Chrissie got £900 back from the bank! Hiya. I met Chrissie when filming Tonight with Trevor, a careful budgeter on benefits as she's a carer for her son, an error meant she wasn't paid for a fortnight. Her Direct Debits bounced, she incurred £100s in bank charges and with no cash to pay them, the charges snowballed. Two years later she was £3,600 in debt. Regulars'll know I believe bank penalty charges are unlawful, and when challenged the banks will repay the money. Chrissie's just received a £900 settlement from the first of her claims! Fantastic! (Read the Claim Unfair Bank Charges article and the full original blog). Help beat the banks! It isn't easy to get the undiluted message across in mainstream media, whether on bank charges or secured loan TV ads, or simply loopholes to keep cash in your pocket not companies'. Either big commercial interests mean stories often aren't covered or there's a clamouring for balance. Yet here I don't need balance, just pure unexpedited MoneySaving! Please help spreading the message and suggest to friends/family/colleagues that they add themselves to this free e-mail's distribution list at moneysavingexpert.com/tips. | |
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Premium Bonds: Are They Worth It? Numbers crunched like never before. New Article
I loved writing this! Premium Bonds are the government-backed savings scheme where your return depends on a prize draw. Currently Sir Alan Sugar's promoting their special draw with more £1,000,000 winners - sounds good? Well, I'm sorry Sir Alan, you're fired! I've done some detailed, and at times sexily nerdy (well, I found it sexy anyway), number-crunching to dig into how good premium bonds really are. While at first glance they're not that good, look closer. On further investigation… they're even worse. If you've got or want Premium Bonds it's a must-read. New Article: Premium Bonds: Full Analysis (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Instant Access Savings, Where To Start With Savings
Loophole! Get the Orange Wednesdays 2 For 1 cinema deal without an Orange phone Unpeel a cheap orange sim Got a loan? Getting a loan? Massive Savings on existing and new loan insurance New Article
The OFT's finally announced an inquiry into the scam of Payment Protection Insurance. Yet don't rely on the slothful regulator, deal with it yourself now and make massive savings. Most insurance that comes with loans is ridiculously over expensive; eg., £2,000 on a £5,000 five year loan. Yet use a standalone provider and you can do it for £160. Better still many banks have recently buckled to pressure and allow loan holders to cancel existing expensive cover. New Article: Cut Loan Insurance Costs (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Cheapest Personal Loans, Cut the Cost of Existing Loans, Where To Start With Problem Debts? Find the cheapest online supermarket for your shopping in seconds Brand new comparison site WARNING! Don't get locked in with your car or home insurance provider. Use the Tart Alert!
Car and home insurance companies are clever. They notify you just before your renewal date, leaving many panicking, 'gulp, not enough time to shop around, I'll just automatically renew my policy'. There's an easy way to beat this lock-in: use the free Tart Alert designed to send a free text or email to credit card holders six weeks before a 0% card ends. Yet instead, simply put in your insurance renewal date(s) and it works too, leaving you plenty of time to follow the Car Insurance Cost Cutting and Home Insurance Cost Cutting articles and save oodles. Related Articles: Travel, Medical, Dental Want to claim against a finance company? Ask the experts. Live chat
I've arranged for two representatives of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to answer MoneySavers' questions live in a special chat room next Monday lunchtime (or you can submit your question now). The FSCS is the official compensation body and protector if you've problems with financial services companies. So if you're planning, starting or struggling with a claim on home loans, endowments, savings or investments you can question the official body. Live Chat Details Related Articles: Act Now On Missold Endowments, Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
LAST CHANCE! Ends Tues 31st. Massive £400 loophole on Holmes Place/Cannons Gym Membership
This is one of the biggest loopholes for a good while. In a nutshell, get a Pruhealth* private medical insurance policy, which can cost around £20/month and there's a promotion to get a free six months' membership to a gym which could cost £80/month and can then be immediately cancelled. Admittedly I've a sense of deja-vu writing 'last chance' as it originally closed in Sept, yet surprisingly after ten days the promo was relaunched for October too Full Article: Major Gym Saving Pls tell anyone you know using/looking for a gym! Sneaky peek at the new MoneySavingExpert.com, plus wanna help? Read special blog! Cheap flight & hotel finding: New way to shave off more pounds
The web's a powerhouse when it comes to finding cheap flights and hotels. A raft of brokers and screenscrapers will do all the leg work for you comparing dozens of travel companies and this can mean massive savings. The latest addition is John Lewis' Greenbee. Interestingly this is powered by Expedia, and is effectively an identical site, but with different and usually cheaper prices. So if you're using Expedia always check out its version. Updated Article: Cheap Flight Finding Related Articles: Barter For A Bargain Beach Trip, Cheapest Card For Overseas Spending WARNING! Dangerous trend means new 3.99% mortgage ain't necessarily good!
Northern Rock's new range includes a flexible deal with a staggeringly cheap 3.99% two year discounted rate. Sounds incredible doesn't it? Yet there's a catch Freddie Flintoff would be proud of. Most lenders charge arrangement fees for setting up the borrowing; these always used to be around £300 but can be up to £700 these days. Yet rather than a fixed fee, Northern Rock's is 2.5% of the loan value, so on £150,000 it's a gargantuan £3,750! This is a scary trend and shows how important it is to understand what you're getting into. Ensure you read the free Mortgage Guide: PDF/Printed or Remortgage Guide: PDF/Printed The mutterings podcast links have moved, it's now permanently in the green box at the top of the tip |
The Great 'Join up and Save' Hunt
Join clubs and societies like the National Trust, Scouts or Union associations and you can often bag extra discounts and exclusive offers. So I thought I'd tap MoneySavers' wealth of knowledge to find your best bargains and spots Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: UK's Top Designer Charity Shops, Learning To Drive and Job-based Discounts
Calling all call18185 users! Price increase for calling mobiles
Call18185 has hiked prices for calling mobiles weekdays to 6p/min. While it's still the top overall provider, it's no longer the cheapest for mobiles, the UK CallChecker lists instant access companies at 4p/min. Rather than needing an account you simply dial a number to access the cheap rates Related Article: UK's Cheapest Home Phones Provider Farepak crisis. Did you/do you know someone who paid by Visa Debit?
I spent some time last week looking to for further avenues to get Farepak customers' money back. If you paid by Visa Debit there's a chance (not guaranteed) you can use its 'Chargeback system' to recoup your cash. Updated note: Farepak: What do to? Related Articles: Consumer Rights, Christmas Cost Cutting Did you watch the Tonight with Trevor Mc programme on Mortgage Misery?
Since last Friday's programme I've been bombarded with questions on my view of what'll happen to house prices. If you're interested you can read my full view in this past blog. Also, if you're worried about being able to make your repayments, please read the Remortgage Guide
Quick Chat Tips Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly | | |
'MONEY MORAL DILEMMA' What's fair rent for working children living at home? Add your thoughts/read others
FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH Ryanair £7 flight sale each way various European destinations
Budget airline Ryanair is offering flights to a raft of European destinations including Shannon, Madrid & Pisa from 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 Article: How To Find a Cheap Flight Had problems with TalkTalk?... One MoneySaver took them to the small claims court and won! TalkTalk CourtCourt Great Cheap Safe Fireworks Hunt. Results
Last week I tapped MoneySavers' knowledge to source cheap but safe fireworks in the Great Cheap Safe Fireworks Hunt Your tips included Glosticks, Asda's price list and Morrisons 2 For 1
Travel, Trips & Holidays: Board of the Week
Whether you're going away this half term or staying put, this board is a mine of information to take you through the half term break. MoneySavers share tips on anything and everything to do with travel and holidays. Travel, Trips & Holidays Board Discussions include Florida & Orlando Tips & Questions, VW Golf MK4 owners get your windows fixed free and What kind of service do you want from a tour operator? Don't forget to read all the travel articles as well |
On the box next week; LK Today: It's half term this week so no LK Today but it's back next Wednesday (1 Nov), as usual, around 8.35am, ITV1. Plus catch my regular Classic Gold slot this Thursday at 10.15am Keep updated on appearances This week's Martin's Musings: UK's Top 100 websites (MoneySavingExpert.com is 91st)
'Martin Lewes, MoneySavingExpert', and Want to see the new MoneySavingExpert.com?'' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access) POLL: HOW BIG ARE YOUR SAVINGS?What have you got? Vote and Discuss. Last week's vote result: Should marriage come out of the financial system? .... a close vote, 55% to 45% that couples living together shouldn't get the same rights as married couples. See poll results
Thanks for the worst deal ever Boots! That's it for this week, but before I go, thought you'd find this special bargain for Money Spending Experts amusing. A great spot from a MoneySaver who's found Boots' website is currently offering the Scooby Doo Unmasked Gameboy Advance game, at a saving of Minus 127%!
I hope you save some money
Martin
PS. Don't forget the clocks go back Sunday. And while you're doing that why not follow one MoneySaver's advice? - check your smoke alarm!
*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: pruhealth.co.uk, insuresupermarket.com,confused.com, tescofinance.com, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk, conran.com, 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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