Airports’ currency shame

THE weak pound means Britons travelling abroad must take greater care in buying foreign currency. An airport survey by FairFX claims bureaux at Birmingham Airport paid the worst rate to travellers who want euros, while Liverpool, Luton and Gatwick all offer less than one euro to the pound. Heathrow has a current rate of 1.01 euro to the pound, with a £3 commission charge.

ALTHOUGH big energy suppliers are at last cutting their tariffs, around three million consumers could miss out because they are “locked” into expensive capped tariffs which still have some time to run, says Mark Todd, director of energyhelpline.com. Todd explains: “Customers have to pay cancellation penalty fees of up to £100 if they want to cancel the agreements so they can benefit from falling prices. These penalties seem to be scaring off many who would like to switch.”

ALTHOUGH Northern Rock loses the 100% Government guarantee on savings balances on May 24, savers shouldn’t automatically dash to other providers, says Andrew Hagger at Moneynet.co.uk. He says Northern Rock’s one-year bond at 3.15% is the fourth highest rate in the field, and only a whisker behind the Post Office in the top spot at 3.30%.

WITH interest rates so low, credit card holders should use any spare money to pay more each month off the outstanding balance on their card, says Peter Harrison at Moneysupermarket.com. Somebody with an outstanding balance of £1,989 who repays the minimum 2.5% every month will take a staggering 22 years and 10 months to repay their entire balance, with an overall interest charge of £2,490. If they pay £20 per month extra, the repayment period is slashed by more than 17 years to five years and seven months.