On 5th January BT will be increasing the cost of calls, line rental, broadband and BT Vision by up to 5.9%.

Standard line rental will increase from £14.60 to £15.45 a month, the cost of daytime and evening calls will increase to 8.41p and 1.11p a minute respectively, and a host of other price increases will also take effect.

BT will email you to tell you about the increase if you're a customer that uses online billing, everyone else will need to check their next copy of the BT Update magazine for details.

Remember to use this information to find out whether they'll still be the most competitive telecoms provider for your household and switch if you could save elsewhere.

Importantly, you will be able to cancel your contract without penalty if you don't want to pay more. However, you'll need to do this within 10 days of receiving your official notification of the increase to avoid being charged.

Read our guide: 11 Easy Ways to Slash Your Broadband and Home Phone Bills for tips to help you cut costs while you're reviewing your options.

What else is happening?

Mutual society Re-Give is to cancel all applications for their 5% savings bond and return deposits

They have agreed this course of action with the FSA who are currently working with them to establish whether the way they positioned their bond broke the rules because they did not make the fact that it wasn't an authorised savings account sufficiently clear. The mutual society is an FSA-registered but not FSA-authorised provider and consequently deposits are not covered by the FSCS. If you paid into this bond you should receive a letter explaining the situation and confirming your refund very shortly.*

Northern Irish energy company Power NI will be cutting electricity prices by 14.1%

The change is due to take place from 1st October, this is in addition to a new 6% direct debit discount available to customers that opt for online billing. Together this could save their 'average' energy customer up to £135 a year.

Owning your own home is more affordable now than it has been for 15 years

That's if you can get on the property ladder of course. According to Halifax, mortgage payments are taking up a smaller chunk of the average household's disposable income than at any other time during this period.

The Legal Ombudsman is taking on responsibility for the claims management industry

From 2013 they'll have the power to crack down on companies that break the rules and order any that overstep the mark to pay compensation. This should not only help to improve standards but give you a means to get redress if you have issues.

*Note from editor: We listed the Re-Give bond in our comparison tables and mentioned it in our newsletter and while we did specify the lack of FSCS protection, I'd like to personally apologise for any inconvenience caused and offer my reassurances that we will always do our utmost to make essential information about any of the financial products we list on the site clearly available to you.

We display the deposit protection status of all accounts listed in our savings comparison table and highlight essential information about products in comparison tables across the site using a warning triangle, I hope that together this helps you make an informed choice about the options that are right for you - Hannah.