Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Savings Safety Update… £35,000 may jump to £50,000. Currently the first £35,000 savings per person, per financial institution is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). In other words, in the unlikely event your bank went bust this is what you’d get back. Yet the govt's just proposed to up this to £50,000 and a raft of other changes too. When will this happen? These are only draft proposals and further discussions and law-drafting will continue throughout the summer with possible legislation in the autumn. It’s also likely the Chancellor will firm up the fact that if there’s not enough money in the FSCS kitty to pay everyone out, the Govt will loan it the cash. Get 100% protection right now. The answer’s simple, don’t put more than £35,000 in any one institution. Yet in many ways this is overkill, as put it in too many and you sacrifice interest. Thus the general rule for those with big savings is… spread it around. So if you’ve got half a million from a house sale put it in four or five high paying accounts to spread the risk. More info including protection for overseas owned banks in the Updated Guide: Are your savings safe?

Is it life assurance or insurance? You insure something that may happen, you assure something that will happen.... and death certainly is assured. Yet some policies only pay out if you die within a set time limit, and some argue these are therefore life insurance policies. Discuss This / Suggest A Note

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

Beat all timing traps. Find your perfect time to act & get free text reminders.
Lots of products are hot for the short term, then leave you massively overpaying; but know the crucial date and you can beat the system. So if you’ve 0% credit cards, car or home insurance, a mortgage, capped energy deal or bonus savings account this new guide tells you the perfect time to deal with it to maximise your saving. Then use the revamped tart alert tool, which sends a free text or email at exactly the right moment. New Guide: Tart Alert: Time To Act Related MoneySaving Guides: Best Balance Transfers, 0% cards, Car Insurance, Home Insurance, Remortgage Guide, Energy

5p/litre off petrol at Sainsbury's or Tesco. Spend £50 in store (or online at Tesco) for a 5p/litre discount voucher. Ends 8 July Sainsburys or 20 July Tesco. Updated Guide: Cheap Petrol/Diesel

URGENT. Lock your debts in at 5.9% for life. New Cheapest Credit Card. Updated Article
For those with existing credit card debts, the new MBNA life of balance* deal allows new cardholders to shift debt to it, fees free, at 5.9% and this rate lasts until all the debt shifted is repaid; provided you make the min. repayments. Bizarrely this undercuts all loans and many mortgages, so it's shockingly cheap during the credit crunch. Rumours are it’s a trial deal and may be very short lived, so anyone with costly credit card debts they can’t repay quickly should grab it. Full pros, cons, alternatives and 0% deals are in the Updated Guide: Best Balance Transfers Related Articles: Top Card for Spending, Cheapest Personal Loans, Half Price Plastic Loans

Learn a language for free this summer. Olé! No need to pay, there are many high quality, legit audio & video courses downloadable online. Quick Deals Note: Free Language Lessons

Get paid to have home insurance! The MINUS £68 policy. Updated Article
A record result from following the cheap home insurance guide by MoneySaver 'Saving4Jesus'. First Step: £52.50 quote. Use a combination of comparison services; Confused*, M’spkt*, CompareTM* and Gocompare*. Second Step: £120 cashback. He checked cashback sites and found this mammoth rebate. Total cost: He EARNED £67.50. While not everyone can get such a cracking result, he’s not the only one to effectively be paid to have a policy. Updated Guide: Cheap Home Insurance Can you beat this? Report Your Result Related Articles: Car Insurance, Boiler Insurance, Mortgage Life Insurance

Free £2.50 Smoothie and/or a pint of milk. Just click and print. Vouchertastic!

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

50% off Yo Sushi, 2for1 Bella Italia & Free Café Rouge brekkie with £1.75 jam. These new offers and lots more eating out vouchers in the Quick Deals List: Restaurant Discounts

New Top Fixed Savings. 7.1% for a year (or two) or 6.97% for 6 mths. Updated Article
Fixed rate savings accounts let you save for a set time at a guaranteed rate but you can’t access the cash for that period. Thus it’s only for those prepared to lock cash away. Rates have shot up yet again; as a benchmark Kaupthing’s* top instant access deal is at 6.5%. Yet Birmingham Midshires one-year fix is at a massive 7.11%, Firstsave offers one or two year deals at 7.1% and for six months Kaupthing itself is 6.97%. While Firstsave and Kaupthing are foreign owned banks, they have full UK licences, so you get the same statutory protection as any UK bank. Full pros and cons in the Updated Article: Top Savings Related Articles: Top Cash ISAs, Are Your Savings Safe?, Starting Saving

Urgent! 500 £1 Hoxton Posh London Hotel Rooms. Avail 1pm Thursday 3 July. It's a bit of a lottery, good luck grabbing one

Sort your boiler while it's hot. Get a £30 service or £6/month cover.
Low summer demand means big boiler companies are offering cheap deals, plus it's less hassle to sort it now, than when you need it in the winter. Energy provider British Gas has currently dropped its service price from £79 to £49, and nPower's offering £30 services on Tues to Thurs when you book before August. Also just launched is Homeserve's basic cover at the competitive price of £5.99/month with a £50 excess. Compare this and others via comparison sites in the Updated Article: Cheap Boiler Cover Related Articles: Time To Switch Energy, Cut The Cost Of Water Bills, Home Insurance

Not got Word 2007? Open its documents for free. Microsoft’s new software is becoming commonplace, but don’t feel forced to upgrade; easily adapt your current software to open its files. Forum Note: Docx is a doddle

Did you quit smoking when the ban came in? It’s a year on – so now you can save!
Most financial policies class a ‘non-smoker’ as someone who’s been smoke-free for a year. The savings you can then make on policies that pay out on death or illness can be huge, cutting the price by up to 30% as now that’s less likely. So if you've quit and have a policy, it's time to get a new quote and save. Relevant Guides: Life Insurance, Mortgage Life Assurance and Private Medical Insurance. And if you haven’t quit yet read the Full Guide: Stop Smoking on the Cheap Related Articles: Cheaper Prescriptions & Medications, Healthcare Cashplans

Premium Bonds: how much will you win? July's draw odds are now in the Premium Bond Probability Calculator

The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist

Assess Your finances: Free Budget Planner to see if you spend more than you earn Give Yourself a Money Makeover: Special guide to overhauling your finances New Borrowing: Best Card For Spending or Cheapest Loans New Bank Account: 0% overdraft at A&L* or read Best Bank Accounts Mortgage Makeover: Read the free Remortgage Guide Motor Insurance: Read the Car, Van or Motorbike articles Top Savings: Kaupthing* 6.5% or read Top Savings article Reclaim £1,000s: on Mortgage Fees, Council Tax, Endowments, Bank Charges, PPI Home Phone & Broadband: TalkTalk* or better still read the Home Phones article Cashback Credit Card: Amex Plat* or read Best Cashback Cards Teen Cash Guide: Free 40 page PDF guide to teach your kids about money Save £100s/yr at Virgin Active/Cannons/LA Fitness: Cheap Gym Membership Article Switch Gas & Elec and Get up to £30 Cashback! Energyhelpline* or Gas & Elec Article Cut Car & Home Insurance! Car Insurance/ Home Insurance Cost Cutting MoneySaving Books: The Money Diet, Thrifty Ways, Three Lessons Free MoneySavingExpert Car Sticker MoneySavingExpert.com/carsticker

More MoneySaving MSE

WARNING! Clicking YES to ‘£10 off next purchase’ may mean you’ve a new Direct Debit
There’s a growing trend for companies to offer discount vouchers off the next purchase on order confirmation pages. Many are legit, but they actually involve signing up to “discount clubs” and from that moment on you're paying a monthly fee by direct debit. Always check exactly what these vouchers entail. If this rings a bell read the Forum Note: How to cancel Related Article: Direct Debit Makeover

The Second MoneySaving Engagement… we’ve just had our second couple of MoneySaving Forumites get engaged.. congrats to smartie12 and Blowingbubbles

Great ‘Salespeople tell us the best time to haggle' Hunt: Up your quota, cut our price
The best time to haggle is usually on the day a salesperson has to hit their target. Often it's then volume more than price that counts. So if you’re a MoneySaver working in any form of sales whether high street, mobile phones or holidays… please tell us the best time to haggle in your industry. Are there any standard month end or year end dates? Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great 'Salespeople, tell us the best time to haggle' Hunt Past Great Hunts: Free Online Courses, Student Discounts and How Much To Tip Overseas

Money Moral Dilemma. Should Alan give the laptop back?
Alan went into a shop to buy a laptop, and instead of it ringing up at £399 it was just £3.99. He spotted this at the check-out and was aware of the error but keep schtum. After he'd paid, the manager came up and admitted, that the laptop was legally his, but it was an obvious error by a trainee cashier on his first day. Thanks to MoneySaver Ben Clay who came up with this in the nerdy note discussion from last week. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Alan give the laptop back? Previous MMDs: Should you foot the bill? and Would you ask for new shoes?

Quick Forum Tips Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly Daily Bargains Update Tips, Tricks & Treats

Top deal! 25% off wine, champagne & port. When you buy 6 bottles. Tesco Free copy of Time Out, London. Just make a call. Worth £3 Bargain Beauty. £3 haircut, 50% off Body Shop body butters & more. Pretty good! 500GB external USB hard drive £50. Back up your data! Drive a hard bargain Drop a brand diary. Shelvis's downshift challenge Article: Cheap Supermarket Shopping Grow your own chilli. Top tips. Hot stuff Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: July Make £10/day challenge Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: What can I do with Mung beans? Post of the Month winner June: Old Style Vs USDA Challenge, See all nominations Nominate Post of the Month for July

CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Ryanair Price: from £10 e/w. Ends: Midnight Thurs 3 July
Ryanair has seats from a range of UK airports to over 20 European destinations for £10 inc. taxes & charges. Tickets are at this price on selected flights travelling between Sat 12th July 08 and Fri 27 Mar 09 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

Board of the week: Travel, trips & holidays
The Travel, trips & holidays board offers a wealth of information, tips and innovative ideas on tripping abroad and around the UK. Discussions include Cheap school holiday getaways, Holidays for a family of five and Do you eat salad abroad?

Great 'Camping' Hunt Result
Last week I tapped MoneySavers' for ideas on cutting the cost of going camping in the Great Camping Hunt. There were some great suggestions including Camping Must-haves, Beware tent size and Millets discount

Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Mum-to-be DVD, Kung Fu Panda Printables, Glastonbury Downloads, Sunburn Prevention Texts, Nicorette Inhalators

Odds and Ends MSE

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 2nd July between 8.45-9.15am. On how to Stop Spending.
• Tonight, ITV1, Monday 7th July between 8-8.30pm. Tonight delves into how capping your energy rates could save £100s on your energy bills.
• GMTV, ITV1 Tuesday 8th July between 7.30 & 8am. Looking at how to cut the cost of your debt in the credit crunch, including Best Balance Transfers.

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

This week's Martin's Blog: Carol Vorderman quits doing secured loan adverts
"Is it time to be proud to be UKish? " and "Probably the most powerful site on the Net right now". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

How much would you ask for back? This week's poll. Vote and Lending discussion.

Would you buy cheap child-sweatshop made clothes? Last Week’s Vote. Opinion on this controversial issue was divided, with ethical concerns eventually losing out to financial ones. Of the 76% of you that shop at Primark, almost a third (30%) don't believe it's worse than any other discount clothes retailers, so it makes no odds, whilst a quarter would like to avoid it, but will continue to shop there in lieu of a viable alternative. At the other end of the scale, nearly a fifth (19%) vowed to never shop there again following recent reports. See the full Child Labour poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Guaranteed to drive you round the bend. The World's Hardest Game?

Which American president was assasinated in 1865? That’s it for this week, but before I go, thought you would like this deliciously nerdy resource… the past 200 years of The Times newspaper. Fascinating stuff

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, mbna.co.uk, confused.com, moneysupermarket.com, comparethemarket.com, gocomapre.com, kaupthingedge.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, americanexpress.co.uk, energyhelpline.com. Read more about this in how this site is financed.