Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

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URGENT £25 easy free cash loophole! Spend 1p on a credit card and get £25 cash!
New customers who apply for a Barclaycard OnePulse credit card online and make a purchase on it will be credited with £25. Yet there’s no ‘minimum spend’ required to trigger the free cash, so just buying sweets from the supermarket does the trick. Then wait for the £25 to be credited and spend it as you choose. Other current freebies include a £50 2GB mp3 player from Sonycard* (just do £250 of your normal spending on the card to qualify, ensuring you repaid in full to avoid interest) and £25 worth of Nectar Points from Amex Nectar*.  Full details, pros & cons in the Updated Article: Credit Card Freebies Related Articles: Cashback Cards, Freebies Freebies Freebies, Best Balance Transfers

2for1 at Pizza Express Vouchers. Just buy any copy of The Times (70p) until Friday. Rather amazingly you get the most expensive meal free!

Cheapest Mobiles: Speedily compare, switch & beat the cashback trap to save £100s
The mobile phone market’s more competitive and confusing than ever, with dirt cheap ‘looking’ pre-Xmas deals everywhere. This is my completely re-researched and rewritten guide to speedily getting the best deal and handset at a fraction of the cost. It also incorporates a new section on beating contract phone cashback deals; while these look great often they’ve more problems than a guest on the Jeremy Kyle show. New Article: Cheapest Mobile Deals Related Articles: Get Cash For Old Mobiles, Free Int'l Calls From Mobiles

Don't buy cosmetics, find your own natural solutions! Whether it's haircare, lipstick, shower gloop or deodorant, the MoneySaving Old Style forum regulars say make-it-yourself. Index of Recipes: Make up your make-up

WARNING! Is your fixed rate ending before Feb? Start remortgaging now
100,000s of fixed rate mortgages are due to end in the next three months; if that’s you beware; if you don’t deal with it, for every £100,000 of mortgage your repayments will rise by around £300 a month. The correct time to start remortgaging (switching to a new, cheaper deal), is 3 months before your current deal ends so start urgently. Free MoneySaving Remortgage Guide: Instantly download a PDF, 30 page printed version. Related Info: New Mortgage Guide, Free House Prices Info, Mortgages & Home

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

Reclaim credit card charges now! Yet, if your bank said 'it's on hold'; be a test case!
You can reclaim the last six years worth of credit card fines. Yet some banks are lying and saying “reclaiming is on hold”, that’s not true, the hold only applies to bank charges. If this’s happened to you, I need your help; this is an inappropriate way for banks to handle complaints, and that itself is something the Ombudsman can decide on; and I want to get a ruling to stop it happening to others. Full Guide: Credit Card Reclaiming Want to be a test case? Find out more Related Articles: Mortgage Exit Fee Reclaiming, PPI Reclaiming

Free £11 Mascara. It's on the cover of a £3.30 magazine. Lashings of savings

Do you pay for childcare? Don't miss out on a special tax-break to save £1,000s
There ’s a little known Childcare vouchers scheme allowing you to pay for childcare from your pre-tax income. It doesn’t sound a big deal but the saving's enormous. For example, for every £1,000 you’re paid, after tax and national insurance you’d typically only receive £670, so if you gave that up and asked to be paid £1,000 worth of childcare vouchers instead you’d be £330 better off. You can get up to £ 2,900 of vouchers per person a year. This is a fully updated guide to maximizing the vouchers. Updated Article: Childcare Vouchers Related Articles: Money Makeover, Nappy MoneySaving, Child Trust Funds

Premium Bonds Update. The new November odds are now in the Premium Bond Probability Calculator

New Campaign. Reclaim Mortgage Arrears Charges. Possibly get £100s back
'Mortgage Arrears' are the monthly charges some get when they’re behind with their mortgage payments, very similar to unlawful bank charges. The Govan Law Centre, a Scottish non-profit legal centre, has launched a website to help people reclaim them, possibly grabbing a lot of cash back. Govan’s a great organisation that I’ve been working with in the Bank Charges Fighting Fund. Reclaim Link: Mortgage Arrears Other Reclaiming: PPI, Credit Card, Bank Charges, Council Tax, Mortgage Exit Fees, Endowments

Call India 0.5p/min. Special Diwali offer. Related Articles: Cheap Int'l Calls, Calling Mobiles Cheaply

Ensure you don't miss out, get these tips e-mailed each week
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Always spend on a credit card when making big purchases overseas!
Last week the House of Lords upheld the fact ‘Section 75’ protection applies when you buy things abroad. So buy something costing over £100 on your credit card and the card company is equally liable with the retailer if things go wrong. As faulty products bought abroad can be a nightmare to handle, this means you can simply call your card company instead, making it very valuable extra protection. Thus always spend on a credit card (not debit card) when buying valuables abroad. Related Articles: Cheapest Card To Spend Overseas, Best Cashback Card, Consumer Rights

MoneySavingExpert.com Job Opportunity. London based, part-time, junior HTML article builder

Great 'Cheap Road Safety Gear' Hunt
Now winter's coming parents are understandably more concerned about their kids' road safety. There are many sources of effective but cheap road safety gear so I thought I'd tap MoneySavers' wealth of knowledge to gather together a list of places both online and on the high street where it can be found for less, or your tips for keeping your kids safe. Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: Teaching Resources, Cheap Ways To Make Your House Safer, Online Courses

CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Ryanair. Price: £10 e/w. Ends: Midnight Thurs 8 Nov
Ryanair's selling 4 million seats from a range of UK airports to over 90 European destinations for £10 inc. taxes & charges. Tickets are at this price on selected flights travelling between 17 Nov and 12 March '08 until midnight Thursday. How to quickly find the sales flights: Don’t go direct, instead use the Budget Airline FlightChecker and ask it to find all flights under £11. Non-Budget Airline Tools: These are listed in the Cheap Flights article. Related Travel MoneySaving: Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance, Mobile Roaming

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Paul and Heather go 50/50?
Heather and her partner of two years Paul decide it’s time to move out of their parents’ homes and rent a house together before getting married. Paul insists the rent and bills should be split equally, even though his wage is three times Heather’s. Should Heather and Paul go 50/50? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Heather and Paul go 50/50? Previous MMDs: Should Sharon pay to clean Tracey up? and Should Gulliver allow bribes to Lilliput?

Boost Christmas shopping at Somerfield by 4%. Somerfield's 'bonus day' for its saving stamp scheme is any time between Nov 11 and Dec 31. Read Article: Supermarket Saving Stamps

Watching TV on your PC or mobile phone? Get a licence!
Just chucked away your telly and cancelled your TV licence thinking you can use your computer to watch Corrie for free? Think again - it may cost a £1,000 fine! Receiving or recording TV programmes as they're being broadcast on any equipment means the fee must be paid. Read More: TV Licence Confusion

MoneySaver successfully exchanged printer cartridges for her children.
You may remember a note about this in the email a few weeks ago. It was about one of our Debt-Free Wannabes who’d reduced debts from £100,000 to £40,000 and was collecting printer cartridges so her kids could go on a skiing scholarship. Thanks to all the MoneySavers who helped; she raised £200 towards it. See the original thread

Board of the week: Christmas & Special Occasions
Love it or loathe it, now's the time to start seriously getting prepared for Christmas, or else you risk getting stung by high prices closer to the day. The Christmas & Special Occasions board offers a wealth of ideas and inspiration to keep the cost down this festive season. Popular discussions include How much do you spend on the kids?, Make a retro candy box and Alternative gift for a 16 year-old?

Great 'Cheap, Safe Fireworks' Hunt Result
Last week I revisited a popular hunt from last year, and asked MoneySavers for their top places to buy safe fireworks on the cheap. There were some great suggestions including Lidl's pricelist, You can't be too careful and Aldi fireworks box

Got Suggestions For This E-mail? Got a great moral dilemma/great hunt or poll idea?
Spotted something great in the Forum, got an idea for a Great Hunt or Poll or Money Moral Dilemma? If you’ve a suggestion for something to go in this e-mail, please let me know. Forum Note: MoneySaving E-mail Suggestions

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 Wednesday between 8.45-9.15 am. This week in my regular slot I'll be showing you how to cut a third off the cost of supermarket shopping.
• The Wright Stuff, Five Wednesday 10:15am. I'll be talking about credit cards, PPI reclaiming and more.

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: We’ve lost the stigma of borrowing but not the stigma of debt.
and "It’s an honour to be beaten by Martin Luther King". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

MSE Charity Logo Winner announced!
Thanks for all the wonderful entries to the new mse charity logo content. We now have a winner! See the new logo and charity details

Do you owe more than you earn? This week's poll. Vote and Earnings vs. debts discussion.

Is there anyone who still can't access the site after recent problems? If so, please e-mail siteproblems@moneysavingexpert.com and state your ISP and location in the UK.

How much has MoneySavingExpert.com saved you? £1,000s! Last Week’s Vote.
The site's saved voters a colossal average of £1,500 overall, and 66 have gained over £10,000. Not bad for a four year-old! Poll Results: How much have you saved?

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Complete the tasks & puzzles to move along the journey. Curious?

Police, Camera, Ahem! That's it for this week, but I thought you might be interested in Hampshire police's new ad campaign, which illustrates the pitfalls of bad ad placement. Police, Camera, Ahem!

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: energyhelpline.com, icicibank.com, talktalk.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk. Read more about this in how this site is financed.