Make your property dream come true, plus fraud hotspots revealed

Suzanne Bearne: ‘As a Generation Rent 34-year-old living in London on a modest income, buying my own place always felt like an impossible dream.’ Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Hello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed.

Money news

Debt bubble returns millions to days of 2008 crash

House sales have fallen by nearly a third in some parts of UK, says Lloyds

Energy price cap likely to go ahead despite warnings of ‘timebomb’

Norfolk emerges as dating fraud hotspot in regional scam standings

Tory pledge to cap energy bills missing from Queen’s speech

Feature

Buying my own place was an impossible dream – here’s how it came true

The Margate seafront and the Turner Contemporary gallery: ‘It has an artsy community going on.’ Photograph: Rick Strange/Alamy

In pictures

Your private paradise in the Maldives

This ludicrously luxurious villa is the largest in the Soneva Fushi Resort in the Baa Atoll on the island of Kunfunadhoo, one of the largest in the Maldives. Photograph: Soneva

In the spotlight

With budgets under pressure, stores are cutting back their security and using random spot checks to crack down on theft, as Anna Tims reports.

Penny Keza believes she was racially profiled in her local Aldi before being searched. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Consumer champions

Plant nursery continues to nurse customer grudges

I flew with Austrian Airlines between two high-security airports … without trace

Avoid any crossed wires … what is roaming and what isn’t?

I need the right KnowHow to fix my son’s laptop

Is Booking.com breaking its ‘free cancellation’ pledge?

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