Money Box

In this special edition of Money Box Live, presenter Felicity Hannah has been out to Weeton Barracks in Preston to see how soldiers juggle their finances whilst leading an often unpredictable military life.We look at the benefits of life in the forces – from financial help to buy a home to generous pensions and special payments to encourage you to stay on longer. And we examine the challenges of a career which could see you being deployed to the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. There’s a general disgruntlement in the ranks that the pay does not step up to the mark. The latest official Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that less than four in ten personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do. We put that to the armed forces Minister for Veterans Calvin Bailey MP.Our expert panel includes Ann Griffiths, the Royal British Legion’s Head of Policy and Research, Kate Gannon, Vice President of the Personal Finance Society, and Sergeant Cameron Eden, a British Army soldier and the creator of The Savvy Squaddie - a financial education platform on YouTube that helps service personnel and veterans navigate personal finance.Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(This episode was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday July 29, 2026)

Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through.Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is where a buyer suddenly drops their agreed offer just before contracts are exchanged.One in three house sales fall through before exchange. This costs sellers £400m and the wider economy £1.5bn each year, according to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.Plans to reform the system include the introduction of a sellers’ pack, similar to the system operating in Scotland.Felicity Hannah is joined by Nathan Emerson, the CEO of PropertyMark (a professional body for property agents) and David Bridge, Head of Conveyancing at the Dorset-based solicitors Kiteleys .Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Production co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(This programme was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday July 22nd, 2026)

New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin. BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estimates that a 100mn transactions were made that way last year, adding up to about £7bn. Meanwhile, new data from one of the country’s largest free money advice services, Money Wellness, shows BNPL has become an increasingly common feature of customers' finances over the past four years, with June recording 4,520 customers seeking help with BNPL debt. That's the highest June on record and second only to the traditional post-Christmas spike seen in January.Presenter Felicity Hannah talks to the Financial Conduct Authority to find out if the new rules are going to improve things for shoppers. She’s joined by an expert panel answering listener questions – Mick McAteer of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK not-for-profit policy and research group. and Matthew Sheeran from Money Wellness.Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara WadesonPhoto credit: Pakorn Supajitsoontorn via Getty Images. (This episode of Money Box Live was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four at 3pm on Wednesday 15th July)

We look at whether artificial intelligence is a help, or a hazard when it comes to helping you with your personal finances.One in five adults in the UK - around 11 million people - are already open to the idea of using AI to manage their finances, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But using AI to manage our money is not without risk. The FCA, the organisation tasked with keeping us financially safe, says that regulators are in an "arms race" to keep up with AI in financial services. We speak to the man behind its new report, Sheldon Mills.And with the increase in AI useage likely to attract the scammers and the deepfakers, just how will regulation evolve to protect us?Alongside presenter Ruth Alexander and taking listener questions is Simon Belshaw who is Chief Client Officer at the investment company Hargreaves Lansdown. And we hear from Elle Farrell-Kingsley, and advocate for AI ethics who has previously worked on artificial intelligence for one of the big tech companies.Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Craig Henderson Researchers: Niamh McDermott, Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara WadesonPictured: Sheldon Mills, Financial Conduct Authority(This edition was first broadcast on Wednesday July 8, 2026)

Buying a flat used to be a stepping stone to owning a house – but has this all changed?Research is telling us that the gap in price between flats and houses has hit a 30 year high. According to the property platform Zoopla, so far this this year two-thirds of one and two-bedroom flats listed for sale still haven't been sold. The leasehold system in England is being blamed, in large part, for the declining popularity of flats. There are concerns about the length of leases and the maintenance and service charges often involved when owning a flat. The Government is in the process of introducing new measures to deal with some of these issues. So today we're asking - what does buying a flat mean for your finances? Maybe you live in one and love it! Perhaps your children do? Or are you struggling to sell and feeling a bit flattened? Presenter Felicity Hannah puts listeners’ questions and concerns to an expert panel. Polly Gilbert is a director at the digital mortgage brokers Tembo, and Liam Spender is a trustee at the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 1st July, 2026)

We’ve seen a big fall in the number of bank branches over the last decade. Around 6,700 bank and building society branches have closed since the beginning of 2015, according to Which? With more due to close this month. Now the government is carrying out a review following concerns about the reduced access to face-to-face banking, and how this affects banking customers both in towns and in rural areas across the UK. In this special programme Money Box Live asks what IS the future for banking and what do these changes mean for you? Will online banking ultimately be the end of banking face-to-face – or will there always be some form of bank to pop into?Presenter Felicity Hannah is joined by Charles Randell, former chief of the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority and a member of the Financial Exclusion Commission, and Gareth Oakley, the CEO of Cash Access UK, to answer your questions.Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior news editor: Sara Wadeson(First broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday 24th June, 2026)