MSE turns 22: What's the oldest Money Tips email you have?

A free, independent, consumer help e-mail from www.moneysavingexpert.com

Thanks for your patience while the site’s been yo-yoing up and down. Everything should work fine now as I’ve invested in a dedicated server. This should (famous last words) make the site crash proof. As its been a while – there’s a host of tips here – as changes are afoot in the consumer finance world

0% FOR LIFE CREDIT CARD!

A title I thought I’d never write. It’s all about a new Barclaycard balance transfer deal. Of course there’s a massive catch, but I’ve worked a way round it, which should cost Barclaycard a fortune. If you’ve got any debts please read this one – I’d doubt we’ll ever see something similar again. To read it click here

IMPORTANT NOTE: Frankly this Deal’s so good everyone should know about it. Therefore I’m sending another email following this designed for you to forward to friends, and hopefully they’ll forward it too. I promise not to make a habit of this, but i’d be great to get it floating around the net, costing credit card companies millions and promoting the site. Martin

OTHER CREDIT CARD ISSUES (plus special note for RBS Advanta holders)

If you signed up RBS Advanta’s 0% deal that ends 1^st June 2003 you must switch soon or you’ll be charged interest. To help, as well as the above deal I’ve updated the ‘Credit Cards the Full Monty’ Guide - Click here .

The headline table topping 0% new cardholder offers are 10 months - RBS Advanta U; 9 months - PC World Marbles; Until Jan 2004 RBS Advanta, Egg (purchases only till Nov) & Tesco (offer from the end of May)

NEW SITE SECTION – BEST BUYS

The biggest requests I’ve had since starting the site is for updated best buy info. So there’s now a section to do it. It covers Financial Products; Shopping Comparisons; Gas, Electricity and Water Comparisons. Click here to go there.

GAS & ELECTRICITY PRICE RISES: British Gas, nPower & Powergen

Price changes galore in the energy world. nPower 4.3% hike on gas; British Gas 2.5% hike on both gas and electricity; Powergen (1 May): 6.2% per cent hike on gas. If your price has gone up switch (& even if not why not check if you can save) Click here for a full article on the site about how to find the cheapest.

BEST CASH ISA

Unfortunately the Monmouthshire BS best paying no-notice cash ISA has restricted applications to people in locality. Therefore Safeway’s now the top paying open to all cash ISA at £3,000 with 4.2%. (although if you transfer over £12k of past year ISAs to Abbey National 4.3% is possible) Click here for a full deal on cash ISAs

Click here for a full deal on fixed rate cash ISAs Click here for a full guide to how ISAs work

TELEDISCOUNT PRICE RISE FOR MOBILES

For those using Telediscount to call mobiles it has returned to 15p per minute from its low of 10p. A real shame. This still makes it the cheapest way to call mobiles during the day – but it’s no longer the cheapest way in the evenings. Click here for the past deal

NEW ARTICLES

Anyone who is self employed – a guide to incorporation to halve your tax

Annual travel policies – the cheapest annual travel policies for your holidays

MARTIN’S MONEY POSER

I’m slightly worried that these posers are becoming more popular than the tips themselves. However never one to deny MoneySavers pleasure here’s the latest. What is the next number in the sequence? And why?

2,10, 50, 200, 1000, 5000

Please post your answers on the chat board – just click here (and if you’ve a suggestion of future questions, send me a personal message in chat)

FINAL THOUGHT

I’m constantly amazed at how popular the site is, over 45,000 people visited it last month and 11,500 people now receive this e-mail. The more Money Savers there are the more product providers will get their acts together, so please tell your friends to come to the site and sign up.

If you’ve any questions please post them in the relevant section of Chat (click here) and I’ll do my best to answer them

I do you save some money

Martin

PS Want to know how MoneySavingExpert.com is funded?

Until about a month ago it was completely funded from Martin’s own pocket and that’s still the primary source. However there are now two new revenue sources, using them will offset the cost. Four of the product comparisons on the new best buys section are affiliate sites (it is always noted) so if you view a product or sign up to one via these services a chunky contribution is made to the site – yet this doesn’t cost you any more and only comparisons which provide the best deal are used. There is also the Money Directory. This is a independent yellow pages type directory of financial websites compiled externally compiled by find.co.uk. It lists and categorises thousands of financial websites. . For every click you make to a provider, a micropayment is made to MoneySavingExpert.com and this helps offset the cost of the site and e-mail.

Notes about Martin and the information. Martin Lewis is a journalist specialising in ways to save money. Information contained within this e-mail does not constitute financial advice. The information contain ed is based on general journalistic research and analysis rather than tailored advice aimed for individuals. Decisions should be taken after considering the effects of all specific circumstances. For the sake of transparency it should be noted Martin neither earns commission nor fees from any recommendations and is completely independent from all product and information providers - Martin makes his living as a journalist simply being paid for articles written or broadcasting.