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Many Brits are being misled by financial adverts, according to a new survey.

Research from Moneyfacts.co.uk found that over half of consumers have fallen foul of an advert offering a headline-grabbing money rate.

Almost one in five people have also made a complaint about a financial services provider.

Two thirds of people who are accepted for a credit card or personal loan should receive the advertised ‘typical’ rate but until recently the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had no mechanism in place to monitor this.

Its own research revealed that 60 per cent of the adverts reviewed did not comply with the credit advertising rules introduced on October 31st 2004.

Emma Butler, editor ofMoneyfacts.co.uk, said people must make sure that they read the small print.

“The whole idea of an advert is to lure in new customers.

“However, there are rules in place that are supposed to stop consumers being mis-sold financial products through adverts not containing the correct information or by simply promoting headline rates for which most consumers would not qualify.

“With attractive rates on savings products, it can often be the case that there are certain terms and conditions attached. These include things such as having to hold your current account with the same provider or that the rate only applies for an introductory term,” she added.

A quarter of all UK pensioners becoming falling further and further into debt without any intention of paying it off before they die, a new survey has found.

According to the Sesame Debt Survey, more than 25 per cent of those over 65 who admit currently being in debt say they have no immediate plans to pay it off, making it likely that they will carry the debt to their graves.

The authors of the report suggest that this is because current retirees were part of the consumer credit revolution of the 60s and 70s, making them more comfortable with carrying debt than their predecessors.

Alastair Conway, the head of customer propositions at Sesame argued that older people should take more responsibility for their personal financial situation if the increasing debt crisis was to be resolved.

He warned: “The ability of retired people to recover from bad financial decisions is more limited. The alternative may be equally drastic, in that it may force the government to consider moving towards a system more akin to that of Japan, where debt is passed to children on the death of the parent.

“Indeed we are seeing moves in this direction already with the introduction of the deathbed mortgage.”

Many holidaymakers are having their relaxing dose of sun, sea and sand disrupted by thieves stealing their personal items, a new survey claims.

Lloyds TSB Insurance found that one in ten holidaymakers have been affected by holiday crime. Hotels were the prime location for items to mysteriously disappear whilst one in five people said they had been mugged on the street.

One in ten had fallen prey to thieves on planes, buses and boats. Tourist attractions and the beach also proved to be crime hotspots.

Over half of people surveyed said that they had had money stolen whilst one in five claimed their bag was taken. Digital cameras, sunglasses, jewellery, mobile phones, passports and tickets also posed a big temptation to thieves.

Half of the victims said their holiday had consequently been disrupted with one in five feeling that it took a long time to sort things out after the theft. Around 15 per cent said the experience put them on their guard for the rest of the holiday whilst one in ten said it had completely ruined their time away.

Phil Loney, managing director, Lloyds TSB Insurance, said: “Although we’re all aware of the risks of foreign travel, when we’re actually on holiday, it seems we can slip into a false sense of security. It’s all too easy to forget that crime can still happen when you’re having fun.

“It is absolutely vital that anyone travelling abroad, checks, checks and checks again, that they’re insured,” he added.

Love-struck couples looking to tie the knot are cutting back on the amount they spend on their big day, according to a new survey.

Over half of people think that the cost of a wedding should come in at 10,000 with just nine per cent prepared to splash out more than 16,000, according to Halifax Personal Loans.

Another quarter believes that the budget should be even lower, between 1,000 and 5,000 with nine per cent tightening their belts further to bring the cost of the big day under 1,000.

But younger people are prepared to fork out more than their older counterparts. One in five Brits aged between 18 and 25 would spend over 15,000 compared to ten per cent of those aged between 25 and 35 and just eight per cent of the 35 to 44 age group. Those aged over 65 would try to keep costs down to under 1,000.

Northerners are the biggest spenders with four per cent saying that forking out more than 50,000 for the wedding of their dreams would be worth it. But almost one in five of those in the south-west balk at paying more than 1,000.

And when it comes to the honeymoon, the average couple pays out 2,475 with nearly half of those surveyed agreeing that 2,000 and 4,999 is the right amount to pay. One in five would splash out more than 5,000.

Ian Corfield, head of Halifax Personal Loans, said: “Weddings seem to have been back in fashion in recent years and we have seen average costs increase dramatically.

“However, our survey suggests that there may be a change in opinion as to how much couples should spend. It may be that the costs typically involved have reached a level which is no longer considered reasonable.

“In contrast, people seem generally more comfortable with average honeymoon costs and do not see this level of expense as unreasonable or over inflated.”

“Sex and the City” may have given us a rose-tinted view of what it means to be young(ish) and single in the 21st Century, because single adults constitute the biggest group living in poverty in the UK today.

A new survey published this week claims that a staggering 3.9 million single people live in poverty and this number has risen by around 300,000 since 1997.

Over the same period, the number of children and pensioners living below the poverty line has fallen considerably; by 700,000 and 500,000, respectively.

The report has been compiled by the anti-poverty charity, Elizabeth Finn Care (EFC).

Speaking at the launch the of survey, EFC chief executive Jonathan Welfare warned: ” The government’s focus on child and pensioner poverty has made significant progress – we now need to give the same level of attention to the group that has not benefited – namely working-age adults without dependent children.”

But why are today’s singletons falling into poverty?

Housing costs, better social security benefits for families with children and other obvious factors all play their part.

The EFC study also suggests that single people are less likely to have strong family structures that they can fall back on in times of crisis.

There are more and more single-person households in the UK today, and there is considerable evidence to show that many singletons live far away from and even lose touch with their social and family circles.

Many people living alone are divorced, widowed and separated women; a group particularly liable to poverty.

And precisely because many single people are outside firm social structures, it can be hard to keep track of them.

“They remain unseen because many come from backgrounds where we don’t often expect poverty to exist and they don’t come forward to ask for help”, Mr Welfare argues.

The EFC report claims that 20 per cent of the population live in poverty. That adds up to 12.5 million people.

Adults with children make up 22 per cent of Britain’s poor. 900,000 of their number are single parents.

What can poverty possibly mean, if it encompasses so many?

Official calculations classify “poverty” in relative, not absolute terms.

The poverty line is drawn at 60 per cent of the national average annual income as such, poverty in modern Britain is obviously not measured in the same terms as the absolute poverty of the developing world or the poverty of Victorian times.

In practice, poverty means a weekly income of 123 or less.

However, since the publication of the EFC report, the government has attempted to put the singleton question into context.

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions explained: “While it is true that there has been little change for this group, it remains a group that has lower than average risk compared to the whole population, and compared to all working-age adults.

“Working-age adults are less likely to be in relative low income than children or pensioners.”

But Mr Welfare insisted that the causes of poverty are becoming more complex.

“If you are single and don’t have the safety net of financial emotional support from a spouse or family to back you up and money becomes an issue, you can be left feeling that there is nowhere to turn. As a result, things can quickly spiral out of control.

“Many of these people don’t get the help to which they are entitled, nor do they naturally turn to the state or to charities for help. Making people more aware of the support we and other charities can offer is a major challenge.”

Many UK teenagers believe they will be stepping on the property ladder before they are aged 27, despite the increasing cost of property.

A new survey by IFA Promotion discovered that 83 per cent of teenagers are confident that they will become property owners, with 56 per cent believing that they will secure their first property between the ages of 23 and 27.

However, the growing cost of homes in the UK is likely to make homeownership very difficult, especially as the average house price now stands at close to 200,000 with around 5.8 million adults admitting they are unable to afford their own home.

Just eight per cent of teenagers raised some doubts that they may not be able to become a property owner and acknowledged that they are likely to be priced out of the market.

Karen Barrett of IFA Promotion commented: “The British obsession with owning your own home clearly starts young but the unrealistic expectations are coupled with a shocking lack of knowledge about the home buying process.”

He added: “Eighty per cent know nothing, or little, about buying a property or mortgages.”

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Half of all consumers decide to take their business elsewhere rather than complain about bad customer service, reveals a new survey.

Many companies are failing at customer service and nearly 50 per cent of consumers choose not to complain because the process is too complicated, according to a survey from the National Consumer Council (NCC).

Customers are said to be annoyed by being kept on hold for long periods, being passed around by voice activated phone systems and then being made to talk to staff who are too arrogant, condescending or simply incompetent at their job.

“Over 80 per cent of consumers tell us they would be only too pleased to help companies get better, but many businesses still seem distant and unaware of customers’ real experiences,” said Philip Cullum from the NCC.

The worst offenders for poor customer service were local councils, NTL, BT, British Gas and Royal Mail.

“It’s time for businesses to get smart and put their customers at the heart,” Mr Cullum added.

But some companies know what it takes to keep customers happy as Tesco came top on customer service in the survey, followed by Asda, BT, first direct, Nationwide and Virgin Group.

Many investors do not know the difference between active and passive investments, a new survey claims.

Four out of five investors have little idea about the two and their knowledge is only marginally better than those who have no investments at all, according to Invesco Perpetual.

Passively managed funds aim to mirror the progress of a stock market index by buying and selling shares in the same proportions as represented on the index.

But some 22 per cent of investors wrongly believe that passively managed funds offer low risk investments whilst a further 13 per cent thought they meant that the manager holds onto the stocks for as long as possible. Seven per cent wrongly believe that passive funds are managed by part time managers.

In contrast, actively managed funds aim to outperform and generate better returns than a benchmark index, such as the FTSE 100.

But over one in five wrongly thought that actively managed funds simply involved daily stock trading whilst nearly one in ten believed they aim to outperform by investing in riskier stocks.

Rick White, Marketing Director at Invesco Perpetual, said: “The fact that so many investors do not know the difference between these two very different investment styles is extremely worrying.

“A lack of understanding when making investment decisions can result in the wrong choices and ending up with an imbalanced portfolio. Whilst we believe there is a place for both investment approaches within a portfolio, investors need to make informed decisions about the funds they are buying.

“It is clear that more help needs to go into educating todays investors to understand exactly what they are investing in. There is certainly a strong role for advice as well as clearer information provision for the future – financial advice is a crucial element in improving understanding and buying/selling decisions for the majority of investors.”

Nearly 80 per cent of parents are missing out on boosting their child’s trust fund account by not discussing contributions with relatives, according to a new survey.

Research by child trust fund (CTF) provider Engage Mutual Assurance revealed that more grandparents are adding lump sums to the tax-free child saving accounts than mums and dads.

Over 200,000 grandparents surveyed said they planned to add cash to a CTF and with the average payment standing at 19.80 per month this could equate to an additional 3,960,000 from so-called grey pounds nationally.

“Saving little and often and sharing the responsibility among grandparents, godparents and other friends and family members means less strain on the purse strings at a time when the household budget may already be stretched,” explained Karl Elliott at Engage.

A good starting point, according to the research, could be special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas as over a third of parents said these were times when they would feel happier asking friends and family to contribute to the accounts.

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Current accounts are bottom of the pile when it comes to financial products which make people happy, a new survey claims.

MoneyExpert.com found that 1.9 million people in the UK are dissatisfied with their current account double the number of people who are unhappy with their credit cards.

Savings accounts also left 700,000 people cold, with a further 500,000 voicing their disdain towards mortgages and 300,000 unhappy with their personal loan.

Sean Gardner, MoneyExpert chief executive said: “Taking out a financial product is, in effect, beginning a relationship, sometimes lasting many years. We would encourage people to think carefully what their priorities are in a product and what they would expect from the lender.

“The moral of the tale is: know who youre dealing with and assess where their priorities lie. Sometimes (but not always) the price of offering great customer service is being unable to offer the best product rates.”

The Financial Ombudsman Service received 614,000 complaints during the financial year ending March 2005, an increase of 12 per cent on the pervious period.

But some people are happy with their providers, with the survey claiming online and telephone bank first direct keeps 93 per cent of its customers happy.

Britannia Building Society also fared well with 90 per cent contentment, with Nationwide, Tesco Personal Finance, and the Co-operative Bank tied in third place and all having 89 per cent of their customers satisfied.