Rising energy bills, food prices and transport costs are decimating pensioner savings - so much so that a new survey claims a third of all pensioners are being supported by other family members, while almost 50% are working part-time to boost their incomes.

Shockingly, 17% of all UK pensioners have no savings whatsoever, so it's claimed.

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Cash need

Around 2,000 UK pensioners were interviewed and the survey claims widespread anxiety about income levels. Additionally, it's claimed a third - 650 people out of the 2,000 interviewed - worried that they may have to sell their house in order to cope.

Meanwhile Age UK claims the number of older people owing money has risen sharply in the last year. Nearly one fifth (19%) of those in debt are concerned about the amount of money they owe.

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With derisory returns on savings and bleak annuity rates too, many older people are undoubtedly under seriously pressure. However at the same time many home-owning pensioners have seen huge house price rises. Some will have the flexibility to downsize if they wish (a larger property is often impractical to keep up later on in life, for obvious reasons).

Credit due

Surveys such as this one from a home equity release provider claiming much of the UK's elderly are reliant on younger family members to keep them going need to be treated with caution. This company (we're not giving them the oxygen of publicity) clearly has its own agenda.

Away from the concerns of many pensioners muddling along, more or less, is that as much as £5.5 billion in UK Pension Credit goes unclaimed each year claims Age UK. Up to 1.6 million older people who are eligible don't take it up. A staggering statistic.

The UK Poverty Site claims that take-up of the Pension Credit is much lower for owner-occupiers than for social and private renters - half of all the households in owner-occupation who are entitled to the Pension Credit do not claim it compared to 'only' a fifth for renters.

Claim!

"One of the reasons," it says, "for this difference is likely to be that owner-occupiers are less likely to be in contact with their local authority than renters because Housing Benefit is not applicable to them."

Pension Credit can be an enormous boon. If you have minimal savings this is a tax-free payment and could see your income topped up to £142.70 per week for single pensioners and and £217.90 for couples for 2012/13. Click this Pension Credit calculator tool to see if you're entitled.

10 of the biggest consumer rip-offs

  • 1. Mobile data roaming charges
    <p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Using a mobile phone to make and receive calls, send texts and browse the web while abroad can be extremely costly &ndash; especially if you are travelling outside the European Union (EU), where calls can cost up to 10 times as much as at home.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> To avoid high charges, Carphone Warehouse suggests tourists ensure a data cap is in place, use applications to check data usage, turn off 'data roaming', avoid data-intensive applications such as Google Maps and YouTube and use wi-fi spots to update social networking sites.</div>
    1. Mobile data roaming charges
  • 2. PPI
    <p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is supposed to help people to continue meeting their loan, mortgage or credit card repayments if they fall ill or lose their jobs. However, policies are often over-priced, riddled with exclusions and sold to people who could not make a claim if they needed to.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> At one point, sale of this cover - which was often included automatically in loan repayments - was estimated to boost the banks' profits by up to &pound;5 billion a year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Now, though, consumers who were mis-sold PPI can fight back by complaining to the bank or lender concerned and taking their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (08000 234567) should the response prove unsatisfactory.</div>
    2. PPI
  • 3. The Lottery
    <p> It could be you, but let's face it, it probably won't be. In fact, buying a ticket for the Lotto only gives you a 1 in 13.9 million chance of winning the jackpot.</p> <div> </div> <div> With odds like that, you would almost certainly be better off hanging on to your cash and saving it in a high-interest account.</div>
    3. The Lottery
  • 4. Budget airlines
    <p> No-frills airlines such as EasyJet may promote rock-bottom prices on their websites. But the overall fare you pay can be surprisingly high once extras such as luggage and credit card payment fees have been added - a process known as drip pricing.</p> <div> </div> <div> Taking one piece of hold baggage on a return EasyJet flight, for example, adds close to &pound;20 to the cost of your flight, while paying by credit card increases the price by a further &pound;10.</div> <div> </div> <div> It may therefore be worth comparing the total cost with that of a flight with a standard airline such as British Airways.</div>
    4. Budget airlines
  • 5. Credit card cash withdrawals
    <p> Cash advances, which include cash withdrawals, are generally charged at a much higher rate of interest than standard purchases.</p> <div> </div> <div> While the average credit card interest rate is around 17%, a typical cash withdrawal of &pound;500, for example, is charged at more than 26%.</div> <div> </div> <div> What's more, as the interest accrues from the date of the transaction, rather than the next payment date, costs will mount up even if you clear your balance in full with your next payment.</div>
    5. Credit card cash withdrawals
  • 6. Supermarket 'deals'
    <p> Supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda often run promotions under which you can, for example, get three products for the price of two.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, it is only worth taking advantage of these deals if you will actually use the products. Otherwise, you are simply buying for the sake of it, which is a waste of your hard-earned cash.</div> <div> </div> <div> To avoid paying over the odds, it is also worth checking the price per kilo to ensure that larger <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/05/24/supermarkets-slammed-for-multi-buy-rip-offs/">'economy' packs really are cheaper</a> than the smaller versions.</div>
    6. Supermarket 'deals'
  • 7. Train fares
    <p> Buy a train ticket at the station on the day of travel and the price is likely to give you a shock - especially if you are travelling a long distance at a busy time of day.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/13/how-to-cut-the-cost-of-your-commute/">you can cut the cost of train travel</a> by 50% or more by going online and making the purchase beforehand - especially if you book 12 weeks in advance, which is when the cheapest tickets are on sale.</div> <div> </div> <div> Other ways to reduce the price you pay include avoiding peak times and taking advantage of so-called carnet tickets, which allow you to buy, for example, 12 journeys for the price of 10.</div>
    7. Train fares
  • 8. Packaged current accounts
    <p> Most High Street banks offer packaged accounts that come with monthly fees ranging from &pound;6.50 up to as much as &pound;40, with a typical account charging about &pound;15 per month.</p> <div> </div> <div> Various benefits, such as travel insurance and mobile phone insurance, are offered in return for this fee. But whether or not it is worth paying for them depends on your individual circumstances.</div> <div> </div> <div> Before signing up, it is therefore essential to <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/01/14/maximise-your-current-account/">check that you will make use of enough of the benefits</a>, and that you cannot get them for less elsewhere.</div>
    8. Packaged current accounts
  • 9. Overseas withdrawals/card payments
    <p> Overseas money transfers or travel money purchases attract the same high rate of interest as credit card cash withdrawals.</p> <div> </div> <div> Worse still, most credit cards &ndash; and debit cards &ndash; also charge you a foreign loading fee if you use them to make purchases while abroad.</div> <div> </div> <div> You can, however, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/02/17/how-to-avoid-overseas-bank-fees/">avoid these charges</a> by using a Saga Platinum or Nationwide Building Society credit card.</div>
    9. Overseas withdrawals/card payments
  • 10. Premium rate phone lines
    <p> Numbers starting 0871 cost 10p or more from a landline, while those starting 09 can cost more than &pound;1 a minute <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/21/call-0800-0808-and-0870-numbers-for-free-from-your-mobile/">from a mobile phone</a>.</p> <div> </div> <div> And the operators of these high-cost phone lines, some of which are banks, often get a cut of the call charges.</div> <div> </div> <div> Most 09 numbers are linked to scams and should therefore be avoided at all costs, while 0871 numbers can often be bypassed by searching for an alternative local rate numbers on the saynoto0870.com.</div>
    10. Premium rate phone lines


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