Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

The Budget... what we now know you need to know... We're ignoring the heavily reported 50% tax, and rises on fuel (2p/litre), booze (1p a pint) and cigarettes (7p per 20). Instead, looking at measures in the 250 page budget pack, which weren't in the Chancellor's 20 page speech. ISA limit UP, but what counts as over 50? The tax free cash ISA limit's increasing from £3,600 to £5,100 on 6 Oct for over 50s, and from the next tax year, 6 April '10, for everyone else. Those who are 50 between Oct & April get the increased allowance on their birthday. Don't hold off, though, you can open it now, then top-up when eligible. See Top Cash ISAs Ensure you/family members don't miss £1,000s in pension credit. Up to 1.8m over-60s eligible for pension credit don't claim, including some of society's most vulnerable. This benefit guarantees over 60s a min. £130/week income, £35 more than the state pension, plus pays extra to those who've saved for retirement. From Nov, the allowance's improved, yet that's ineffective unless people claim it. So do a good deed this week and tell someone who mightn't know. See full Pension Credit info. State Pension to rise a min 2.5%. Confirmation the current £95.25/week will rise next year by RPI inflation or 2.5%, whichever's higher. See State Pension Boosting Winter Fuel Payment: The winter fuel payment's being held at £250 for over 60s and £400 for over 80s. See the Pension Service's winter fuel page. Redundancy pay boost. Pay-offs are based on age & service length. You get a set number of weeks' pay but employers can cap the weekly rate at £350. From Oct, that'll rise to £380. See Redundancy Help Car scrappage £2,000 damp squib? Of the new £2,000 for scrapping 10+ year-old cars, only £1k comes from govt, the rest from the manufacturer, but we don't know yet if it comes off the list price or haggled down price. Plus, it's only for new cars meaning there's 15% VAT, whereas you needn't pay this on nearly new. Discuss the scrappage scheme and see the motoring.co.uk eligibility checker. Mortgage strugglers help. The Support for Mortgage Interest benefit pays out as if interest is 6.08% on your mortgage. Even though interest rates have dropped, it'll remain at that rate until Dec 09. Plus, the Mortgage Rescue scheme, where the govt enlists a landlord to buy some or all of your home, is now available for those in negative equity. See the Mortgage Arrears Help guide.

Week of Tue 21 - Mon 27 Apr '09 (Last week's position) 1. Travelodge £9 sale (New) 2. Redundancy Help (New) 3. Bank Charges (9) 4. Bank Charges Hardship (7) 5. Top Cash ISAs (1) 6. Cash ISA Transfers (6) 7. Top Savings Accounts (3) 8. Freebies (4) 9. Free & Cheap Flights (8) 10. Cheap Ryanair Flights (New) The Travelodge £9 sale (only £19 rooms left now) that started last Thursday finally managed to wipe cash ISAs off the top of the charts. The new redundancy & redundancy planning guide was also v popular, shooting into second place. And Bank Charges is resurgent with so many stories of people getting many £1,000s in hardship wins. The above excludes daily deals notes

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

Income Tax Checker. What should you take home? Inc. pension & student loan calcs
Sadly, you can't just divide salary by 12 to get take home pay. Income tax, nat. insurance, student loan repayments & pension contributions can scythe mighty slices off it. So we've built an easy to use tax calc that takes all this into account. Compare with the past. You can work out tax for this year, and compare it to what you'd have paid in any of the past ten years too. Redo your budget! The new tax year started this month, so knowing your pay is crucial for budgeting. Anyone changing job, getting a pay rise or (sadly) pay cut should check they're not overpaying. New Tool: Tax Calculator Related Guides: Free Budget Planner, Money Makeover

New 2for1s at Pizza Express & GBK, plus 1/3 off Slug n Lettuce. These click 'n' prints join Strada, Prezzo, Cafe Rouge and a new M&S Dine for £10 in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

Ends Thur. FAST 20 Mbps broadband for £5.17/mth after cashback or £1.50/mth for O2 customers
A number of red-hot broadband deals end this week (though exact package & speed can depend on where you live, so check first). Cheapest broadband: Plusnet* at £5.99's the cheapest standard deal, it has a big 10Gb download limit. Yet while Plusnet's fast at up to 8Mbps, until midnight Thur 30 April the O2 premium package* at up to 20Mbps gives the first 3 mths free, so over the year's contract it's an avg. £11/mth (£7.30 for existing mobile customers). Cut costs further: Sign up for O2 through a Cashback Site and you can get up to £70 cashback, which factored in, cuts the cost to £5.17/mth or £1.50/mth for O2 customers, though remember this cashback's not 100% guaranteed. FULL info & more options in the Updated Guide: Cheap Broadband Related Guides: Cheapest Home Phones, Free Wireless Internet

Free £10.50 Nails Inc. varnish with £3.50 mag. A full-size Nails Inc. varnish is on the cover of June's InStyle, out Thurs 30 Apr (three different colours). See the full Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

Cheapest Hayfever Remedies 2009: Get 6 months' Zirtek-equivalent tablets for £5
The pollen season's here, and yet allergy sufferers can currently get a massive 180 cetirizine dihydrochloride tablets (generic equivalent of Zirtek) for under £5 delivered (28p per 30 plus del). How to get it? Online pharmacy Chemist Direct has launched the traditional summer hayfever price war. Alternatively the cheapest 7 pack is instore at Asda for 58p. Other versions: Generic equivalents of almost all allergy medicine including tablets, nasal sprays and solutions for the under 12s are available. Safety: Always check it's the right tablet for you, plus ensure you read the FULL info about safety & using online pharmacies in the Updated Guide: Cheapest Hayfever Remedies Related Guide: Cheap Prescriptions & Medications

Urgent! Florida return flights c. £175 all-in. From Gatwick, Mancs, Birmingham, Newc. and more via Thomson for departures between 2 & 16 May only, limited availability. See the Forum Note: Orlando Bargain Related Guide: Cheap Flights

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New Discount Codes. Karen Millen online 20% off and Adidas online 10% (first time it's done one). These join a click 'n' print voucher for 30% off at Gap and free Gavin & Stacey DVD vouchers in this week's Sun (30p) in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

New Cheapest 7.2% loans & a tool to find your cheapest way to borrow. New Guide
Borrowing is expensive, but necessary for some, and with rates creeping up to 20% on the high st. it's crucial to do it right. This fully re-researched guide has new tools and updated best buys. Cheapest Standard Loans: (uninsured typical APRs). For £5k - £15k Nectar cardholders (just apply with the loan if you don't have one) get a Sainsbury's deal at 7.9%; though Tesco* is worth looking at too, while it's a typical 8%, for certain combinations it's as low as 7.8% (see all top rates). Loan Marketplace: For high credit scorers borrowing large amounts, loan marketplace Zopa* drops as low as 7.2% APR, and it's also sometimes cheapest for sub £5k. Warning! You can't know the rate you'll be given without applying, but, sadly, applications add a search to your credit file, so check their online calculators first, and be sparing with apps. FULL info in the New Guide: Cheap Loans Related Guides: Best Balance Transfers, Credit Rating

10,000 free IKEA Pay-As-You-Go SIMs with £3 credit. One of the lowest call/text cost PAYG sims already, now with free credit. See the Forum Note: SIM-sational! Related Guides: Mobile Unlocking, Cheap Mobiles, Free Texts

Where to save: ISAs, Savings, Regular Savers? Video of the Week. Splash the cash... With interest rates at historic lows it's crucial to maximise every fraction of interest. Yet it's not just about getting top rates, but using the right type of accounts, whether ISAs, regular savings accounts or normal accounts. Video of the Week: The savings fountain. It shows where to put your money, starting with cash ISAs, spilling over into regular savings, then filling up the rest in £50,000 safe pots of normal savings accounts. So to demonstrate, I used the excuse to get my hands on some champagne. Video & Guide: Start SavingRelated Guides: Top Savings, Regular Savings, Cash ISAs From Fri £9 Trains Lon-Edin/York/Glasgow/Newc etc. From 1 May, The Trainline is offering single fares to anywhere along National Express' East Coast line for £9. This joins £5 off £6+ tickets and £1 coach fares, see the Deals Note: Cheap Train & Coach Deals

Ends Fri! Get an easy £50 off the already best buy phone, line rental & broadband deal
The TalkTalk* Essentials package is already the second cheapest phone & broadband deal, but until Fri 1 May (though it says Thur 30 Apr) it's offering the first 3 months' call package (£6.49/mth) and connection (£29.99) for free, total discount £49.46. What you get: While the usual price is £19.41, take this reduction into account over the 18 mth contract and it's £16.90/mth for line rental, broadband, free eve & wknd calls to landlines. Full info in the Updated Guide: Cheap Home Phones Related Guides: Cheap Broadband, Cheap Mobiles

Alliance & Leicester £100 bonus when getting 0% overdraft restarts Thur. The guide will be updated then, and there'll be a reminder next week. See Full Guide: Top Bank Accounts

Has your overdraft been cancelled? We're hearing some banks are revoking overdrafts without warning, leaving victims in financial difficulty. We want to find out more. Feedback/Report: Cancelled Overdrafts News Story: Overdrafts Cancelled Reclaim Guide: Bank Charges Hardship

Jongleurs comedy tickets £5 (usually c. £15) with a code. This joins free cinema & TV audience tickets, family holidays, 2for1s at England attractions, and more in the Daily Deals List: Cheap Days Out

MoneySavingNews. 33 MPs back MSE campaign to force savings account statements to list current interest rates. Almost 27,000 have signed the petition at No.10 (add your name) and now 33 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion. See who in the News Story: MPs Support Savers Related Guide: Top Savings Accounts

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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist

Quick links or click the titles for full pros, cons, alternatives & more savings

0% Balance Transfers: Top pick: Virgin* 16 mths 0%, 2.98% fee Cheap Gas & Elec + Cashback! Top comparison site: Energyhelpline* Free Budget Planner: Use the free planner or do a complete Money Makeover Holiday Bargains: Cheap Flights, Travel Insurance, Hotels, Package Holidays, Travel Money Top Cashback Credit Card: Top pick: Amex Plat* 5% for 3 mths. Cut Home Bills: Read full guides on Cheap Home Ins, Cheap Boiler Cover, Grant Grabbing Reclaim £1,000s: Full Mortgage Fees, C'cil Tax, Endowments, Bank Charges, PPI guides Free New Mortgage Guide: Order a copy now for free! Also see: Remortgage Guide Car Insurance: Use both MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* Also see: Van, Motorbike Teen Cash Guide: Free 40 page PDF guide to teach your kids about money MoneySaving Books: The Money Diet, Thrifty Ways, Three Lessons

More MoneySaving MSE

Free May Bank Holiday Legoland entry if you're called 'Bob or Wendy'. To celebrate Bob the Builder's 10 yr anniversary. Just take ID to prove it! See the Daily Deals List: Cheap Days Out! Starting University this year? Wait until summer before you apply for a bank account HSBC has launched its student account early this year, but don’t just leap in and apply, you won't actually get the overdraft any sooner. Getting the biggest 0% overdraft is the key and on past form HSBC's won't be. Best practice is to wait until all the others launch their 2009-10 deals and then compare. Full info right here, of course. 2008/9 Guide: Top Student Accounts Related Guides: Student Loans, Student Money Saving 0870 update. Regulator attempts to cut 0870 call costs. See the Guide: Say No To 0870 Make £100s from recycling your old phone. Plus, now get 10% extra in Argos vouchers from a top payer It's possible to earn up to £150 cash by recycling unused handsets via specialist mobile recycling sites. Get 10% extra in Argos vouchers: One of the top payers Mazuma* is now offering 10% on top of its cash prices if you opt to be paid in Argos vouchers. This doesn't automatically make it the top payer, though. Mobile Selling Checker: Tell it your phone's make & model and it tells you what each of ten main companies will pay to ensure you find the highest payer. See the Guide & Comparison tool: Sell Old Mobiles Related Guides: Cheap Mobiles, Mobile Phone Insurance MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Do you give cash to just one of your kids? Mick's 21-year-old son Gavin has always been rubbish with money and has difficult credit card and overdraft debts, yet his twin sister Stacey's always been money savvy and never owed a penny. After an unexpected bonus at work Mick has spare cash, he's promised to help Gavin out of difficulty but then there's nothing left to give Stacey. Should he simply give each child the money equally? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Do you give cash to just one of your kids? Previous MMDs: View All New Forum Section! Reclaim, Reclaim, Reclaim. Bank & Credit Card Charges, Insurance, Lost Assets To partner the main site's Reclaim Section, we've created a new Reclaiming Section in the forum with three sub boards, the existing PPI Reclaiming, Bank & Credit Card Reclaiming and the new Other Reclaiming board covering lost assets and missold endowments. Recent Discussions: Bank Charges Appeal, Claiming PPI after an IVA, Yay, PPI result! Related Guides: PPI Reclaiming, Bank Charges Hardship

Q. When I was in Turkey/Thailand etc I saw savings offering 10% interest. Any reason I shouldn't save there to earn more? (amalgamated question from many) Martin's A. Saving means putting your money away with no risk (ignoring the banks going bust issue). Yet what you're suggesting is more akin to investing as there are a number of substantial risks. The first's the exchange rate. If it's in a foreign currency, unless you're planning to spend it there you'll need to convert it back at some point. So imagine after a year you've earned 10% interest, but the currency's dropped by 20%; it means you've actually lost just over 10%. Though the other way round it'd be in your favour. Next is the fact cash in UK banks is protected by the government up to £50,000 per person per financial institution (see Safe Savings). Yet money overseas means you're reliant on foreign govts and their attitude to savers from overseas. Then there's tax, foreign regulations, limit on capital movements and more. So while it isn't a "don't do" as frankly it's beyond my expertise, it is a "know it's a risk". Discuss: Opening Savings Accounts Abroad? Suggest: A question of the week (big general issues not personal q's pls)

Govt to boost Credit Union coffers - more loans available. In the budget, £19m was made available to these local non-profit savings and loan co-operatives to help them lend out more cash. See the Full Guide: Credit Unions Q&A guide.

Great 'What to Buy at Costco & Makro' Hunt. What should and shouldn't you grab?
The premise of warehouse clubs, such as Costco and Makro, is simple: they draw you in by stacking high, selling cheap, yet make profits by flogging own brand products and charging membership fees (Costco). Therefore I want to tap MoneySavers' knowledge to find the best value deals. What should and shouldn't you grab? And you can only join Makro if you run a business, but are there any ways to (legally) get through the door if you don't? Add your ideas/read other people's: Great 'What to buy at Costco & Makro' Hunt Past Great Hunts: Crucial Phone Numbers, View all

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

Top Deal! 12 bottles of M&S wine £2.90/each online. Rose. Bottoms Up Lonely Planet Spain £2.49 inc. delivery at Tesco online (RRP £16). Low costa! £97 Xbox Arcade & £127 Nintendo DSi at ASDA. Limited stocks in-store. Go quick! Free £4.85 Body Shop body butter, with a £3.30 mag. Skin cheap Krispy Kreme Discounts. A new offer every day this week. Save your dough Free A5 softcover photobook Just pay £2.50 p&p Ends Sun 3 May Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Too scared to face up to my debts Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: How long does red wine keep?

CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Ryanair. Price: sub. £20 e/w. Ends: Thurs 30 April.
Our top pick budget airline sale this week is Ryanair's sale, with flights to a host of European destinations from a range of UK airports for between £5.99 and £19.99 each way (including some taxes and charges). Tickets are at this price until Thurs 30 April, on selected flights travelling between now and 30 June '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 £20. 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

MoneySavingNews. MPs call for energy price cuts. See the News Story: Energy cuts Related Guide: Cheap Gas & Elec

Great 'Cheap Ferry Tickets' Hunt Result
Last week I called upon MoneySavers to offer up their top tips on finding Ferry Ticket Comparisons. There were some great suggestions including Wightlink takes Tesco Clubcard Vouchers, Eurotunnel and LD Lines/Transmanche

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Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Makers Mark Goodies, Garden Planner Download, Paolo Nutini Download, L'Oreal Collagen Filler for Lips, Yakult Health Tips Book

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances...Weds 29 April - Tues 5 May
These are scheduled appearances, though other ad hocs may happen. See the appearances list for updates.

• Thurs, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 8:30 & 9:30am. Deals of the Week.
• All next week, Countdown, Channel 4, 3.25 to 4:15pm. In dictionary corner.
• Tues, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 7:20 & 9:30am. The topic's news reactive.

This week's Martin's Blog: The Recession's over...it's recovery time!
"An Episode of Exemplary Customer Service" and "Hell's Kitchen: I hate trifle. I didn't hate this. That in itself is impressive". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

Should high earners pay 50% tax? This week's poll. Vote and 50% tax discussion.

You're richer than your parents! Last Week’s Vote. Last week's vote was broken down into three age categories. Under 30s: Better off than parents - 55%, Worse off - 31%. 30-50s: Better off - 54%, Worse off - 33%. Over 50s: Better off - 71%, Worse off - 20%. See Family Riches poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Line the jewels up to make four in a row. Jewel Lines

Family pet or stationary? That's it for this week, but I'm not sure if there's something quite hypnotic or disturbing about this video of a live bunny letter opener. Mail bunny

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 0EH 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: americanexpress.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, gocompare.com, mazumamobile.com, moneysupermarket.com, o2.co.uk, plus.net, talktalk.co.uk, tescofinance.com, uk.virginmoney.co, uk.zopa.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.

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