Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Hiya.  Frankly the research for the big tip at the top was as painful as having your back waxed (and no I never have, before you ask!) It took over three weeks of number-crunching work so please take a look and tell your friends to check it out – there's nothing even close elsewhere.

MAJOR NEW ARTICLE. GET PAID TO SPEND.  Over 80 credit card rewards schemes valued. This article shows you whether your credit card reward scheme is perfect or pants.  As examples, Nectar on Barclaycard is worth 27p per £100 you spend on it; AirMiles on NatWest, 46p, yet the market's best pays £4.35 per £100.  There's a full list of every schemes' value. Rewards Article: Quick(ish) Read or Extended Feature.  There is a Golden Rule, though: never pick a credit card for its rewards unless you always pay it off in full so you don't pay interest.  Otherwise, focus on the cheapest interest rate for you.  See Which card is right for me?

PERMANENT CD-WOW DISCOUNT CODE:  Detailing MoneySavers' finds of discount codes from cheap CD & DVD retailer CD-Wow has been a regular feature of this e-mail.  This messed up CD-Wow's marketing strategy.  To counter that it has agreed to set up a permanent 75p off discount code for all MoneySavers; so all top 75 chart CDs are now £8.24. The link will also be permanently in the Best Buys section.

NEW ARTICLE: CHEAPEST BREAKDOWN RECOVERY.  Forget the AA or the RAC; the UK's cheapest offers home start, onward travel, roadside recovery and relay cover for a married couple for just £29 a year.  New Article: Cheapest roadside recovery policy Related Article: Car insurance cost cutting system

THE GREAT ‘RYANAIR DESTINATIONS CHEAP HOTEL' HUNT:  Thousands of you used the special checker last week to bag free/cheap Ryanair flights.  Next step is a top value hotel, so Ryanair Destination Hotel Hunt is a Chat Forum discussion to share info & research.
Ultra cheap flights trick still possible:  The free flights offer has ended but the special checker still finds Ryanair flights which are available under the amount you specify (£5, £10 or £25).

NEW CHEAPEST PERSONAL LOAN 5.7%.  Cahoot has broken the record for the ‘cheapest ever personal loan' at 5.7%.   This is a surprise in this rising interest rate climate, but they're gunning for new business.  Not everyone applying will get this rate, but if you do it's fixed for the life of the loan and you can borrow from just £1000 (Cahoot also offers a flexible loan; don't get the two confused).  Apply here* or better still, first read the pros and cons in the updated ‘cheapest personal loan article'.   Related articles: Half price plastic personal loan and Where to start with problem debts?

Reminder:  Top current account  0% overdraft, 5.5% interest, cash bonus & freebies.

Reminder:  Junior web developer needed for moneysavingexpert.com
Reminder:  Free Accurist Ladies & Gents watch set with 0% card.  View/apply*, Article.

AOL USERS: Sorry, a technical glitch meant you didn't get last week's tip!

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GET A FAX MACHINE FOR FREE (SORT OF):  Actually its free fax software you download onto your computer, and you're then given your own number people can fax to.  You receive the fax via email and don't pay a penny.  The company makes its money by getting a cut of the 8p/min costs to call this number.  This is more expensive than a normal call so it's worth warning those faxing you of this.  Free fax software.

NEW 6.5% TOP REGULAR SAVER:  Abbey has launched a limited offer account that pays an unbeatable fixed rate of 6.5% and lasts a year.  If you can regularly put money away, this is by far the best payer on the market.  Article: Regularly beat the best savings accounts

3 x 12 MONTH 0% REMINDER: Three cards currently offer 0% interest for twelve months. Articles:  Best Card for purchases, best card for balance transfers, best card for cashback.

RADIO 2  VINE LISTENERS NOTE: For those who listened to the programme last Friday, here's the links to the things I mentioned, Free Computer Security programmes, free flights, cheapest phone calls.

Andrea's Freebies: Nectar points worth £2.70 for registering your Vodafone, 12 months' Tonic Magazine, Guitar strings, McVities Dunkin Roadshow, Save-a-flush bag (revisited), Request a catalogue and receive Two bottles of wine, Try Me Free Summary, Freebies GOLD

SCOTTISH GAS 11% PRICE RISE: STILL DON'T SWITCH. Scottish Gas has announced a huge price hike to follow British Gas, NPower & others; yet as other companies are still likely to raise prices soon too, I'm repeating my call “don't switch yet!”  Today's cheapest may well be tomorrow's most expensive; it's happened before.  Wait until the playing field is level; I'll remind you in this e-mail when its time.  Meanwhile, my energy switching article also includes a few general ‘bill-cutting' tips.

WARNING: MBNA, VIRGIN, A&L, ABBEY and LLOYDS TSB CREDIT CARDHOLDERS: 

Existing (not brand new) customers of MBNA (which manages all the above cards bar Lloyds) doing a balance transfer to the card pay a fee of 2% max. £35 but the max is increasing to £50 on 1 Nov for most customers.  This is the start of a worrying Balance Transfer fee-charging trend; it looks like Lloyds will be introducing an existing customer balance transfer fee from November 1.  Discuss BT fees and report other offenders

NEW SITE POLL: Would you sell to rent? You have a £200k house in London where prices are going down slightly and you want to move to the country.  What would you do?  Vote on the home page and discuss this in the chat forum.  What were your views on pensions?  Read the results of last week's poll.

That's it for this week.  A quick thanks to all those who send kind notes saying how much they like the site.  It's appreciated.  Remember, the more MoneySavers, the more deals get found, and the more companies realise they must treat us with respect.  Please do tell as many people as possible (why not send out a mass email) about the site and especially suggest they sign up to this e-mail.  Many thanks to anyone who has.

I hope you save some money

Martin

*Affiliated link: These links invisibly takes you via a price comparison site, which then makes a contribution to MoneySavingExpert.com.  This in no way impacts any editorial decisions (what I write), costs you anything or changes the product.  For an identical link which doesn't help the site go to www.moneysupermarket.com for the MBNA card or www.cahoot.com for the loan.  For more on how it works and the site's non-profit driven ethical and financial policy click here.