Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

14 February 2007: 5.8% savings, free Gmail accounts, reclaiming bank charges when overdrawn, free Ikea coffee, don't switch energy supplier and much more MoneySaving

This info may be out of date. Read this week's emails

Overdrawn? Now you can reclaim bank charges too,
New top 5.8% savings,
Free coffee at Ikea & free Gmail accounts,
And much, much more MoneySaving...

Use February's extra pay wisely. Anyone who has a salaried job should rejoice at February’s 28 days. This quirk of the calendar means while most are paid the same, there are fewer days to spend it, making it an ideal chance to reorganise your budget following any Christmas financial hangover. Think of the extra pay as a bonus towards paying off debts or adding to your savings.

Spread the word, MoneySaving needs your help! The site's ethical financial stance means there's no big advertising budget like the fully commercial money sites seem to have. It needs you to recommend it. Please suggest friends/family add themselves to this e-mail's distribution list at moneysavingexpert.com/tips

		The Ones Not To Miss	MSE

New top 5.8% instant-access savings accounts Updated Article
The savings market went haywire following January’s Bank of England interest rate rise. It's only just settled down. The two new highest rate accounts don't pay interest in any month you make a withdrawal, so they're only for people who won't regularly access the cash: A&L’s DirectSaver pays 5.8% if you’ve £5,000 plus, while HSBC’s Online Saver* offers 5.75% from £1. If you'll frequently access the money, Icelandic bank Icesave pays 5.7% from £250, while ICICI* gives 5.65% on all balance over £1. For full pros and cons read the Updated Article: Top Savings Accounts (mini-mutterings) Related Article: Where To Start Saving

Free Gmail account. Google's high capacity e-mail addresses used to be invite only. Now they're free for all

Overdrawn? Now you can reclaim past bank charges too! New Article
Everywhere I go people ask about bank charge reclaiming, after all, many are getting £1,000s back. A common comment is, “I’ve got a big overdraft and I’m worried they’ll close it if I reclaim the charges.” Well, you’re right; there’s a significant chance the bank will close it, yet there are ways to shift and manage the debts in order to reclaim without fear. I’ve written a full additional article, linked from the main guide. Additional Article: Reclaiming Bank Charges When Overdrawn Main Guide: Bank Charge Reclaiming (includes template letters) Related Articles: Mortgage Fee Reclaiming, Endowment Mis-selling Compensation

Free mid-week tea/coffee every time you go to Ikea. Swede deal!

British Gas cuts prices. But Don't Switch, Don't Switch, Don't Switch! Updated Article
British Gas announced that on 12 March it'll cut gas prices by 17% and elec by 11%. This is great news, yet I've changed the site's energy traffic light from "Time to Switch" to "Don't Switch". This is because other companies are likely to follow suit cutting prices, so do a comparison now and you may be ditching the eventual cheapest. Once the time's right, I'll include a full "switch now" note in this e-mail. Full details in the Updated Article: Cheapest Gas & Electricity (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Cut Water Bills, Cheapest Home Phone

Free cinema previews. Ensure you hear about these freebies in time. Take One!

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

Free £100 loophole from Lloyds TSB. It'll take some work, but it's fun!
Lloyds TSB's new 'Save the change' for new and existing customers, rounds up all the change from everything you spend. E.g. pay £2.12 and £3 is debited from your current account and 88p deposited in a savings account. Better still, for Feb and March it'll match all the savings up to £50/month. So up to £100 of free cash is available if you're prepared to play (e.g. fill your car with £8.01 petrol). For more info, tips and tricks, read Lloyds TSB Save the Change loophole (mini-mutterings)

Being chased for debts that aren't yours? Sadly it's becoming rife. What to do

Ensure you don't miss out, get these tips e-mailed each week
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Dirt cheap coach fares. National Express £1 ticket offer

Quick Briefing. The difference between recorded and special mail delivery
Many confuse these two very different services and end up paying for something not needed. So here's a quick briefing. With 'recorded delivery' your letter/parcel is sent through the normal post, but you pay 70p more to ensure its receipt is signed for; thus it doesn't increase delivery reliability, it just means you have proof it got there. With 'special delivery', which costs £4.10 for a standard letter, the mail is sent separately and is guaranteed to get there with £500 insurance if not. Related Past Discussion: Great Tips to Cut Postage Hunt

Reminder: Free £100 with Halifax's new 6.2% paying top bank account. Best Bank Account Article

ITV1 Tonight Bank Charge Reclaiming School. Thinking of reclaiming bank charges? I'll be running a free school in central London next week. Find out more

The Don't Forgets

Two Weeks Left! Gym Membership Loophole! Massive £400 savings Read Article
Are you overpaying Council Tax? Read the Council Tax Cashback article
Remortgaged in the last five years? You may get 100s back. Reclaim Mortgage Fees
Cut Car & Home Insurance! Car Insurance/ Home Insurance Cost Cutting
14 month 0% deal: Cheap debt switching HSBC*, or long term 3.9% with M&S. Read Article
MoneySaving Books: The Money Diet and Thrifty Ways, Read More
Free MoneySavingExpert car sticker Grab one
Free CDs + DVDs, flights or £15 Read the article

		More MoneySaving	MSE

FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH Brussels, Dublin & Oslo c. £25 each way
Budget airline Ryanair currently has a range of destinations at 19p each way. When you add in its taxes and charges this becomes roughly £25 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.

Left Valentine's Day 'til the last minute? Cheapest in-store roses £4.99 For love, not money!

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Elizabeth tell Charles he can't go on the trip?
Elizabeth's son Charles attends a local youth club. It has invited the kids away on a forest adventure long weekend costing around £80. While Charles is very keen, unfortunately Elizabeth simply cannot afford it. The youth club's policy is that in genuine cases of hardship, which Elizabeth qualifies for, the other parents will all pay a more to subsidise it, when the final price is announced. While she'll be anonymous, Elizabeth feels uneasy about this. Should she still let Charles go? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Elizabeth tell Charles he can't go? Previous MMDs: Should Scott take Charlene's Ad?, Would you lend to a friend in need?, Should little sis get a holiday too? and Would you take the job?

Pensions vs ISAs for retirement planning; which is best? Enter a nerdy debate

Quick Chat Tips

Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly

Daily Bargains Update

Chat Tips Gold

URGENT!! 500 Hoxton Hotel rooms for £1, 5pm Wednesday 14 Feb
Tesco Clubcard Vouchers now accepted at the Open University. Nice little learner
£2 comedy DVD for Comic Relief. You nose you want it!
Dinner & film £12.95 in London's West-End. Grrrrrrreat!
30 pairs of Ideal Home Show tickets to giveaway
Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: How Does Everyone Stay Motivated?
Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: Dishwasher Vs Hand Washing
Nominate post of the month for February

Great 'Re-use From The House Into The Garden' Hunt
Reusing is a step-up from recycling, here you get to squeeze extra value out of anything. This week's hunt is for ideas of things from the house that can be given a second life in the garden; whether it's banana skins wrapped around roses to make them grow, or old scissors as sheers. Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: How Much To Tip Overseas, Cut The Cost Of Learning To Drive and Hayfever Tablets

Board of the week: Northern Ireland MoneySaving
This sub-section was set up along with England, Scotland & Wales for locals to discuss MoneySaving in their area. Recent discussions here include Wedding Reception Entertainment, Belfast: Don't Dump That and How Many Of Us Are There?

Andrea's Freebies
Freebies Gold

Homebuilding & Renovating Show Tickets

Original Source Shower Gel, Energy Saving Lightbulb, Post-Shaving Balm

		Odds and Ends	MSE

On the box this week: I'm not on LK Today this week due to half term, but you can catch me on Classic Gold (Thurs 10.15am). Keep updated on appearances

This week's Martin's Musings: Why I worried about an article that really helps people
''Interest rate increases" and "Hello cupcake" Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

This week's poll: Are you overdrawn? How do you manage your current account? Is it a place to store cash or simply another way to borrow? Which of these is closest to your overdraft situation? Vote and Discuss

MoneySavers have no taste. I'm shocked! Cheese & Onion wins????? Last week's poll was designed to prove to philistine Cheese and Onion lovers that Salt n Vinegar is best. Sadly you've all let me down. A staggering 8,486 people voted, and ridiculously Cheese & Onion received the largest share of the vote. Frankly I don't understand it. How can you prefer the tacky cheesy taste to the delicious sharp cutting edge of Salt & Vinegar. View this travesty of a poll result

That's it for this week. However as you can tell I'm still smarting from the crisp flavour loss, worse still as I was forced to eat the things during the filming of the mutterings

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: hsbc.co.uk, icicibank.co.uk. Read more about this site and how it's financed.