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Postal Strike Checklist Monitor your bills to escape fines This Thursday & Friday's planned postal strike is likely to add to the already large delivery backlog. While for most letters, delays are a pain not a problem, with bills always check online or call to ensure all's ok... Credit Cards: Late or missed payments can mean a £12 fine, a hit to your credit score, and a loss of any 0% or promo rates. While many big providers, e.g. Barclaycard, MBNA & Amex have promised leniency (see the credit card postal strike MSE News story), there's no guarantee. Bank Statements: Use ATM mini-statements to ensure you don't go overdrawn or get bank charges. Car / Home Insurance Renewal: Check when it's due in case you don't receive the renewal note in time to get a cheaper price (see cheap car & home insurance guides) 31 Oct tax deadline: If completing a paper tax assessment form, it needs to be in by 31 Oct, so if you're worried deliver by hand or do it online instead as then the deadline's 31 Jan (see the Tax return postal strike MSE News story). . Utility Bills: If you're billed by post, ensure you don't lose out on early payment discounts. School / Uni Applications: Many primary & secondary school applications close this week, deliver by hand if it's urgent. eBay sales: If you're an eBay seller, do communicate the possibility of late delivery to buyers, or your feedback could be hit (see ebay selling guide). Plus as a general rule, don't post cheques. Instead pay bills by debit card over the phone, by bank transfer, at bank counters, by Direct Debit, or via online billing. It's worth noting delivery by specific parcel firms is unlikely to be affected, even from Royal Mail's ParcelForce, though if you need it you can often halve the cost via Cheap Parcel Delivery guide. Discuss: Postal Strike Problems

Anger over new Halifax overdraft fees FSA mortgage crackdown: how it affects you What banks' 'key changes' letters really mean PPI sales ban setback following Barclays appeal Is the debt write-off industry a write-off? This week's full MSE News list Week of Tue 13 - Mon 19 Oct '09 (Last week's position) 1. Top Savings (1) 2. Travelodge Sale (New) 3. Top Cash ISAs (New) 4. Reclaim Bank Charges (New) 5. Cheap Train Tickets (New) The above excludes daily deals notes

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PS. BBC1 Thur 8pm, as well as talking about Halifax's new overdraft charges, I face the new Watchdog 'celeb consumer quiz' (gulp)

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

Broadband £4/month. The cheapest's got even cheaper with special code.
Major broadband price cuts again. Cheapest Standard Deal: Plusnet, owned by BT is already cheapest at £5.99/mth, yet go via Broadband Choices* using the code 'bbchoices4' and you get 4 months' free, meaning the avg. cost over the year's contract's just £4/mth. Feedback's good, speed's 'up to' 8Mbps and there's a generous 10Gb download limit (unltd overnight). Unlimited Download: Until 31 Oct, Be Value's* up to 8Mbps unltd download package is £6.75/mth (usually £13.50) using the code 'halfprice'. Superfast: Currently O2's Premium* unltd download package with speeds up to 20Mbps is £14.64/mth (£9.69/mth for o2 mobile customers) but you get the first 3 mths free; though always use a postcode speed estimator to see if paying extra's worth it. To boost the gain go via a Cashback Site and up to £75's available, but remember this type of cashback's not 100% guaranteed. General warning: If you're one of the 20% of the UK not near these providers 'unbundled' exchanges, you'll pay more. FULL info & more options in the Updated Guide: Cheap Broadband Related: Cheap Home Phones, Free Wireless Internet

Gillette fusion razor £3.75 inc. vibrating razor, gel & two blades (usually c. £14.99). At Boots nationwide; perfect stocking filler. Full info in the Deals Note: Beauty Deals

New top card for credit rejects. Help rebuild your credit score.
If you're rejected for new credit, the top tip to build your score is get a credit card, even at a hideous rate, spend a little each month, but ALWAYS REPAY IN FULL to avoid any interest cost. New Top Reject Card: If you've an ok credit score e.g. no defaults/CCJs but a few missed payments, but get turned down for cheap credit the new Capital One* Progress card, while not cheap at 34.9% APR, does promise to reduce the rate by 5% every six mths provided you don't miss payments. So after 18 mths it'd be 19.9% APR, which if you still can't get other credit, at least you may be able to shift other costlier debts to it. Worse credit history? Cards that may accept CCJs & defaults include the Barclaycard Initial (27.9% APR) and Capital One* Classic (34.9% APR). Last resort: The Cashplus Creditbuilder* prepaid card costing £5, doesn't need a credit check, as you load cash on in advance, but cunningly the £5/mth (£60 a year) fee counts as a loan, so still helps rebuild your score. FULL step-by-step info, pros & cons in the New Guide: Top Credit Rebuild Cards Related: Free Credit File Check

£10 Travelodge sale for next week's half term. Its latest sale starting Thur 6am surprisingly includes 1,000 rooms for next week's half term, normally its sales are only for long term advance bookings. See the Deals Note: Travelodge Sale Related: Cheap Hotels, Hotel Sales, Cheap Trains

DEAL ENDED: Get a 19" LCD HD TV for £130 with a free 8GB MP3 player thrown in. The price has now increased to £170. See the Forum Note: £130 19" TV

Freebies, Freebies, Freebies. List of 100s of freebies inc. downloads, pet food, flights, & more. Updated Guide Whether it's song downloads, tea samples, Harry Potter bookmarks, gym passes, nappies or more - it's all available for free on the internet if you know where to look. 100s of freebies: Each week this email lists all the urgent ones, but there are lots that aren't short-lived so whether they're herbal tea or condoms we put them in a massive compendium, which we've just fully updated. See the full categorised list in the Updated Guide: Freebies, Freebies, Freebies Related: Tips, Tricks & Treats New! £10ish Jemma Kidd lipgloss with Bodyform (£1.50), Body Shop makeup brushes £20 with code (worth £40). These join £45 Lancome set for £20 (low stock), free £10 spend at Molton Brown with £4 mag and 10% off Superdrug online in the Daily Deals List: Beauty Deals

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Half price Asda toy sale. Inc £5 Disney games, Peppa Pig £20 gift set & £35 doll's house. Until 9 Nov though stock's flying fast already. Full details in the Deals List: High St Sales

Days out for half term! Alton Towers 2for1, 1p early morning bowling, free tennis & more. Joins National Children's Museum kids go free, Rileys pool clubs £10 night out, Royal Opera House £10 student tickets and loads more in the Deals Notes: Cheap Days Out and Cheap Theme Parks

New Cheapest 7.9% Loan. Top way to borrow if you need a lump sum.
If you need to borrow it's important to get as little as possible and do it the cheapest way. While high st. rates are creeping up to 20% this week the top rate's been cut. Cheapest Standard Loans: (uninsured typical APRs). For £7.5k - £15k Alliance & Leicester* is 7.9% APR, though also check Tesco* which while typically 8% APR for certain combinations is as low as 7.8%. For other amounts see all top rates. Loan Marketplace: If you've a very good credit score and are borrowing smaller amounts, loan marketplace Zopa* costs 9.6% APR for £4,000, which sounds costly but next best is Asda at 12.9%). Warning! You can't know the rate you'll be given without applying, but, sadly, applications usually add a search to your credit file, so check online calculators first, and be sparing with apps. FULL info, calculators & best buys in the Updated Guide: Cheap Loans Related: Best Balance Transfers, Credit Rating, Treasury Comm probes application trap

Free Hovis 800g Bread (worth c. £1.20). Just register 'n' print the voucher & redeem at any participating retailer. Joins free Candia milk, Shloer £1 off, Kerrygold Lighter spread 40p off and loads of others in the Deals List: Supermarket Coupons

New! Dominos 50% off, Bella Italia & Prezzo two courses 'n' drink £10 plus ASK 2for1 for a £1. Joins £20 two courses & wine for two at Young's pubs, 50% off at La Tasca and 2 mains for £10 at Pizza Express in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

Money lessons from the wartime generation. Video of the Week. Thrifty Ways for Modern Days (ITV1) Can we learn lessons from the war generation? Video of the Week: On Friday night, with help from an army of the UK's thrifty tipsters, I presented ITV1's Tonight, with scores of old style and extreme MoneySaving e.g. using a microwave turntable as a TV stand, porting excess shower water to flush the loo or even roadkill cooking. Watch it back: Thrifty Ways (ITV). Thrift Book & Forum: For more thrifty help check out the Thrifty Ways book (all my author's proceeds go to the MSE Charity) and the Old Style MoneySaving forum where all the tips and tipsters emanate from. New Amazon price monitor, track the perfect moment to buy. Amazon often varies the price of its goods, yet when they get cheap they sell out quick. A new free site lets you enter your desired price and emails you when Amazon hits it. See the Forum Note: Amazon Price Monitor Related: Cheap Online Shopping

Slash Cinema Costs! New Odeon reward card, Orange 2for1 Wed for EVERYONE & more
Whether you want to see Up or 2012 this half term, there are a raft of ways to grab seriously cheap or free cinema tickets. New Odeon Reward Card: This lets you stash points & earn free tickets; for some but not all it can mean much cheaper tickets, see the Full review: Odeon Reward Card. Orange 2for1 for ALL: Any Orange customer can text 241 on a Wednesday to get the half price tickets, but even if you're not on Orange grab a free Orange Sim and pop it in your unlocked mobile on Wed and you can get this too. Full Info: Orange 2for1 loophole guide. Other ticket tricks: There are loads more ways to save, including 1,000 people a week who buy Cineworld tickets on Mastercard get another free, or £3 adult / £2 child Cineworld tickets with Tesco Clubcard Rewards. See the Deals Note: Cheap Days Out

New! Free House of Fraser £5 gift voucher in a £2 paper. Joins £5 off £50 online spend at Tesco Direct in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

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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 (APR 18.6% for BTs) Top Savings: Easy Access: Citibank* 3.3% inc 2.25% bonus Clean: IF 2.49% (both min £1) Cheap Gas & Elec + Cashback! Top comparison site: Energyhelpline* Car Insurance: Use both MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* Also see: Van, Motorbike Cheap Travel Ins: Annual policies from £15, worldwide £21. See Cheap Travel Ins Top Cashback Credit Card: Top pick: Amex Plat* 5% for 3 mths. (APR 19.9%) Reclaim £1,000s: Full Mortgage Fees, C'cil Tax, Endowments, Bank Charges, PPI guides Home Phone & Broadband: TalkTalk* £15.27/mth or Tiscali* £15.82

More MoneySaving MSE

Speedily beat costly 0870 and 0845 call costs on your mobile. A few third-party mobile applications allow you to quickly search for alternative numbers from your phone. Full details in the Updated Guide: Say No To 0870 Cheap Flight Sales Alert. Airline: Ryanair. Price: £5 e/w. Ends: Midnight Thurs 22 Oct Our pick this week is the Ryanair £5 e/w sale: On until midnight Thurs 22 Oct, it includes some taxes & charges. It's for Mon 2 Nov-Thurs 17 Dec flights to a range of European destinations from many UK airports. To find them quickly use the FlightChecker on a £5 max search. Extra Charges Warning: Avoid, payment and check-in charges, see the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance. New! Free debt advice line opens in Northern Ireland. The new gov. funded advice4debtNI offers free, confidential and independent phone or email advice on dealing with debt. Full contact details in the Debt Problems guide. MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Janine profit from a Freecycle telly? Janine needs a new telly, and is thrilled when she wangles a free fab-condition Sony from her local Freecycle (see full Freecycle guide). Yet a month later, her friend Archie offers her his old, even better, HD-TV. She mentions the fact she's getting a new telly to a work colleague, who then offers her £50 for her current one. She's tempted to flog it rather than donate it back to Freecycle. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should she profit from Freecycle? Previous MMDs: View All Great 'Hotel Staff, tell us how to get an Upgrade' Hunt There's nothing sweeter than bagging a free upgrade to a bigger, better, more expensive hotel room. So we'd like any MoneySavers who work or have worked at hotels to dish the dirt on their upgrade policies. What's the best time to arrive, is it worth mentioning your anniversary/birthday, dressing up posh or just asking outright? Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great Hotel Staff, tell us how to get an Upgrade Hunt Past Great Hunts: View all

Q. I'm going to be made redundant in December. Do I have to declare it on a mortgage application, or can I just state my current employment status? Adam, by email. A. You should always answer the questions honestly. So where it asks you to fill in your job, you are currently working, so you should put your current job down. Yet it is also likely that the declaration you sign at the bottom of the form (or T&Cs that you tick to agree with) will require you to disclose anything to the lender which could impinge upon your financial situation. There may also be a section which asks you to expand on that. And if so, as due redundancy is a material fact which will affect how the bank views you as a possible borrower, you need to declare it. Certainly any mortgage protection insurance would be invalid if you didn't declare it. See the Redundancy Planning guide for help preparing yourself. Discuss: Declare redundancy? 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 Tips, Tricks & Treats

Top deal! Free Becks Beer Glass. 100,000 being given away First come, first served New Editors CD album £4.99 inc. P&P online. Headline Deal £4.99 Peter Storm men's & women's fleeces at Millets (75% off). Don't get fleeced! £2.93 Pingu The Snowboarder DVD online inc. P&P. Nice stocking filler 70% off Steve Madden shoes on Amazon. Inc. £29 reduced from £100. Heel deal! £3.50 Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts 800gm tin at Netto. All good! Sub-£100 wedding dresses, plus more. Sold as seen but maybe worth a punt? £25 Dr Martens fashion boots, reduced from £50. Heely cheap Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Evicted for a 5 yr old C'cil Tax debt? Competitions thread of the week: Trip to Nepal Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: Any vinegar experts out there?

Board of the Week! Reclaim PPI & Other Insurance
It's perhaps the biggest reclaim scandal out there: we wouldn't be surprised if up to £10bn of Payment Protection Insurance has been missold. Over 600,000 template letters have been downloaded. To compliment the PPI Reclaiming guide there's a full board where MoneySavers can discuss their reclaims. Recent Discussions: Reclaiming PPI sold 15 years ago, Should I accept these offers?, Do you think I can claim? Board Link: PPI Reclaiming Board

Great 'Gold Selling Tips' Hunt Result
The high price of gold means you can get a pretty penny for your old jewellery and there's adverts to do it all around so last week I tapped MoneySavers' wealth of knowledge to find your top tips. There were some great suggestions including Check your clear stones, Valuing 24 carat gold and Try Car Boot Sales and Antique Dealers

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Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Battle Forge Computer Game, Interactive Learn to Read Books, Xmas Sheet Music, Huggies Pyjama Pants, Classical Concerts (Cardiff)

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances...Weds 21 - Tues 27 Oct
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.
• Thurs, Watchdog, BBC1, 8pm. Halifax's new overdraft charges and the consumer quiz guest.
• Tues, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 7:20 & 9:30am. The topic's news reactive.

This week's Martin's Blog: The Premier League Table Redesigned for Mid Season Accuracy
'Is the Economic Cataclysm over, 'Cabbie Stopped me being a loser', 'Thrifty Ways on The Telly', and 'The name's Bond, overseas Bond. Shaken and stirred by the Post Office's ads'. Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

Would you eat roadkill? This week's poll. Vote and Extreme MoneySaving discussion.

70% of you say no to organ-selling. 9,388 voted last week. Following recent press coverage, last week we asked if selling organs such as kidneys should be made legal. 70% of you voted no, 18% said yes, you should be able to sell to the highest bidder, and 12% said yes, but you should only be able to sell for a fixed price. See the cash for organs poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Pit yourself against the PC in this Scrabble-like game Switchword

Extreme Shepherding! That's it for this week, but what do you get if you take a few hundred sheep, a few thousand LED lights, and a whole lot of ingenuity? A great viral

We hope you save some money

Martin & the MSE team

P.S. Don't forget clocks go back this weekend.

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, bethere.co.uk, broadband.o2.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, citibank.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, gocompare.com, moneysupermarket.com, mycashplus.co.uk, plus.net, talktalk.co.uk, tescofinance.com, tiscali.co.uk, uk.virginmoney.com, 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-focused 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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