Technology

It’s been a quite the week for personal finance and technology stories with several big announcements. Santander is to launch ‘voice banking’ for users of its iOS app, Lloyds and Halifax are to roll out video mortgage advice services and Android Pay is coming to the UK this year.

ISAs

Unsurprisingly, ISAs were still a hot topic as the end of the tax year (5 April) fast approaches. The government’s new Lifetime ISA faced criticism from pension experts, who think it will deter people from saving into workplace pension schemes, which will mean they miss out on valuable employer contributions as well as tax relief.

In other ISA-related news, we were told investors who take full advantage of the new £20,000 ISA allowance – coming in from April 2017 – could build up a £500,000 portfolio in 15 years, three years quicker than they would under the current £15,240 allowance.

National Living Wage

The new National Living Wage – coming into force in April – is set to benefit millions of workers over 25 but The Social Market Foundation (SMF) this week warned that 1.7 million people will miss out because the new rules don’t apply to self-employed workers.

Rent

From 1 April, the government will add three percentage points to the existing Stamp Duty rates for those buying a second property. But the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) said the reforms will push up rents and trigger a decline in the number of available rental properties.

Funeral plans

The number of people buying pre-paid funeral plans online has soared, according to Co-op Funeralcare, which said sales of plans have increased by 60% in the last 12 months.