Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
Free £25 spray tan for £2; Friends Reunited for free
British Gas signals major price rise
And much, much more MoneySaving...
WARNING! Do you pay a monthly fee for your bank account? It’s about to rise. I’ve never liked ‘packaged accounts’ where you pay to get a whole range of supposed benefits. Most people sign up after a sales call promising ‘great features’, which they rarely use. Now it’s getting worse. Lloyds' Added Value Gold & Plat accounts are going up £2/mth, RBS & NatWest's Royalties & Advantage up 95p/mth, while NatWest's Advantage Private leaps £1.45/mth. |
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PS Thank you! £7,500 donated to Burma Cyclone relief. Thanks to all who recommended this e-mail as part of last week's free 50p to Burma fundraising. There were just over 14,500 new e-mail recipients, so this has been rounded up, and £7,500's gone to the DEC appeal. Please do keep recommending the site.
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Cheap calls to every country. E.g. Australia, Israel, Bangladesh & USA 0.5p/min.
It’s possible to speak to people abroad for free if you’re both on the internet. Yet if you want to just pick up the phone it can be costly, e.g. to call Australia BT’s standard daytime rate is 27.5p/min, Virgin’s 24p/min. Yet you can slash costs without changing your phone provider, just by dialing specialist overseas call providers' access codes. The cheapest charges just 0.5p/min for many destinations. This completely re-researched guide explains free calls via the net, and how to speedily use the International CallChecker tool to find the cheapest access code for every country. Updated Article: Cheapest International Calls Related Articles: Free Calls From Mobiles, Cheapest Home Phones
Free £25 salon spray tan, coffee & cake with £2 mag. More info: Riches to WAGs!
British Gas signals major price rises … others likely to be similar. 15%-35% hike likely.
You’ll have read the headlines: on Monday, British Gas gave a signal it'd hike energy prices this summer/autumn due to a rise in the wholesale price of gas. But it's not just BG, it's likely to hit all suppliers, with the nightmare scenario being 50% rises by the end of the year. Those worried they can’t afford the hikes should switch to a capped tariff, where the price is fixed for a couple of years. The cheapest caps are currently 10% more expensive than the cheapest uncapped. But as it takes a couple of months to switch, doing it now is very likely to pay off. Find the cheapest cap: Use a comparison site; see the Cheap Gas & Elec plus cashback guide. Detailed TV Explanation: It Pays To Watch Utility Special on Wed 7.30 Five
Friends Reunited now free. It used to charge £15/yr to contact people. Forum Note: Free Friends
Savings Safety News. Govt. now promises ALL savers would get up to £35,000.
Last Friday, after an investigation for ITV1 Tonight the Treasury said if, in the unlikely event, a bank went bust and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) didn’t have the cash… it’d lend it the money. The FSCS protects us up to £35,000 per person, per institution and is our safety net, yet it can only call on £4bn. During research for the prog. we discovered this is only enough to cover the UK’s 26th biggest bank collapsing! So on Thur, I interviewed Yvette Cooper, the cabinet minister responsible… it didn’t help much… she said it’d payout regardless, but I couldn’t draw her on where the rest of the cash’d come and told her how unreassuring that was. Afterwards … surprisingly, the Treasury contacted us with the news. Full Updated Info: Are your Savings Safe? Watch the Program: ITV1's Tonight
4GB USB key drive for £9. Very cheap deals on big computer memory keys. Can you beat it?
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING
CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
Six pound mag subscription delivers £42 of Aveda or posh perfume. Women's mag freebie bargains. Info: Page free!
URGENT! New cheapest unlimited broadband deal at just £11/months. Updated Article
Until the end of May, Tiscali* has a promotion that you can get its broadband package for £4.49 for three months followed by £12.99, averaging out at £10.87/month. With this package you can, within reason, download all the films, music, software you want without going over your allowance. As its less than a quid more than PlusNet* which has a relatively restricted 1GB download limit, it’s a good deal. Yet if you’re an o2* mobile users you can get it’s unlimited package for £7.50/month. For the full options read the Updated Article: Cheapest Broadband Related Article: Cheapest Home Phones, Free Wireless Internet
STOP PRESS! Chancellor raises tax-free personal allowances by £600. Basic rate taxpayers all better off, as Government fight 10p tax row. Forum note: How much you'll gain
New Top Cashback Credit Cards. Capital One & Barclaycard launch 4% cashback.
You can earn £100s a year with cashback cards, provided you set up a direct debit to pay it off in full each month, so there’s no interest. The top player’s still Amex Platinum* which pays new customers 5% cashback for the first three months (5p per £1) and then up to 1.5% after. Yet Capital One* and Barclaycard* have just launched cards with 4% cashback until the end of July, after that dropping to 1% and 0.5% respectively. While not quite matching Amex, they’re more universally accepted, and are useful for those rejected for Amex or who’ve already had its intro deal. Full pros, cons and how to choose in the Updated Article: Best Cashback Cards Related Articles: Credit Card Freebies, Credit Cards for New Borrowing, Stoozing: Free Cash
£1 Greggs baguette sandwiches. Just print a voucher. Baguetter and better!
A Hidden National Crisis? Mental Health & Debt… 1 in 4 are impacted.
Mental health issues hit a quarter of the population, and those suffering are three times more likely to have severe debts. Sadly stress over money problems can cause and exacerbate the problem, with many unable to deal with harassing debt collectors even at the best of times. Yet while it's important to protect people while they’re suffering mental health/capacity issues, it's not right to disenfranchise people from necessary borrowing. It’s a subject I’m passionate about, and on Mon I was proud to help launch the charity Mind’s campaign week which includes help for those impacted. It’s something we, nationally, need to sweep back out from under the carpet. Coming Soon: The free MSE guide to dealing with debt & mental health (supported by Mind) M’Blog: Mental health & debt: pure bravery
Office £8.50 shoe sale. His and hers shoes between £8.50 and £18, inc P&P. Nearly sole-d out!
New Freesat service launched. Pay once, watch forever from £50 or HD £120.
The new Freesat service from the BBC & ITV gives you 80 digital channels (200+ expected by the end of this year) plus digital radio and HD content without a subscription. A standard box can be had for £50, while HD-capable ones start at £120; yet the maths are staggered as installation costs £80. It's likely in six months, as prices drop, this will be a great deal. For now though, if you're an ex-Sky customer, you can avoid it; just plug in your dish and get watching. You can get Sky’s equivalent for £75 inc installation, though it's likely Freesat will offer more variety in the future. And of course Freeview's less than £20. More Info: Freesat MoneySaving
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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist |
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Car & Home Insurance Comparison sites…. Some criticism but still better than direct.
Last week the regulator (the FSA) produced a report into insurance comparison sites. Amongst other things, it criticised some of the assumptions they make, the fact the excesses don’t always match up, and that the forms aren’t completed properly. Most of which are things already flagged up in my guide, which advocates using comparison sites as a step in the process Having read the report, my view is to still use these sites, they're not perfect, but they're a key step to speedily getting yourself the cheapest car or home insurance. Updated Guides: Cheap Car Insurance, Cheap Home Insurance
CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: BMI Baby Price: c.£20. Ends: Midnight Weds 14 May.
My top pick budget airline offer this week is BMI Baby's 300,000 seat sale, inc. most taxes & charges, to a handful of destinations from all its UK airports. Tickets are at this price until midnight Weds, for travel 'til 13 July. 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 £20. 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
Catch up on last week’s email? Sadly our mailout company had problems and 300,000 people missed out. Sorry if you were one, you can check it out here: last week's email.
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you replace your mate's cricket bat?
It’s a summer’s day, and you and a bunch of pals get together for some cricket in the park. You’re playing with your mate’s expensive willow cricket bat. When it’s your turn to bat, you swing it particularly vigorously, and the bat splits. On one hand, you wonder if you should replace it. Yet maybe the bat had had its day, and would have split whoever had been holding it? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would you replace your mate's cricket bat? Previous MMDs: Would you drink someone else's champagne? and Can you go giftless to a wedding?
Great 'Breakfast MoneySaving' Hunt: Cheap and healthy breckies on the go
When you’re commuting to work, the pull of a cappuccino and pastry can be irresistible. Yet spend £3.50 on these every work morning, and it adds up to a shocking £875 a year (try this for yourself by using the Demotivator). So I thought I’d tap MoneySavers for tips on how to kick the expensive breakfast habit, and make quick, cheap breckies when in a rush. Could you take a flask of coffee, use a toaster at work, or make it the night before? Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great 'Breakfast MoneySaving' Hunt Past Great Hunts: Blagging Hints and Tips, Store Returns Policy, Price Beaters Plus
Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to
sell out quickly
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Board of the week: Silver Savers
A host of deals and discounts are only open to more mature MoneySavers. The Silver Savers' board's where the over 50s share their tips. Discussions include Have free bus pass, want to travel,
What to do with your 25% pension lump sum? and Where to buy in Spain?
Great 'Travel Swapping' Hunt Result
A host of travel swapping websites allow you to blag free accommodation by switching homes, sofas or even caravans with people who live elsewhere. The savings can be vast, but swapping with strangers has its hazards. Last week I asked MoneySavers for their top tips. There were some great suggestions including couch surfing,
Christian home exchange and don't swap PCs
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L'oreal Revitalift, Print of Your Own Photo, Kids' book download, |
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MoneySavingExpert on the box/wireless
Over the next week you can catch Martin on the following broadcasts:
- LK Today, ITV1, Wednesday (between 8:45 & 9:15am). Find out how to slash the cost of Prescriptions & Medications and get incredibly Cheap Hayfever Remedies.
- It Pays To Watch, five, Wednesday from 7:30-8pm. As costs continue to soar, save £100s on energy bils by ditching and switching your Gas & Electricity supplier.
- Jeremy Vine, Radio 2, Friday 1pm. The MoneySaving subject is Cutting Your Foodbills
- GMTV, ITV1, Tuesday between 7:30 & 8am. Make your existing Car Insurance, Home Insurance, Mobile Phone, Digital TV and Broadband companies fight for your business!
Watch/listen back to past appearances: Including Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Radio 2's Vine, Radio 4's MoneyBox and GMTV. Listen/watch 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: Door-to-door sales… can we ask them to be more responsible?
"Mental Health and Debt: True Bravery". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)
What percentage of your after-tax earnings goes on accomodation? This week's poll. Vote and Cost of living discussion.
You WANT house prices to fall! Last week’s poll result. Over 7,000 votes and twice as many of you (52%) wanted house prices to drop rather than rise (25%), plus nearly a third of all voters wanted to see a BIG crash (32%). See the House price preference poll results.
Archna's Free
Game of the Week! This should keep you scratching your head. Cubilus
Is this the coolest wedding dance yet? That's it for this week, but before I go, another in the You-Tube funkiest wedding dance fest… not what I expected
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, natwest.com, rbs.com, icicibank.com. Read more about this in how this site is financed.
MoneySavingExpert.com is the free to use Consumer Revenge website focused on how to save you cash. It’s owned, and run by ultra-specialised journalist and bestselling author Martin Lewis. On TV amongst other things Martin has his own show It Pays To Watch on Five, is GMTV’s Money SavingExpert, presents money programmes for ITV1 Tonight. On Radio Martin has regular slots on Radio 2 Vine and Radio 1 Whiley. He’s also a columnist for the News of The World, Moneywise and the Sunday Post. Find out more: About the site and its funding.
Disclaimer: This e-mail is based on journalistic research. It does not constitute financial advice. Any information should be considered in regard to your
own specific circumstances. All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research Full Terms & Conditions.
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