Credit Card Debt and Civil Service Pensions
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Debt charity StepChange says its research suggests around 2.5mn people who have debt on a credit card have paid more in interest, fees and charges over the past 18 months than they have repaid off the debt itself. Its survey of 6,000 adults, done by the polling organisation YouGov, found 1 in 20 adults had this persistent credit card debt. Its calling on the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to improve the lending rules to stop debt building up and and ensure banks are intervening sooner to support customers in difficulty. The FCA says its rules mean that lenders should only provide credit to people who can afford to repay.
The government has started a hardship fund because thousands of newly retired civil servants have been kept waiting months for their pensions to be paid. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents many civil servants, has described the situation as "catastrophic" and is calling for urgent action to put things right. In a joint statement Capita and the Cabinet Office said they are "deeply sorry for the worry, frustration, and distress this has caused." Adding they both take this responsibility "very seriously and are urgently working together to put this right."
New figures show that banks are refunding more of the money stolen from customer accounts, following new rules which force them to do so.
And as the big lenders offer mortgages worth six times people’s salary, what does this mean for borrowers?
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson
(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th February 2026)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
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| 0:16.0 | It's been an incredible story with these drugs. |
| 0:18.1 | The uptake, the amount of product that's been sold, the amounts of money |
| 0:21.2 | is cost. What the drugs do, how they work, and the knock-on effects of their widespread use. |
| 0:26.5 | We'll be sitting here in three years' time going, oh, it caused problems that we're now going |
| 0:31.3 | to have to fix. The Hunger Game with me, Professor Gilesio. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.1 | Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. One of the UK's biggest debt charities calls for |
| 0:43.9 | stronger rules to protect people from falling into persistent credit card debt, as two |
| 0:48.7 | and a half million people already are. New figures show that banks are refunding more of the |
| 0:53.8 | money stolen from customer accounts, |
| 0:55.8 | following new rules designed to make them do just that. And are banks and building societies |
| 1:00.7 | allowing people who apply for a mortgage to borrow too much? But first, if you've built your |
| 1:07.0 | retirement around your pension, then it can be a financial disaster if it's not paid as soon as you retire. |
| 1:13.5 | But thousands of newly retired civil servants have been waiting months for their first pension payments. |
| 1:19.8 | It's got so bad the government has started a hardship fund for them. |
| 1:23.8 | Now these are not generally well-paid people, but they have done important jobs dealing with benefits, tax, border security and so on. |
| 1:31.1 | The Public and Commercial Services Union, PCS, which represents many of them, says it's catastrophic and is calling for urgent action from the government and from Capita, the firm in charge of running the pension scheme. |
| 1:44.0 | Dan Whitworth's been investigating this, Dan. |
| 1:46.6 | Well, Paul, with 1.7 million members, |
| 1:49.3 | the civil service pension scheme is one of the largest in the UK. |
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