ISA stories still in the spotlight

ISA stories continued to dominate the mid-week money sections, causing savings stories to take up over one third of the articles – rising from 24 per cent of stories last week to 35 per cent this week. Tax stories were also on the up, tripling from just 4 per cent in last week’s money sections to 12 per cent this week.

In the Mirror, with the end of the tax year fast approaching, Tricia Phillips (@Triciaaphillips) warned readers to ‘use it or lose it’ with regards to this year’s ISA allowance. Emma Wall, in the Telegraph , (@TeleFinance) made the shocking revelation that savers are paying more than half a billion pounds a year in tax on their savings, which could be avoided by maximizing ISA contributions instead. For the top rates, the Mail outlined two fixed-rate bonds, going on sale today (Wednesday 3^rd March), which pay 5 per cent for three years – an attractive prospect in the current market.

The tax stories focussed on the latest clampdowns by HM Revenue and Customs. In the Mail, James Salmon (@thisismoney) noted that the HMRC has launched a crackdown on suspected fraudulent tax credit claims from the self-employed and will now hire more investigators to spot patterns of fraud. It’s not just the self-employed being targeted either, as James Coney (@jimconey) pointed out in the Mail. HMRC is trying to correct the administrative errors of last year, meaning that many tax payers are being ordered to pay back thousands of pounds…in just one month.

Another story that attracted the attention of both the Mail and the Mirror is how certain banks are giving their customers ‘a raw deal’. While banks raked in an £11.3 billion profit from their customers last year – customers that have previously bailed them out – rates on savings accounts have remained astonishingly low. Moreover, overdraft charges for those who stray into the red are at an all-time-high. It’s unsurprising then, that the complaints are starting to flood in.

The other scores on the board this week were:

Charity                  0%

Credit cards        6%

Fraud/scams      0%

IFAs                       0%

Insurance            6%

Investment        17%

Mortgages          12%

Pensions              0%

Property              12%

Regulation          0%

Savings                 35%

Tax                         12%

Utilities                 0%