Assuming there are no penalties for switching, they should move any money that cannot go on to the mortgage to a consolidation loan, or to a credit card with a 0 per cent deal.Mr Willans suggests a three-step approach: transferring £10,000 to a 0 per cent credit card (such as Bank of Scotland, which charges no interest for the first nine months and then 9.9 per cent), £25,000 to an unsecured loan and the rest to a secured lender. The couple are also paying too much interest: given their incomes, they should be able to move their borrowing to cheaper deals.Mr Connolly suggests moving some of the debt to their mortgage, as this is usually the cheapest way to borrow. However, they may not have enough equity in their house to transfer all their borrowings in this way. Holidays £3,000 per yearDEBTSMr Connolly says the Moores simply have too much debt: all told they owe £61,000 in loans and credit cards. Although Mr Moore has a well-paid job in the City, Mrs Moore took on a less senior position in the marketing department of a software house after Hugh was born. kim and Chris Moore face a challenge that will be familiar to many couples: how to make their money go further at the same time as supporting a growing family.

They are living month to month and have to use their overdrafts; they also have no savings. Ms Darby said: “I would warn consumers not to be fooled, as new gas and electricity tariffs mean one thing – increased prices for the end user.”But a Powergen spokesman said: “All gas customers will have lower bills with Powergen than with British Gas on a like-for-like basis, and the average standard dual-fuel customer will save £46 a year with Powergen compared to British Gas.”The company is also restructuring its electricity prices. Standard residential customers who take both electricity and gas from Powergen will benefit from a dual-fuel discount of 3 per cent, and there will also be a 3 per cent discount for customers who pay by monthly direct debit.Atlantic, which was taken over by Scottish & Southern Energy Group in April, said that from 5 July customers who have been with the company for six months or more will have an 18 per cent increase in gas bills to bring them in line with current tariffs Electricity bills are set to increase as well.. But this concept seems more likely to appeal to people who want a one-stop shop which they feel chimes in with their own laid-back world view, and are not too fussy about price.Mr Athol Mackinnon and Mr O’Leary have wisely signed up some first-class partners such as John Lewis, Insure&Go and the Share Centre, but their lack of experience does not suggest that they are going to drive the hardest bargains on customers’ behalf Touchy-feely can come a touch expensive.. A leading consumer group has attacked two power companies, Powergen and Atlantic Electric & Gas, over what it sees as hidden or unjustified price increases. And Atlantic’s customers are being penalised for their loyalty to the company.”Powergen, the energy group with nine million UK customers, said that from 6 September its residential gas customers would face a price increase of 3.1 per cent on average, equivalent to 21p a week. It will also scrap the standing charge for its standard residential electricity and gas customers, so they will only pay for the energy they use.

Mr O’Leary fondly imagines life-world’s customers will have checked out rival prices before committing themselves. An ex-theatre producer, Bruce Athol Mackinnon, and Tim O’Leary, a former Royal Navy submariner, are about to launch Life Medicare, the latest service under the life-world banner, which already covers finance, travel, free time, property, commercial and motoring.They like to think of themselves as running a club, for would-be customers have to register, although there is no charge. In practice they act as brokers and introducers to a range of product providers: Western Provident for health insurance, Lloyds TSB for credit cards, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Theatres for theatre tickets and so on.Their literature is careful not to claim they will lead you to the cheapest deals; it talks about being highly competitive, offering substantial savings or exciting promotions. They leave millions out of pocket, joining those already short-changed by Halifax’s internet sister, Intelligent Finance. It is not so long since they brushed under the carpet the scandal of charging two different mortgage interest rates.