Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
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After last week's takeovers... are your savings safe? My mailbag's been jammed by scared savers; the first thing to say is it's very unlikely the govt. would allow any big bank to fail. But for belt & braces remember all UK savings/cash ISAs are guaranteed up to £35,000 per person per financial institution.
Full a full explanation & bank by bank list, read the Are your savings safe? guide. |
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P.S. 2.5 million thank yous! Huge thanks to everyone who’s ever recommended the site to friends. Staggeringly this week the 2½ millionth person joined the e-mail distribution list, that's more than a million in the last 12 months alone. Full stats, for nerds like me in my 2½m thanks blog.
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Top cashback cards. Get 5% off EVERYTHING for Xmas and Jan sales. New Guide
This is the perfect time to get a cashback credit card. Provided you repay it in full each month it won’t charge you a penny in interest, but it will pay you every time you spend; most people annually earn £100-£500. Top Deal: The Amex Platinum* credit card gives new cardholders 5% cashback on up to £4,000 spending for the first three months, then it's tiered rates up to 1.5% after. So apply now and by the time you get it, the 5% rate covers the high spending Christmas and Jan sales periods. Added Consumer Protection. As it’s a credit card, order something over £100 on it from a company that goes kaput, and by law the card company must refund you itself. Full pros, cons, how tos and more options in the fully re-written New Guide: Best Cashback Cards Related Guide: Best Balance Transfers
£15 off Waitrose online & 20% off Habitat instant vouchers. New: Get £15 off £75 spend at Waitrose online twice, click n print 20% off Habitat & £5 off Tesco Direct Ending Sun: 30% off Gap. Full details & more vouchers in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers
New Top 7.32% cash ISA transfer. Got old cash ISAs? Boost your interest.
If you’ve got money in old cash ISAs (special tax-free savings accounts), there’s an unprecedentedly high new rate available if you transfer to a new provider. This could add £100s a year in interest. Top Deal: Natwest's paying huge interest, but only on ISAs transferred to it. It pays 6.67% AER if you’ve up to £9k moving up to 7.32% if you’ve over £27,000. Its sister bank RBS has launched a similar range, that’s slightly better for some amounts. Warning: Never withdraw your cash to transfer, you must ask the new provider to do it for you. Full info and options in the Updated Guide: Cash ISA Transfers Related Guides: Top new Cash ISAs, ISA Guide, Top Savings
Free Dolland & Aitchison eye test. The Sept/Oct M&S in-store mag (£1.20 for non-cardholders) has a free eye test voucher valid until 31 Jan (normal price £27.50). Forum Note: Free Eye Test
URGENT. Cheapest Ever Mobile Broadband for Laptops. Free 3G dongle £5/mth.
A dongle is the thing you plug in laptops so you can get speedy internet anywhere (not just in wireless hotspots) via the mobile phone network. There’s a special half-price deal for one week only, to get a free dongle as part of an 18mth contract on the 3 network. It costs £5 a mth for a 1GB download limit or £7.50 for a huge 5GB. This is a ridiculously low price, just £90 over the contract life. This rate is part of a promotion 3 is running via cashback website Quidco. For more pros, cons and explanations read the Updated Article: Free Wireless and Cheap 3G Broadband Related Articles: Cheap Broadband
New 2for1 at 100s of Chef n Brewer Pubs. New: 2for1 at Chef n Brewer Pubs instant voucher and new £10 dine with wine at 500 restaurants with The Times. Ending Soon: GBK 2for1 (ends Thur), Pizza Hut 50% off (ends 7 Oct). Full details & more in the Daily Deals List: Eating Out Vouchers
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
Urgent! 5 star UK & worldwide hotels £12 a night There’s a 6,000 room sale in the UK, Paris, New York, Cape Town & more. See the Forum Note: Get a room Related Articles: Cheap Hotels, Cheap Flights, Cheap Trains
URGENT. Cheap fixed mortgages disappearing. Act NOW if your deal ends soon.
The mortgage market was easing, with cheaper deals starting, but last week’s turmoil kiboshed that. Banks now charge huge interest to lend to each other and this could add 0.25% to the cost of new fixed rates. Why act now? Lenders usually sell fixed rate deals in tranches, say £100m worth, and only reprice once they're sold out (though some are being withdrawn early), so for the next few days you may still be able to grab one. Book ahead: It’s sometimes possible to reserve a deal even up to 6 mths ahead, though 3 months is more usual. To do this you pay a non-refundable booking fee, e.g. £100 (separate to the arrangement fee). If things get worse, you’ve done well; if they get cheaper, get a new deal and you’ve only lost the fee. More info in the Free Printed/PDF Guide: Remortgage Guide and Article: Cheap Mortgage Finding
Energy Saving Lightbulbs. 5 for 50p! Morrisons' energy saving bulbs are 39p each, yet buy five and it'll slash the cost to 50p! Forum Note: 10p Light Bulbs
Make cash in seconds, clearing out old CDs. Boost your income. Updated Guide
New website Music Magpie allows you to type in details of your CDs, and it’ll give you an instant cash price, typically 60-70p. If you accept it’ll send postage-paid bags to dunk them in and you’ll get cash upon receipt. Someone with 100s to get rid of could speedily make money. Warning: This is a convenience system; it's likely if you flog the CDs individually on eBay or elsewhere you can gain more. More info and links included in the Updated Guide: Boost Your Income Forum Discussion: Music Magpie Related Guides: Money Makeover, Budget Planner, Sell Old Mobiles
Last chance. Free £100 with 0% overdraft. Ends 29 Sept. Alliance & Leicester's best buy Premier* bank account offers 0% overdraft for the first year, currently it's also gives £100 if you sign up, but that ends Monday, so act NOW. Full details in the Updated Article: Best Bank Accounts
New Top Mobile Deal. £25/mth for 750 mins, unlimited texts & new phone.
Until 30 Sept, for £25 a month, Three's* offering 750 min of free calls to any phone, unlimited texts and a new handset if you get an 18 mth contract. Get this on any network. It’s a stunning deal, but more importantly if you’re near the end of your mobile contract on any network, it’s a great negotiating chip to try to push them to “beat it”; many will capitulate if you do it right. Full ‘how to’ in the Guide: Mobile Contract Haggling. Related Articles: Cheapest Mobiles, Unlock Your Mobile, Cheapest Calls to Mobiles
Reminder! Top Balance Transfers. If you've existing credit card debts, slash the interest by switching them. Top 0% Cards: Barclaycard* 14 mths 0%, 2.5% fee or Virgin* 15 mths 0%, 2.98% fee. Top Long-Term Card: Lock debts in until fully repaid with Barclaycard* 6.3% life of balance. Full Guide: Best Balance Transfers
£1,000s free to 16-19 year-olds who stay in school. Education Maintenance Allowance
These days there’s a cash incentive for older teenagers to stay in school. Those aged 16-19 in full time education can get up to £30 per week, plus bonuses for regular attendance. The exact amount depends on parental income and which part of the UK you're in. As a rough rule of thumb though, any teen who’s parents' combined income is less than £33,000 should check to see if they’re eligible. Apply ASAP: You can apply at any time, but do it before 30 Sept and you will get backdated payouts to the start of the year. Full info in the Updated Guide: EMA Related Guides: Teen Cash Class, Best Bank Accounts
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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist |
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Protect against airlines going bust with new cheap annual travel insurance. Updated Guide
Thirty airlines may go bust this winter according to the chief of BA, yet most travel insurance policies don’t cover you for it. Now you can get standalone insurance, but first check whether you need it... Package holidays: you’re covered by ATOL protection anyway (see cheap packages). Flights: If it costs £100 plus, book on a credit card and if it goes bust, you’ve a legal right to get money back from the card company. Annual Insurance: A few annual travel policies offer optional ‘Scheduled Airline Failure’ cover, the cheapest is Swiftcover at £34 for an annual European policy with this. Standalone cover: Travel agents sell Airline
Failure Cover as an add-on with flights, and now you can buy it direct from ProtectMyHoliday for roughly £5 per person per trip – not cheap, so it's a last resort. Updated Article: Cheap Travel Insurance Related Articles: Cheap Flights, Cheap Package Holidays, Consumer Rights
Feedback wanted from users with disabilities. We’ve made a number of cosmetic changes to the site recently, I’d love feedback on how these have impacted your use and suggestions to improve it. Please feedback here, or if the forum’s a problem you can email feedback
Are you a loser? Boost your savings. It Pays To Watch Challenge
If your savings are sitting in a current account earning a pittance in interest now is the time to sort it out! Inflation is the measure of the rate at which prices increase, so if savings don't beat inflation after tax, they're losing you money. This week I'm going to run through how to maximise every penny of interest on your savings, and a guide to keeping them safe. TV prog details: It Pays To Watch, five TV, every Wed 7.30pm for the next seven weeks. Related MoneySaving Guides: Top Savings, Cash ISAs Take part in the prog: Either join the audience or let me try to save you money
Had Breast Cancer Surgery? Get specialist bras for £6 at Asda. These normally cost a fortune. Forum Note: Asda Bragain
Great 'Recession Survival Tips' Hunt
Although we're technically not there yet, it pays to be prepared, so I want to tap the knowledge of MoneySavers' who have been through the last few recessions in the early 80s & 90s. What one piece of advice would you suggest to others to lessen any potential impact on their finances? From ways to increase your job stability to cutting spending and chopping debts, what's your best tip? Add your ideas/read other peoples: Great 'Recession Survival Tips’ hunt Past Great Hunts: How to enter & win competitions, Tricks to profit from price match policies
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should you continue to send birthday presents?
Both you and your sister have two children each and you've always sent her kids a birthday card and a small present each year, yet for the last few years your sister has stopped sending anything to your children, even a card. She and her husband have never had a very high income, whereas you can comfortably afford to send yearly gifts. It's her daughters 13th birthday soon, should you bother? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should you continue to send birthday presents? Previous MMDs: Should Fannie contribute to Mae's council tax?, Would you ask for the tenner back?
Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to
sell out quickly
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CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Easyjet. Price: sub-£30 e/w. Ends: When tickets sell out.
My top pick budget airline sale this week is Easyjet's sub-£30 inc. most taxes & charges to various European destinations from a range of UK airports. Tickets are at this price on selected flights until they sell out. 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 £30. 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: MoneySaving for where you live
This was set up, along with the England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland sub-boards, for locals to discuss MoneySaving in their area. Recent discussions include: Hotels near Liverpool airport, Cash and Carry stores in NI, Living in the Western Isles, Renting out my house for the Ryder Cup
Great 'Comping Tips' Hunt Result
Last week I asked MoneySavers for their top comping tips, both for winning, and for cutting the time it takes to enter. Regulars from the Competitions Time forum board entered (teehee!) some great suggestions, including Save a signature,
A list of top tips and Tie breaker hints
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Nivea Soft, Estee Lauder Sensuous Perfume Sample, Cabot Circus Goodies (Bristol) |
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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.
- It Pays To Watch, Five, Wednesday 24 September, 7:30pm. Earn £100s more with the Top Cash ISA and Best Savings Account PLUS Protect Your Savings from the current financial turmoil.
- GMTV & LK Today, ITV1, Tuesday 30 September between 7:30 & 9:15am. The subject for this is news reactive so you'll have to wait and see!
Keep updated on appearances: Changes and updates go in the Updated appearances list
This week's Martin's Blog: ' Asking others to give up their bus seat…'
"Tesco plaudits: Well done on the section 75 mention" and "2,500,000 now get the email: 1,020,000 newbies in the last 12 months". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)
Are you a knock-off Nigel or Nigella? This week's poll. Vote and Dodgy DVDs discussion.
In a burning building... run you'd live, walk you may not. Last Week’s Vote.In last weeks poll 64% of people in my game theory test, said if a cinema was on fire they’d walk, the rest would run. While the walkers have good morals, the liklihood is at these percentages those who ran would survive, while most walkers would be struggling. See Prisoner's dilemma poll result.
Archna's Free Game of the Week! Twist & turn the loops to tidy the loose ends. Loops of Zen
How nerdy are you? That’s it for this week, but before I go, I found a little site that’ll measure nerdiness, apparently I’m nerdier than 7 in 10 people, no surprise there (though I should probably have expressed it as a percentage!) Check your inner nerd
I hope you save some money
Martin
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exactly the same way. As I believe transparency is important, I'm including the
following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: americanexpress.co.uk, three.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, virginmoney.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, tiscali.co.uk, kaupthingedge.co.uk, envirofone.co.uk, 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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