Money Talks: Childcare costs, housing crisis and energy bills Plus, fingerprint security for banking, loans to landlords soar and how a dream home became a nightmare Gavin Lewis theguardian.com, Thursday 19 February 2015 09.48 EST New housing starts are down by 39% compared with 2007 levels. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Hello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed. Money news Cost of childcare so high that it does not pay UK families to work Number of new-build houses falls short despite small increase Big six energy firms overcharging customers by up to £234 a year Energy-saving oven law gets warm welcome from celebrity chefs and WI NatWest and RBS launch access to accounts at the touch of a finger UK mortgage lending to landlords soared in last quarter of 2014 When a dream holiday home abroad becomes a nightmare Feature If you buy a second-hand car, you still need to check that the ‘modifications’ are acceptable to your insurer. Photograph: Alamy Check your insurer doesn’t mind modifications to your car Work advice Career cares? Work woes? Out of love with the office? Our expert is on hand to help. Put your questions to Jeremy, and help other readers with their worries. Consumer champions Squeaky clean, but Experian credit check says ‘very poor’ Bravofly booked our return flight which arrived back before we’d left Vodafone wouldn’t listen when I told them about a fraud In pictures Home: Bittaford, near Ermington, Devon. Photograph: Marchand Petit Living with a tasty kitchen In the spotlight Around four out of ten card holders fail to pay off their credit card balance every month. Photograph: Alamy The great credit card rip off Money deals Let a great new energy deal find you, sign up to the Money Deals energy switch. We negotiate a great deal from the suppliers and you decide if you want to switch to it. Last year readers who signed up and switched saved £251 per year on average. Find out more and sign up. Download a free guide on where to invest your Isa this year. It covers the 10 steps to Isa investing success, five tips for investment trust investors and more. Sign up for the Guardian Today Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Sign up for the daily email

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