The number of retailers offering special prices for members has soared. We asks if the price cuts are as good as they seem

Whether you are buying clothes, garden furniture or groceries this summer, it is hard to avoid getting caught up in the loyalty card fever sweeping the high street.

Do you want to pay the “member price” of £15.99 for some on-trend denim Bermuda shorts (or “jorts”) at H&M, or stump up £21.99?

ShinyHunters stole information including bank and credit card numbers, as well as staff HR details

Hackers are attempting to sell confidential information including the bank and credit card numbers of millions of Santander customers to the highest bidder.

ShinyHunters posted an advert on a hacker forum for the data, which it says also includes staff HR details, with an asking price of $2m (£1.6m). It is the same organisation that claims to have hacked Ticketmaster.

Rate more than doubles to 1.3% in May and average property price rises to £264,249, Nationwide says

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UK house prices returned to growth in May amid signs of market “resilience” after two months of falls, according to a building society.

The average property price in Britain rose 0.4% month on month to £264,249, after a similar-sized fall of 0.4% in April, Nationwide said.

Studies find red, blue and green plastic decomposes into microplastic particles faster than plainer colours

Retailers are being urged to stop making everyday products such as drinks bottles, outdoor furniture and toys out of brightly coloured plastic after researchers found it degrades into microplastics faster than plainer colours.

Red, blue and green plastic became “very brittle and fragmented”, while black, white and silver samples were “largely unaffected” over a three-year period, according to the findings of the University of Leicester-led project.

People who bought newly launched cereal that falls within four-month best before period told to throw it away and get refund

Kellogg’s is recalling boxes of its new chocolate cornflakes due to concerns they contain “hard lumps” that could cause damage to teeth or be a choking hazard.

The cereal brand has asked people who bought the packs to dispose of them “as a precaution” after the problem was discovered.

Similarly affected users I found online suggest it is disabling out-of-warranty readers to make people buy another

I am a craft potter selling mainly from specialist, often outdoor, markets with uncertain internet access.

My SumUp Solo card reader, used successfully at fewer than 10 markets and now out of warranty, is suddenly giving me a screen message “SumUp blocked”.

‘Purchase scams’ often pegged to big events, warns UK Finance’s annual fraud report

The clamour to secure tickets for Taylor Swift’s sold-out UK shows is expected to fuel a summer fraud bonanza as figures showed a “staggering” £1.2bn was stolen from unwitting consumers in 2023.

Swift’s Eras tour, which arrives in the UK in June, and the Olympic Games, are contenders for biggest ticketing scam of the year. The warning, from industry group UK Finance, came as its annual fraud report revealed that the number of people succumbing to a “purchase scam” in 2023 soared.

I didn’t reduce my monthly payments and my employer switched to permanent home working

During the pandemic I did not reduce my monthly payments for childcare vouchers. As a result I have nearly £2,800 in my tax-free childcare account. I now work remotely and don’t need them but have been told I can’t get a refund.

I was paying the maximum £243 a month via salary sacrifice into my KiddiVouchers account. This worked until Covid hit but my employer has switched to permanent home working so I no longer need wraparound childcare.

I explained my change in circumstances to [the scheme provider] and requested they refund my employer so it could be repaid (after tax and national insurance) to me. My employer is happy to do this.

However, KiddiVouchers has refused because it “does not meet the exceptional or unforeseen threshold for a refund”. I can’t believe that the pandemic is not considered “exceptional or unforeseen”.

People who receive the new state pension can get thousands a year more than those on the old basic scheme

Sheila receives the basic state pension and says it is a struggle to make ends meet. “We’re supposed to survive on pocket money,” says the widow, aged 81. “I don’t go out because I can’t afford it. I used to go for a coffee to treat myself but not any more. It’s too expensive. If I buy clothes it is at the charity shop.

“The way we have to live is not nice at all. There’s masses of people in the same position. It makes you isolated because if you can’t go out and have a little spend it is not living is it?”

Eight-year-olds’ video, which racked up 14m views, hits a sore point for mobilers who have struggled with the cost of living

Like the totemic £8 pint or £5 coffee, the cost of a Mr Whippy ice-cream has become a barometer of a world gone mad. But really, nine quid for two ice-creams? Bloody hell.

That was the damning verdict of an eight-year-old whose TikTok rant over the cost of two screwballs from an ice cream van in the park has racked up 14m views at the time of writing.