VICTORIA BISCHOFF: Help us fight the rip-off tax rebate firms

Over the past two months, Money Mail has called on loyal readers to help us fight a host of battles.

First  we asked you to write to your MPs and implore them to support our Pick Up or Pay Up Campaign. As our overflowing postbag will attest, customer service standards have slipped to a desperate new low and call wait times are out of control.

Under our proposal, all major firms would face hefty fines if they fail to answer their helplines within ten minutes.

Rip-off rebates: HMRC has at last pledged a clampdown on unscrupulous companies that charge hefty fees for tax refund claims households make themselves for free

We have also urged readers to help stop fraudsters in their tracks by reporting all scam texts and nuisance calls.

This might feel like a waste of time, but it’s not. Any information you provide can help police and national security agencies join the dots and hunt down those responsible.

Today, we humbly request your assistance once more.

This time, we are calling on readers who have been caught out by rip-off tax rebate firms to write to us and share their story.

HMRC has, at last, pledged a clampdown on unscrupulous companies that charge hefty fees for tax refund claims that households can make themselves for free.

All too often, people do not even realise they have applied via a third party and are shocked to discover they will not receive their full rebate.

As we explain, the taxman is currently gathering evidence and is eager to hear from the general public.

We will be submitting a dossier on our readers’ behalf. And the more of your tales we can include, the more powerful it will be. So if you or someone you know has lost out, this is your chance to be heard.

Mortgage mania

Hardly a week goes by without ministers floating a new policy to revive the homeownership dream. The latest pitch is Japanese-style marathon mortgages that can be passed between generations.

Lenders would be encouraged to let buyers borrow over terms lasting 50 years or more so they can move into bigger homes. Their children could then inherit the property — and the outstanding debt.

But is the mortgage market preventing people from becoming homeowners? Or are runaway house prices that outstrip earnings and a woeful shortage of properties the problem?

If the latter, are even longer loans really the answer?

DWP out of order

When will the Department for Work and Pensions get a grip?

On Monday, our sister website This is Money revealed that the DWP had launched a review of state pension rejections.

It came after reporter Tanya Jefferies and former pensions minister Steve Webb raised the alarm over a string of potential errors that left some women out of pocket.

Sir Steve was told in writing by a government official that checks would be implemented after an investigation had identified a training issue with the processing of state pension claims since 2016. But soon after, the DWP denied any such review was taking place.

Trust in the department is already hanging by a thread. Given the number of errors that have been made in recent years, are a few extra checks really too much to ask for?

Fast-track travel

When checking in online for a flight last month, I was agog at just how many extras they were flogging. I’d already paid around £50 to take a suitcase and £38 for two seats together. 

So there was no way I was going to fork out another £20 for a ‘priority pass’ and £10.98 for fast-track security.

What a rip-off, I grumbled. No thanks. Boy, did I regret that when 5am rolled round and we were stuck in a humongous queue.

We’d got to the airport (for a flight to Portugal) three hours early, braced for delays. But with just one member of staff manning the check-in desk, we came within a whisker of missing our flight.

Lesson learned. With a summer of travel chaos ahead, this could be the one time fast-track services are worth every penny.

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This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk