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Bank Charges reclaiming ON HOLD for 6 more months... unless... It's been 18 months already, but now the regulator, the FSA's just extended the 'waiver' for 6 mths more. This means banks, the Ombudsman and, by implication, the courts needn't deal wth reclaiming cases. Surely it's time to end this farce? The banks LOST the first court case; and though they're appealing, it means there's a legally binding, precedent-setting decision that bank charges are governed by fairness rules. This delay is farcical. The British public now owns some banks and has bailed the rest out. The UK needs money out there to boost the economy; returning £100s millions currently on hold would do just that. Free banking didn't end. It's estimated £1 billion was reclaimed before the hold; I'm proud over 5.5 million reclaim template letters have been downloaded from this site. Some once prophesised "it'll cause the end of free banking" (though banking isn't free, but fees-free if you're in credit). Yet that hasn't happened, and after the £100s BILLIONS lost by dismal bank management, if fees are added, it won't be due to reclaimers. Some are STILL being paid out. The hold DOESN’T apply to those in financial hardship; anything from struggling to pay your bills to having £500+ of charges in the last year (see Hardship Definitions). And with arms twisted behind their backs the banks are paying out. One reclaimer's just got £10,000 back. Even if you’re not in hardship, you should still put a claim in, to get in the queue so the sooner it's sorted the sooner you'll get your money back. You can get back up to 7.5 years (six years before the test case started). Full Guide & Template Letters: Bank Charges

Week of Tue 27 - Mon 2 Feb '09 (Last week's position) 1. Benefits Check Up (New) 2. Cheap & Free Flights (New) 3. Top Savings Accounts (1) 4. Premium Bonds Calculator (6) 5. Freebies, Freebies, Freebies (3) 6. Best Cash ISA (4) 7. Cheap Car Ins (10) 8. Reclaim Bank Charges (9) 9. Budget Planner (New) 10. Balance Transfers (8) For the first time since we launched the 'Top 10' three months ago, savings has been KNOCKED off the top. Last week’s mention that families can earn £60,000+ and be entitled to benefits made Benefits Check Up rocket up the chart. Yet it wasn’t alone, the revelation of lots of free flight loopholes helped boost that too. The above excludes daily deals notes

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

British Gas cuts gas price by 10%. Don’t Switch! Info for customers & those who capped...
British Gas' announced 10%ish gas price cuts for standard, online & dual fuel customers from 19 Feb. Monthly direct debits should automatically drop by 10% too. There's no change for electricity tariffs, prepay and essentials customers. Don’t Switch to or from BG! Energy providers have a herd mentality, so others will probably cut in the next six weeks, some possibly by more, so wait till there's a level playing field to compare or at least to find out if others will cut. Plus comparison sites don't yet list BG's new tariff. Details here when the time's right. Did you cap? Most of those who capped in July, are locked into a LOWER price than BG's post-cut standard rate so you've already saved, continue to do so & have price safety. For full info read the Updated Guide: Cheap Gas & Electricity Related Guides: Fight Energy Direct Debits, Cheap Boiler/Heating Insurance

Last Chance 2for1s! Pizza Express, Zizzi, La Tasca, Pitcher & Piano, Bella Italia & more. Just click'n'print. All END this week. See the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

New Top Balance Transfer. Lock-in at 6.8% FOR LIFE fees free plus more 0% deals.
There's a host of new credit card debt shifting deals Long-term lock-in: New customers can shift debts to Barclaycard Simplicity* at 6.8% for life (ie until all the debt shifted is repaid). Next top is Capital One at 6.9% for 3 yrs. More 0% deals: Many have told us they can't get the top pick 0% cards, as they've already got'em. so we've added more. All have fees of roughly 3% of the amount transfererred... top is Virgin* (MBNA) at 16mth 0%, then Barclaycard, Tesco & Egg 14 mth 0% , Nationwide 13 mth 0% & Post Office* 12 mth 0%. FULL details in the Updated Guide Balance Transfers Related Guides: 0% Credit Cards, Cheap Loans, Credit Card Shuffle

New. AA cover £10 (RAC still £12). It's usually possible to get AA cover for £12 via a special cashback sites but for a limited time you can do it for £10. See the Deals Note: Roadside Cover

£1,000s of free cash & help for CHILDCARE...whether nursery or after-school.
If you pay for childcare, for under 16s, don't miss out on free money. Childcare Tax Credits: WORKING parents earning under £40,000, should check it out. The ave payout is £68/week or £3,500 a year. Childcare Vouchers: Here you pay for childcare out of pre-tax income, making you £100s extra a year. Free Childcare: Parents of 3 or 4 years olds are entitled to 12.5 hours a week of early learning. For older kids there’s also free or discounted activities/childcare at 12,000 schools this summer. Full info & latest figures in the Updated Guide: Free £1,000s for Childcare Related Guides: Childcare Vouchers, Child Trust Funds, Benefits Checkup

Speedily sell old DVDs for up to £3 each. CD-buying site Music Magpie now buys old DVDs too; tell it what you've got it'll give you a price & send a jiffy bag. See the Updated Guide: Boost Your Income Related Guide: Sell Old Mobiles

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

Saving Safety Updates: ALL Euro banks, Lloyds, Halifax, Anglo-Irish, Co-op & Britannia
The govt-backed Financial Services Comp. Scheme (FSCS) means if a UK bank went bust, you're covered up to £50,000 per person per financial institution. Lloyds/HBOS: The newly merged mega bank will permanently keep seperate licences, so you're protected up to £50,000 in EACH. Co-op/Britannia Merger: These two building socs. are merging; if you've existing savings in both, you'll get both lots of £50k cover until at least 30 Sept. European Owned UK Banks: Some banks e.g. ING Direct (Dutch) opt for the 'passport exemption' meaning you'd first claim from its home scheme. New clarification says if its home scheme's cover is bigger than the UK's, you're ONLY covered by it not by the FSCS. Irish banks (inc. Post Office): Anglo-Irish has been nationalised, and other Irish owned UK banks now rely solely on the Irish govt stability, which some question. Full info in my Irish Banks blog. All & bank-by-bank info in the Updated Guide: Savings Safety Related Guides: Top Savings, Cash ISAs

2for1 advance rail ticket vouchers. Collect four vouchers from The Sun next Mon for travel until April. See the Deals Note: Train & Bus Vouchers

Cut petrol costs by £440. New Video Guide. My dalliance with another model... Thankfully petrol prices have dropped by 25% in recent months, yet it's still possible to save £100s more. It's all about how you drive. This ISN'T a "stick to the slow lane" lecture. This week's video is the story of how I cut my petrol costs 20% testing the tricks out, with a little help from a temporary change in car model. New Full Guide: Cheap Fuel Related Guide: UK Travel Deals Urgent! 500 Hoxton posh hotel rooms £1. Avail. midday 29 January. Yet it's never easy to get one, so good luck. See the Forum Note: £1 Hotels Related Guides: Cheap Hotels, Cheap Flights

FREE £200 this year, just by changing plastic. Top Cashback Cards. Updated Guide
Just do normal spending on a cashback card, and providing you've a direct debit to repay it in full each month, you're being PAID to do nothing. Spending of £10,000 a year can earn you £200, bigger spenders earn much more.Top Cashback Cards: If your salary’s over £20k, Amex Plat* pays 5% for the first three months and up to 1.5% after. Alternatively Abbey gives 3% cashback but only on petrol & supermarket spending or Leeds BS gives a flat 1% on everything until June, then 0.5% after that. Extra consumer protection: Buy something costing over £100 on credit (not debit) cards & section 75 laws say the card company’s equally liable, so if the retailer goes bust, you’re covered. Full info in the Updated Guide: Top Cashback Credit Cards Related Guides: Section 75, Best Balance Transfers

BT hikes line rental by £1 a month. Full details of this and all its other new price RISES.... News Story: BT price hike Related Guide: Cheap Home Phones

Urgent! Tax Deadline. Only days left, less if you’ve never filed online before
If you’ve been sent a self assessment form you need to file it ONLINE, and pay your tax by 31 Jan. If not you’ll be fined £100 and charged interest. Never filed online? You need a pin code from the Revenue, and frankly it may already be too late to get one. Yet it's hoped the revenue will be understanding if this means you file a day or too late, so grab it asap. Pay even if you’re late: Paying the tax owed ontime's even more important than filing the form. So if you can't file in time, pay what you think you owe, it’ll stop the tax piling up. More info: Tax Deadline & Help

NEW 20% off Homebase voucher. Joins 20% off Debenhams, 15% off BHS and more in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist

Motor Insurance: Top two Comparison Sites (use both) MoneySupermarket*, GoCompare* then grab cashback see full Car, Van or Motorbike guides Home Phone & Broadband: TalkTalk or Tiscali* or better still read the Home Phones article Assess Your finances: Free Budget Planner to see if you spend more than you earn Shift Existing Debts: Virgin* 16 mths 0%, 2.98% fee or read Balance Transfers Give Yourself a Money Makeover: Special guide to overhauling your finances New Borrowing: Best Card For Spending or Cheapest Loans Mortgage Makeover: Read the free Remortgage Guide Reclaim £1,000s: on Mortgage Fees, Council Tax, Endowments, Bank Charges, PPI Quick Cash for Old Mobiles: Love2Recycle*, Envirofone*, Mopay*. Recycle Mobiles article Teen Cash Guide: Free 40 page PDF guide to teach your kids about money 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

Slash the cost of weekend breaks. Take a wonky weekend flying Sat-Mon Flying out Friday and returning Sunday for your weekend away? Everyone else has had the same idea. Yet take a wonky weekend, jetting off Sat – Mon and the cost plummets. How much you can save? For one weekend the cheapest flight I could find flying Fri-Sun London to Barcelona was £85, yet go Sat-Mon and the cost was halved to £42. Fly London to New York Fri-Sun and the best price was £354; this dropped to £298 Sat-Mon. Simply take the Monday off work instead of Friday; you’ll use exactly the same amount of leave. Guide: Cheap & Free Flights Related Guides: Holiday Haggle, Cheap Travel Insurance New cheap online legal services... any good? More new sites launched, this isn't a recommendation, it's a request for feedback, have you tried, how do you rate them? See the Forum Note: Cheap Legal Online? MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you pay for a no-show? Your friends are celebrating their wedding anniversary and have invited you and 17 others to a posh restaurant for a set £40 a head dinner. Six people fail to show up. You’re leaving early and go to pay your bit of the bill, and find it's now £57 a head – as the restaurant is charging for all 20 people who should’ve come, (its pre-stated policy). You know your friends couldn’t afford to foot the bill for all six, do you pay up £57 or just £40 – and leave it to be sorted by the rest. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would you pay for no-show?, Previous MMDs Great ‘How to haggle down rent’ Hunt: Tenacious Tenants The house price slump means there's more competition in the rental market, so there are many tales of tenants successfully haggling down the price. I'd like to tap MoneySavers collective knowledge for top tips. Add your ideas/read other people's: Great 'haggle down rents' Hunt Past Great Hunts: Rural MoneySaving, Starting A Vegetable Patch, What Can You Blag On Holiday?

Q. If I’m in debt, can the lender take my partner’s house or assets? A. Sadly this question is common, as some nasty debt collectors try it on. Nothing is simple, but the basic rule is nobody is liable for anyone else's debts, unless they signed the credit agreement. It makes no difference whether or not you’re married. This gets more complex if the assets are in joint names, such as joint bank or savings accounts; in this case the lender can apply to take these. If the debt is secured on a property held in joint names, they may be able to force you to sell the house to release your share of the equity. If you went bankrupt, they could also take a share of your partner’s property if they proved you had a ‘beneficial interest’ in it, meaning you must have contributed towards the mortgage, home improvements, or day-to-day expenses. Discuss: Joint Debt Suggest: A question of the week

CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Easy Jet. Price: sub. £25 e/w. Ends: When seats sell out.
My top pick budget airline sale this week is EasyJets's sale, with flights to a host of European destinations from a range of UK airports for between £18.99 and £24.99 each way (including most taxes and charges). Tickets are at this price until they sell out, on selected flights travelling between now and 29 March '09. 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 £25. Non-Budget Airline Tools: These are listed in the Cheap Flights guide. Related Travel MoneySaving: Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance, Mobile Roaming

MoneySavingExpert.com Job Opportunity. London based Junior IT technician (temp).

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

Top Deal! Lush Lucky Dip Bags! Get £15-50 of beauty items for £5-15 Smells good! Asda Baby & Toddler Sale. Deals incl £10 sterilisers & breast pumps Ends 15 Feb Get extra freeview channels Just re-scan your box 'Scanner be good! Free facials & massages Next week in Manchester's Trafford Centre. Book early! £5 off £20 underwear at M&S when you get a bra fitting. Bragain! Buy £4 of Horlicks, get a free three month magazine subcription. Dreamy! Got an ADHD kid to entertain? Join in the MoneySaving discussion for support Studying in your final year? Check your uni's hardship fund Access to learning Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Addicted to debt Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: Making hubby a birthday pressie. Inspiration?

Board of the week: Greenfingered MoneySaving
Now's the time many start preparing to grow their own veg, to both cut costs and stay healthy. Whether your gardening efforts are just a tray of herbs on the window sill or sowing seeds in the greenhouse there's a wealth of tips and help on the Greenfingered MoneySaving board. Discussions include Plant now or not?, £3.99 fruit trees and National Trust Allotments

Great 'financial harmony in relationships' hunt. Result
Money worries are one of the most common reasons for couples splitting up, so last week I asked MoneySavers for their top tips for financial harmony. There were some great suggestions including Pocket money accounts, Write each other a letter and What's mine is yours

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Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Groove Armada Track, Lyons Coffee Bags Geography Magazine, The Answer Download, Online Pool/Snooker

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances... Wed 28 Jan - Tue 3 Feb
These are the scheduled appearances, other ad hocs may happen, see the appearances list for updates.

• Thur. GMTV, Sometime 8:30 - 9:30am. Deals of the week

• Fri. ITV1 Tonight 8pm "Your Pound in Europe".

• Tues 3 Feb. GMTV, Two slots between 7.30 & 9.30. Subject is news reactive.

This week's Martin's Blog: I look older, uglier and fatter on TV
"Is Anglo-Irish Safe?", "Is Consumer Focus in British Gas’ pocket?" and "Diluting champagne is MoneySaving". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

How close to the brink are you? This week's poll. Vote and Recession impact discussion.

50% want to nationalise the banks! Last Week’s Vote. Half the people who expressed a preference thought the government should nationalise some or all of the banks. Then again nearly 30% of people think the government should just allow the bank to fail. See Nationalisation poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! An epic riddles game to keep you going for days! Weffriddles

How British Are You? To become a UK citizen you need to take a test. The official guide includes such things as “what’d you do if you spilt someones pint”. The BBC has its own unofficial Britishness test

I hope you save some money

Martin

P.S. A quick happy Chinese New Year to all MoneySavers and a quick congratulations to MSE Webby for the birth of his new baby daughter Sophie.

Explanation of * Links

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: barclaycard.co.uk, uk.virginmoney.com, postoffice.co.uk, americanexpress.com, moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, tiscali.co.uk, moneysupermarket.love2recycle.com, envirofone.com, mopay.co.uk, energyhelpline.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 is GMTV’s Money SavingExpert and 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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