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Grab a free £50 by playing your cards right in supermarkets. New Top Cashback Card
Abbey’s credit card, is promising to pay 5% cashback up to a maximum of £50 on all supermarket spending (excluding M&S) until 31 Jan 08, to both new and existing cardholders. So get the card and only use it for your normal supermarket spending, then ensure you set up a direct debit to repay the card in full each month, meaning there’s no interest cost and it's money for nothing. Better still, for all other spending, use Capital One’s* cashback card which pays 4% on all spending for the first three months then 1% after that. Full pros and cons in the Updated Article: Cashback Credit Cards Related Articles: Credit Card Freebies, Best Balance Transfers, Top Card For Spending
2for1 fast food vouchers. Big Macs, Greggs pasties, Wagamama & more. Free stuff-ed!
Grant Grabbing: £1,000s of free cash for your home, business or education.
There’s £1,000s of free cash, just waiting to be put to good use. Grants are available to do up your home, become more environmental, start a business or for education. Many go unclaimed in the UK every year; this article will show you how to quickly check what you're eligible for and apply. New Article: Grant Grabbing Related Articles: Stooze Free Cash, Freebies Freebies Freebies, Benefits Check Up
Back up your mobile phone for free & get a free cocktail! Text on the beach
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
Student loan interest rate jumps to 4.8%! Should you pay it off? Updated Article
If you’ve got a student loan, this September's annual rate review means the interest rate has doubled to 4.8%. The rate is based on the RPI measure of inflation (the rate prices rise) in the previous March. Annoyingly, this March was a high inflation month, so the 2007/8 year will be an expensive one, though to be fair over the last year people have been paying under the odds. My usual line is ‘don’t repay student loans more quickly than you need to’ and even with this rate change, that still mostly stands. For a full explanation, read the Updated Article: Student Loans: Should I pay it off? Related Articles: Should I Pay Off Debts With Savings?, Should I Pay Off My Mortgage?, Best Graduate Accounts
Buy two Odeon tickets get two free. Provided you pay by Mastercard
Got an old bank account/pension/investment? Stake your claim asap!
The Treasury's mooted grabbing all cash sitting in unused bank accounts and pooling it into a centralised good causes fund for a while; recently a committee of MPs has upped the ante, saying they should only wait 10 years not 15. So, if you think your money, or a deceased relative's, is lying dormant you need to reclaim it. It’s really easy to do – whether it's bank accounts, investments, life insurance, pensions or premium bonds. Full details are in the Article: Reclaim Lost Assets Related Articles: Best Bank Accounts, Top Savings Account, Premium Bonds: Are They Worth It?, Reclaim £1,000s
10,000 free copies of Moneywise blagged for MoneySavers Want one?
Got a Nationwide Credit Card for using abroad? It's getting more expensive!
The Post Office* and Nationwide credit cards are currently my top pick cards for spending cheaply when abroad; they give you the very best exchange rate as neither adds the hidden ‘load fee’ to it. Yet from 17 October, Nationwide's cost of withdrawing cash abroad (and at home) will rise to 2.5% (min £3), meaning the Post Office credit card is significantly better now. Updated Article: Spending Overseas Related Articles: Travel Money Maximiser, Cheapest Foreign Currency, Travel Insurance, Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels
Got Savings? £40 Tesco Clubcard Deals Loophole Easy way to get points. New Article: £40 Savings Loophole |
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Do you use a pre-pay gas & elec meter? Check your account now!
Nastily, in the past when energy prices rose, companies often didn’t recalibrate their meters. So you put £1 in the meter, received energy that should’ve cost £1.20, and later got an unexpected, hefty additional backdated bill; defeating the whole purpose of pre-pay meters. Now the regulator Ofgem recommends meters should be reset within a month of price changes. As prices have fallen recently, you may be overpaying, so contact your supplier to have yours reset. Plus remember, just because you prepay doesn’t mean you can’t switch & ditch supplier to save like everyone else. Related Article: Cheapest Gas And Electricity
200 full version PC anti-virus software downloads up for grabs! First come, first served. Related Article: Kit Out Your PC For Free
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Mrs Robinson leave cash to Simon or Garfunkel?
Mrs Robinson is getting on in life and is drafting her will. She’s well off although not super rich. Her younger son Garfunkel has been very successful in his own right, though he’s quite avaricious and always wants more. Her older son, Simon, has always struggled a bit with cash and relied on the family money. She’s debating whether she should simply split the money evenly or leave the lion’s share to Simon. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Here's to who, Mrs Robinson? Previous MMDs: Should Chanelle avoid using Ziggy? and Grant's been overpaid, should he keep it?
HSBC backs down and gives new graduates 0% overdraft charges. But ditch it anyway!
HSBC has reversed its decision to end 0% overdraft facilities for new graduates and is reintroducing them. Yet it's still possible to get a larger and longer-lasting limit elsewhere. So ditch HSBC anyway. Full details in the Updated Article: Top Graduate Accounts Related Articles: Should I Pay Off My Student Loan?, First Time Mortgages, Debts Problems
Great 'Staying Behind The Joneses' Hunt
It’s possible to pick up some amazing electrical bargains second-hand. Gadgets that were state-of-the-art a couple of years ago often sell for a fraction of the price, as people upgrade to LCD TVs or Nintendo Wiis. I want to tap MoneySavers' knowledge to find out which other unfashionable gizmos people flogging off for cheap; be it CRT TVs, Xboxes or film cameras, and where to get them. Add your ideas/read other people's: Great Staying Behind the Joneses Hunt Past Great Hunts: What Kids Should Know About Money, Audience Tickets and Cheap Ways To Make Your House Safer
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Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly
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Great 'Back To School' Hunt Result
Last week I asked MoneySavers how to grab cheap back to school bargains. There were some fab suggestions including Tips from a teenage MoneySaver, Woolworths £1 sale, Adjustable trousers.
Board of the week: Techie Stuff
There's been plenty of techie bargains about lately, but they're pointless if you don't know how to use them. The Techie Stuff board is full of useful technical advice, and there's no question too simple or complex, so don't be afraid to ask if you're stuck. Recent discussions include Upgrading to Sky+ on the cheap, The Xbox360 vs PS3 war and Laptop spec for uni?
Did you get a phone call about bank charges alleging to be from the OFT? It's a scam
Someone's calling people up, claiming to be from the OFT, and asking for personal bank accounts details so that they can help them reclaim bank charges. You should never give out personal info on the phone so if you think you were contacted get in touch with your bank straight away. Full details reclaiming bank charges in the Bank Charges full guide.
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MoneySavingExpert on the box/wireless
If you like to watch as well as read about MoneySaving, I’ll be appearing on the following programmes over the next week or so.
- LK Today, ITV1 Wednesdays between 8.45-9.15 am. My regular weekly slot's back every Wednesday
Watch/Listen Back from last week: Listen to last week’s Vine on Radio 2 and MoneyBox on Radio 4 MoneySaving Watch it here
Keep updated on appearances: Changes and updates go in the Updated appearances list
Feedback on appearances: Discuss or add your thoughts on MoneySaving in the Media
This week's Martin's Blog: Thankfully I was opening a can of Asda Mushroom soup
"Pet Peeve: Shop escalators that only go up". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)
Do you want less tax or more spend? This week's poll. Vote and Tax v Spend discussion
Attention Cashiers! Concentrate when serving MoneySavers. Last Week’s Vote. I was rather shocked that 75% of you would keep a £20 note if given too much change in a supermarket, even though almost a quarter think it'd be stealing. See Would you keep the cash? poll results.
Free Game of the Week. Chuckie Egg
Mutated fruit! That's it for this week, however as a stand of all great consumer media (think That's Life) I thought I'd end with some silly vegetables
I hope you save some money
Martin
Explanation of * Links
How this site is financed. 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, 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: postoffice.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, natwest.com, rbs.com, icicibank.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk. Read more about this in how this site is financed.
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