June’s monthly mailbag

Posted by: Matt

 

OK, so the sun may have gone into permanent hibernation and half of the country is underwater, but, according to my calendar, it is supposedly July.

 

So before I slap on the suncream and dash out into the drizzle, I thought I should look back through last month’s rain-sodden mailbag.

 

Virtual Trader

 

First up, we were inundated with mail at the beginning of the month from users who found that their logins, portfolios and trading histories in our extremely popular fantasy sharetrading game, Virtual Trader, were not working.

 

This was because the game was originally only designed to run for a year.

 

However, due to the sheer number of emails we have decided to make the game a permanent feature on MSN Money. All of your logins should now be working again and your portfolios and trading histories should be back up to date.

 

We appreciate that tens of thousands of you have put a great deal of time and effort into your portfolios and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. Rest assured that as the game is now a permanent fixture, the problems you may have encountered earlier this month will not be repeated.

 

And if you haven’t signed up, then get involved today.

 

Student revolt

 

Emma-Lou Montgomery wrote an extremely interesting piece last month on why, in her opinion, a university degree can often be a waste of both time and money.

 

Her views clearly riled some of our users. Here are two of the comments we received:

 

“I would just like to say I found this article by Emma-Lou Montgomery very, very offensive. It belittles anyone who made the decision to go to university‚ patronises and offends. Seriously offends. Some people need to go to university to get the career they want‚ why are they being put down like they are making foolish choices? We need to support students‚ they are the professional future for Britain. I’ve just completed a psychology degree‚ my true passion. The career I want needs a degree. Many other students are there for the same purpose. As one of them‚ it deeply offends that such a sloppy image of uni being a mere waste of time can be portrayed on such an influential website. I am disgusted having read this.”

 

“I really think this is a totally biased article‚ and it is terrible! I’ve just graduated and I feel it patronising and downright insulting to be stereotyped for being a student. Not all students while their university life away drinking and partying.  I finish by just noting that this article insulted me‚ and many of my university friends.”

 

We are genuinely sorry if some of you were offended by the article in question – we value all of our users and it is certainly never our intention to insult or offend in any way.

 

However, what we do aim to do is to challenge preconceptions and stimulate debate on important issues. With student debt at record levels and with studies suggesting that the average arts graduate earns less than school-leavers, we felt that this was an important issue which was worth debating. We don’t expect everyone to agree with our writers – we hope that they will enable our users to think about the issues raised. This is why we create message boards for our users to join the debate and have their say on major issues – and, judging by the large number of posts we received on Emma-Lou’s piece – many of you had clearly thought long and hard about the issues raised in the article.

 

We also received a large number of mails from users who agreed with Emma-Lou’s viewpoint. Here is what Gemma had to say:

 

“I am interested in Emma-Lou Montgomery’s recent article on higher education and it being a waste of time and money. I have a degree that doesn’t hold any weight and was very down after I finished my degree and couldn’t get a job‚ let alone a career job.  I am interested in Emma-Lou’s research and why the government promotes higher education‚ if at the end certain degrees hold no weight?”

 

No anti-Scottish agenda

 

“You do not list the Bank of Scotland. Why? Is this a racist slur?”

 

Our banking best-buy tables are provided by our partner, Moneyextra, are independent and are a reflection of their pick of the market. They have nothing to do with the geographical location of the banks or lenders concerned.

 

Travel agents fight back, part two

 

Further to the heated response in May’s mailbag to an article by Damian Clarkson advising consumers not to buy travel insurance from their travel agent, a number of travel agents have been quick to respond to another travel-related article by Sarah Modlock.

 

Sarah urged consumers to avoid high street agents and to shop for insurance on the internet.

 

Andrew, a travel agent from Devon, wrote in with the following comment:

 

“Sarah Modlock’s article is rubbish. I can understand the reason for the comment on not using travel agents – it’s because you’re internet based! For Sarah’s information, I am a travel agent based in Devon. We can beat most internet prices and offer a better service. Your advice to the consumer should be "check all outlets, not just the internet”.  1. We offer great service. 2. We always have the option to beat internet prices. 3. We employ four full-time staff. 4. We support the local community. 5.Get this‚ we are profitable and therefore contribute tax. 6. We are very positive people‚ we can adapt our business to the demands of the market. Please keep writing about the travel industry good and bad but you need to have a better insight in to the business."

 

As with Damian’s article in May, Sarah was not suggesting that all travel agents deliberately set out to overcharge their customers, she was merely informing our readers that buying your insurance as part of your overall holiday package can often end up being more expensive.
 
It is undoubtedly the case that some travel agents do offer good insurance deals. But it is also the case, as a Treasury Select Committee report earlier this year concluded, that buying travel cover from a travel agent was up to 91.8% more expensive than doing so from the most competitive independent insurer.

 

As always, the best advice for consumers is to shop around, both online and offline, before committing to any financial product.

 

Buy-to-let blues

 

Chris Gilchrist’s article on why, in his opinion, the buy-to-let boom will soon be over also divided opinion last month.

 

Here are two of the comments we received on the article:

 

“Interesting points raised about buy to let however you did not stipulate that buy to let is a long-term, 10 years-plus investment, and therefore someone looking for a quick return would be more suitably advised to go for savings or investments.”

 

“Mind-numbing sheep fodder. Does Mr Gilchrist not think that these BTL Landlords‚ far from panicking‚ are selling into strength? And by the way‚ does Mr Gilchrist himself invest in property or is he simply partaking in tabloidesque fearmongering?”

 

Nick Louth also wrote an interesting piece last month on the future prospects of the buy-to-let market. And with community groups rising up in protest at the effect that some buy-to-let landlords have had on local communities, it seems that buy-to-let is likely to become an increasingly hot topic in the coming months. Watch this space…

 

Check out MSN Money’s comprehensive Buy-To-Let Guide

 

The dating game

 

“This is very readable and interesting but the date makes me wonder if it’s still relevant two years later?”

 

We archive all of our articles and, where relevant we may link to an older article from a new article if we think it will provide context or offer useful advice.

If you want to find our latest articles, we have a latest articles page listing our most recent 20 articles.

 

Keep ‘em coming

 

That’s it for this month – keep your feedback coming though and check back on the first working day of next month to read more of your comments.
 
Have a great month – and, who knows, by next month it may even feel like summer…