Savings

From the reintroduction of costly European roaming charges to new rules around car and home insurance - here's a quick breakdown of five key events and changes that are set to impact your finances in early 2022 and, more importantly, what to do about them.

Martin Lewis has warned households against splurging this Christmas, while also highlighting the importance of being honest about their finances in a bid to remain debt-free over the festive period and beyond. Read below and watch the clip from The Martin Lewis Money Show Christmas Special for more. 

Martin Lewis explains, for the first time, that how much you put into Premium Bonds has a huge impact on what you'll get back. The MoneySavingExpert.com founder also analyses whether Premium Bonds are worth it in his latest video briefing from the latest series of The Martin Lewis Money Show. Watch the clip below and read on to find out more. 

As many feel moved by Team GB's recent Olympic success, we hope to inspire you to overcome your financial hurdles and achieve a knockout MoneySaving victory by celebrating 15 of our users' best successes of 2021. Some require you to go the extra mile (for a big reward), others are swimmingly easy. On your marks, get set, go...

Thousands of Ratesetter investors have been left waiting to get their cash back from closed accounts after a 'technical issue' delayed withdrawals made over the Bank Holiday weekend and on Tuesday. The peer-to-peer lender says it's now fixed the problem though, and says payments should arrive in customers' accounts by the end of Thursday (8 April). 

Lifetime ISA providers are setting early deadlines for savers who want to withdraw cash penalty-free without using it for a first home or retirement – so if you want to do that, don't wait until the official early April cut-off. In some cases savers have just days to make a penalty-free withdrawal – we've a full provider-by-provider breakdown below. 

More than £1.5 billion worth of Premium Bonds were bought in April as savings rates started to tumble, according to new analysis from MoneySavingExpert.com. But are they now top of the tree for savings, or can you beat the returns you'd get elsewhere?

Update Fri 15 May: Since this story was first published, savings rates have shifted again. For the current top rates, see our Top Savings Accounts guide. Savings providers Marcus and Saga have today cut interest rates on their easy-access accounts for the second time in a month – and some existing customers should now consider switching.

The two top-paying easy-access savings providers Marcus and Saga cut the interest they pay new customers to 1.2% last Friday, and existing customers will also see rates drop. But after rival bank Aldermore also cut its rates over the weekend, Marcus and Saga remain the best buys.

Savers have been dealt another blow after the interest rates of the two top-paying easy-access accounts were today cut to 1.3% – and existing customers will also be affected in the next few weeks.