The minimum age at which a person is able to claim pension benefits is set to rise from 50 to 55.

As many people who are between these ages may want access to their pension money, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has repeated the need to set up policies on time.

Maggie Craig, the acting director general and director of Life and Savings at the ABI, commented: "This is a very important change and it is vital that potential retirees have been notified. Details of the age change have been available for some time now.

"Advisers should be working towards concluding their client consultations and advice processes, to make sure applications for early retirement decisions are received as soon as possible, and by March 1st 2010 at the latest."

The National Minimum Pension Age is set to be increased on April 6th 2010.

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He advised people who have a mounting balance that is subject to high interest, to transfer the debt and not use the card for anything else.

"It is best to put the card at home somewhere safe rather than put it in your wallet or your purse because you might use it by mistake or you just might be tempted to use it one day," he said.

Mr Hagger also advised consumers to repay the balance on the card before the interest rate period is up.

Usually, balance transfer cards offer a zero per cent interest rate for around 12 months, allowing users to pay off their debt without any extra charges.

The cards often have a transfer fee of around three per cent of the balance, he explained, but "it is still a much cheaper way of paying your credit card debt".

According to Bank of England figures, credit card lending increased by £0.2 billion in April.

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Since the end of May, accounts with providers such as Coventry and Chelsea building societies, were either scrapped or replaced.

The ISA market saw change as well, with Barclays Golden ISA withdrawing its bonus and Nationwide’s Champion ISA cutting its rate from 2.8 per cent to 2.6 per cent.

This comes as savers have also been hit or are due to be affected by low rates, the axing of child trust funds and increases to capital gains tax.

Commenting on the changes, Andrew Hagger of Moneynet.co.uk, said: "The bad news for UK savers just seems to go on and on."

He added: "Until we see an upward movement from the 0.5 per cent base rate there’s little chance that savers will have anything to smile about.

"In fact with VAT set to rise and inflation taking chunks out of any return they manage to make, it’s just more doom and gloom."

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The Committee of Public Accounts said that the strategy, which was launched in 2004, has been a "complete failure" and its delivery had proved ineffective.

No assessment or evaluation in the strategy has been made, the report argued. As a result, the government is unaware whether its policy goals have been met.

Edward Leigh, the committee’s chairman, said: "To try and help people who are struggling with unmanageable debt, the government in 2004 launched an over-indebtedness strategy to offer more support to such people and to reduce their number.

"Unfortunately, the management of this strategy has been a complete failure. The Government created a myriad of different interventions, 51 in total, but the arrangements for coordinating them have not worked and no one has been in charge."

At present, total consumer debt stands at approximately £1.5 trillion and more than one in ten people in the UK is struggling with debt.

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Andrew Hagger of Moneynet.co.uk has compared popular lending arrangements in order to highlight the discrepancies between the best buys and the more expensive options.

Mr Hagger said: "The smartest financing option is to buy the ring on your credit card and apply for a balance transfer card now so you can switch the balance across to an interest free deal when your statement comes through."

He added that while a personal loan is another viable option, the interest on smaller amounts tends to be more expensive this way.

The differences in the price of borrowing money can be substantial as Mr Hagger points out.

A £2,500 loan from the Post Office or First direct comes at a rate of 13.9 per cent APR.

The equivalent from the Halifax Bank of Scotland would be lent at 22.9 per cent, which would mean an additional cost of £200.

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As of next week, Abbey and Bradford & Bingley will be rebranded as Santander UK plc.

Plans to rename the group’s other holding, Alliance & Leicester, are set to take place by the end of the year.

Andrew Hagger of Moneynet.co.uk commented on the change, saying that Santander has a good track record and has brought a noticeable difference in product competitiveness to the British market.

He added: "The new combined bank will have around 25 million UK customers, so should be a major financial force and able to compete with some of the bigger and more established banks in this country.

"For many years both Abbey and Alliance and Leicester have been extremely competitive in the current account and personal loan sectors and there’s no reason that this rebrand should see that competitive edge diminish."

Mr Hagger went on to say that customer service and pricing will be the areas which Santander will need to focus on in the coming year as it seeks to carve out a positive reputation compared to the other major players on the UK high street.

The Spanish group bought the UK firms during the crisis of 2008, when several of the high street banks began to collapse as the recession hit the country.

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It seems that the pair struck up something of a formidable friendship, too, as our Daily TwitPic clearly evidences. Jaden celebrated his 12th birthday yesterday, you see, and while Mr. Chan may not have been there in person to celebrate alongside his on-screen student, he was right there on Twitter to proudly mark the occasion with a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of “The Karate Kid.” Check it out after the jump!

Remember to check out Brian Warmoth’s Twitter-Wood column every day for an early jump on your Daily TwitPic!

Yesterday I caught up with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to talk about his upcoming action thriller Salt that stars Angelina Jolie. While I’ll be posting the full transcript very soon, since I got some brief updates on Transformers 3, Red, the next Jack Ryan movie Moscow and The Associate (which Shia Labeouf’s attached to), I wanted to get those quotes online tonight.

Regarding Transformers 3, he talked about how to keep the franchise fresh on a 3rd movie and he also talked about Michael Bay shooting in 3D.  On Red, he talked about where they are right now in the editing room and he says, “the movie has more tones and colors that almost any movie I’ve ever worked on.” Finally, I asked him what projects are bubbling up to the surface and he said the next Jack Ryan movie, Moscow, that Chris Pine is attached to and The Associate – which is a John Grisham book that Shia Labeouf’s attached to. When I asked how the script was for the Jack Ryan movie, he said they had a great one and he is hoping to start shooting late winter/early spring.

Hit the jump to read everything he had to say on these projects and look for more with di Bonaventura very soon.

Collider: You mentioned Bay and you mentioned Transformers 3.  So how are things going on that shoot?

Lorenzo di Bonaventura: It’s going really well. It was very complicated to imagine the movie without the Mikaela character and that was something that took all of us a lot of time and effort. But the truth is we’re very excited what happened as a result is…it’s not just with casting Rosie (Huntington-Whiteley), but with casting John Malkovich and we’re Frances McDormand and we’re casting Patrick Dempsey and Ken Wong and it goes on and on and on. And so the movie feels like which you always fear in making the 3^rd movie is it’s not replicating what’s been done before. And the breath of the new cast is I think helping you avoid that pitfall.

I also wanted to know how’s the 3D going? Because for me, and a lot of people, we’re just very excited that the franchise is…that Bay is shooting with at least some of the scenes with 3D cameras, which just seems really cool.

Lorenzo: He is shooting a lot with 3D cameras and he is, as usual, a master of camera and he learned it very quickly. And it is going to be very exciting for all. I’ve had an opportunity to see it and it just looks fantastic.  And so you know Michael is really enjoying shooting it, too. So it’s hats off to him because it’s working fantastically.

Jumping into Red, I spoke to you on-set and you seemed very enthusiastic and everything I saw on-set seemed really, really cool. The trailer is fantastic. So do you think you hit the home run with this thing?

Lorenzo: Well you never can say that until an audience has seen it. We’ve not shown it to an audience yet. We’re pretty close to that but here’s what I feel—I feel like everybody is going to enjoy the performances that have been given, the characters that are there. It’s got good action, it’s got good comedy. How much they’re going to like it, I’m going to leave it to the audience to decide. We haven’t shown it yet. The movie has more tones and colors that almost any movie I’ve ever worked on and that’s the complication. We knew going in that that was going to be the trick and you know that’s the process we’re in right now is making sure that the balances and all that is correct.  You know, it’s so much fun because what’s interesting about it and having worked on Oceans 11 and now working on this, they’re very different and yet they have certain things in common. You know, they have this kind of cool cast but what’s different is in Oceans 11 you pretty much face everybody in the first 20 minutes. You know, the team is assembled if you would. And what’s different in this movie is, you meet a new character pretty much like every 10 or 15 minutes. So there’s all this new chemistry that appears. It’s really interesting.  You meet Bruce. And you meet Bruce and Mary Louise, then you meet Morgan (Freeman), then you meet Malkovich.  So it goes along this interesting tour so every time the movie’s progressing it’s bringing in a new character. And I think that’s going to be really fun for the audience. It’s fun for me. I hope it’s fun for the audience.

I heard you guys are going to Comic-Con with Red.

Lorenzo: I think we’re going to go. I don’t know quite what we’re going to do there yet, but that’s up to Summit. But I’m sure we’re not going to screen anything because we’re not nearly ready for that. But Robert just finished his directors cut, so you know, he hasn’t even done the fine tuning, the music hasn’t been put in, all that stuff. So I don’t think it’s ready for Comic-Con as a whole movie, but hopefully we can come up with some clips and stuff to get everybody excited.

Finally, do you mind me asking what’s bubbling up what’s bubbling to the surface right now for you?

Lorenzo: Well, we’re hoping to get Jack Ryan off the ground with Chris Pine and that’s really exciting. And this movie called The Associate which is a John Grisham book that Shia Labeouf’s attached to. We’re hoping to get that off the ground shortly, too.

SW:    I spoke to somebody about the Jack Ryan project and the last time I spoke it was I think I want to say it was somehow tied to Moscow? Am I wrong about that?

Lorenzo: It’s called Moscow.

That’s right.  So I guess, do you guys have a script? Or just figuring out his….

Lorenzo: We have a very good script. I think it’s…I’m very happy with where we are today and we’re looking forward to…maybe with a little luck starting next late winter/early spring.

Oh this year or early next year?

Lorenzo: Of early next year, yeah.

For more on Red, here’s my on set interview with di Bonaventura