Readers respond to Sammy Gecsoyler’s article about his week without bank and contactless cards

I welcome Sammy Gecsoyler’s article (My week of only using cash: could a return to notes and coins change my life?, 10 February) while noting that he is young, employed and living in a city, and that he commented about the older cash-payers seen in charity shops.

I am one of the many who live rurally. We rely on access to cash. Our lives still include paying small sums – £2.50 for entry and a coffee at our many village societies (open to all), or £5 for lunch provided fortnightly by volunteers – and varying sums to sponsor fundraising or village facilities, or small amounts to travel on our community bus.

More than 500 deals now offer 95% loans as banks and building societies loosen their borrowing rules

Would-be first-time buyers have the biggest choice of low-deposit mortgages for at least 18 years, new data shows, suggesting that 2026 is looking positive for those trying to get a foot on the property ladder.

In recent months many banks and building societies have been loosening their affordability rules or launching deals that let people borrow 95% of the property’s value, and in some cases more than that.

Spending watchdog says state-owned bank exposed taxpayers to ‘unacceptable risk’ as cost spiral to £3bn

An attempt to modernise the state-owned savings bank NS&I has been a “full-spectrum disaster”, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded in a damning report.

NS&I (National Savings & Investments), which runs a popular monthly cash-prize draw for premium bond holders, has been criticised by a committee of MPs for exposing the taxpayer to “unacceptable risk” owing to the spiralling costs of its £3bn modernisation programme.