It had taken James and Nichola Bell six months to find the perfect family home. But the moment they saw the four-bedroom house in Saltaire, West Yorkshire they knew their search was over. They put in an offer the same day and it was accepted. Just a week later, their dream was in tatters. The couple were told they couldn't get a mortgage because their credit rating was not good enough.

We own a London flat worth about £700,000 and would like to move out of the city to a house costing about £1million. Is it possible for us to do this and how much stamp duty will we pay? As the new property we buy will be our main residence, will we have to pay the additional 3 per cent buy-to-let stamp duty rate on it?

Equity release is like an ordinary mortgage without the need to make monthly repayments. Instead, the interest is rolled-up and repaid once the borrower dies or is taken into care. These deals are only on offer to those aged 55 or over. For people who are struggling to clear their home loans at the end of the term, equity release is usually seen as a last resort.

I have had several problems with Scottish Power since it started supplying energy to my home nearly two years ago. In January 2016, I received a statement suggesting it had never received an electricity reading, even though a meter-reader comes around every three months.

Traders are also rushing to insure themselves against a further fall in the pound - which on Monday hit a two-month low against the dollar - if Britain votes to quit. And the jitters have seen gold prices jump to a one-month high of more than $1,286 per ounce. This turmoil has been sparked by a series of polls suggesting the Remain camp's warnings are failing to convince voters.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb is This Is Money's Agony Uncle. He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement. He suggests a way that a pensioner struggling to pay his council tax bill might be able to get a full rebate.

Property values across Britain continued to accelerate beyond the buying boom triggered as landlords and second home buyers rushed to beat the 1 April stamp duty hike deadline, figures show. According to the brand new house price index from the Office for National Statistics, which spells the death of the separate monthly Land Registry report, prices were up 8.2 per cent annually in April 2016 to reach an average of £209,000.

My local RBS has replaced the cash machine with one operated by a third party - why has it done this, I can now longer obtain a mini statement from my own bank without any prior warning.

We've just booked our summer holiday to Italy but we're yet to buy travel insurance. As Italy is in Europe are we ok just taking our EHIC cards? I understand it will pay for our medical costs if we fall ill. Or do we need to buy separate travel insurance as well?

The new facility at Itatiaia in the state of Rio de Janeiro will employ 400 people building both the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport for Brazilian customers. It is the expanding UK car-maker's first wholly-owned factory outside the UK and the first UK automotive facility in Latin America.

UK inflation remained at 0.3 per cent in the year to May, as the Office for National Statistics published the final set of figures before the EU referendum next week. Inflation stuck at the same low level as last month and is not forecast to rise dramatically this year, but one leading economist has warned that a leave vote could cause it to jump.

Shares in Go-Ahead collapsed 18 per cent after the business said in a unscheduled trading update that its contract to run the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise would be less profitable than expected. Go-Ahead runs the GTR franchise - which includes the Thameslink commuter service from Brighton to London, the Great Northern service from London to King's Lynn and the Gatwick Express - with French state-owned partner Keolis.

Choosing a mortgage is a complicated business with hundreds of deals on offer, each with its own bells and whistles - cheap rates, no fees, free valuations, free legals and cashbacks. But opting for the cheapest rate or the highest cashback offer isn't always going to mean you pay the lowest amount back to your lender. And so-called 'fee-free' deals at a higher rate might not be entirely free of fees in reality.

British investors who lost big deposits in the Spanish property crash have been given fresh hope of getting back their money. Around 100,000 people in the UK are thought to have paid big sums towards 'off-plan' properties in Spain - ones which were yet to be built. Demand was high a decade ago, when around 800,000 holiday homes a year were being built in Spain.

The smug middle-class glow that comes from owning an Aga is not cheap - at £10,000 you could buy a decent second-hand car for the same money. But you own a high-class hunk of British cast iron art that doubles up as a top of the range cooker. And at least you're protected if something goes wrong, or so Toby Walne thought

George Soros is back and he is a bird of ill omen. The billionaire financier who famously bet against the pound during the ERM crisis in 1992 is now betting heavily against - well everything. Soros is buying gold, the classic bet to take against inflation, falling currencies and all-round market volatility. While he is not infallible, his intervention demonstrates the scale of the uncertainty financial markets and the economy now face.

Probate fees are currently a flat £215 for all estates worth £5,000-plus. But hefty increases are in the pipeline, setting the bottom rate at £300 for those inheriting £50,000-£300,000, and escalating to £20,000 for estates worth $2million-plus. Rampant property price inflation will push people into the higher bands for probate fees, just as it propels many people's estates over the threshold at which assets become liable for death duties

A hoard of jewels and gems may be lying around your home - and could be worth a lot more than you think. This month auction house Bonhams is offering a free jewellery valuation service to help people better understand the value of what they own. We help you discover whether you are sitting on a fortune.

There can't be many of us who haven't wished for a pool at one time or other. And there's no question that this is the time of year to put a house with an outdoor pool on the market. But one big question mark hangs over owning a pool the running costs, so how do buyers feel?

Every investor has one - that stock that you've owned for ever. Maybe it was the first share you bought, or the first success story you invested in. Maybe you inherited the shares from a family member, have fond memories of working for the company, or you've just come to rely on it over the years for a steady dividend payment.

A start-up matching athletes with parents as 'mannies' - male nannies - is expanding fast. Athlete Mannies was co-founded by running friends Ben Coldray, 24, and Richard Goodman, 23, who say there is a huge demand, particularly in London, for more flexible 'wrap-around' childcare for primary school children, typically from 3pm to 7pm, and this suits athletes' routines. Coldray said: 'We've been doing it for 11 months. It works well as we're both full-time runners. We started with one family and now we're up to 50 in Teddington and Twickenham in South-West London, and we've just started in Putney.'

To clear the average national household debt of ?13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of ?100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 - updated - money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

George Osborne's continued austerity revealed in his 2016 Budget is likely to keep rates on hold for longer. Inflation expectations have been revised down for 2016 to 0.7 per cent, while Brexit uncertainty and slow global growth are also playing on rate-setters' minds.

Musicians have seen pay rises averaging nearly 20 per cent in 2015, while cleaners are getting 17.8 per cent more, and window cleaners 12.3 per cent. Artists in general are earning 14.6 per cent more in 2015 than 2014, according to the huge annual data dump of pay scales by the Office For National Statistics highlights.