Insight Radio teamed-up with Royal Bank of Scotland's MoneySense Programme to help you get on top of your finances. This programme highlights the importance that RBS places on heightening efforts to increase financial capability and inclusion through the current economic climate.

Click here to find out more about the RBS MoneySense Programme

On Insight Radio we discussed the money issues which matter to you and offered free and impartial advice from organisations around the UK.

Debt and Prevention

AUDIO

James Butterworth spoke to Andrew Henderson from the RBS Group.

Money Sense Report - Debt 01

Yvonne Milne speaks to the Chief Executive of Money Advice Scotland.

Money Sense Report - Debt 02 

CONTACTS

Debt Advice Network 

0300 011 2340 - www.debtadvicenetwork.org

National Debtline

0808 808 4000 - www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

Money Made Clear 

 

www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk

Money Advice Scotland

0141 572 0237 - www.moneyadvicescotland.org.uk

Citizens Advice Bureau 

 

www.adviceguide.org

 

(To find your local branch see the phone book or the website, www.citizensadvice.org.uk)

 

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Maximising Your Income

AUDIO

With between 10 and 16 billion pounds in benefits going unclaimed every year, today's topic is maximisation.

Maximising Your Income Report

CONTACTS

Directgov 

www.direct.gov.uk  

(Tax credits, benefits and other public-service information, provides information from across UK government departments.)

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Savings and Borrowings

AUDIO

Allan Russell speaks with with Aidan Tyrell, a DWP Financial Inclusion Champion with the DWP.

Savings and Borrowing 1

Allan Russell caught up with Allison Barnes from the Financial Services Authority.

Savings and Borrowing 2

CONTACTS

Association of British Credit Unions 

0161 832 3694 - www.abcul.org.uk

(Information about Credit Unions and local Credit Unions, for credit unions in Northern Ireland head to, www.companiesregistry-ni.gov.uk)

Child Trust Funds

0845 302 1470 - www.childtrustfund.gov.uk

Citizens Advice Bureau 

www.adviceguide.org

(To find your local branch see the phone book or the website, www.citizensadvice.org.uk)

Independant Financial Advisers

 

www.unbiased.co.uk 

 

(For independent financial advisers or mortgage brokers in your area)  

 

Institute of Financial Planning 

 

www.fnancialplanning.org.uk 

 

MyLocalAdviser 

 

www.mylocaladviser.co.uk 

 

The Personal Finance Society 

 

www.findanadviser.org

 

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Fraud

 

AUDIO

 

Interview with Helen O'Neil, Project Manager from the Illegal Money Lending Unit.

Illegal Money Lending Report

 

 

CONTACTS

Directgov – Stop Loan Sharks

0300 555 2222 - www.directgov.uk/stoploansharks

Report a loan shark in confidence or for help and advice.

Identity Theft

Information Commissioner's Office - www.identitytheft.org.uk

Personal Information Toolkit - www.ico.gov.uk

Pensions & Retirements

AUDIO

The Pensions Advisory Service

0845 601 2923 - www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk 

Women & Pensions 

0845 600 0806 - www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk 

For information on State, company,personal and stakeholder pensions,and help with problems or complaintsabout pensions.

The Pension Service

08457 31 32 33 - www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

For booklets on State pensions.

The Pension Tracing Service

0845 600 2537 -www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

To trace pensions.

Pension Forecasting Team

0845 3000 168 - www.thepensionservice.gov.uk

For a State Pension forecast. (Minicom/Textphone 0845 3000 169)

The Pensions Regulator

0870 606 3636 - www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk

For information about work-basedpensions.

RNIB's Money Matters Guide, available exclusively online, looks at simple products and tips to make everyday money handling easier, the services that banks and building societies provide for blind and partially sighted people, who to call for financial advice, and lots more.  Click here to access the Money Matters Guide.

Money Made Clear, there are a wide range of free Everyday money guides available to order in Braille, large print or audio format.  Contact our Moneymadeclear Helpline on 0300 500 5000 or Typetalk on 1800 1 0300 500 5000 - or website www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk.

Money Made Clear Booklet (please note this is a pdf file and may not be accessible to some screen readers)

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group believes it is important that as many people as possible have convenient access to a full range of banking services, whatever their language or level of income, location or physical capability. This issue is about understanding the reasons that people may be financially excluded and ensuring that everyone has access to the services they need.

Over 1,000 RBS and NatWest branches offer free, impartial financial guidance to everyone

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group's financial capability programme for all adults

Impartial MoneySense Advisers, trained by leading charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, offer free financial guidance to all in over 1,000 branches

Impartial service leads the way for banks to offer help with money matters in branches

69% of respondents from RBS/NatWest research said they would choose face to face help with money matters ahead of online money guidance (10%)

The MoneySense roles are completely focused on helpful guidance, and are not linked to endorsing or selling products

The service builds on RBS/NatWest’s 16 year heritage of working with UK schools to provide financial education

RBS and NatWest offer free, impartial financial guidance to everyone, including customers of other banks and people without bank accounts. The MoneySense service provides the opportunity to speak with independently trained advisers in 1,000 branches across the country where more than 2.2m people interact with bank staff every week. The money guidance available is not linked to sales of products and is completely impartial.

Leading charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) worked with RBS/NatWest providing intensive training to 1,000 advisers from the bank’s customer service officers who are completely service oriented and not linked to selling products. These advisers are on hand to impart guidance to customers across the country on a wide range of money management questions, including;

Guidance on basic budgets and budgeting skills

Help with prioritising outgoings and expenses

Working with customers on savings plans

General, impartial guidance on how financial products work

Local Help on Money Matters

Carol Simpson, who lives in Cheam, Surrey, has been retired for two years and has found herself on a relatively tight budget. Carol met with MoneySense adviser Elaine Parker in the NatWest Sutton branch.

Carol said: “With a change in my circumstances it has been a while since I revised how I'm managing my budget. To be honest, I am still managing my money as I did when I was working. As well as drawing up a new budget, Elaine suggested I look into benefits like winter fuel allowance and a free bus pass which I had not considered. I'm really glad this service was offered to me. I've realised I had standing orders for subscriptions I no longer use and that has helped me save a little something I can put towards Christmas presents for my eight grandchildren.”

MoneySense for Schools

MoneySense is the largest financial capability programme in the UK. The programme began in 1994 and has since grown to encompass a range of financial capability projects for adults and young people. Since 1994 RBS delivered a range of initiatives aimed at helping people understand and manage their money effectively.

MoneySense’ incorporates ‘MoneySense for Schools’ and ‘MoneySense for Adults’., the schools programme is provided to teachers free of charge. It seeks to develop financial  and business skills among students and helps teachers deliver curriculum-linked ‘financial capability’ lessons. The materials, carefully thought out by teachers for teachers, deliver real-life activities in the classroom that are relevant to real life money management. A unique part of the programme is that it is delivered by RBS employees in partnership with teachers.

In Schools – National:

MoneySense is the largest financial capability programme in the UK.

In the past year, the schools programme has delivered money management lessons to more than 700,000 students in E+W and 200,000 in Scotland.

MoneySense has delivered over 20,000 lessons over the last 12 months.

At present, over 60% of secondary schools are actively involved with MoneySense

This year over 500 bank employees have been involved in delivering the lessons.

There are various modules, which take students through the basics of banking and financial management like budgeting, understanding how a bank account works to planning one's savings to developing small business plans for enterprise days.

Lessons are developed for teachers by teachers

We have over 300 school banks encouraging savings and giving students the chance to experience personal banking first hand

In Schools – Scotland:

Scotland also has a third of the country's MoneySense School Banks which are run for students by students with the help of their local branch.

There are currently 103 school banks in operation in Scotland. 

MoneySense Panel:

To further understand the issue of financial capability, NatWest launched its MoneySense Panel in June 2007, an unprecedented five year research project involving 9,000 young people.

The Panel seeks to measure and explore how young people spend and manage their money, the importance of saving, opinions on borrowing money, knowledge of budgeting, confidence in dealing with financial organisations, hopes and aspirations for independent living, earnings and the financial decisions they may have to make in the future.

The Panel is representative of the population of 12-19 year olds by age, socio-economic group, gender and urban/rural.

The MoneySense Research Panel is delivered on behalf of NatWest by EdComs, the UK's leading independent educational consultancy.

School Banks:

RBS and NatWest help run over 300 school banks as part of the MoneySense for Schools programme, 100 of which are in inner-city schools.

School Banks are a practical extension of the NatWest MoneySense programme.

These School Banks are run by students for students, and provide young people with a practical approach to numeracy, managing personal finances, and instilling the ethos of saving from an early age.

Students are able to open a savings account and pay money in through a student cashier, trained by their local RBS/NatWest branch.

Teacher Training:   

RBS/NatWest are committed to provide teacher training to equip teachers of financial capability with the skills, resources and support they may need.

In 2009 NW/RBS MoneySense delivered  6 teacher training courses across the UK.

Over 450 teachers were offered support in their delivery of financial education.

Other Useful Contacts

Choosing and Using - www.choosingandusing.com - Online guide to choosing and using credit cards from the Association for Payment Clearing Systems (APACS).

Community Legal Advice - 0845 345 4 345 - www.clsdirect.org.uk  - Free, confidential and independent legal advice for residents of England and Wales.

Consumer Focus - www.consumerfocus.org.uk - Compare costs of gas and electricity.

Lenders Compared - www.lenderscompared.org.uk - For home collected and other loans.

Community Development Finance Association - www.cdfa.org.uk  - To get a CDFI loan.

Taxaid - 0845 120 3779 - www.taxaid.org.uk - Free tax advice.

HM Revenue & Customs - www.hmrc.gov.uk/leafets/isafactsheet.pdf

ISA helpline 0845 604 1701

Tax on savings interest 0845 980 0645

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