Other Money News

This month, Ellie in our Events team had the enjoyable job of calling three of our readers to tell them they had won £1,000 each!

The three readers had all taken part in our Consumer Awards Survey, sharing their opinions on the financial services brands they use, which decide the winners of the Moneyfacts Consumer Awards 2022. This year, over 110,000 consumers (who voted) had their say on 140 brands!

Our first winner, who wished to remain anonymous, said “I never expected to win anything from doing the surveys, but they were so simple and easy to fill in - and often related to financial decisions I was either contemplating or had recently made - that it was a welcome diversion whenever they appeared”. He intends to use his winnings to pay his Christmas credit card bill to treat his wife and young daughter to a short break away or a special treat.

Gemma B, our second winner was delighted “This is the first time in my life I've had a genuine call saying I've won money, and the first time I've won more than £5 at anything! It was an amazing surprise because I'd completely forgotten about the survey. I was just beginning to plan how to budget for my daughters' upcoming school residential trips and now no scrimping and saving will be necessary - we feel tremendously lucky!”

Our final winner, who also wished to remain anonymous, plans to book a summer holiday somewhere hot!

The survey results will be unveiled at the Moneyfacts Consumer Awards, held on 31^st March at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

Some banks and building societies are offering a range of ‘green’ savings accounts and mortgages; while investments labelled Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) have long been popular with investors.

For consumers looking to do their part to help combat global warming, choosing a green savings or mortgage deal or an ESG investment may seem like a good choice, but with no official guidance on what qualifies as a green product or an ESG investment, the product they choose may not be as green as the consumer initially thought.

This month’s premium bond prize draw saw two people from Bristol scoop the £1 million jackpot.

The first winner had the bond number 332GB855665 and holds a total of £38,000 in premium bonds. The second winning premium bond number was 209DZ100774, and the winner holds £25,004 in premium bonds.

Commenting on this month’s prize draw, Jill Waters, retail director at National Savings & Investments (NS&I), said: “2021 has been a lucky year for premium bonds holders in Bristol, with the fourth jackpot win recorded in the area so far this year. With one draw left in 2021, I’m sure that the millions of other premium bonds holders will be crossing their fingers that they’ll be next in line for a windfall from ERNIE – and make it a Christmas to remember.

“It’s also a big month for premium bonds as today marks 65 years since they went on sale. With 114,006,329,133 bonds eligible for this month’s draw, they are bigger than ever and with more than 3.2 million prizes this month, there’s millions of opportunities for people up and down the country to be surprised and delighted by premium bonds wins. There’s no better way to celebrate the 65th anniversary of premium bonds than by changing two peoples’ lives by making them millionaires – and we hope to make many more through one of the nation’s favourite savings product in the coming years.”

Along with the £1 million winners, this month’s prize draw saw 3.2 million other prizes handed out to premium bond holders. In total six premium bond holders won £100,000 in the November draw, 10 scooped £50,000, 22 received £25,000 and 55 won £10,000. The remaining winners received prizes ranging from £5,000 to £25.

During the pandemic there has been a rise in consumers’ credit scores, with the average score increasing from 776 in September 2019 to 797 in September this year, according to Experian.

The rise in credit scores could be down to some consumers having more disposable income during lockdowns, which they have used to pay down or clear existing debts. As well as this, although some consumers faced financial difficulties during the pandemic, the mortgage payment holidays offered by lenders did not impact credit scores, which has prevented some consumers from seeing their score fall.

Normally, a credit score will be impacted if a borrower fails to keep up with repayments on the debt, but when repayment holidays on mortgages and other types of debt were brought in at the beginning of the pandemic, it was stated that consumers needing to take a payment holiday would not see it impact their credit score. Those who had to continue taking a payment holiday after the initial incentive ended, however, would see it start to impact their credit score.