Money roundup video: Challengers hit high street savings; debt woes can last 30 years and bank account scam warning

Personal Finance Editor Simon Read talks over the latest Money news

(STAFF | AFP | Getty Images)

This week: Challengers hit high street savings; debt woes can last 30 years; bank account scam warning; free sausage roll or cheese and onion bake.

Wake up to the challengers: sticking with a traditional bank or building society is hitting your savings

Do you still have a savings account with one of the traditional banks or building societies? You could be missing a trick, say savings experts. Remaining loyal to a bank or building society could be costing you a pretty penny.

Anna Bowes of SavingsChampion certainly thinks you could be better off by moving your nest-egg to one of the newer savings firms. “Challenger banks have dominated the best buy tables and changed the savings landscape in recent years and that trend looks set to continue,” she says.

Full story.

Without help, people can struggle with debts for an average of 30 years

One of the most worrying aspects of debt is that it's a problem that doesn't disappear quickly. Without help, hard-up people can struggle to cope with their debts for an average of 30 years, a shock new report from a debt-counselling charity reveals.

Christians Against Poverty examined evidence from the past year to discover that the average debt and average income per household of the people it helped were almost the same at just over £13,000.

Where can you get free help.

Fake bank account scam: heed the warnings

Fraudsters have fleeced people of £23.6 million in the past year by tricking them into transferring cash into dodgy bank accounts.

Now Neighbourhood Watch is hoping its army of 173,000 volunteers can help crack down on the crooks and help people avoid becoming victims.

Full story and explanation of how the scam works.

Deal of the week: free Greggs sausage roll

You can get a free Greggs sausage roll or cheese and onion bake this week by downloading the VoucherCodes.co.uk app. It’s giving away 6,000 Greggs vouchers every day until Sunday, but you’ll need to get up early in the morning to get one. Vouchers will be given to the first 6,000 to sign up every day from 7am. It’s a one-voucher-per-person deal, too.

More bargains.