Money digest: today’s need-to-know financial news | 6 June 2016

A story on the front page of today’s edition of The Times warns that holidaymakers risk being stranded abroad with huge bills after buying travel insurance that turns out to be worthless. It has emerged that many cheap policies fail to protect families against even the most basic of mishaps, including missed flights, lost bags and medical bills. Some policies were sold for as little as £13. In many cases travellers were hit with such high excesses — the compulsory payments on a claim — that they made the policy almost valueless. Researchers at the comparison site comparethemarket.com, which compiled the study based on an analysis of single-trip policies, found that about 14 per cent failed to reimburse for missed flights. The study found that 32 per cent failed to pay out for missed connections in Britain, even though many covered international flights. Holiday rentals The Mail on Sunday reported yesterday that the UK is fast becoming a powerhouse for online holiday rental websites such as Airbnb, thanks to two major changes that give homeowners the chance to receive more tax free income. Since