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It wants to promote the benefits of being a mutual organisation over those of being a bank owned by shareholders who would have to be paid a dividend.The new Privileged Membership package may or may not have substance Full details will not be known until November. Certainly, the immediate benefit of pounds 3,000 worth of “free” personal accident insurance is no big deal. It simply means that pounds 3,000 will go to your heirs if you die accidentally. More attractive, for those wanting a personal loan, is the promised 1 per cent off the society’s standard rate from an APR (annual percentage rate) of 13.9 to 12.9 per cent. By contrast, its Visa card “with gold card benefits” has a fairly unremarkable APR of 19.9 per cent.Other offered goodies such as “low cost” travel insurance and “discounts on household name products and services” will need to be compared with what these things cost from other sources.

The danger with all loyalty schemes is that people tend to accept without question that a deal really is in some way special. They lose their critical faculties and fail to shop around.As you suggest, what really counts are the society’s core areas of savings and mortgages. West Bromwich has announced that its standard variable mortgage rate will be reduced by 0.25 per cent from 1 December and that savings rates will rise by an average of 0.25 per cent from the same date (notwithstanding any general change in interest rates). So you’ll have to wait and see then whether the society features in the Best Buy tables But the sentiments you express are no doubt widely held Forget all the gimmicks. If mutuals are all they claim to be, they should have no trouble dominating the tables.My 74-year old mother has sold her house and moved into rented accommodation with a warden on site After the sale she has been left with pounds 48,000 She has no other savings.

What is the best way for her to increase her income to boost her widow’s pension? JE, BerkshireThere is no straightforward answer. Where your mother invests her money depends on all her circumstances and plans and on how big her current widow’s pension is. An important factor in your mother’s case is her state of health. Does her admission to warden-assisted accommodation mean that she is in poor health? Or does she come from a family where people tend to live to a ripe old age?Your mother should consider getting independent financial advice. The rules designed to protect investors require financial advisers to find out all the relevant information.

The chances are that Tessas, monthly income savings accounts, guaranteed income bonds, gilts, corporate bond Peps and (possibly in a few years’ time) an annuity are suitable.What she should avoid are complicated investments and investments linked to life insurance policies that pay a high commission to a financial adviser. She can get a list of local advisers from IFA Promotion on 0117 971 1177 and, if she wants fee-based rather than commission-based advice, she can use the free Money Management service on 0117 976 9444.Write to Steve Lodge, Personal Finance Editor, Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL, and include a phone number. Alternatively, fax 0171-293 2096 or e-mail s.lodge independent.co.uk. Do not enclose SAEs or any documents you wish to be returned. We cannot give personal replies or guarantee to answer every letter We accept no legal responsibility for any advice given..

When Jenny Vaughan received her July statement for her Lloyds Bank Access Classic Reserve card and found a pair of unrecognised deductions for pounds 200.46 payable to Innovations catalogue company, she did all the right things. She contacted Lloyds and then Innovations, and discovered they were the first two payments of a series amounting to nearly pounds l,000. She established immediately that this was not a case of simple error: she had never made a telephone order to Innovations, had made one purchase from it years ago, and Innovations did not have her name and address on its computer. In the case of these payments, the card number was hers and the name almost hers (Mr JP Vanghan), but the address was different.