According to the TUC, nearly five million of us in Britain regularly do unpaid overtime, giving our employers an average of £4,955 of free work a year.

Clearly then we are spending too much time at work, which is sort of annoying...

However, it's not half as annoying as some of the office habits which we have allowed ourselves to either fall into or tolerate. We guarantee that some of these will sound familiar to those of us who endure the daily grind of 9-5.

Here are the 10 leading annoying office habits:

1. Office drummers

Why don't these tap-tap-tappers just go the whole hog and bring in a 16-piece drum kit and get it out of their systems?

Is there a more annoying office habit than the person who has to tap out a rhythm while waiting for their brain to engage into first gear or their phone to ring?

There are unconfirmed made-up rumours that the CIA is now using the "office-drummer technique" in terrorist interrogations after finding it more effective at extracting information than attaching car batteries to body parts.

2. Foghorn phone voice

In the same way that your television volume appears to jump up 9 levels as soon as the adverts appear, there is a special type of office worker who raises their tone several decibels as soon as they pick up the phone. It's as if they believe the incoming call emanates from the Moon...

You can help by explaining their voice is NOT carried through very long cardboard tubes but through conversion to electrical currents down a copper wire which, almost instantaneously, are then amplified at the other end through a speaker. It's called technology.

If they don't understand this, just speak louder.

3. Pod pong

"But this is the latest fragrance from the streets of Paris. All the celebrities are wearing it," they may plead.

Wearing it? Yes. But marinating themselves in it overnight? Probably not.

4. Key smashers

All offices have at least one naïf who believes that to make the little symbols on their keyboard appear on the screen, they need to exert the force of a nuclear bomb through the ends of their fingers.

Either this, or after a freak gardening accident, they now have lump hammers for fingers.

5. Paid for nothing

Finally...a good reason to smoke.

You get paid for standing out in the sunshine chatting to your wheezy and addicted mates while the fresh-lunged members of the workforce are indoors putting their nicotine-free fingers to work.

You could of course ask the smokers to start pulling their weight, except their lungs would probably collapse. You could also give them some mouthwash as a gift, to help mask their breath-of-a-thousand-cigarettes.

6. Snot funny

What is it with people who, riddled with pleurisy, dengue fever or some sort of badger TB still think it's a good idea to come in to work?

Despite what you might believe, the world magically won't stop if that report doesn't get finished and the boss more likely regards you as a mug than a martyr.

Your work mates, (naturally) will shower you with love and thanks for ruining their plans for the weekend and keeping their kids out of school with the germs you give them.

7. Lucifer's lunch

Begone devil food!

Egg and mayonnaise sandwiches, tuna fishcakes, blue cheese with crackers, breakfast burritos with extra onion and chips with salt and vinegar. These are all food items which require urgent Government or United Nations mandates to ban them from the workplace.

Alternatively, you should ask your boss for funds to hire a permanent on-site SWAT team armed with fumigation guns. Or just ask your colleague to bring something that doesn't stink (or in the case of the chips, require you to leave and buy some yourself).

8. Ringtone hell

In the office there is always one complete toaster who does this.

If your office mate intermittently decided to play bits of his favourite music collection from a speaker on his desk, you'd probably ask them to leave their taste for death-metal, emo or American R&B at home.

So why the hell is it ok to have Usher's latest offering, or a 50 Cent classic (is he called that because that's how much most people would pay for one of his awful records?) playing six times a day...or 22 if it's Friday?

9. Space invaders

You distinctly remember hearing the boss bring your new work colleague over to his or her work area and say, "This is your desk".

The boss did NOT follow that up with the words, "but feel free to use your colleague's desk for overspill if there's not enough room for your inane celebrity gossip magazines and pictures of your 17 children".

A good solution is to mark the edge of your desk with police tape saying "Do not cross". That way they might get the message...

10. Eau de underarm

People. Deodorants were invented in the '50s; that's a year, not the age you have to be before you start using them.

There are fewer things more noxious than the damp-shirted male who, after working up a sweat running for the morning bus, is left to "mature" over his keyboard for eight hours.

Please make an effort to smell less like a sewer rat.

So, how many of these do you recognise? Are there any more annoying office habits you know of ?

Why not share them in the comments?

These days, finding a good mortgage might feel a bit like trying to track down the Loch Ness monster; rumours abound but can you actually find it?

As you know, there are many ways to get a mortgage. You can get it by post, phone, through the internet, by interactive TV; the list is endless.

But the reality comes down to this; to find a good mortgage, should you use a mortgage lender or should you use an impartial adviser?

That's a good question. So, here are some pros and cons to using both.

Going direct

A lot of you like to do your own homework, pick the mortgage you want and then go straight to a mortgage lender to get it.

Well, you could be paying more to take out a mortgage through a broker as increasing numbers of mortgage lenders do offer better rates to those of you going direct to their branches.

According to analyst Moneyfacts, of the top 20 2 year fixed-rate mortgages, (based on a loan of £150,000), the 13 best deals are only available directly from the lender. Three of the top 20 deals are available through an adviser.

Looking at the Moneyfacts table, the best 2 year fixed rate mortgage comes from Welsh building society Principality, at 5.99% with no fee. You can get it if you have a deposit of 25% or more.

For those with a 10% deposit, the Loughborough building society offers you a 5.75% rate for 2 years but you do have to pay a £649 fee to pay.

Darren Cook of Moneyfacts said:

'With continuing uncertainty in the mortgage market and the total number of products continuing to decline, many more people will be considering approaching a broker to find them the best mortgage deal. However, many brokers are finding that their choice of products to recommend to clients has been increasingly restricted as more lenders move to offer their most competitive products just for direct-only business.'

Last week First Direct welcomed back new mortgage customers after a brief stint away from the market. It is offering a cheaper 2 year fixed rate mortgage than the Principality at 5.76% for those of you with a deposit of 20%; however, the bank has started charging two fees to this mortgage which comes to around £2,000!

Exclusive deals

Mortgage lenders are also giving you exclusive deals if you take out another product with them; here are a few examples:

• Halifax's range of first-time buyer mortgages are available with a deposit of as little as 3%. Rates start at 6.39% but if you want a LTV greater than 90%, you will need to open or already hold a salary funded Halifax/Bank of Scotland current account.

• HSBC offers you enhanced rates if you have either its Plus or Premier current accounts. To qualify for a Premier account, you need to have a mortgage of at least £250,000 and a salary of over £70,000 or stock market investments with HSBC. HSBC's normal rate for its fixed-rate mortgages is 5.98%. As a Plus customer, you would get the loan at 5.88% and Premier customers at 5.78%.

• NatWest, meanwhile, has launched a savings account for first-time buyers that offer them a tax-free cashback bonus at the end of a year on condition that they take out a NatWest mortgage.

Using an adviser

Others of you prefer to use an impartial adviser or broker; this is because most of them can search all mortgage lenders, (including some you may never have heard of) to find the best deal for your situation.

David Hollingworth of fee-free mortgage broker London & Country says the lenders' practice of offering exclusive deals is 'muddying the waters' of the increasingly complicated mortgage market:

'It is a backward step when banks are cross-selling products to customers with their mortgage and that customer is buying without getting advice. In this uncertain environment advice is more important than ever.'

Melanie Bien of brokers SPF agrees:

'You will only be advised on the products that the lender has on offer by someone who is not a qualified financial adviser,' she says, adding that you will be very lucky if your lender can offer you products that are the most suitable for your needs.

Last week the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said when brokers recognised that there were more competitive products available direct from mortgage lenders they should tell you about them. But, he added, they could still charge you for such advice.

Mortgage adviser Mform has warned that if you are regarded as a high risk customer, then you might only be offered standard variable rate mortgages by your existing mortgage lender under new 'customer profiling' rules when your current mortgage runs out.

So, as you can see, there are both pros and cons to going direct to a mortgage lender or by using an impartial adviser.

But ultimately the decision is yours; happy mortgage hunting!

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We may not always be terribly concerned with the amount of spending we do on our plastic cards, but it appears we are getting far too slack about our credit card and debit card security.

A survey of 4,000 members of the consumer association Which? found that nearly 50% use just one PIN for all their cards. And over half used their mother's maiden name as a security password.

Which? said those of us that did this, were failing to take basic security precautions when using our credit cards and debit cards in shops or on the internet. They also pointed out that half the people in their survey didn't even bother checking that a website was secure before buying their items online!

That's not an especially bright thing; after all there are all kinds of dodgy sites on the internet.

Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? Money commented on their findings:

"There's a lot more people can do to prevent fraud occurring. Shredding documents and checking your bank statements are a good start, but people need to be wise to basic fraud risks such as using their mother's maiden name as a password, or shopping on websites that aren't secure."

"If someone wants to steal your identity it can be possible to discover your mother's name before she got married. And using just one PIN for several cards obviously exposes you if you have the details of any card stolen from you."

The Which? survey suggests that at least part of that message is getting through, especially as over 30% of people in the survey had suffered some theft from their bank accounts or credit cards.

But most claimed they tried to shield their PIN when using a public ATM in public, checked their account statements for dodgy transactions, and tore up or shredded statements so the information on them would be useless if stolen.

So, would you say you are up on your credit card protection or are you a credit card security slacker?

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Chip and PIN saves the day

Today was the deadline for the banks to appeal against the ruling that was handed down by the High Court last month.

And they have appealed successfully!

Mr. Justice Andrew Smith granted eight banks leave to appeal the court ruling over overdraft charges that looked set to allow thousands of you to reclaim your money, it was confirmed today.

The appeal by the banks against the OFT's jurisdiction in this matter is likely to be held by the Court of Appeal this autumn and a final ruling will be made by Christmas.

The original ruling opened the door for the OFT to challenge the controversial fees, which are charged when you go over your agreed overdraft limit or a cheque or payment is bounced.

Naturally, many of you had hoped that this would lead to a cap on the fees and allow you to reclaim excess penalty charges paid over the last six years.

• OFT to blame?

"How long should we hold up the county court litigation?" he asked. "Are we talking months, years or weeks?"

"We are facing a lot of litigants who have not had their claims struck out and who should be in a position to pursue their claims."

When asked if the OFT would conclude its investigation this year, the regulator's barrister Richard Coleman said he did not know.

"The investigation is ongoing and substantial further work and consultation with the banks has still to be undertaken," he said. He explained that recent changes to the terms and conditions of some banks' current accounts had extended the timescale for the OFT investigation.

Later, however, the OFT said it would share its initial findings with the banks in mid- to late July.

The regulator and the banks agreed that if they could not agree on a fair level of charges, the issue would go to the High Court before Christmas for a ruling.

• What happens next?

The consumer group Which? said the decision to appeal was a "kick in the teeth" for those of you wishing to claim your money back.

Which?'s chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith said:

"It'll be at least another year before people start to get their money back, during which time the banks will hit us with up to £3.5 billion in overdraft charges. The banks should do the right thing now, throw in the towel and start reimbursing the customers they've been overcharging all this time."

According to the OFT, banks earn up to £3.5 billion a year in unauthorised penalty charges; that equates to roughly £10 million a day. They make that by charging up to £39 for each bounced payment, when the actual cost may be as little as £2.

Is it any wonder this issue has struck a nerve with so many of you?

Over a million of you downloaded claim letters from consumer help websites to reclaim your penalty charges.

Many of you managed to win back thousands of pounds from the banks, who refused to contest the claims in court. Overall, it is thought that banks have repaid around £550 million so far. Since last summer the Financial Services Authority has allowed all current account providers to put complaints over charges on hold.

• Keep claiming!

"The BBA has confirmed that banks will appeal against the High Court ruling on unfair charges. Customers can't stop them from doing this. But they can stop the clock from counting down the time allowed to submit their own claims.

"Currently, bank customers can reclaim unfair charges plus interest that occurred in the past six years. (Six years is as far back you can go in the courts.) But as each day passes, it's another day that they are missing out on what is rightfully theirs if they don't submit a claim.

"Therefore, anyone who plans to appeal should write to their bank to ask for the charges to be refunded. Follow up with a letter threatening court proceedings. Many courts will probably stay the majority of claims, but at least the six-year limitation on your claim will be halted too.

"Banks know that time is money, which is why they are appealing - they want to hang on to your money for as long as possible. But bank customers can get their own back. Submit your claims without delay so you can get your refund in full when banks run out of time and options."

So, how has the banks' leave to appeal left you feeling?

What do you plan to do next?

Claim back your bank penalty charges

Claim back your credit card fees

Claim back your mortgage exit fees

Claim back your Payment Protection Insurance

Some encouraging news in the mortgage market...

First Direct has started selling mortgages again to new customers, six weeks after it took a break.

It stopped offering them on 1 April after being deluged by new applicants as the credit crunch and the lack of available mortgages began to bite.

First Direct (part of the HSBC banking group) was the first mortgage lender to pull to withdraw its entire mortgage range to avoid being swamped by new business, but it said it could now handle new applications after clearing its backlog.

Chris Pilling, First Direct's chief executive, said his staff had processed a year's worth of applications in just three months:

"Last month we took the bold decision to withdraw from mortgage sales to non-customers to allow us to process the huge number of enquiries we had received. We've now assessed all the loan applications outstanding from 1 April and earlier and let everyone know the outcome.".

This has been pitched at people who are trying to move their mortgages from other lenders, such as the Northern Rock. It offers to match their expiring fixed rates and, according to the bank, has attracted four times the number of enquiries that it would normally get. The deal has been extended to the end of June.

In addition, the Halifax has become the latest big lender to cut the interest rates on some of its mortgages. It plans to reduce some offers by 0.15%, but only for existing borrowers seeking to remortgage.

Last week, both the Abbey and the Nationwide, made small cuts to the interest rates on some of their mortgages.

These were slightly encouraging ripples in the UK mortgage market, which has shrunk dramatically because of the ongoing credit crunch.

But are they enough?

What do you think needs to happen in the mortgage market to see it improve?

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