Hiya.
CALLING ALL TEACHERS, PARENTS, STUDENTS & 6TH FORMERS. Contrary to popular opinion, no one in the UK should be put off studying because of potential student debt. Done right, it's very different to normal debt; it's only repaid when you finish studying, and if you don't earn enough, you needn't repay it. Yet sadly students are educated into debt but never about debt. Thus many do it the wrong way, and end up starting their working life mired in bad debts. As it's Student Finance Week, I've written a full guide on how to fund, borrow and live as a MoneySaving student (more on the article later). Please reproduce, distribute and forward this article! It's so important, I'm waiving my copyright to give permission for schools, colleges, parents and Student Unions to print, reproduce, rework, copy or distribute it (or link to it, as with any article). Let's collectively get the message out there. | LISTEN TO THIS TIP'S
MARTIN'S MONEY MUTTERINGS | | | | |
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New Top Paying Instant Access Savings Accounts. Earn 5.38% interest!
This week's seen a rash of new market leading savings accounts. If you've got over £5,000 to save, Alliance & Leicester's Direct Saver* pays 5.38%, though withdraw cash and it won't pay interest in that month, but for those who just want somewhere to stash cash away, untouched, it's great. There's also a new top 'clean' account, Landsbanki's Icesave*, at 5.2% if you save at least £250, plus old stalwart ICICI HiSave* at 5.15% from £1 up. For full options, pros and cons read the Updated Article: Top Savings Accounts (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Where to Start with Savings, Should I Pay Off Debts with Savings?, How Interest Rates Work
A free fresh ground coffee at BP garage's Wild Bean Cafes Get it! Need cheap quick cash? How to get a short term 0% loan New Article
Short term borrowing is usually a nightmare; lenders deliberately manipulate it to encourage us to borrow longer, making them more. Yet there are a number of ways to play the system and borrow for up to a year at 0% New Article: Short Term Interest Free Loans Related Articles: Revenge, Free Cash From Credit Cards, Cheapest Personal Loans, What Is An Interest Rate? Major Flight Sale Until Midnight Thurs! Grab a £7 flight e/w including taxes & charges
Budget airline Ryanair is offering flights to a raft of European destinations including Barcelona, Dublin & Milan and from as many British airports for as little as £7 each way; unusually and importantly this price includes all taxes and charges. There's no hard or fast rule for finding these flights, but my special FlightChecker massively speeds up the process. £7 flight details Related Articles: Cheap Flight Finding, Cheapest Way To Spend Overseas What to do with 23 odd socks? Only MoneySavers could come up with such a discussion! Add ideas/read others TalkTalk Customer Poll Result: Not good but better than expected
In last week's e-mail I asked those who'd switched to TalkTalk's* home phone and 'free' broadband package for feedback to see whether the huge publicity about abysmal service stacks up. The results show a substantial number have had major problems and delays, yet they're still in the minority. Most have either been problem-free or had some initial delays, but are problem-free now. Overall my summary is that if you want a guaranteed hassle-free speedy broadband connection, don't use TalkTalk. Yet as it's hugely price competitive, if cost is your priority and you can cope with the risk of some delay - go for it. Updated Article: UK's Cheapest Home Phone Provider. Survey Results: TalkTalk Feedback poll
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL New even cheaper way to spend abroad. Updated Article
Whether you're tripping abroad or spending on foreign websites, canny use of the correct plastic wins out. Yet packing the wrong plastic (e.g. Halifax, Lloyds & NatWest debit cards) will cost you big! The Post Office credit card* is the new winner, it joins previous best Nationwide in not adding a hidden charge to the exchange rates and is cheaper for withdrawing cash from overseas ATMs. All new cardholders will get these terms immediately, existing customers from Dec. Read the Updated Article: Spending Overseas. Related Articles: Full Travel Section, Best Lend For Spend, Best Cashback Card URGENT! Farepak Hampers customers/agents Stop your Direct Debits Full Details Student MoneySaving: The Right Way to Fund, Borrow and Spend in Student Life. NEW ARTICLE
I'm often asked "how do you stop students getting into debt?" The answer is, "you don't". Debt is necessary for almost all students, the question is "how should they borrow?". This new article is for students heading to university, those already there and concerned parents - it covers how funding works, what type of borrowing is the best, and how to live a MoneySaving life as a student and a special additional article giving full details of student loans and grants. New Article: Student MoneySaving (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: The Best Student Bank Accounts, Should I pay off my student loan? Forum: Student MoneySaving Section Live Web Chat with me on this: Details Heads Up! This Thursday - eBay 10p listing day! Dejunk your cupboards and make some dosh Car Insurance Cashback: Up to £80 available until 7 Nov
My standard car insurance cost cutting system is a four step plan, crucially including using screenscraping websites; Insuresupermarket*, Confused.com* & Comparethemarket*. These whizz your details to scores of brokers and direct insurers to find the cheapest, and using all of them means much of the market is covered in about 10 mins. One of the few missed is Tesco Value Insurance* which uniquely offers 'limited comprehensive' cover e.g. repairs are included but only through selected repairers; a good way to cheaply upgrade from third party policies. After using the screenscrapers compare its price, especially because until the Nov 11. it'll add up to £80 cashback on top. More details in the Updated Article: Car Insurance Cost Cutting Related Cost Cutting Articles: Home, Travel, Medical, Dental Insurance Rant or Rave! Listen to or watch a video, audio or podcast of the e-mail
Each week I record a 'muttering' commentary on the top tips in this email. You can watch a video podcast or listen to an audio version on Itunes sites. There's also a PSPc ast or you can download a Windows Media Player version. Read an explanation and feel free to discuss it |
WARNING! Lloyds Customers Beware, Your Buffer Zone Is Going
Lloyds TSB is changing its current accounts from Nov 1, withdrawing the ‘buffer zone' for existing customers. Currently, this allows overdraft limits to be exceeded by £10 without penalty; the change means Lloyds can charge a huge £30 if you go just a penny into the red. Be careful and if you use your overdraft consider switching to Alliance and Leicester*, it offers 0% overdrafts for the first year Related Articles: Current Accounts, Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges
Get sold out concert tickets at face value: how to beat the touts!
It an all-too-familiar story: tickets for your fave act go on sale only to sell out in seconds; moments later they're changing hands on ebay for £100s. Yet there's a way to fight back, ethical ticket exchange Scarlet Mist lets you buy and sell tickets for their face value. Simply search for tickets online and it puts you in touch with the seller to do the transaction; though remember, it's just like buying off a bloke in a pub so treat it with caution. Scarlet Mist Details Related Articles: Tickets & Days Out Cost Cutting, Digital TV Cost Cutting, DVD Tarting Know parents of triplets, quads or quins born in the last six months? Free car up for grabs New Forum Board! Christmas and Other Festivities. Join the party
Christmas, Eid, Diwali, Chanukah and other winter festivities can be a big strain on the pocket so I thought I'd create a new board to have all festive MoneySaving ideas and discussions in one place. The board is already busy and packed with ideas. Discussions include The great stocking filler thread, How much to spend on a 4 year old and A cheat's Christmas plus all the festival dates Related Articles: Top 12 Saves Of Christmas, Festive Fiver Ideas Money Diet returns to £3.99 on Amazon. Amazon had increased my book to its full price, but thankfully has dropped it again for the moment. Amazon MD link*, More Details Great Cheap Safe Fireworks Hunt. Bonfire Night Only Two Weeks Away
Fireworks can be great fun when done safely at home, but can have a not so fun price tag attached, so I thought I'd tap MoneySavers' knowledge to find the cheapest, safest fireworks around. Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: Recycle It For Cash, What Kids Should Know About Money and Job Based Discounts Quick Chat Tips Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly | | |
New Xmas savings stamps scheme: Save 5% on a £20 Wilkinson's spend
I often extol the benefits of supermarket savings stamps schemes, which pay a bonus on cash saved in them. The top trick is provided you have the money in on a set date you still get the cash boost. Now, Wilkinson has launched an all-year round savings stamp scheme giving a £1 bonus for every £19 saved. So whenever you need £20 worth of goods pop £19 in the scheme and get a 5% discount. Updated Article: Supermarket Savings Stamps Related Articles: Top 12 Saves Of Christmas, Festive Fiver Ideas The Great Halloween Costume Hunt Results
Last week I asked MoneySavers to let us know about how to kit out your little monsters for Halloween on the cheap, in the Great Halloween Costume Hunt. Suggestions included 6p Fangs, Use bandages and Don't buy cheap blood Reminder: Get a will and donate to charity in one go
Next month is Will Aid month: solicitors offer free appointments in exchange for a charity donation Book one now Related Article: Inheritance Tax |
On the box this week: On Friday night there's a Tonight with Trevor McDonald on 'mortgage misery' which I was interviewed as part of; plus catch me on my regular Classic Gold slot this Thursday at 10.15am. No LK Today next Wednesday due to half term but I am doing a web chat this Wednesday at 5pm on student finances. Keep updated on appearances Convert friends and family to MoneySaving! Just like user K9Coop did, saving a wad on his engagement party This week's Martin's Musings: "The Day I Met Mick Jagger".
'Do not pass go, do not go to jail, go to free parking' and 'A smooth-voiced addition to the Muttering' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access) FINANCIAL RIGHTS POLL: Should marriage be taken out of the finance system? Vote and Discuss. Last week's vote result: I asked how much APR you'd be willing to pay on £100 borrowed for just a week; most of you were split between 25% and 5%. See poll results
That's it for this week, though before I go I want to say a quick hello to 'studentphil'. Why, you may ask?; because I've been paid to do so - a £20 donation to Children in Need (PS sorry to all others who want this, it's a one off though, won't be doing it again) so hello 'studentphil' from me! Plus I also found this amusing. Do you have any of your own tales? Spellcheck errors I hope you save some money
Martin
PS. Happy Diwali to all MoneySavers celebrating on Saturday. Look out for the site's logo that day.
*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: insuresupermarket.com,confused.com, comparethemarket.com, tescofinance.com, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, icesave.co.uk, postoffice.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, mbloan.co.uk, icicibank.co.uk, amazon.co.uk, . 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. |
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