What were your Money Matters?

By Kevin Peachey Personal finance reporter, BBC News, Glasgow

As the crowds filed away from the BBC's Money Matters Roadshow, they left a sense of what is vexing consumers during the recession.

From tax to benefits, and pensions to debts, every personal finance subject was covered at the event at the Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow.

So the BBC News website asked the experts who were on hand giving out advice, what were the most common and most interesting questions they were faced with.

Debts

Joe Glancy, of Citizens Advice Scotland, was approached by a young woman who had just got her first mortgage and wanted advice on how to budget.

"There is a whole generation who have never been given advice," he said.

The general advice was to prioritise debts, to pay priority bills first and, if taking on debts, to enter agreements with eyes fully open.

Student finances

An interesting quandary came from a prospective student who was considering studying in London and wanted to discuss the financial implications, such as the existence of tuition fees south of the border.

David Malcolm

The English student loans delays were still a concern for young people from Glasgow.

They were advised by David Malcolm, of the National Union of Students, to speak to university hardship funds about bridging loans if theirs had not arrived.

An online tracker service was also available to following the progress of loan applications.

Benefits

No one enquiry has been the same, according to benefits adviser Lee Healey.

"This is typical of benefits enquiries where people have different circumstances," he said.

But he raised concerns about the changes to incapacity benefit, which resulted in one man - suffering from arthritis and diabetes - travelling to the roadshow in order to check that his benefits were not being cut.

Tax

Capital gains tax and inheritance tax were the most common themes, according to John Whiting, of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, and Alex Stewart, of Tax Help for Older People.

John Whiting

They also spoke to one woman who was paying too much tax.

She found that she was lost in the paperwork that would have cut her annual bill by an estimated couple of hundred pounds.

"It does not have to be a lot of hassle," said Mr Stewart.

Credit

Liz McVey, of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, had to give some bad news about credit rules to one roadshow attendee.

After living in Greece for more than 20 years, the woman had returned to the UK two years ago.

She wanted to get a loan to buy a car, but found that she was unable to secure any credit from lenders who she thought were being unsympathetic.

Mrs McVey explained that she had to be back in the country for three years before she could get credit.

Mortgages

With interest rates so low, and many people feeling the benefit with low mortgage bills, there were many questions about how long this might last.

David Hollingworth

So the most frequent query for David Hollingworth, of London and Country Mortgages, was whether borrowers should secure a fixed-rate deal or remain on variable rates.

"It was difficult to answer with any certainty," said Mr Hollingworth.

Other interesting questions included whether people on interest-only mortgages should overpay when interest rates were so low.

Savings, investments and shares

A large number of people who had shares in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group asked stockbroker Morven Whyte what they should do with them.

She explained that for some, selling early for a profit might be beneficial whereas others should consider them a long-term investment.

Richard Wadsworth, a financial adviser for Fitzallan, said that many asked where they could get the best returns for their savings at a time when interest rates were so low.

He explained the 80/20 ratio theory - saving the majority as cash in products such as tax-free Isas, with 20% in more risky stock market based investments.

Others, who had saved for years and were now getting little interest, were more interested in his views on where to spend their money!

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