Financial Wellbeing: Mastering your Money & Creating Healthy Habits

NHS England and NHS Improvement
Mastering your money and creating
healthy habits
Virtual Community Meeting
29th October 2020 4pm – 5pm
Welcome to our financial wellbeing mini-series:
The financial health and wellbeing of our NHS people
during the Covid-19 response
In partnership with the
Money Advice Service

2 |2 |
How today’s session will work
#Caring4NHSpeople
• Welcome and financial wellbeing offer
• Why financial wellbeing is important
• Money Advice Service
• 1 Sticking to a budget, smart shopper
• 2 Before you borrow
• 3 Scams – protecting your money
• Questions from Chatbox
• Final signposting
Start 16.00
Close 17.00

3 |
The team today
Chat box facilitator
Contributors
Adam Turner
Facilitators
Technical producer
Zarah Mowhabuth
YouTube host
Laura Mackenzie
Ian Baines Nicholas Hill Nicola Collinson Christy McAleese
Paul Woodley

4 |
A Question…………….
How have you changed your
financial habits post CV-19?
1. Reflect on your answer for 30 seconds
2. Write it in the Chat Box
3. Have a look at what others are writing – do
you have a similar experience, feel free to
discuss?

The Money Advice Service
Nicholas Hill, Customer Advisory Manager
5
• Sticking to a budget and
a spending plan
• Managing bills
• Be a smarter shopper

Sticking to a budget and a spending plan
Need help now? Call the Money Advice Service: 0800 448 0826
Means you’re:
• Less likely to end up in debt
• Less likely to get caught out by unexpected
costs
• More likely to have a good credit rating
• More likely to be accepted for a mortgage
or loan
• Able to spot areas where you can make
savings
• In a great position to save up for a holiday,
a new car, or another treat
 Over half of UK households keep a
regular budget.
 Most say it gives them peace of mind
about how much they are spending, and
makes them feel better about life in
general.
 Manage your money better with our
Budget planner tool.
Try our Budgeting tool, visit
moneyadviceservice.org.uk
Financial Wellbeing

Managing Bills – keeping in control of your money
• Research suggests that between
16-22% of us are struggling to pay
our bills (ONS April 2020)
• 17% of households had missed
payments on bills or credit
commitments (the Standard Life Foundation tracker)
• 41% of people expected their financial
position to get a little/ lot worse over
the next 12 months (ONS April 2020)

Be a smarter shopper - keeping in control of your money
• An average family of four can save £60 a month
simply by reducing the amount of food they throw
away. Love food hate waste
• The average person could save £300 on their gas
and electricity bills alone, just by switching
supplier. Ofgem
• Turn down your thermostat by just 1°C, and you
could cut 10% off your heating bill - an average
saving of about £55 a year.
• Switch off appliances on standby, and you could
save around £30 a year.
 Identify what you spend your money on
 Shop around
 Use price tracking websites
 Beware of special offers
 Don’t impulse buy
 Check reviews
 If using price comparison websites, check
a few to compare deals and make sure
the product fits your needs
Financial Wellbeing
Stay in control of your money

Christy McAleese, Debt Advice Strategy Manager
9
• Before you borrow money
• Do you know the true cost of
what you are about borrow?
• How your credit rating affects
the cost of borrowing and
how to improve it
Nicholas Hill, Customer Advisory Manager

Before you borrow money – things to consider
 Have I shopped around to get the best deal?
 Am I borrowing this money as cheaply as
possible?
 Will I be able to cope should interest rates rise
in the future?
 Will I comfortably be able to afford the
monthly repayments?
 Will borrowing this money improve my
finances in the long run?
 Do I understand the risks and what could
happen if things go wrong?
 Do I understand all the terms and conditions
associated with borrowing this money?
Financial Wellbeing

Do you know the true cost of what you
are about borrow?
 the loan amount
 the cost of any fees
 the frequency of repayments
 the length of the borrowing term
 the rate of interest you’ll be charged
 and works out the total amount you
will have to pay to the lender
The true cost of borrowing takes into
account:
Try our Loan calculator, visit
moneyadviceservice.org.uk

Have you ever checked your credit rating?
POLL
If you are on YouTube or the poll doesn’t work for you on Zoom, write your number in the chatbox
1 – Yes
2 – No
Poll

How your credit rating affects the cost of borrowing and
how to improve it
Companies use a variety of information to give
you a credit score and determine if they will
lend to you and on what terms.
Credit scoring can be based on information
such as:
• what you provide on your application form
• what the lender might already have about you,
based on previous accounts you have with them or
previous applications, and
• your credit report at one or more credit reference
agencies – the three main CRAs are Experian,
Equifax and TransUnion.
A poor credit rating or score can mean
you are:
 charged higher interest rates
 given a smaller credit limit
 simply rejected outright.
Financial Wellbeing

How to improve your credit rating
• Register on the electoral roll
• Check for mistakes on your file
• Pay your bills on time
• Check if you’re linked to another person
• Check for fraudulent activity
• Keep your credit utilisation low
A good credit score with:
 TransUnion is 781 out of 850
 Equifax is over 420 out of 700
 Experian is over 880 out of 999
Be aware that your credit score doesn’t
guarantee that you’ll be approved for credit
or offered the lowest interest rates
Financial Wellbeing
Check your credit report for free
 MSE Credit Club
 Credit Karma
 Clearscore

Nicola Collinson, Pensions Operations
Manager
15
• Protect your money from
scams

Money and Pensions Service
HOW MUCH IS LOSTTO SCAMS?
• £130bn - £190bn a year
• More likely to fall victim to fraud or cyber
offences above any other crime
• April 2018 and March 2019 there were:
− 741,123 crimes were reported to Action Fraud
− £2.2bn lost by victims
− 65% businesses and 35% individuals
16

Types of Scam
17
STOP
Don’t be Rushed
Think
Phishing Loan fee fraud
Authorised
push payment
Fraud
Advance-fee
Fraud
•Vishing Smishing
Safe account
scams
Door to door
scams
Pensions
scams

CORONAVIRUS
SCAMS
• Investing in the stock market – get rich
quick schemes
• Emails from government offering money,
or HMRC with tax rebates
• Text messages, email phone call saying
there’s an issue with your payment or bill
• Claim to be from banks offering financial
help
BE EXTRA VIGILENT
16/11/2020 18

PHISHING - EMAIL SCAM
• Looks legitimate
• HMRC, PayPal, Apple, Amazon
• Encourages you to click on a link to log into your account
- ‘your account has been locked’
- ‘you’re owed some money’
- link goes to a fake website which collects your information.
• Email attachment - usually a computer virus
• How to spot it ? Usually addressed Dear Sir, Dear Madam or Dear Customer
Email address filled with random numbers or deliberate spelling mistakes
• What to do? Never clink links in suspicious emails – go direct to the website
19

VISHING – A PHONE CALL SCAM
• Scammers pretend to be from your bank, building society or even a government agency
• During the phone call, the fraudsters will attempt to get you to reveal your personal details
How to spot it
• Very difficult
• Hang up and call your bank etc direct
• Be careful scammers can hijack phone line, so hang up and wait a few minutes before
calling or use a different phone
What to do – Hang up
16/11/2020 20

ADVANCE-FEE FRAUD
 Email scam
 Well known
 Ask to use your bank account to deposit large sum of money
 Offer to pay you a fee
 You’ll be asked for your bank details
 They’ll clear out your account
 Also claiming an inheritance from a long lost relative
How to spot it?
Looks too good to be true!! Spelling and grammar poor - a give away
What to do? Ignore it
16/11/2020 21

AUTHORISED PUSH PAYMENT FRAUD
 Aim to get you to voluntarily send or authorise a payment
 Posing as a legitimate business
 Often by intercepting or hijacking your email account
 Buying a house, having building work done or booking a holiday
How to spot it?
 Very Difficult - Don’t assume all emails are genuine
What to do?
 Check with the company and make sure bank details match
 Make a complaint to your bank and bank receiving the payment
16/11/2020 22

Pension scams and how
to spot them
• Contacted out of the blue
• Applying pressure to make a decision quickly
• Guaranteeing high investment returns
• Promising access to your pension before the age of 55
• Offer of one-off investments, time-limited offers,
upfront cash incentives, free pension reviews, legal
loopholes of government initiatives
• Little or nothing in the way of contact names, addresses
or phone numbers
IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE
TRUE, IT NORMALLY IS
23

How to stay safe from pension scams
1. Make sure anyone giving you financial advice is approved
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Check FCA Register or call 0800 111 6768
2. You should ask the scheme that you are transferring from
to check the new scheme's HMRC registration - they can
make sure if it is a legitimate scheme
3. Never be rushed into making a decision
4. Don’t proceed unless you are absolutely certain your
money will be safe because once you transfer it’s often
too late
24
The Government has
now banned cold calling
in connections to
pension.
If you’re contacted you
should let the
Information
Commissioners Office
know.
There are a number of things you can do:

PENSION SCAMS
Further help from the Pensions Advisory Service
 Helpline: 0800 011 3797 Monday to Friday 9am – 5 pm
 Webchat or Online Enquiry via website
 pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
25

REPORT A SCAM
 Report it to Action Fraud
 Online reporting:
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-
cyber-crime
 Telephone 0300 123 2040
] 26

PROTECT
YOURSELF
AGAINST
SCAMMERS
 Ignore cold calls – sign up to call blocking
 Never give out personal information
 Keep virus protection up to date
 use strong passwords – don’t use the same on multiple
accounts
 Change regularly
 Don’t make advance payments unless sure company
legitimate
 Avoid public wifi
 Check websites start with HTTPS not just HTTP
 Only use regulated financial advisers
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/beginners-
guide-to-scams
16/11/2020 27

Which of these scams have you been
approached by?
1. Phishing
2. Loan fee fraud
3. Authorised push payment fraud
4. Advance fee fraud
5. Vishing
6. Smishing
7. Safe account scams
8. Door to door scams
9. Pensions scams
Tick as many as you have been approached about, if you are inYouTube please write your response in the
chatbox

29 |
How to Get in Touch with the Money Advice Service
0800 448 0826
Guidance on financial wellbeing management
Wellbeing Apps: Unmind, Headspace, Sleepio, Daylight
Interactive web events
Other Health and Wellbeing support
Help now

30 |
Dreams, goals & financial
plans whilst making your
money work for you
12 November 2020
4pm – 5pm
What’s coming next…
In this session we will cover:
• Getting into the savings habit and why it
pays to save regularly
• Saving for emergencies and putting the rest
where it can work harder for you
• Top tips for choosing a savings account
• Help to Save if you’re on a low income
• Credit Unions and saving
• What are investments?

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