Helen Knapman

News & Investigations Editor

Helen has over a decade's experience championing consumer causes and has worked as a personal finance journalist and editor on national titles since January 2011.

She has held her current role, MSE's News and Investigations Editor, since April 2023. Previously, Helen has also held senior positions at financial magazine Moneywise and at The Sun.

Helen covers all issues that impact consumers, and has played a pivotal role in MSE's Lifetime ISA and unusually high call volumes campaigns. Standing up for consumers, fighting for their rights, investigating injustices, and holding big firms and the powers that be to account is what drives Helen. She also regularly appears as an expert for MSE on TV, radio and in print.

Helen was named as the Wincott Foundation's Personal Finance Journalist of the Year in 2019, having won the Online Financial Journalist of the Year at the 2013 Santander Media Awards.

In her spare time, Helen tries to practise what she preaches by bagging a bargain on everything from gym classes to globetrotting and dining out.

Latest from Helen Knapman

Image of keys and a house keyring on a wooden table

The Lifetime ISA (LISA) withdrawal fine needs to be removed for first-time buyers purchasing homes above the scheme's £450,000 limit, Martin Lewis has urged. This is the key message the MoneySavingExpert.com founder put to a cross-party group of MPs to consider.

26 February 2025

Miniature house wrapped in scarf on top of radiator.

Around 2.7 million more families, including one million with children, will become eligible for the £150 Warm Home Discount next winter under new plans put forward by the Government to help tackle current high energy costs. But the extension is only mooted for winter 2025/26 at this stage.

25 February 2025

Front of a branch of The Co-operative Bank

The Co-operative (Co-op) Bank has now been taken over by Coventry Building Society in a deal that went through on 1 January 2025. However, it's still very early days and the two brands will continue to operate separately for now.

2 January 2025

Two red-brick semis focused in on their two doors - the left is painted black and the right is painted yellow.

First-time buyers paid the Government an estimated £1.8 million in fines for taking money out of their Lifetime ISAs (LISAs), new figures for the 2023/24 tax year show. MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis is renewing calls to the Government to stop those who are using LISA savings for their intended purpose – buying a first-time property – having to pay these unjust penalties.

24 September 2024

Three miniature wooden houses on a table with a wooden percent sign next to them

In a blow to first-time buyers – and to MoneySavingExpert.com and its founder Martin Lewis's campaign – there were no changes to the rules on Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) announced in today's Spring Budget. However, while the news is "disappointing", Martin says a shake-up "isn't off the table".

6 March 2024

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today announced a range of new tax, benefits and savings measures in his Spring Budget. MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has shared his instant reaction and explained what the changes mean for you, and we've added more detail on them below.

6 March 2024

Model of a wooden house with a question mark next to it

A penalty paid by first-time buyers accessing savings in Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) when buying homes above the scheme's £450,000 property price limit could be scrapped, it's been revealed. A new report suggests the Chancellor will remove the withdrawal fee in his upcoming Budget. This would be a win for MoneySavingExpert.com and its founder Martin Lewis who have long campaigned on the issue.

22 February 2024

Martin Lewis: How to get £1,000s free towards your first home

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has hinted help could be on the way for first-time buyers who face losing £1,000s of their own savings when withdrawing funds from Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) to buy homes above the scheme's property price limit. MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis challenged Mr Hunt over the issue during an interview in the latest episode of ITV's The Martin Lewis Money Show Live.

11 January 2024

Autumn Statement: ISA shake-up announced – though no win for Lifetime ISA savers.

A raft of changes for savers using ISAs – savings accounts where you'll never pay tax on the interest – have been announced by the Chancellor in today's Autumn Statement. However, Jeremy Hunt failed to address MoneySavingExpert.com's calls for a shake-up to Lifetime ISAs.

22 November 2023

Someone using a mobile. On the screen it says 'buy now, pay later'.

MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis has pleaded with the Government not to be "yankers" and shelve much needed buy now, pay later (BNPL) regulation. His call comes as Citizens Advice, MSE and Which? have teamed up again to urge the Government to protect BNPL users.

20 November 2023

Lady sitting in front of laptop and holding bills

Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com’s (MSE's) founder and chair, is today strengthening his call for the Chancellor to overhaul the Lifetime ISA (LISA) in his 22 November Autumn Statement. Young savers should not be essentially fined – and lose their hard-saved cash – when they purchase homes above the scheme's £450,000 limit. This is a problem that leaves far more at risk now than when LISAs launched in 2017.

6 November 2023

NS&I will increase its Premium Bond prize-fund rate to 4% from 3.7% for its August 2023 draw and beyond, with an extra £30 million in prizes up for grabs. This latest increase – the seventh we've seen in just over a year – is to the highest rate since 2007. The odds of winning will also increase from 24,000 to one to 22,000 to one.

10 July 2023

The Lifetime ISA is in need of a radical overhaul – here's why

Imagine – you've done all the hard work to buy your first home. You've scraped together a deposit and found a suitable, affordable mortgage.

12 May 2023

Martin Lewis rounds up the key Spring Budget announcements

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today announced a range of new tax, benefits and energy measures in his Budget. But, as MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis points out, income tax thresholds will remain frozen – meaning millions will be pulled into paying more tax through a process known as 'fiscal drag'. Below we round up the key announcements and you can also watch Martin's instant reaction.

17 March 2023

Energy Price Guarantee to stay at £2,500 a year

Typical household energy bills will remain at £2,500 a year for at least three months from 1 April as the Government has heeded our and others' calls to postpone a planned 20% rise. The announcement ahead of today's Budget follows a month-long campaign led by Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, which has been backed by 130 charities and consumer organisations.

15 March 2023

Sainsbury's has promised to give shoppers who missed out on its in-store points promotion £5 in Nectar points. It comes after MoneySavingExpert.com pushed the supermarket to ensure shoppers who met the minimum spend for Saturday's promotion didn't go empty-handed after a "technical error" meant vouchers weren't issued. We had threatened to report the supermarket if it didn't help shoppers.

8 February 2023