Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
Cheap Valentine's Roses; Freeview Recorders £50,
New Cheapest Unlimited Broadband £12.50/month,
And much, much more MoneySaving...
Egg drops 161,000 customers as credit crunch bites. Egg's shocked the market by writing to 7% of its credit card customers saying they're too high a risk; meaning they'll be able to pay off existing debts but not borrow more. This shows the credit crunch is biting. Worryingly many who've received the letter say they pay off in full each month; do you? Had the letter? Pls answer this poll. What to do & will this happen elsewhere? It depends on your situation. Lost Egg & got bad credit? Read the Problem Debts article. Lost Egg & always repay in full? Congrats! The Egg card, as opposed to Egg Money, was pants for you anyway; you can get cheaper interest rates and earn higher cashback elsewhere. Will this happen on other cards? Unlikely, but not impossible. Egg's different as its new parent Citibank is feeling the crunch and focuses on high income customers, plus it only offers limited products, so if credit card customers aren't profitable it can't flog 'em other stuff to make up for it. Yet take it as a warning; most people with debts should go to longer term cheap deals when they switch. See Best Balance Transfers. Record MSE month. In January 4.1m different people visited the site a massive 8.7m times. Thanks to all who’ve recommended it. Please tell friends/family/colleagues about this free weekly e-mail. All they need do is go to moneysavingexpert.com/tips to get it. |
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Got cash ISAs from previous years? Earn new top 6.1% rate on them! Updated Article
A cash ISA is a tax free savings account you can stash up to £3,000 a tax year in. Sadly top paying ISA accounts usually only allow you to put this year's money in and not transfer past years'
ISA savings. Yet for once, the new top payer does. Icesave pays 6.1% on all balances above £1,000, better still it guarantees to pay at least 0.3% above the Bank of England rate until Jan 2011. So check all your current ISAs' rates and if you can gain, ditch and switch. WARNING.
Never withdraw ISA cash to transfer! To transfer simply contact the new provider and ask it to move the money from your existing ISA. Never withdraw the cash; do that and you lose all the tax benefit. Full checklist and other options in the Updated Article: Cash ISA Transfers
Related Articles: Top Cash ISAs, Where to Start Saving
Dover-Calais return ferry & 6 bottles of wine, £20! Inc. car & up to nine people. Ferry good offer!
New Cheapest Unlimited Download Broadband £12.50/month Updated Article
o2* has dropped its price for unlimited download broadband to £12.50/month making it the new cheapest. You don't need to be an o2 mobile phone customer to get it (some of its customers get it even cheaper at £7.50/month). Alternatively Plusnet*
is the overall cheapest at £10/month but it has download limits. Full details, including subsidised/free broadband are in the Updated Article: Cheapest Broadband Related Articles: Cheapest Home Phones,
Cheapest Boiler Cover, Cheapest Mobiles
Freeview box with hard-drive video recorder now sub £50. Instantly records 40hrs of programmes. Bye Bye VCR!
BT now gives free weekend calls....Getting better but still easy to beat! Updated Article BT's announced price changes. The bad news is from 1 April monthly line rental rises from £11 to £11.75, though opt for paperl ess billing (ie online) and it stays at £10.50. Starting immediately, evening call costs will increase but it is also giving all customers on its basic option 1 'free' weekend calls to landlines. Not bad, but, keep the line and instead get the Primus Saver 2 tariff and for no additional charge it gives 'free' weekend AND 'free evening' landline calls. Better still, then use 18185 for making calls to mobiles and daytime landlines and you save a fortune. Full details: The Cheapest Home Phones article. Related Articles: CallChecker, Cheapest Boiler Cover, Cheapest Mobiles
Half term special. 2 for 1 tickets to the UK's 40 Zoos & Aquariums. Buy a box of cereal.
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING
CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
New Top 0% Card. Shift debts interest free for 15 months plus a 2.98% fee.
The new top 0% balance transfer deal is Virgin* which offers new customers 0% for 15 months with a one-off fee of 2.98%; alternatively if you’ll be debt free a little quicker, Abbey is 0% for a shorter 13 months but with a lower 2.5% fee. Virgin's deal isn’t new, yet it’s become top because the prior best, Barclaycard, has upped its fee and now isn’t as good. Yet don’t automatically opt for 0%. With the credit crunch biting, guaranteeing long
term cheap credit is sensible; consider a life of balance deal where the cheap rate lasts until all the debt you’ve switched is repaid; cheapest is Citibank's* 5.8% followed by Barclaycard's Platinum* 6.3% which is easier to be accepted for. Full
Guide: Best
Balance Transfers Related Articles: Debt
Problems, Credit
Card Shuffle, Credit
Card For New Debt
The UK's cheapest dozen red roses: £2.50 in-store, £18 courier delivered. After all, it's the thought that counts! Cuttings Cost or instead help sick children by buying a Valentine Balloon
Over 60 (or know someone who is) and not getting the pension credit? Urgently check! The Pension credit rules are changing in October 2008 and it's important to claim before then. If you haven't claimed and are eligible you may get a backdated payout of up to a year; but if you leave it until after October, the backdated payout could be reduced to only 3 months. Forum Briefing: Pension Tax Credit Related Article: 5 Minute Benefits Check Up
Premium bonds update. February's draw odds are now in the Premium Bond Probability Calculator
Save £100s on Car Insurance WITHOUT changing provider. Plus get £50 cashback
On last week's It Pays To Watch I challenged three volunteers to see how much they could save during the programme using m'system. Rob's £450 to £150 price cut won; more
interesting though was Sarah, whose RAC renewal was £280, but after comparing got a quote for roughly £100 less, still from the RAC but as a new customer. This happens everywhere and is great proof that if you just renew, you're almost inevitably overpaying. How to save. For the biggest savings read the full Cheapest Car Insurance system; but for speed at least do a comparison via MoneySP*,
Confused*, CompareTM* & Tesco.
Also this week the Post Office* restarted its £50 cashback offer for new customers, so after doing the comparison site checks, compare it to their cheapest, and unless it costs over £50 more, grab it. Related Articles: Cheap
Home Insurance, Breakdown
Cover
5% off first class postage stamps. Bulk buy quickly from Superdrug. Stamp down costs
Scottish power 15% hike. Still don't switch yet! Unless you want a capped tariff
Scottish Power is the fourth of the six big providers to hike prices, upping gas & elec by around 15%. It's likely to soon be followed by Powergen and Scottish & Southern Electric. To ensure you get a fair comparison
it's worth waiting till the last of the providers hike prices before switching. Do you want to cap? If price surety is important to you, a 'capped tariff' will prevent any future rises, though you may pay a slight premium for it. If this is the case, then do a comparison now, to find the cheapest cap. Top Pick Comparison Service: Energyhelpline* Full Info: Read the Gas & Elec Switching
article Related Articles: Boiler Cover, Home Phone, Water Bills
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NEW YEAR SORT-IT CHECKLIST |
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Bank Charges Update: High Court Trial likely to end this week...
It's likely that the High Court test case on bank charges between the Office of Fair Trading and the Banks will end on Thursday. Yet don't hold your breath; the actual judgement could
take as long as a couple of months to be made. And even then, it's only to decide whether bank charges could be unlawful, not whether they are...Updated Info: Bank Charges News Full Guide: Reclaim Bank Charges Other Reclaiming: All Reclaim Articles
MoneySavingExpert.com Job. Web Developer needed (London based). Details
Council tax reclaiming. Check & challenge to save £1,000s. It Pays To Watch Challenge
Everyone, renter or owner, in England Scotland may be paying too much council tax. It only takes 10 minutes to check you’re in the correct council tax band and challenge it if not. Many 1,000s have already got backdated rebates of £1,000s as they’re misbanded. This week in It Pays To Watch, I’ll be taking three
volunteers through how to check 'n' challenge. Full Guide: Council Tax Reclaiming It Pays To Watch: five 7.25pm Wednesday Related Articles: Credit Card Reclaiming, PPI/Loan Insurance Reclaiming, Mortgage Fee Reclaiming
CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline:
EasyJet. Price:
c.£20 e/w. Ends:
When it sells out.
My top pick budget airline sale this week is EasyJet's sub-£22 inc. taxes & charges to about 20 European destinations from a range of UK airports. Tickets are at this price until they're sold out but are only available on selected flights. 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 £22. 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
Great 'Valentine's' Hunt revisited
All those choccies, flowers and candlelit dinners might earn you brownie points, but they can come with an unromantic price tag. So I'm tapping MoneySavers' collective knowledge to find the best ways to treat your loved-one for less, or, even better, show you care for nowt. Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great Valentine's Hunt Past Great Hunts: Wine Tart, Top Designer Charity Shops, Internet Dating
Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to
sell out quickly
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Karl pay for Susan's...erm...cat?
Karl's tabby cat Tom has been in and out of the cat flap like a thing possessed throughout the last few weeks. Then one day his neighbour Susan knocks on the door to say her cat Fluffy's had kittens and Tom's the daddy. Susan doesn't want to get rid of them, but equally she can't afford the cost of keeping them all, so asks Karl to make a contribution. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Karl pay for Susan's...erm...cat? Previous MMDs: Should Angie share her MEAF money with Den? and Should Bob get a lodger?
Burst water main or flat pack furniture not quite right? Board of the week: In My Home
Whether it's your stop valve gone or you've got a mouse in the house and want the best way to get rid, there's a raft of tips on the In My Home board. Discussions include Help with cost of fence and Replacing kitchen cupboard doors and worktops on a budget
Great 'Planning for death' Hunt Result
Last week I asked MoneySavers to give ideas and tips for when the time comes to plan a funeral. Many of you joined in helping other MoneySavers with suggestions including Co-op Dividends Discount,
Leave some of the organising for therapy and Funeral Payment
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Comfort Tropical, HomePride Products, Kids' Downloads, |
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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.
- GMTV, ITV1 Tuesday between 7.30& 8am. This is a new regular, additional slot. As for the subject, it's news reactive.
- LK Today, ITV1 Wednesday between 8.45 & 9.15am. Divulging how to supercharge loyalty points by up to eight fold.
- It Pays To Watch, five Wednesday from 7.25- 8pm. Discussing how to challenge your Council Tax Band and reclaim £1,000s.
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: Ryanair: time to come clean
"To say hi or not, "Meeting a fool at the gym" and "MoneySavingExpert.com rocks".
Read m'blogs (or RSS
users access)
How often do you wash? This week's poll. Vote and How often do you wash? discussion.
Should banks fine you when you have no money? No, No, No! Last Week’s Vote. An overwhelming 92% of MoneySavers agree with the Office of Fair Trading; they'd rather have a payment refused if funds weren't available instead of having it paid by their bank with a charge on top. See Should banks honour payments? poll results.
Archna's Free
Game of the Week! This one will have you cursing! Cursor *10
Cute but kinda scary! That’s it for this week, but before I go you could spare 20second to watch this video, I always thought Lemurs were cute furry animals, but this is freaky!
I hope you save some money
Martin
Explanation of * Links
FSA NOTE: 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.
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, plus.net, o2.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, virgin.com, citibank.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, confused.com, comparethemarket.com, postoffice.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, mopay.co.uk, envirofone.com. Read more about this in how this site is financed.
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