Martin's Weekly Money Tips
18 April 2007  

Instantly halve the cost of calling someone's mobile, no hassle. New Article
Calling a mobile phone is expensive, up to 21p/min during the day from a BT home phone, yet it's possible to do it for 6p/min. Better still this can be done without the need to change your home phone provider, all you do is dial an access code first and Bob's your uncle. This is a totally re-researched, updated and rewritten guide to calling mobiles from both landlines and other mobiles. New Article: Calling Mobiles? (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Cheapest Home Phone Provider, Calling Abroad From Mobiles , Mobile Phone Cost Cutting  

Sub £20 Freeview boxes: Dirt cheap digital TV (sub-£60 with hard drive recording). Can you beat it?

Cheapest life insurance: protect your family. Save £1,000s on new & existing cover. New Article
Level term life insurance is a cheap way to provide money for your dependents if you die; yet banks and some brokers make big profits by charging much more than necessary. This fully re-researched article including a full market survey, shows you how to flay chunks off the cost for both new & existing policyholders, in many cases saving £1,000s over the life of the cover. New article: Cheapest Life Insurance (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Cheapest Car Insurance, Cheapest Home Insurance Related Blog: Parents do die

Get a haircut for the cost of shampoo: To dye for

Even cheaper car insurance by checking 10 more brokers in just 10 minutes. Updated Article
Regulars will know my shortcut to cheaper car insurance includes using all three main screenscrapers Confused*, Moneysupermarket* & Compare the Market* which in minutes report quotes from a total of 29 brokers and 47 insurers between them.  Yet for those who want to go the whole hog, I've now added an optional three more sites GoCompare*, Uswitch* and Insurancewide* which collectively add a further 10 brokers to the mix. Updated Article: Cheapest Car insurance Related Articles: Cheapest Home insurance, Breakdown cover, MOT Cost Cutting

Reminder. Time to switch Gas & Elec Use cashback comparison site: Energyhelpline* or better, read the article

STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL

£1 buys $2 for the first time since 1992! Time for a holiday & Great 'Buy now from the US' hunt
The US dollar's hit its lowest rate against the pound for 15 years; making shopping and spending there very cheap. Thus it's a great time to holiday there (see Cheap Flights and Cheap Package Holidays articles) or order electronic and branded goods from US websites (though beware of customs charges).  To help, the Great 'Buy now from the US' hunt revisited, taps MoneySavers' collective knowledge to find bargains. Add your thoughts/read others Related Article: Cheapest Way To Spend Overseas (or on overseas websites)

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Now 6.5% interest, a 0% overdraft plus a possible £50 cash. New Top Bank Account
The market leading bank account, Alliance and Leicester*, which is available to anyone earning over £6,300 has just increased its new customer in-credit interest rate to a huge 6.5% and it also offers a year's 0% overdraft.   Plus if you play it carefully and team up with a mate, you can both get £50 for joining.  Updated Article: Best Bank Accounts Related Articles: Top Savings Accounts, Top Cash ISAs

So what happened to the new site Martin? read my blog!

Last-minute supermarket reductions: store staff reveal all
Last week I asked supermarket workers to spill the beans on their stores' reduction policies, and I was staggered by the information and detail. It's great bargain-grabbing reading. Read the: Great 'supermarket staff, tell us your reduction policies' Hunt

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Harry pay Ron’s parking fine?
Harry's jetting off on holiday on a 5am flight. To help him out, Harry’s friend Ron kindly agrees to drive him to the airport. Yet, Harry wanted a lie-in, so they’re running late and cutting it fine. En-route Ron is caught speeding by a camera; he gets three penalty points and a £60 fine. Ron argues Harry should pay, because if he wasn’t doing him a favour he wouldn’t have got the fine. Should Harry pay Ron’s parking fine? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Harry pay Ron's parking fine? Previous MMDs: Should Sandy pay off Danny's debts? and Should Elizabeth tell Charles he can't go on the trip?

Morgan Stanley Classic cardholders – Watch out for new £20 annual fee: Ditch ditch ditch!
Anyone who has a Morgan Stanley Classic credit card should ditch it now. A £20 annual fee is being introduced, which more than wipes out any benefits you may be getting. Thankfully, its Platinum and Buy & Fly cards, which are top picks for Balance Transfers and Cashback won’t be affected.

Do you get income from overseas, such as holiday home rent or offshore savings interest? 
If you do, but haven't declared it to the tax man, there's an amnesty before 22 June. This avoids the potential of a 100% penalty fine and prosecution.  New information sharing rules make it much easier for you to be traced but if you let them know before this date the fine will be only 10%. Discuss this