Money

Lloyds Banking Group will close a further 49 bank branches across the UK and Yorkshire Building Society will close 13 more, it was announced today. Check the map and table to see if your local branch is set to close. Both businesses claimed the closures were prompted by changing customer behaviour and the declining number of transactions being made in branches.

Newly-engaged Royal couple Prince Harry and Megan Markle have set up home in a modest cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But those who would like their new home to be a more regal affair, MailOnline Property has selected 10 castles for sale. However, a word of warning about living in a castle comes from property experts who insist that a Royal budget is often required to maintain them as it is not just the initial asking price that can be expensive.

My car wouldn't start late one evening in Bristol, so I called the AA, as I'm a member through Ford Assistance. However, the AA said I was no longer a member. I needed to get home, so reluctantly paid £89.29. The following day, my garage confirmed I was a member.

We are now setting aside just £2 out of every £100 of income, according to the government-run Office for Budget Responsibility. That is a huge drop from the £6 per £100 at the start of last year. And it's set to get even worse. The official forecast predicts the so-called ratio will fall to £1.80 per £100 in the final three months of 2018 and halve to just 90p per £100 a year later.

In a significant victory for our Unlock Our Pensions campaign, Phoenix Life will allow savers to swap their lifetime incomes for a one-off lump sum. We can reveal that around 20,000 savers with small annuities will be sent letters over the next six months outlining how much they could get.

As more branches close and technology takes over every aspect of our lives, customers are being forced to interact with their bank in a different way. But which banks actually offer the most useful and straightforward apps and can you really trust them to be safe? We find out.

Investors were buoyed by news the transport operator could rehash its arrangement under the East Coast franchise - which has so far failed to generate the sales and profits they had hoped for when it won it in 2014. Under the planned new arrangement, the Department of Transport is to introduce an 'East Coast Partnership' - a joint venture between the public and private sector from 2020.

London Stock Exchange Group boss Xavier Rolet has stepped down with immediate effect, blaming 'unwelcome publicity' amid a heated row over his departure.
Mr Rolet announced recently that he would step down by December 2018, but the move sparked a division between the group and activist investor The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), who accused the group's chairman of pushing out Mr Rolet.

Damning figures show several pledges made by former Chancellor George Osborne have fallen flat, with few people taking advantage. Around 415,000 families were expected to sign up to a new tax-free childcare scheme by October this year. Yet just 30,000 have claimed and only 13,000 retirees took advantage of a state pension top-up scheme

My father and stepmother have been married for 30-plus years. My stepmother believes she will not receive a NHS widow's pension when he dies since it is a remarriage. This seems totally unfair, especially since she lost her own deceased husband's pension on marrying my father and would be left with nothing but the state pension. I have attempted to verify the situation with the NHS pension service, with various contradictory and unclear results.

Few of us give how money is created a second thought. We happily - or unhappily - earn it, owe it, trade with it, dream of more of it. But at the annual retreat of Positive Money, attendees take a step back and question whether how it is made is working. Unaffordable house prices, boom and bust and stress levels are just some of the things they believe could be improved just by changing how money is made.

The most dangerous road in Great Britain has been revealed as the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton - known as the Cat and Fiddle - in the Peak District. There were 23 fatal or serious collisions on that 11.6km stretch of road between 2010 and 2015.

This special edition Bentayga 4x4 is designed to packs a pair of shotguns in the boot along with rounds of ammunition, a hunting knife, binoculars and a set of champagne flutes. There's even a lockable humidor to keep expensive Cuban cigars for those early evening returns from trapsing the field with your hunting dog.

The novel 'Me Before You' was written by author JoJo Moyes at her Grade II listed Essex farmhouse, which has gone on the market for £1.5million. Joslyns Farm dates back to the 17th century, and was bought by the author - who is married and has three children - in 2006.

Mark says it can cost less over time to buy a Porsche 911 than a Ford Mondeo - he explains how. He also reveals how he gets two long-haul business class flights every year for £600 each. On this episode of the Big Money Questions, Mark also suggests which items he thinks it is worth spending on and which you should avoid splashing out on - or buying altogether.

This family hatchback is reliable, great to drive and easy to get your hands on. In fact, it took the crown as the best used car because the market is flooded with low-mileage examples with full service histories and barely a scratch on the paintwork. So can you guess which model it is?

Lars Kroijer has become a leading proponent of passive investing - and as a hedge fund manager is a man you might consider to know what he is talking about. We ask Lars to explain his thinking and how investors can build a simple passive investing portfolio that lets them sleep at night.

Many with certain investment policies or endowments could lose between £20 to £25, but some could lose 'a lot more than this', Royal London Insurance group claims. The Chancellor is abolishing Corporate Indexation Allowance, which allows insurance firms to reduce the tax they pay and in turn, reducing costs for policy holders.

NatWest has today launched a fully regulated robo-advice proposition charging £10 for customers seeking to invest sums as low as £500. The new online investment advice service will pit the bank against the likes of Nutmeg, MoneyFarm and Scalable Capital in the battle to win funds from individuals with modest sized nest eggs.

Know a good carpenter? Got a decent plumber? Used a speedy removal firm? We tend to rely on word-of-mouth to find reliable professionals, but what if your friends and associates don't come up with the goods? The increasingly popular route is to check out customer review websites. But how do you know which to trust? Major sites such as Trustpilot and Feefo carry large numbers of reviews, including hundreds of estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage companies and removal firms, with customer experiences, good and bad. Both sites say they take exhaustive measures to ensure accuracy.

If you have a dash cam fitted you will have solid evidence of what actually happened in an accident, it won't simply be your word against theirs. This evidence can be used by the insurance companies or the courts to ascertain the truth and apportion blame, something which could be very beneficial to you. Here are 7 of the best devices for capturing footage for under £150.

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.

The amount you can save into a pension ultimately depends on what you can afford - but the longer you leave it the more you will need to save. We tend to put ambitious targets on our hoped-for income in retirement and then underestimate how much we will need to set aside to achieve that. So how much should you save?

The Bank of England has raised the base rate back to 0.5 per cent. The move up from 0.25 per cent is accompanied by an Inflation Report, which will outline where the bank sees things moving next. Expectations are that rates will not move up swiftly after this first rise, This is Money will bring you the details of the Inflation report and analysis imminently.

Compare your pay to the national average and see whether your employer treated you to a pay rise in line with the the rest of your profession. Farmers, care and air travel assistants were big winners on the pay scales in 2016. Travel agents, careers advisers and probation officers lost out.