Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Heard the ads? Can you really cancel old loans/get credit card debts wiped out? The airwaves are plagued with claims companies promising to wipe out pre-April 2007 debts by exploiting Consumer Credit Act loopholes. Alongside another major consumer group, for months we’ve been working on a full guide to expose the myths & reality. The legal issues mean we’re not there yet, but my mailbag’s now so big on this, here’s a brief provisional synopsis. The legal premise. It’s argued if lenders can’t produce a credit agreement or made admin errors, eg, omitting a key term like the APR, the debt can be wiped. This is not universally accepted, and there’s only limited evidence of success. What you get. It’s not about money back, but not needing to pay the debt. We’ve asked many claims handlers for evidence, and of the few proven successes, most are for limited settlements, or an agreement not to pursue debts, though that ruins your credit score. DON’T pay upfront. Some of the most vigorous marketing and exaggerated promises are from companies asking for £100s upfront. Personally, I wouldn’t go near them. If you feel you have a case, try a no-win, no fee handler only if they take a max 25% of the written-off debt. Is it moral? If people have been missold loans, eg, wrongly forced to take out PPI insurance (see PPI reclaiming), fair enough. Yet wider reclaiming based on a technicality when someone’s chosen to borrow cash is more questionable. What the courts say. A Chester County Court Judge is currently considering suspending all his cases pending results of some prospective High Court test cases (see Court credit hold news story). Some believe it’d mean all similar claims go on hold, though non-court negotiation would still take place. What's next? We’re keeping working on the guide, which will detail both a legal assessment of how to do it yourself and will list reputable claims handlers. When it’s ready it’ll of course be in this weekly e-mail. Sadly, discussion in the forum is limited on this one as claims handlers are a litigious bunch, and the risk of handing them a juicy libel claim from some flippant comment sadly means discussion needs to be put on hold until we’re fully ready to publish.

Week of Tue 05 - Mon 11 May '09 (Last week's position) 1. Freebies (2) 2. Top Cash ISAs (1) 3. Cheap Train Deals (New) 4. Top Savings Accounts (3) 5. 0800Buster (New) 6. Cheap Travel Money (9) 7. Credit Ratings Guide (New) 8. Hotel Sales (8) 9. Cheap Flights (7) 10. Travel Insurance (New) The two month free family railcard (it's still on) boosted the cheap train deals guide to the top of the tree. Not far behind was 0800 buster, a nifty way to get 0800 numbers free on your mobile. Bizarrely the lead guide Credit Ratings only came in seventh place, though I suspect this week's way to get paid to check your file will boost its popularity as well as your credit score! The above excludes daily deals notes

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

Boost your income! Earn £100s from top online surveys & focus groups. New Guide
If you're willing to give your views on topics like the Labour Party, lingerie or the latest moisturiser, you can make cash. This is our brand new step-by-step guide to the top paying online survey & market research companies. What it involves: It's either filling in surveys, reviewing products online (sometimes you get freebies too), or giving your views in face-to-face focus groups. How much can you make? Dedicated survey do-ers get £200ish a year from home, or go out to focus groups for up to £100 a time. Full info & how to join in the New Guide: Survey Stashing Related: Boost Your Income, Cashback Sites, eBay Selling

Urgent! Ends Friday. Free £3 Pint of Guinness. Just register for the O'Neill's email and print a voucher to be used in its pubs. See the Deals Note: Enjoy the Craic!

Energy Price Cuts. British Gas DROPS elec price by up to 10%. Time to switch?
British Gas' shock elec price cut has reduced its standard & prepay electricity tariffs by an avg 10% and most online elec tariffs by 5-7%. Time To Switch? Tough call. If this is the first in a new round of cuts it may be worth holding off in case others undercut it. Yet BG could just be playing catch-up as the other big suppliers have already cut elec prices this year, meaning switch now. Industry View: Energy insiders think reducing gas prices in Feb and electricity now is a clever way to get two price cut headlines, so they're not predicting imminent market wide major cuts, though 5-10% is possible. To Switch & Get Cashback: (only via these special links) Top Pick Comparison: Energyhelpline* pays £15 cashback per switch. Dual Fuel: Moneysupermarket* gives £30 cashback, Uswitch* a free case of wine & SimplySwitch* £35 in Amazon vouchers. FULL info inc. for those who've CAPPED in the Updated Guide: Switch Gas & Elec Related: Grant Grabbing, Boiler Cover

Sat Nav with UK & Europe maps £50. This and the latest round of researched sat nav bargains in the Deals Note: Cheap Sat Navs

New La Tasca 50% off & GBK £5.95 burger 'n' fries voucher. These join 2for1s at Pizza Express, Prezzo and £9 three courses & wine deal at Tesco. See the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

New Top Long Term Balance Transfer. Shift credit card debts to 6.3% for 3 years. Updated Guide
Barclaycard's just launched a new Platinum card that lets new customers shift debts from other credit cards to it (within 60 days), fees free at 6.3% for 3 years, (then 12.4% APR). Longer Deals: Barclaycard Simplicity* is 6.8% APR for LIFE. Alternatively, if you already have a Barclaycard, the shorter-term Capital One* Platinum is 6.9% fixed until Jan 2012 (then 15.9% APR) but you'll need a good credit score. 0% Deals: The longest is Virgin* which offers new customers 0% for 16 mths with a 2.98% fee (then 18.6% APR). If you already have it, the next longest online deal's Tesco at 14 mths 0% with a 2.9% fee (then 15.9% APR). Warning! Never spend on a balance transfer card or it can cost you large. FULL info, more options, pros & cons in the Updated Guide: Balance Transfers Related: Free Credit Check, Problem Debt Help, Top Cashback Cards

Heads Up! Five £5 off £30 spend Morrisons vouchers. We've a tip-off these vouchers are in next week's The Sun (Mon-Sat) valid for 6 weeks; meaning Morrisons shoppers buying the 30p paper make £4.70 profit. See the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

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Urgent! Ends Wed. Free Sky+ box (usually £99) & £50 M&S vouchers. The deal's back; new Sky customers get it by signing up via Moneysupermarket* to a year-long contract. FULL info, alternatives & options see the Forum Note: Free Sky+

Home Insurance Warning! Revalue buildings cover to save. Plus get PAID to have contents cover?
Hot competition and the recession have changed the home insurance landscape. Buildings Cover: The aim's to cover your home's rebuild (not market) value, and the decreased cost of building projects & raw materials means values have dropped in many areas. See Rebuild Valuations info to check you're not overcovered. Get PAID for a policy. For those considering cutting out contents cover, it's not just increasing burglary worries that may change your mind. Some MoneySavers actually get PAID to take insurance out (record is £67 PROFIT) as cashback sites give more out than some policies cost. To check, first find the cheapest cover using a combination of comparison sites, our top three are Confused*, CompareTM* and Mon Supmkt* then check cashback sites for a rebate. Full step-by-step in the Updated Guide: Cheap Home Insurance Related: Cheap Car Insurance, Boiler Insurance, Mortgage Life Insurance

50,000 more £19 Travelodge summer room sale starts Thurs. On Thurs 6am, the budget hotel chain will add 50,000 UK rooms at £19 (usually £29-£59) for stays 1 July - 31 Aug. See the Deals Note: Travelodge Sale Related: Cheap Hotels

Urgent! Railcard prices hiked Sun & last chance free family railcard. On Sun (17 May) Senior, 16-24 & family railcards jump from £24 to £26, buy now to beat it. Plus until Wed get a free 2 mth Family & Friends Railcard which then gives a 50%-off code. See the Deals Note: Cheap Train & Coach Deals

Urgent. Ends Sun! Get PAID £7.50 to check your credit files. Boost your credit score too. It's important to annually check your credit file for errors and to see what it says about you. Free trial: Both Equifax & Experian offer a free month's trial of their £70+/year credit monitoring services which also allow you to see your file. So try it, see the file, then cancel. Get paid: Until Sun 17 May sign up via cashback site Topcashback and it'll give you £7 for trialling Equifax and 50p for Experian (which as the biggest agency is important), though as always this cashback's never 100% guaranteed. How to cancel: If you forget to cancel you'll start paying by direct debit, so be careful, see full cancellation info .Credit score boosting: There are masses of tips & info on how to increase acceptibility in the Updated Guide: Improve Credit Ratings, plus watch last Fri.'s ITV1 Tonight Credit Secrets Clinic (click the image) Related: Top Cashback Sites

New Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Alton Towers, & regional theme parks 2for1s. Vouchers galore either click 'n' print from GMTV, buy Wed's Mirror or Persil detergent. See the Daily Deals List: Cheap days out

New! Double Tesco points' STORE value. Turn £5 voucher into a tenner on non-food goods.
Tesco's Clubcard loyalty system lets you earn points for spending in-store, online or on its credit card. New Double Points: Until 30 Sept, either go online or ask in-store customer services to convert normal vouchers into double-up vouchers for goods categories including: babies, clothing; cosmetics, skincare & fragrances, flowers, gardening, toys, wine. Quadruple on Deals: As always though, you can get up to 4x the value converting them into its partners' Clubcard deals inc. RAC membership, days out, magazine subscriptions, etc. Which is best? Clubcard deals are usually better value but double-up gives more immediacy, range & convenience. See the News Story: Clubcard revamp Discuss: Double Up Vouchers Related: Boost Loyalty Points (Tesco, Airmiles, Nectar), Slash supermarket costs

25% off M&S bras & four day Debenhams 25% off sale starts Wed. These join the House of Fraser 'up to £25 off' summer clothes sale in the Daily Deals List: High Street Sales

Last Chance! Fed up with being treated poorly as a saver? Act now. Read or sign the Savers' Rights No.10 petition which closes Sun, plus ask your MP to support the Savings Early Day Motion via Writetothem

New cheapest way to spend abroad - Abbey Zero's Back! Updated Guide
After a two-month absence, the Abbey Zero card has relaunched to new applicants and jumped back to No.1 spot as the cheapest way to spend abroad. How it compares: The key weapon both it and runner-up the Post Office* have is they don't 'load' exchange rates. Most debit & credit cards load roughly 3% on top, so for example, buy £100 worth of Euros and you pay £103. With these you just pay £100 meaning you get more buck for your bang. Why Abbey wins: Of the 'no-load anywhere' cards, it's the only one that doesn't charge a fee for withdrawing cash from ATMs. Do always ensure you repay in full each month though to minimise any interest. FULL info in the Updated Guide: Spending Overseas Tool: Travel Money Maximiser Related: Travel Insurance, Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels

Free £30 PAYG Mobile Broadband laptop dongle (£5 p&p). Three mobile's giving away USB dongles for web surfing anywhere there's a mobile signal. You pay for data top-ups (min £10=1GB) though they only last 30 days. See the Updated Guide: Mobile Broadband

Free Coldplay Album Download available Fri. Its new live recording album LeftRightLeftRightLeft is free to download from its website. See the Forum Note: Free Coldplay Album

The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist

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

Car Insurance: Use both MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* Also see: Van, Motorbike Top Bank Account: £100, 0% overdraft, free travel ins with A&L* Free Budget Planner: Use the free planner or do a complete Money Makeover Top Cashback Credit Card: Top pick: Amex Plat* 5% for 3 mths. (APR 18.9%) 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 Cheap Broadband:  Plusnet* £6/mth up to 10 Gb download.  Home Phone & Broadband: TalkTalk* £19.41/mth or Tiscali* £17.49 Holiday Bargains: Flights, Travel Ins, Hotels, Package Holidays, Travel Money

More MoneySaving MSE

Extra £5 for selling old mobiles with special code. Put the code m4m002 in Money4urmobile* and you get an extra £5 on top. First use the Mobile Selling Checker to find the top payer and if it doesn't beat money4urmobile by a fiver, use the code. Full details and tool in the Updated Guide: Mobile Recycling Great 'Hotels & B&Bs owners want to offer MoneySavers a discount?' Hunt: Give us vouchers & codes Most of our best deals are for hotel chains, but we wanted to give smaller Hotel & B&B owners a chance to offer MoneySavers an original discount on stays. So we're suspending the 'no ads' rule for hotels big and small, but ONLY in one special forum thread. The aim is that smaller hoteliers get some valuable custom and MoneySavers get a chance to grab stylish accommodation for less. Plus we'll put any really cracking deals in future free weekly emails. Add yours/ read them/ check rules in the Great 'Hotels & B&Bs, want to offer MoneySavers a discount?' Hunt. Related: Cheap Hotels Guide, Hotel Sales Deals Money Saving News TalkTalk steps in to rescue Tiscali. See the News Story: Tiscali bought Related: Cheap landline calls 0800 100 100 free Directory Enquiries temporarily out of order. Use other free services Free directory enquiries service 0800 100 100 is relocating to a new call centre and has temporarily suspended its service. Alternatives include an automated service on 0800 118 3733, though you'll also have to listen to adverts. Plus, of course, you can do it for free via the internet or even using your mobile's web system. For full info see the Updated Guide: Free Directory Enquiries Related: Text For Free MoneySavingExpert.com Freelance Opportunity. London-based Freelance VBulletin developer required for two-day project. More Info MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you give up a £50 train seat for a pregnant woman? You book an advance seat on a five-hour train journey. It's a Bank Holiday weekend, and there's standing room only for non-reserved passengers, including a heavily pregnant woman. Normally, you'd be up in a flash, but are loathe to give up your seat, as it's a £50 ticket and you booked early, knowing it'd be crowded. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would you give up a £50 train seat for a pregnant woman? Previous MMDs: View All 'How to be an Amazing Mum' book giveaway. 50 copies blagged for MoneySavers. Want one?

Q. Is it true energy suppliers can’t reclaim the cost of unbilled energy after a year? Asked on Fri Radio 2's Vine. Martin's A. I wasn't 100% sure when asked live, so we've checked. There are two types of protection: The Statute of Limitations means you can't be pursued in court for civil issues six years after the event (five in Scotland) and this covers utility bills. Most big suppliers also signed up to a Code of Practice for Accurate Billing in July 06. It has rules saying WHEN your supplier can't chase you for bills over a year old, meaning the debts are wiped. This includes... • Bills based on estimated meter readings even when you've taken your own meter readings (if you've not given readings they can chase). • If you're billed based on 4 digits when there is actually a 5 digit meter at the premises. • If you've flagged up a query or fault about the account in writing, and the supplier's done nothing. This is the one to use if you haven't had a bill and have asked for one. • If you've told your supplier of a new address but it keeps sending bills to the old one. If the bill isn't wiped & you're in debt with your supplier it should agree a suitable repayment plan which equals the length of time it took to build the debt. If issues aren't sorted as they should be, complain to the Energy Ombudsman. Discuss: Unbilled Energy Suggest: A question of the week (big general issues not personal q’s pls)

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

6 Energy Saving lightbulbs for 48p at Morrisons. Bright idea Half-price Pimms substitutes, £5 at Aldi, £6.24 at Sainsburys. Pitchers o'clock? 50% off Auto Trader listings using a cashback loophole. Auto-matic savings £1.99 bottles wine. Three Mills red, white & rose. Bottoms up 16 Andrex toilet rolls £5. Can you beat it? Bum deal! Free espresso for Londoners. Just hand over a free London paper. Credit Crussh Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Would you sell your home to pay debt? Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: Food for caravan holidays

 

CHEAP FLIGHTS SALES ALERT Airline: Ryanair. Price: sub. £10 e/w. Ends: Midnight Weds13 May.
Our top pick budget airline sale this week is Ryanair's, with flights to a host of European destinations, from a range of UK airports, for £10 each way (including some taxes and charges). Tickets are at this price until midnight Weds 13 May, on selected flights travelling between Tues 26 May and Mon 13 July 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 £10. Non-Budget Airline Tools: These are listed in the Cheap Flights guide. Related: Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance, Mobile Roaming

MoneySaving News Minimum wage up to £5.80 an hour from October See the News Story: Minimum wage up Related Guide: Benefits check-up

Board of the Week: Greenfingered MoneySaving
The Greenfingered MoneySaving Board offers a wealth of information on all things gardening from like-minded MoneySavers. Discussions include Becoming self-sufficient from scratch, From Jungle to Garden and Growing Potatoes

Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Lipton Infusions Tea, Dog Food, City Farm Visits Latin American Festival (London), Vegetable Seeds

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances...Weds 13 - Tues 19 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. Supermarket Shopping.
• Mon, Watchdog, BBC1, 7:30pm. Tips to beat the credit crunch.
• Tues, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 7:20 & 9:30am. The topic's news reactive.
• Tues, Jo Whiley, Radio 1, 12pm. Motoring MoneySaving.

This week's Martin's Blog: "Dear Gordon, why no response on Bank Charges?"
And "Apparently my Stiffies was cut!". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

What's the hottest 2for1 restaurant deal? This week's poll. Vote and Top 2for1s discussion.

Car Sticker Slogan Winner "Money for nothing - tips for free", 4,168 voted. It was a runaway winner in the new car sticker slogan vote last week with a mammoth 45%. See Car sticker poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Use your limited cash supply to build super-strong bridges. Cargo Bridge

Ten big gobs in white suits – beautiful!  That’s it for this week, but before we go, if you’re enjoying Britain’s Got Talent you’ll love The Original Voca People

We hope you save some money,

Martin & the MSE team

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: alliance-leicester.co.uk, americanexpress.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, comparethemarket.com, confused.com, energyhelpline.com, gocompare.com, halifax.co.uk, money4urmobile.com, moneysupermarket.com, plus.net ,postoffice.co.uk, simplyswitch.com, talktalk.co.uk, tiscali.co.uk, uswitch.com, uk.virginmoney.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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