntary national insurance (NI) contributions is now available. It should make the state pension boosting process quicker and easier for most people. But you WON'T be able to use this initial launch version of the tool if you're already getting your state pension or you're looking to fill gaps from when you were self-employed or working abroad.

If you have a Chase current account, you may be able to get a table-topping 5.1% easy-access savings rate to go with it, as the bank has launched a new, temporary bonus offer for some existing customers. Here's how to check if you're eligible for the deal.

If you got a text message or email from the Metropolitan Police between 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday 17 April – or you get a letter in the next few days – don't ignore it. You may need to take action to protect yourself from fraud. Below we explain how to know if the message is genuine and what you need to do.