Did you know that today is the last day that the old £20 not will be accepted in shops and swapped in banks, building societies and post offices? If you have any of the notes featuring the composer Elgar, you’ll need to either buy something with them or pop into your local branch and they’ll give you a nice shiney replacement.

The ‘new’ £20 note features a picture of economist Adam Smith and was introduced in 2007 as part of the Bank of England’s fight against counterfeiting. Despite the fact that the Elgar note will be about as useful as a snotty tissue a the till, there are formal penalties in place for any bank that continues to issue use Elgar notes in their cash machines – if you do get one and they won’t change it, you have to send to the Bank of England.

The Financial Services Consumer Panel has come out and voiced its concerns regarding the Coalition Government proposals to reform the financial regulatory system.

The plans, discussed earlier in the week, involve the winding down of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and its eventual replacement in 2012 by a three-body regulator.

But speaking at the FSA’s annual meeting, Adam Phillips, chair of the Consumer Panel, said: “the new system of regulation must learn from the successes and failures of the FSA and commit itself to implementing changes that will protect consumers”.

Ultimately, despite the closing of doors and bolting of horses, the FSA has had a strong year which has seen many organisations punished for infractions. Mr Phillips went on to say: “We hope that the decision to reform the regulatory structure will not lead to the deferment of changes which will bring significant benefits to consumers.” Amen to that.

They may be going down but they’re going down fighting as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) issues two more hefty fines to rule breaking companies. Photo booth company, Photo-Me, was fined £500,000 for creating a false market for its shares and money broker Vantage was fined £700,000 for allowing an individual too much influence over the company.

These large penalties come in the same week that the coalition Government announced the end of the FSA and it’s replacement in 2012. Maybe the FSA is trying to prove it can regulate, but more likely it’s just carrying on with business in a year that’s seen record levels of fines levied by the watchdog. In total £54.5 million has been handed out  in fines with much of that as a result of mis-sold PPI and financial mis-selling in general.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has shifted more resources to handle the increased loads of mis sold PPI claims and complaints being made. Around 135 a day were made last last financial year, more than any other 12 month period and the number shows no sign of falling.

The reason for the increase in claim numbers has been put down to the ever increasing number of claim handling companies as well as the rise in Press coverage of the mis-selling scandal. In addition increasing resources the FOS have also released details of eight cases that were recently brought infront of them in an attempt to provide more information to claimants.

Another day and another report about mis sold PPI and victims thereof, this time it’s in the Daily Mail and discussess the gross mis-selling that lead to people paying for worthless cover. The piece also tells the tales of individual victims including one couple who paid over £11,000 for PPI cover.

Needless to say the who experience of mis sold PPI and the countless reports that prove it leave you steering well clear of any such policy. The thing is, it’s still worth considering PPI cover, especially with Camerons cuts on the way. Anyway, if you want to read the full article, it’s here.

It’s been extensively documented and reported that the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has received more complaints about PPI than about any other financial product or issue. Last financial year the FOS received 135 complaints a day about mis sold PPI with many of those complaints coming from self employed and elderly individuals.

These groups were particularly badly hit by the mis-selling of PPI because many self-employed borrowers were forced to take a policy to get the credit, paid for it month on month, then when they needed it were told it doesn’t cover them because they’re self employed. Its been a similar propblem with the elderly, many of whom wher sold a policy without being told about age or health restrictions on the cover only to find they have been paying for a useless policy. Thankfully as the FOS figures show, these people are now fighting back.

You know that mis sold PPI is making waves when it’s mentioned by newspapers, but you know that it must be big news if Radio 1 talk about it. Just last week ‘Newsbeat’ ran a story about Payment Protection Insurance mis selling that discussed the plight of one victim in particular.

The carrying of the story confirms that PPI claims are commonplace and a whole younger generation of financial consumers could be encouraged to take action by the broadcast. The mis selling scandal has come a long way from the early days of consumer watchdogs pointing it out and very few people listening. Now, it’s big news with 135 people a day putting in a related complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Bring on the national revolt! (in a peaceful, law-abiding way, of course).

Not a great week for anyone with hopes that the Country might be getting out of the financial myre we’re in; the Prime Minister announced on Friday that the Economy is in a worse state than he feared and that more cuts may be necessary. This was then followed up by an invite to the British public to join the Government and suggest what we can afford to do without or what can be farmed off to the private sector.

All of this adds up to the Government subtly letting us know that there are some tough times ahead and if we make the decisions, No.10 wont be totally to blame for an austire 5 year term. The plan to get public opinion on Govt spending isn’t a Conservative brainchild, the Canadian Government did it back in the mid nineties which is no doubt why Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in town last week.

Right now there is a massive gap between what we’ve got to pay out and how secure those repayments are, this has lead to many seeing their properties and credit ratings at risk. The problem is less people are taking out any kind of payment proteciton or income protection due to the PPI mis selling scandal and those that had it have cancelled it to save some money.

Needless to say by not covering your back when it comes to mortgage or loan repayments you can leave yourself very exposed should you lose your job or be unable to work. So what do you do? Well, you can start by setting up a ‘Financial Safety Net’ like the one in this Financial Mail article.

Just a quick one today, partly because it’s Friday and partly because the Guardian have written a great ‘Top 10 Useless Financial Products’ article which you have to see. Check it out here…