50 word Moneyfesto

A question about : 50 word Moneyfesto

Improve Money Rules In 50 Words
What easy changes should our politicians make?

Politicians like big 'legacy' issues, but miss those little easily-implemented changes that help us all. So we want yours...

See the full 50-Word Moneyfesto guide to see what this is about.

How to make your 50 word suggestions

To make a suggestion - just click reply. CLOSING 28 FEBRUARY 2013

Please format it as follows (you'll need to register for the forum to do so - don't worry it's free - we just ask for registration to stop people spamming here).

A brief headline of what the measure is.
Then a longer description of the exact problem and how it should be dealt with. Keep it as practical as possible, so there is a definitive action. In total NO MORE than 50 words please.

Important extra notes
Pls only suggestions, no discussion.
This is only on MoneySaving issues please.... all non MoneySaving/inappropriate suggestions will be deleted). Yet it can be on anything MoneySaving.
Max one suggestion per post. You can post more than once though
No duplication please. Do check no one else has suggested it
This is for practical simple changes that positively benefit everyday lives. Not have a go at politicians thread. It's for small, easy practical changes. So things like freeze MPs pay or Rewrite the tax system from scratch won't make it.
Here are a few of my suggestions (from many) as examples
If banks have basic accounts it should be offered to all who are rejected
Over 1m don't have bank accounts - yet instead of offering non-credit check basic bank accounts, they're given the normal forms and rejected. Any bank with a basic account should be made to offer it to all rejected customers (with the right ID).
Online statements accepted as ID:
We're all encouraged to go for paperless billing, yet banks and others don't accepted printed statements as a form of ID. We need to get ID rules moved into the web age.
Foreign exchange firms should be regulated:
Foreign currency firms should automatically have to be regulated (not just registered) by the FSA and should be mandated to keep their money in separate accounts - so there is added protection in the event they go bust.
Martin

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO THANK OTHERS POSTS YOU FEEL SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE 50 WORD MONEYFESTO

Best answers:

• The short-term 'pay-day' lending industry has exploded in recent years and is just a modern version of back-street money lenders.
  This industry desperately needs regulation to ensure that unscrupulous lenders do not take advantage of vulnerable people. These companies should not be allowed to operate like this in the UK.
• The value of 1p and 2p coins is next to nothing nowadays. The only purpose they serve is to stop retailers from breaching the next pound barrier. It may also reduce the risk of goldfish injuries.
• Create a simple number that anyone can dial if they receive an automated phone message (eg. PPI claims) and that message is automatically forwarded to an agency as junk. This agency then listens whether it is an automatic message, detect its location, and has the power to fine and bar the caller.
• Many of our roads are poorer than those in "3rd world" countries, are an embarrassment, potentially dangerous and cause damage to our vehicles. The Government should take control of road repair measures from councils and provide a website and 0800 number to report potholes.
• Disabled parking spaces in supermarkets should be enforced. Many spaces are used by drivers with big SUV's as the spaces are wider. Although physically disabled I have to walk through snow and rain while SUV drivers are parked at the door. Could there be a barrier where you need a token, obtained by showing the disabled badge in store, to exit?
• Force BT to upgrade phone exchanges (LLU) so that rural users can keep up with city (my broadband is only 0.5Mbps).
• End postcode lottery of mobile phone coverage, so we don't have to climb a hill to get a signal.
• Extend Freeview digital TV coverage to everyone that wants it.
• I'd like to see the likes of BrightHouse banned from targetting vulnerable people on low incomes by selling their massively overpriced goods coupled with expensive credit on the promise of "low weekly payments".
  Accepting that we can't really ban them, we should educate people so that they understand that "low weekly payment" often means "really really expensive".
• Force credit companies to give binding quotes using soft credit searches, so that consumers can effectively shop around for credit without affecting their credit report.
  At present, the market does not work because you don't know what rate you will get until you apply, and multiple applications can prevent you getting credit. Break the vicious circle.
• I'm retired and disabled. You'd think that my major problems would be money and mobility - and indeed they are. But above those - courtesy of local councils and almost every public body - are the jobsworths. We're all sick of them. I'm no more important than anyone else - but when a public servant (servant? that's a joke!) says I can't have something I'd like to know it's not possible rather than that he just can't be arsed. Please remind public servants who it is they're actually supposed to be serving.
• Clearly label all products so not misleading.
  Errors – customers should be given item for free or supermarket should pay fines as an alternative.
  Labeling should all be standardised for proper comparison e.g. price/kilo etc and no pack prices which do not show weights.
• Mobile phone companies in particular advertise "unlimited" texts, or "unlimited" data, but then in the small print impose a limit which differs depending on how much you pay. Ban the use of the word "unlimited" when there is in fact a limit. Fair use cannot vary from one tariff to another - if it's fair at Ј50/month, it's still fair at Ј10/month.
• Tighten the rules to prevent shops from always having a sale which ends this Sunday. DFS has a sofa on sale one week, then changes the name of the sofa so it can be on sale again the next week. Similar rules needed for supermarket "offers".
• I think the Government should pay off all mortgages up Ј150k as this will impact mostly on middle income and 'hedgers' who will then have more money each month to buy goods and stimulate the economy which will in effect help to create more jobs.It will also probably get the money back to Government by way of VAT on goods purchased and income tax, not to mention the reduction in unemployment benefits.
• World Wide Web - protect children from exploitation, pornography etc
• Random drug tests at job centre by a trained professional for people out of work claiming certain benifits, if they fail they don't get a penny untill they have a clean test, this saves the government paying out all that money to people on job seekers when they are clearly not going to get work and just want to stay high
• How much energy/money is wasted sending out pre-addressed reply envelopes with correspondence, they are rarely used and just thrown away. Get companies to stop this wasteful practice or organise "envelope bank" to repatriate all envelopes to senders. Have saved 12 months worth, any suggestions.
• If parking tickets can be issued for parking in a disabled space or out of the lines then parking tickets should be issued for vans / cars parking in parent and child spaces without children with the driver obviously it's not as serious as other parking violations do it could be on a tarrif for example parking in disables spot Ј40 parking without a ticket Ј60 parent & child parking Ј30 outside lines Ј40 with the usual reduction for fast payment
• Make ministers of religion, diplomats and anyone else who earns a salary, pay council tax - they use the services, same as the rest of us!
• Force BT, Mobile OpCos and other Telcos to run teams which block spam messages as they are being sent. A few reports to SPAM from different users should block the sim pending verification. It would make it impossible for them. Also block overseas call centres and networks with high volumes of unsolicited calls breaching the TPS. It would force network operators and VoIP providers to police their networks better.