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Mrs Lewis should consider using some of her surplus cash to make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) into her NHS pension fund.” Mr Churm says: “Alternatively she could take out a stakeholder pension, utilising her other earnings, which could offer greater flexibility. Standard Life and Scottish Widows offer competitive plans.” Mr Eagle recommends: “She should look at the possibility of transferring from the Abbey Life scheme to a lower charging provider such as Scottish Life.”Solution 4: Savings”When Rachel finishes university, this will be a good time to review savings,” says Mr Eagle, “as expenditure will decrease and this money could be used to build up a cash fund using a Mini Cash Isa.” Mr Rennison says: “Mrs Lewis has very little cash savings at the moment and she should aim to build up more in her Egg savings account.” Mr Churm thinks Mrs Lewis should take out a Mini Cash Isa, deflecting contributions made to the Egg savings account. This would provide tax-free interest and capital would still be available on demand. He also believes that the current family insurance bond she has should “run until maturity in 2003 at which time she should consider investing the proceeds in a stocks and shares Isa”.. I have a mortgage which is partly interest only, backed by an endowment, with the rest repayment

Moneynet Q. I owe £14,500 on the repayment element, which I can afford to repay. Should I remortgage the repayment, paying £130 a month for 12 years and invest the £14,500, or pay off the debt? TE, by email
A.

Generally speaking, you are unlikely to earn as much from investing the £14,500 as you will save from repaying the debt. The exception would be investing in high-risk shares, where you might gain heavily, or lose everything. Robin Amlot of MX Financial Solutions IFA suggests you consider a wider range of mortgage options, including a current account mortgage, or an offset mortgage. You should also check whether your endowment is on track to pay off the interest-only part of the mortgage. He advises you consult a mortgage broker to see which product suits you best.Q. How do I get a reply from Alliance & Leicester? Some cheques paid in by a charity were somehow lost and the charity wrote to me as one of those whose cheques was lost, asking me to stop the cheque and replace it. But when I checked my account after a few weeks I found it had apparently been cleared.

When I contacted A&L, the charity’s bank, it said it had not necessarily found the cheque, it may have just put a transfer through! This sounds like an unauthorised transfer, but my letters of complaint have been ignored JW, WarehamA. Alliance & Leicester apologises for failing to respond to your correspondence. It says the charity retained details of your payment before sending the batch of cheques to A&L which were then lost, apparently in the post. A&L argues that by issuing a cheque you authorised the payment to be made, even if the cheque is no longer available to demonstrate this. Apacs (the Association for Payment Clearing Services) confirmed it is normal banking practice where a cheque is lost between banks and that there is no reason why the same arrangement should not apply when a cheque is lost before the bank receives it, if a reputable organisation has recorded details of payments received. It explains that customers will not normally be consulted for approval, unless the payment exceeds £1,000.Q My flat was burgled in February. I had three bank pass books stolen, plus another for my account with National Savings which contained more than £1,000.

I can’t get the Post Office to close my account and now I learn that someone keeps making withdrawals from it. The Post Office tells me they will only reimburse me for the loss if they are satisfied the withdrawal signatures are forgeries; nor can I obtain a new pass book to access my own savings Can you help me? AG, SurbitonA. National Savings & Investments regrets that it has taken a few weeks to resolve your case, but says cases have to be thoroughly examined. A spokeswoman says it looks at all the evidence to confirm that theft and fraud have taken place, not just the signatures. Other information considered will be whether the pass book is still being used after a customer has reported the theft.