Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Everyone can now get their credit information for free. New Company launches.
A new Annual Credit Report service has launched in a blaze of publicity offering a free annual credit report, yet so far it's only rolled out in Cornwall and Devon. Donnae fear though, anyone can get a free credit report by expoloiting a loophole; simply sign up for a free 30 day trial of either (or both) Experian's Credit Expert* or Equifax's Credit Watch* get your report, then cancel the service. Updated Articles: Your Credit Rating, How It Works and Check And Improve Your Credit Score Related Articles: Cheapest Personal Loans, Best Lend for Spend

Free Ferry to France/Ireland Just register. For five foot passengers

Car Insurance Cost Cutting Just Got Better: Even wider ranging speedy market search
Car insurance cost cutting seems to be improving by the week. The cost cutting article involves four steps; the key one is using screenscrapers Insuresupermarket.com* and Confused.com* where enter your details and they zip them to scores of websites. Now there's a third option Comparethemarket* which includes an additional 6 brokers/insurers for just one more quote. Much more info in the Updated Article: Car Insurance Cost Cutting. Related Cost Cutting Articles: Home, Travel, Medical, Dental Insurance

Time Out London 8p/copy It's 99p for 13 issues. Take Time Out

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

Danger! Warning for anyone only making minimum repayments. One little trick saves £1000s
If you've credit card debts and are just making the minimum repayments (excluding doing it tactically on 0% cards) it's hugely dangerous - £3,000 debt on a normal card takes 40 years to repay and costs over £6,000 in interest. A little trick saves thousands without busting the bank. Updated Article: Danger! Minimum Repayments

Pension boost of £1,000s by buying a different way! New How To Get A Pension Article
For those in their twenties to forties, it's unlikely the State will provide a decent pension. Fail to put money aside and a cold baked bean retirement looms. Scared? You're meant to be, the pensions crisis is personal. Yet it's possible to get a pension that pays thousands more just by buying it a different way. This is a completely revised and re-researched pensions including 'how much to contribute' and a major 'trick to beat the system'. New Article: Pension Discounting Related Articles: Where To Start With Savings, Pension Changes, Savings and Investment Area

Proof! Ask for compensation and companies pay! Goodwill Hunting
Last week's Great Hunt asked MoneySavers to list companies which'd paid out compensation if it's requested following a compaint; the list includes Npower, HSBC, Telewest, Powergen, Amex, BT and more. One MoneySaver takes it so far he claims to make £600/month, perhaps that's OTT, but it's good motivation. The lesson's simple: always ask! Add your story/read others

Great Fathers Day Prezzie Hunt
It's Fathers' Day on 18 June and in case you'd forgotten I thought I'd start a great hunt to tap the wealth of MoneySavers' research powers.  Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts:  Pricebeaters Plus, Letters That Work and Free Info

Don't let your gas and elec. provider trap you into its expensive tariff. You can fight back
Do a comparison to find the cheapest energy provider and often it's your existing provider's cheaper new customer tariff. One MoneySaver found by pushing, they let him switch. Chat Story: Don't be trapped Top Comparison Services: Energyhelpline* (pays £12.50 cashback when you switch) and Uswitch* (sends you a bottle of champagne). Article: Find The Cheapest Gas & Elec Supplier Related Articles: Water Bills Cost Cutting, UK's Cheapest Home Phones

QUICK TIP: Want to speak to a real person? There's one ******* way to do it ****** quick!
If you're sitting on the phone to the bank or gas company and just want to speak to someone try pressing the * or # key a repeated number of times, then when it says "sorry that wasn't an option" do it again. Often you'll get put through straight away, and if not it can help relieve some stress!

WARNING! Don't fall for Halifax's new mortgage advert
It's difficult to miss Halifax's new all-singing mortgage TV ad. Yet ignore it not! Not because Halifax's mortgages are poor, some are fine, but because ask Halifax about a mortgage and guess what....? It'll only tell you about Halifax Mortgages! In the same time a broker could scan the entire market, find the very best deal, negotiate with the company for you - and you'd not pay a penny for it. So never walk straight into a branch, it doesn't do you any good. New Article: Sneakily Get Top Mortgage Advice For Free Related Article: PDF Download or order a Free Printed Guide

MoneySaving Analogy Champagne Contest
Cycling into MoneySaving Towers I suddenly thought of the anology, "Debt is like fire; control it well and it's a powerful tool. Get it wrong and you can be badly burnt!" So I thought I'd set a challenge; what's the best analogy you can come up with for a MoneySaving subject? Bottle of champagne to the winner. Add yours/read others

FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH  London to Nantes, Glasgow to Paris & Bournemouth c. £20 e/w
Budget airline Ryanair currently has a range of free destinations each way. When you add in its taxes and charges this becomes roughly £20 in total. For a full briefing read the How To Find a Cheap Flight article or go straight to the special free FlightChecker to find the seats in seconds

Board of the week: eBay & Other Auctions, Car Boots & Jumble Sales
Whether you're buying or selling, this board's a mine of info for all you Del Boys out there. eBay & Other Auctions Board. Discussions include Selling Your Stuff on Amazon, What's The Best Auction Sniper? and Turbo-listing Tutorial

WEDNESDAY 14TH, ITV1, LK TODAY, 9AM: Just a quick heads up that for the next three weeks I'm doing a new series of MonySaving slots on LK Today

This week's Martin's Musings: Does anyone ever think Martyn Lewis is me?
'MoneySaving Old Style The Book: what to put on the cover?' and 'All The Fun of a Preacherman' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

SHOULD ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTERS TARGET SHAREHOLDERS? POLL: Vote or Discuss. Vote result: Should we pay for wonder-drugs for all?.... it seems you've reached the limit of what you're happy to pay in taxes. 55% of you said you think we pay enough for the NHS while 45% said you'd be willing to pay more. See poll results

Tennis Frustration. That's it for this week, however first I want to show you a game I spotted. While it's not exactly World Cup related it's a virtual keepy-uppy Wimbledon style!

I hope you save some money

Martin

*links: Any links with a * by them are affiliated. That means go via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free and free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference, the links don't impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by it. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, nothing changes, it's still included in exactly the same way. As I believe transparency is important, I'm including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: talktalk.co.uk, barclays.co.uk, insuresupermarket.com,confused.com, tescofinance.com, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, mbloan.co.uk, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, talktalk.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, conran.com, mbloan.co.uk, comparethemarket.com. Read more about this site and how it's financed.

Referring people to insurers or insurance intermediaries can in some circumstances require FSA authorisation. For this reason, Martin Lewis of Shepherd's Studios, Rockley Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W14 0DA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.