Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
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Finally mortgage fixed rates are dropping! This year's
been a stinker for mortgages.Their rates have kept going up, even though the UK’s base rate has dropped. Finally though the smell's
improving; a host of lenders including Nationwide, Halifax, First Direct and C&G have launched
new fixed rate deals that are around 0.25% cheaper. |
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How to get a Flight Upgrade: Try for free or buy a bargain on eBay. New Guide
The only certain way to get a flight upgrade is to pay for it. Yet while rare, free upgrades DO happen and there are a range of tricks and tactics that can supercharge your chances. This is a brand new step-by-step guide to bagging upgrades for free, buying eBay upgrade certificates, manipulating frequent flyer schemes and how to get the best economy seats if all else fails. Huge thanks to all the MoneySavers who work for airlines and shared their knowledge. New Guide: Flight Upgrades Related Guides: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Cheap Travel Money
New Gourmet Burger Kitchen 2for1 voucher click ‘n print. Plus Prezzo 2for1 vouchers in next week’s Telegraph. Joins Zizzi, Burger King Breakfasts & Strada in the Daily Deals List of: Eating Out Vouchers
Student Accounts 2008/9. Huge savings for new AND existing students. New Article
Having the right student account can hugely boost your finances, this year’s packages are the strongest ever, so even if you’re already a student, switch to boost the benefit. The main aim should be to maximise the 0% overdraft, and up to £3,000 is now possible; though strong freebies like £100 cash or a free five year railcard can tweak the balance. For full info, top picks and explanation read the New Guide: Student Accounts 2008/09 Related Guides:Student MoneySaving, Parents Guide to Student Finance, Top Bank Accounts Coming next week: Top Graduate accounts
Spend a fiver at Boots to get 2 x £5 vouchers. Boots new promotion is spend £5 and get a £5 voucher for make-up by No.7/Ruby & Millie (so free eyeliner etc is possible) and £5 off facial skin care. These and more other vouchers in the Daily Deals List of: Shopping Vouchers
New Bank Charges Reclaiming Successes! In financial hardship, you CAN now reclaim
While bank charges reclaiming in general’s on hold, as we await the bank's appeal on the court test case victory, in July the rules saying it's not on hold if you’re in hardship were clarified. I’m pleased to say the first reports of successes since then are now in. A North of England MoneySaver (who wants to be anonymous), put in an appeal under the new hardship rules and reclaimed £5,000 in two days. Plus we’ve arranged with debt help charity the CCCS to help review whether you qualify for hardship. Full Hardship Reclaim Rules: in the Bank Charges News article Free Reclaiming Template Letters: Bank Charges guide. Other Reclaiming: Credit Cards, Mortgage Fees, Loan Insurance
Six free copies of The Week magazine. Sign up for a free trial, you could also make £6. Info in the Forum Note: Free Magazines
New website finds cheapest petrol/diesel for any trip. Plus 5p/litre off at Sainsburys.
Fuel price comparison website petrolprices.com which finds the cheapest petrol station near you, has been joined by Keepmoving.co.uk which finds the cheapest petrol station and traffic info along any UK route. So if you’ve a trip planned, you can work out where to stop to minimise petrol costs. Plus Sainsbury's has a new fuel promotion; 5p off a litre when you spend £50 in store. More tips and hints to slash costs in the Updated Article: Cheap Petrol & Diesel Related Articles: Cheap Car Insurance, Cheapest Breakdown Cover, MOT Cost Cutting
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING
CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
Travel Insurance. New top for pre-existing conditions & over 75s. Updated Article
All summer I’ve nagged anyone going to Europe to get an EHIC card. This free government scheme means you get free or discounted treatment in state run EU & Swiss hospitals. A travel insurance company is taking advantage of this to slash the cost of cover for over 75s, or those who've had prior medical problems. You get the usual non-medical cover for baggage, cancellations etc, but if you get ill, go to a state run hospital, use the EHIC card, and the insurance will cover any extra costs. Full details in the Updated Article: Cheap Travel Insurance Related Articles: Cheap Flights, Cheap Package Holdays, Cheap Travel Money
50% off Agent Provocateur lingerie. Online sale. Classy knickers come down!
Barclay's Customers Warning. It's totally changed its overdrafts. Take Note
This week Barclays radically changed its overdraft system, it now has three levels. 1. Normal Overdraft: Up to a limit e.g. £500 you’re simply charged interest at the agreed rate. 2. Personal Reserve. Go beyond that and within a set limit e.g. £250 more, you pay £22 to go into the personal reserve for five days and regardless of any other transactions there’s no additional interest or fees. 3. Above that. Go beyond that, and each transaction costs £8. Is it worth it? For most it's better the old scheme (discuss), though better still you can get a year's 0% overdraft and £100 for signing up to Alliance & Leicester* so it's still relatively costly. Even better, do a budget and money makeover to get in the black. More info & options in The Guide: Best Bank Accounts
Reminder. Kit out your PC for free. Get professional, legal programs at no cost, read the Free Office Software and Free Anti-Virus guides.
Taking your car abroad? Urgently check insurance and roadside recovery policies
If you’re taking your car to mainland Europe, don’t assume your car insurance and breakdown policies cover you. Even if they do, the cover level provided may be lower. Top Tips: 1. Call up to check and inform insurers of your trip, often you’re not covered if you don’t inform them. 2. Do all basic maintenance before you go. 3. Ensure you’ve got manuals and the numbers to call if you breakdown. 4. Check out country by country overseas driving regulations. 5. If all else fails use Cheap Car Hire Full Guides: Cheap Car Insurance, Breakdown Cover Related Articles: Travel Insurance, Spending Overseas , Cheap Calls Abroad
Free tax courses for the self employed. Thanks to MoneySaver chapperz for the mention in a recent email's tax discussion HMRC Workshops
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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist |
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Trying to cancel Setanta channels? Help through the nightmare! There were so many forum complaints about cancelling Setanta I asked for its official policy. When I got it I realized it's no wonder there are problems, the system stinks! Setanta cancelling help
MONEY
MORAL DILEMMA. Would you tell a charity shop a Chloe bag was under-priced?
You’re trawling the local charity shop for bargains and spot a swanky Chloe bag, marked up at just £5. The bag is in pristine condition and is only a few seasons old. It would have cost about £600 new; the ladies who run the shop are obviously oblivious to its true worth. Would you own up and tell them they’re selling it for too little, or grab it before they spotted the mistake? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would
you admit it's too cheap? Previous MMDs: Should the whole family forfeit the holiday? and Should Kate return a sale frock with a full price receipt?
CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Fly Monarch. Price: £10 off. Ends: Midnight Thurs 21 Aug
My top pick budget airline sale this week is Fly Monarch’s £10 off sale to various destinations from a range of UK airports. Book before midnight on Thurs to get up to £10 off each way on selected flights including Murcia & Lanzarote. 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 £26. 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
The Great “Free or Subsidised by my Council” Hunt: Local council facilities can slash your costs
Whether it's council leisure centres and gyms at half the cost of private ones, free internet access in libraries, residents' parking permits to also get access to car parks, or even grants for home insulation, local councils can save you cash. It’s worth taking advantage as often it's your council tax cash being used to subsidise them. So I wanted to tap MoneySavers for what council facilities you find it worth using and where. Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great "Free or Subsidised by my Council" Hunt Past Great Hunts: Local Discounts Leisure Cards, Make Your House Safer, Cheaper Health Food Related Guides: Council Tax Reclaiming, Grant Grabbing
Need new holiday luggage? Buying luggage is a balance, too cheap and it breaks, go high end and it costs. The halfway house is TK Maxx, which sells last year's branded fashions cheaply. Some cases are a bit garish, but at least you’ll be able to spot them on the carousel! Discuss top finds.
Energy Shutdown Appliance Giveaway. Last week we blagged 100 of these to give away. Did you get one?
Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to
sell out quickly
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Board of the week: Flood and Storms Help, especially for NI MoneySavers
Sadly Northern Ireland's had it tough in the last week or so, with many people being flooded out. When this happened in the past I set up the Flood & Storms Help board. There are some great tips on there including Council works in progress,
Insurance companies that offered insurance after a flood and Flood Help Links
Great 'Isn't it Obvious? Revisited' Hunt Result
Last week I revisited the Isn't it Obvious? Hunt and asked you to detail those general MoneySaving things you do so often that they've become second nature. Once again there was an excellent response, and loads of great simple-but-clever tips, including Grate your cheese, Use less shampoo,
Use none at all!
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Kids' Toy, Printable Kids' Activities, Fossil Detectives Guide, |
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MoneySavingExpert on the box/wireless
None this week as I'm taking a Summer break.
This week's Martin's Blog: Little Sister's MoneySaving Tips…
"Marking on the curve; is it the solution to A-levels?", and "A 1p good Weeze: flying to Germany for a bit of fun. ". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)
Are you a voucherista or voucherhata? This week's poll. Vote and Discount Vouchers discussion.
The Mail’s your favourite paper followed by broadsheets. Last week’s vote. Of the 8,500 of you that voted, the paper picked by was 16% who read The Daily Mail/Mail On Sunday, followed by 12% for both The Times/Sunday Times and the Guardian/Observer, then came the Sun/News of the World on 10%. Though 11% of people simply prefer to get their news online. See the full Newspaper poll results.
Archna's Free
Game of the Week! Turn all the lights out. Is this the most annoying game ever? Lights Out
Tear-jerking Olympic Spirit. I’m an athletics nerd, and am loving the fact it's now on daily. Yet nothing quite lives up to Derek Redmond in the 1992 games, gritting his teeth, wiping his tears to finish. Crying Shame
I hope you save some money
Martin
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following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: viginmoney.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, kaupthingedge.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, americanexpress.co.uk, envirophone.com, mopay.co.uk. 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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