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Dealing with debt, City retirement, Switching suppliers

Vulnerable people with debts are being encouraged to sign up to repayment plans they cannot afford. More people plan to spend their retirement in the city. Energy switches go up.

You & Yours investigates how vulnerable people with debts they can't pay are being encouraged to sign up to repayment plans they can't afford.
That's the warning from a specialist insolvency company that has investigated the way that some unregulated debt advisors are promoting a particular kind of formal debt repayment plan.

We ask whether the dream of escaping to the countryside can really hold up with cuts in services and an ageing population needing more medical and social care.
A survey by the insurance company, Prudential, says more than half of the 2,000 city dwellers they asked, plan to stay put. People living in Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton and Belfast were most likely to feel too attached to their city to move out. Our presenter, Winifred Robinson, speaks to the author and journalist, Hunter Davies. He's been writing about why he's decided to return to London full-time after his wife, the novelist Margaret Forster, died last year.

The energy regulator, Ofgem, says there was a big rise in the number of people switching provider last year. In 2016, 7.7 million gas or electricity switches took place, up almost 30 per cent on the previous year. The regulator says people can save Β£230 a year through switching to fixed deals, avoiding many of the price rises suppliers have announced in recent weeks for customers on standard variable tariffs, which are typically more expensive.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes.

Available now

45 minutes

Chapters

  • IVAs

    Those taking out individual voluntary arrangements has risen by nearly 25% on a year ago

    Duration: 06:18

  • City Retirement

    More people are choosing to spend their retirement in the city

    Duration: 04:25

  • Tunisia Inquest

    Round up of what's happened so far

    Duration: 05:43

  • Don't Move, Improve

    The number of people moving home has fallen for the first time in five years

    Duration: 07:43

  • Broken Promises

    Companies who promise to make it up to customers but don't deliver

    Duration: 07:05

  • Switching

    Switches up by nearly 30 percent, as millions go 'energy shopping'

    Duration: 05:28

Broadcast

  • Mon 27 Feb 2017 12:15

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