These are the first official pictures of the new-for-2017 Fiesta - a supermini Ford claims is the most technologically advanced. So will it still be the UK's favourite car this time next year? With the addition of a jacked-up crossover variant and a premium offering, it has a good chance of appealing to an even wider audience.

My car was parked when a cast iron drainpipe detached from the car park wall and fell onto it. The damage was repaired through my insurance company, More Than, but I had to pay a £250 excess. The company that owns the building admitted responsibility, and More Than received its outlay from the firm's insurer. But I cannot get back my £250 excess.

The payments industry is set for the most radical set of changes since the 1960s partly in a bid to stop the tide of fraud facing current account customers. It proposes a key new safeguard called 'confirmation of payee' which it believes will help prevent financial fraud.

Our reader wants to afford a holiday home in Europe in the next 25 years and generate up to £120,000., but he has just got married and want to have children. The 27-year-old says 'I want a return of between 7 and 8 per cent and I'm wiling to take on higher risk to achieve that.' We get an expert's thoughts on his portfolio for the Money Pit Stop column.

The rises of just under £4 per week and £3 per week, mean Chancellor Philip Hammond stuck to a Tory triple-lock pledge to decide annual rises in the state pension by whatever is the highest of price inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. But he has ordered a review into the cost of the guarantee and whether it is affordable.

Four car-making giants have committed to building 400 sites across Europe to fast charge electric cars in a fraction of the time it takes today, even beating Tesla's Supercharger stations. The new installation will provide thousands of additional charging points for EV buyers to help make long-mileage trips a reality and encourage more people to adopt pure-electric models.

Customers lulled into a sense of security after two years of falling bills are in for a shock this winter, with energy costs on the rise again. All but one of the big six energy providers have bumped up the cost of their cheapest energy deals since September, according to comparison site uSwitch, while GB Energy has stopped trading.

If you are after a holiday home with a twist, this takes some beating. The classic boat dates back to the 1913 and is moored in the French capital Paris with views of the Pont Neuf bridge and the Louvre museum. It boasts a mahongany interior with a 16m living area that includes a kitchen and skylights.

By next March, the government - together with eleven pension providers coordinated by the Association of British Insurers - will have launched a prototype Pensions Dashboard . It won't be available to the public, but by 2019 the dashboard should have been rolled out to everybody. According to the Treasury's announcement in September, the Pensions Dashboard is 'a platform that lets savers see all their pension pots in one place and will help them to plan for their retirement more effectively.'

New research by MoneySuperMarket has claimed that motorists could save almost a quarter on running costs if they choose a brand new car over a used one. It says a brand new Ford Fiesta, left, at £1,210 is cheaper to run than a five-year-old Fiesta, right. We check up on what that older car could cost and whether the claims stack up once you factor in purchase price, depreciation and real-world fuel consumption?

According to the Bank of England, 67,518 mortgages were approved last month, up 6 per cent from 63,594 in September and beating industry expectations of 66,000. The figures were enough to boost shares for builders including Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Galliford Try which all benefited from the positive results.

Ofcom said it plans to launch a formal notification to the European Commission over the proposals which will mean Openreach has to become a separate company within BT Group. However, the telecoms regulator said it is still open to BT proposing a better deal to eliminate the competition issues. BT has faced mounting calls for a full split of Openreach, with the division having been being criticised for poor customer service and a lack of investment.

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. This week, a reader asks if her years of marriage and as a single, working mum are correctly accounted for in her state pension.

Barclays has squared up to rival Hargreaves Lansdown by combining the clout of its online banking and investment arms to create a low cost investment platform. Current offering Barclays Stockbrokers - which is the second largest retail broker after HL - will be merged into the new service, which is called Barclays Direct Investing.

Five-year fixed rate loans are the cheapest they have ever been, on average below 3 per cent - and the best are considerably cheaper. With the gap between the average two-year fix and five-year fix at just 0.63 per cent, borrowers can now opt for security with little extra cost, but the best rates are tipped to rise soon.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer's first - and last - Autumn Statement was very much focused on measures to keep the economy out of recession. But there were announcements that impacted significantly on our personal finances, for better and for worse. We look at eight key areas that will be affected - and how you can tackle them or take advantage.

Most savings rates fail to beat inflation which can make saving feel pointless. But turning a low-rate account into a chance to win a life-changing sum could be the perfect solution. We reveal the prize-linked savings accounts and if you get really lucky - as unlikely as that is - you could end up a millionaire.

Small businesses are the engine of economic growth, a sentiment echoed in Chancellor Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement last week. As such, he is determined to help them, particularly technology firms and those outside London and the South East. Mercia Technologies is ideally placed to benefit from his good intentions. The group aims to help up-and-coming technology firms in the regions, primarily the Midlands, the North and Scotland. As they grow and their value rises, Mercia's shares should follow suit.

Donald Trump is investing in it, the UK Government has announced a raft of spending, and experts say it's what will keep global economies growing. Infrastructure has been the buzzword of recent weeks. What it actually is can be hard to pin down, but it's essentially anything - be it road or office, house, hospital, school, power lines, internet cables - necessary to keep society functioning.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond this week promised that this government will be the one to get Britain building again. But will a few billion pounds solve decades of neglect that have left Britain in a housing crisis?

Philip Hammond delivered an Autumn Statement without gimmicks. That alone merits three cheers. Ill-thought through policies aimed at grabbing a headline became too common under his predecessor. But that does not mean it was a statement without controversy. One such was the decision to ban letting agents from charging tenants fees. Shares in estate agents slumped. Cue carping from the industry.

While 95 per cent of customers for the Italian maker's grand tourers, sporty coupes and softtops are male, British bosses say they expect up to 40 per cent of the takers for its Levante 4x4 to be women. The Levante is expected to be a popular sight around upmarket shopping areas.

I helped an elderly neighbour to cancel her car insurance in the cooling-off period but she was charged £50 and now the insurer, One Call, won't return any of her phone calls or my emails, even though we have proof it was cancelled in the 14-day window, will she be able to get the money back?

Landlords are always ripe for a kicking in some circles, so it should come as no surprise that they were swiftly painted as potential future villains in the ban on tenant fees. But landlords have as much right to be angry as tenants over letting agency fees and it is easy for them to fight back.

The average easy-access Isa now pays a miserly 0.73 per cent, according to figures from personal finance site Moneyfacts.   This spells more bad news for savers: prices are currently rising by 0.9 per cent a year and with a sharp rise in inflation on the cards according to predictions, savers could soon begin to see the value of their savings pot severely eroded.

Millions of couples aged 40 or over are squirreling away cash which their partners know nothing about. Around one in six people admitted in a survey that they've not told their partner how much they earn, Prudential said. With many keen to keep their cash habits a secret in case of a future break-up, around 9 per cent of people confessed to having secret savings and investments their other half has no knowledge of.

After several years of low inflation, the weakness of sterling post-Brexit, and a Donald Trump win means it could rise as high as 4 per cent by the end of 2017, according to NIESR. How can savers combat inflation and can investors use it to their advantage?

Three quarters of British homeowners have stuck with their mortgage lender despite the fact that switching provider could save them an average of £2,800 a year. Research by YouGov and mortgage broker firm Trussle found mortgage holders were more than twice as likely to have switched energy provider than their current mortgage lender - despite the annual savings from doing so being far lower.  Switching energy provider can lead to savings of around £200 a year, a trifle compared to the £2,800 the average UK household could save by shopping around for the best mortgage, claimed Trussle.

Just like Lewis Hamilton, you could be clambering into your very own F1 car on a Sunday morning. The only difference is you could be driving yours to a Harvester for a roast dinner. This fully road-registered UK car is up for sale at auction next month - here's everything you should know about it.

There are legitimate and important new ways to earn more cash and beat the taxman. Canny money-makers can end up with thousands more in tax free earnings every year than the average UK take home pay. How? Here is our step-by-step guide of what you need to know and do.

Stock markets have confounded forecasts and risen on Donald Trump's election to US President, but will the Trumpflation trade run out of steam? Trump's spending, tax cuts and tearing up of regulations have been seen by traders as spelling good news short term for many US companies - but will he prove to be a good President long-term for investors?

Rapha, founded in London in 2004 by cycling enthusiast Simon Mottram, is known for high-performance gear and premium prices. The company supplies Team Sky - the professional British cycling team which includes three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome.

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.

Despite endless media coverage of the political wrangling and financial speculation, the average Briton can be forgiven for remaining confused about what 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit really mean. About the difference between the 'Norway model' for the UK's post-Brexit relationship with the UK and the 'Swiss solution'. But a clever table put together by HSBC in a report called 'Is Brexit Getting Harder?' cleaves some clarity from the murk.

An interest rate cut before the end of the year looks less likely following the plunge in the pound. However, the Bank of England has indicated that higher inflation driven by rising import costs won't make it lift rates.

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.