Consumers are putting their homes at risk by trusting unqualified solar power installers and substandard equipment, industry experts say.

Labour and the Greens are right. Our banks are too big to fail and we should be honest about that by creating a deposit insurance scheme for deposits of less than $250,000.

The boom in Auckland house prices is great for the half a million homeowners in the city. They are sitting on tax-free capital gains. Some are following Bernard Hickey's example and cashing up.

Susan Edmunds answers your questions.

How much would your house cost to build? If you don't know and don't want to rely on your CV or an insurer's online calculator, you may be facing a $500 bill from a valuer when a major change to the way insurance policies work kicks in.

Each week, Wendyl Nissen takes a packaged food item and decodes what the label tells you about its contents

Jars of Marmite are arriving at stores around the country today covered in black plastic to stop people being tempted to sell them early.

A couple who took out a Master Builders guarantee and paid more than $500,000 in progress payments on their new home are in danger of getting nothing back after their builder went under - because they paid too much in advance.

Having cysts removed from above my eyebrows cost me $800, which I paid the same time as the visit. I sent my account to Sovereign for a refund and was told that I couldn't claim because it wasn't for $1,200.

A scammer has targeted people with items listed for sale online this week.

Aucklanders in some of the city's most expensive suburbs don't just pay a lot more in house prices for the privilege - it even costs them more to buy groceries.

People signing to build a house are being warned that hiring a Master Builder doesn't mean automatically getting a guarantee.

One of the great successes of modern marketing has been the mass engagement of the population in rewards programmes, says Damien Grant. The most prevalent are Fly Buys. They are awful.

Taxi companies are imposing some of the country's highest credit card surcharges.

A retired man with a track record of taking big-name Kiwis through the courts is lining up some of our biggest corporates with a service he says will get justice for ripped-off customers.

Government agencies are assessing the legality of a diet that promises people they will lose up to half a kilo a day by using a fertility hormone banned in the US.

A range of meat products sold in New Zealand have tested negative for horsemeat, DNA tests show - but the content of some products would raise eyebrows.

The high kiwi dollar means it's a great time to be an importer or to go on holiday.

Two "green" cleaning product manufacturers have been warned that their anti-chemical claims risk breaching the Fair Trading Act.

It's interesting how a food scare on the other side of the world can create ripples right around the globe, writes Sue Kedgley.