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Crackdown on Credit Cards - Have Your Say If we don’t feedback on Govt. proposals the industry will write the rules The Govt's just launched mammoth new proposals to cut up the credit card rulebook. The big ones are below (detailed explanation in the credit card crackdown MSE news story). Increase / regulate minimum repayments. Only make the min. repayments on a typical 17.9% credit card and because it barely covers the interest, it takes 41 years to repay, costing £6,300 (use the min. repay calc to see your situation). One Govt. option is legislating to raise these minimums, though the worry is that'll be unaffordable, so some will default. In my view its better suggestion is mandating card companies to include 'recommended payment' options calculated to clear the card in 3 yrs. Repayment hierarchy. The rate a card charges can vary with what you do, eg you can shift debts at 0%, but spending is at 18%. Lenders bias your repayments towards clearing the cheaper debt, meaning you can't clear the expensive debt until that's repaid (more info in best balance transfers). This can cost a fortune, so the Govt's considering reversing this. Ban unsolicited credit limit increases. Quite simply, banks shouldn't be allowed to increase credit limits without asking. Stop unfair rate rises. We've already seen voluntary rules to prevent this which mean you can reject rate rises (see the fight rate jacking guide) yet they've hardly had an impact, so the Govt's looking to strengthen them. Warning! Change won't happen unless you get active I’ve had a tip off that the industry is lobbying hard to water these proposals down. There's real fear that unless consumers speak up lenders will dictate the changes. No.10's said it welcomes feedback so we all need to send our views and vote via the Depart for Biz Feedback system. For more, see MSE News: Card Crackdown Discuss: Card Proposals

Free X Factor voting 'back on' Millions of pensioners overpaying tax Banks slammed for ignoring hardship claims Beat the motor insurance hike Rail fares to rise in South East This week's full MSE News list Week of Tue 20 - Mon 26 Oct '09 (Last week's position) 1. Freebies, Freebies (New) 2. Cheap Beauty Deals (New) 3. Top Savings (1) 4. Travelodge Sale (2) 5. Top Cash ISAs (3) The above excludes daily deals notes

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

New Top 3.95% 1yr fixed savings AND it's 100% Safe! Or 3.3% easy access. Updated Guide
The new and possibly short-lived 3.95% AER 'guaranteed growth bond' from NS&I is simply a 1 yr fixed savings account at the highest rate in months. As usual with fixes, it's designed for those who can lock cash away. Total Safety: As NS&I's Govt backed, it's 100% safe up to £1 million (min. £500), not just the normal £50,000 per person. Top Easy Access: Citibank* (min. £1) pays 3.3% AER variable inc. a 2.25% bonus for a year (so ditch it after that), though it just has normal £50,000 protection. Long term fix w/access: While not table topping, NS&I's new 5 yr 4.6% AER fix is both 100% safe and unusually lets you withdraw cash for just 90 days' interest penalty, so if rates rise you can still ditch & switch - taking the penalty into account, withdraw after 2 yrs & you've effectively earned 4.1%, after 3 yrs 4.3%, and after 4yrs 4.4%. Updated Guide: Top Savings Related: Savings Safety, Cash ISAs

New! Vouchers & Codes. Debenhams £5 off £25, New Look 20% off, Argos spend £50 get £5 gift card. Joins 20% off Envy clothing click 'n' print voucher. See the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

New! Cheap Holiday Money. Free £5 if you put £500 on cheapest prepaid card for spending abroad. Anyone can get a prepaid card, load it with cash, and pay abroad with it as there's no credit check. New Top Deal: The FairFx* Euro or Dollar Mastercard already gives the best exchange rates and no fees (except ATM withdrawals), and now for a short-term promo, it'll add £5 if you apply and put £500 on it. Any drawbacks? The rate that counts is the one on the day you load up, NOT when you spend, so if the pound strengthens you'll lose out, though if it weakens you'll gain. Plus if it went bust, your prepaid money isn't protected, but for near-future holiday spends anyway, the risk's limited. Is it the cheapest way? For prepaid cards, yes; but specialist overseas credit cards which require a credit check, usually win, so we compared FairFX (with the £5 bonus) and it was a close run thing, with the winner changing daily. Want hard cash? Daily updated best buy foreign currency rates are at the TravelMoneyMax.com website. FULL info pros, cons & and more in the Updated Guide: Cheap Travel Money £57 Fujifilm 10MP FinePix digital camera at Amazon & more. This & other sub-£100 digital camera bargains in the Deals Note: Cheap Digital Cameras

Stop Spending! How to cut back, curtail your expenses and live within your means.
Sometimes you can't just wave a magic wand and change all your providers to cut costs in a pain-free puff of smoke. Instead your finances demand you simply need to stop spending. This is a completely rewritten and re-researched guide on just that. Tips 'n' Techniques: Whether you need scaring or money mantras, budgeting tips or the 20 key stop spending techniques from the forum it's there - plus help in cutting back from entertainment to energy and beauty to booze. The Demotivator: As part of the guide use the long standing frightening, but fun, tool that reveals the real cost of seemingly trifle spends (eg. how many weeks a year do you work to pay for your Starbucks habit?). For all this, see the New Guide: Stop Spending Fun Tool: The Demotivator Related: Boost Your Income, Budget Planner

New Vouchers! Free Papa John's £9 Pizza (newspaper based), GBK 2 Burgers 'n' Fries £10, Prezzo & Cafe Rouge 2for1s. Joins 50% off at Domino's, La Tasca and Zizzi's in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

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Free £4ish LEGO with the Mirror (45p) EVERY day until 6 Nov. Twelve in total to pick up free from WH Smith. Full details in the Daily Deals Note: Shopping Vouchers

Beat Halifax's new £1/day overdraft. Some gain, others'll pay equiv. to 3,650% interest
Millions of Halifax & Bank of Scotland customers have received letters saying, from 6 Dec, their overdrafts will be radically overhauled. Overdraft Changes: Within your limit it'll be £1/day for borrowing up to £2,500 and £2/day for more. Go beyond your limit and it's £5/day. The Winners: Regularly exceed the limit and you could be £100s better off as it's much cheaper than the current £35 charge per transaction. Yet you also need to urgently manage your finances better (see free budget planner & debt help guides). The Losers: Many people who are overdrawn but stay within their limits will pay more, some up to 20x more. It's worst for those who only go a small amount overdrawn: £1 a day on a £10 overdraft is equiv. to 3,650% annual interest. Beat the Charges: If you're losing out, there are a lot of options, from changing bank, to changing Halifax account, or even just managing money differently. See the step-by-step Full Guide: Beat Halifax Charges Video: BBC1 Watchdog (37mins in) Related: Best Bank Accounts, Bank Charges Reclaiming

Reminder. £4/mth broadband. Plusnet has good feedback & for the 70% of the UK within its coverage area it's already cheapest at £6/mth, but currently go via Broadband Choices*, enter the code bbchoices4 and you get 4 mths free, meaning over the yrs contract it avgs £4/mth. Full info/Alternatives: Cheap Broadband

1p Ryanair flights & 13 new EasyJet routes inc. Morocco, Israel & Canaries. Tool of the Week. The FlightChecker Find 1p(ish) Europe flights: Until midnight Thurs 29 Oct, Ryanair has 500,000 1p e/w flights (inc. some taxes & charges) from 24 Nov to 17 Dec to over 60 European destinations. Speedily Find Them: Use the 1p Flights guide & then beat the horrid add-on charges with the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. New EasyJet routes. The 13 new UK routes include Lon-Tel Aviv, Liv-Lanzarote, and Lon-Marrakech (see all). The FlightChecker: The FlightChecker is a unique tool specifically designed to help find these budget airlines' sales seats. Eg you can ask it to find all the £10 and under flights during Dec, either to a specific destination or select 'I'll go anywhere'. For more info and non-budget flights see the Full Guide: Cheap Flights Related: Cheap Hotels Free Sky Movies this weekend. Inc. Atonement, The Godfather & X-Men Fri 30 Oct - Sun 1 Nov. Anyone with a Sky box can get access to free Sky movies. Full details in the Forum Note: Free Sky movies

Half term days out! Chessington 2for1 voucher, Vue 95p AM cinema tickets, free Big Draw festival events. Joins British Ski & Board Show 2for1 tickets, 1p bowling, free tennis and loads more in the Deals Lists: Cheap Days Out, Cheap Theme Parks

Cheapest energy price cut by another £30 a year. Avg bill is £1,200/yr, new cheapest £920. Ditch 'n' Switch Now
The online price war shows no signs of relenting, with cheaper dual fuel tariffs launched by both new supplier Ovo and Scottish Power, though availability depends on where you live. Lock-Ins: As Ovo fixes rates for a year, and Scottish Power guarantees to undercut its standard price until Dec 2010, leave during that time (ie, if somewhere else undercuts it), and you'll need pay a £50-£60 penalty. Compare & Get Cashback (only via these special links): To find the cheapest of these new tariffs or cheap penalty-free tariffs, do a comparison. Top Pick: Energyhelpline* pays £15 cashback per switch. Dual Fuel Picks: MSMarket* £30 cashback, Uswitch* a case of wine. Possible cashback boost: Up to £110 cashback may be available specifically for Scottish Power via some cashback websites, though always compare first to check it's the right tariff for you - plus this type of cashback's never 100% guaranteed. FULL info in the Updated Guide: Cheapest Gas & Elec MSE News: New energy provider Related: Grant Grabbing, Boiler Cover

5% off 1st class postage stamps. Bulk-buy inflation proof stamps from Superdrug. Plus last posting dates for Christmas. Full info in the Deals Note: Stamp Down Costs

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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) Car Insurance: Use both MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* Also see: Van, Motorbike Cheap Travel Ins: Annual policies from £15, worldwide £21. See Cheap Travel Ins Top Uninsured Loans: £7.5k-15k: A&L*, Sainsburys 7.9%, Tesco* 8% (can be 7.8%) Top Bank Account: Top Pick: £100, 0% overdraft & free travel insurance with A&L* Free Budget Planner: Use the free planner or do a complete Money Makeover Sell Old Mobiles: Top picks: Love2Recycle*, Envirofone*, Mopay* Top Cashback Credit Card: Top pick: Amex Plat* 5% for 3 mths. (APR 19.9%) 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 Teen Cash Guide: Free 40 page PDF guide to teach your kids about money

More MoneySaving MSE

Apply for a loan at 9%, get offered it at 30%. MPs investigate credit application system and are told it's flawed. Borrowers pay too much for credit due to cracks in the application process, the Treasury Committee heard yesterday when hearing evidence on this topic suggested by MSE. The problem? People can apply for 9% loans, get offered them at 30%, then understandably want to go elsewhere instead but the application leaves a 'footprint' on their file that hits their ability to get cheap debt elsewhere. The solution: Giving evidence, Martin suggested the solution is simple: when you apply you should be told what rate you'll get before it hits your score, using the 'quotation search' system that's already set up. Full details in the MSE News story: Credit apps Related: Credit Rating MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Karl let the neighbours use his garden? Karl's just bought a new ground floor flat, and is chuffed it's got its own private garden. Yet after moving in, he finds that the couple in the flat above are using the garden to hang washing out and occasionally relax. They were good friends with the previous owners who were fine with this, and they ask him nicely whether they can carry on. Should Karl let them keep using his garden? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Karl let the neighbours use his garden? Previous MMDs: View All Free Book Giveaway! 'University Scholarships Awards & Bursaries'. 25 copies blagged for MoneySavers. Want one? Great 'Amazon Shopping Tricks' Hunt It’s not always cheapest, but most people with the web have bought something from shopping giant Amazon. The Cheap Online Shopping guide shows you how to avoid postage costs and monitor prices, but we want to tap MoneySavers for more sneaky Amazon tricks & loopholes they’ve discovered, which'll save everyone dosh. Add your ideas/read other people's: Great 'Amazon Tricks' Hunt Past Great Hunts: View all

Q. As an OAP how much can I earn before I pay tax? Eddie O'Rourke, by email Martin's A. Your personal allowance is the amount you can earn before paying income tax. For under 65s the standard is £6,475, but to help older people those aged 65 to 74 its £9,490 and for oer 75s its £9,640. Simple enough so far, yet there are limits to the generosity to higher earning pensioners. For over 65s who earn above £28,930 or over 75s above £29,230 your personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 earned until it reduces to the standard £6,475 amount. See the incometaxchecker for more. Discuss: OAP Tax Limit Suggest: A question of the week (big general issues not personal pls)

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

Top Deal! £50 complete glasses inc. thinnest lenses at ASDA. Eye spy £1 personalised photo snow globes in-store at big Tescos. Can you find one? Create animations with Animation Station £14.99 online (rrp £50). Get out of toon! Birthday card from the Queen. Milestone anniversary or birthday? Arrange a message 50% off Oral-B toothbrushes on Boots online. The tooth is out there 6 bottles of M&S cava £18.76. Stock up for xmas. Bubbly Jubbly! 12x Nouvelle toilet rolls £2.50 at Somerfield (was £5.55). Loo won't believe it! Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Sorting out spending money Competitions thread of the week: Win a Wii with Wii Fit & We Ski Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: Halloween Goodies

Board of the week: UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainment
The UK Holidays board offers a wealth of information and innovative ideas for things to do with the kids this half term. Discussions include Where to go with the kids?, National History or Science Museum? and Free things to do in London

Great 'Hotel staff, tell us how to get upgraded' Hunt Result
Last week we called on hotel staff for insider knowledge on getting a better room than you paid for. While as ever there's no surefire upgrade technique, lots of ways to boost your chances were suggested, including Ten top tips, Join the club/s and Tips from a hotel receptionist

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Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Bird Food Sample, Halloween Adventure Pack, Jack Johnson MP3 Weight Training Ebook, Max Factor Foundation Sample

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances...Weds 28 Oct - Tues 3 Nov
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: Half term special.
• Tues, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 7:20 & 9:30am. The topic's news reactive.

This week's Martin's Blog: Kit Kat Crunching Crime.
"Giving Evidence At Parliament: What do I wear?" and "A trip to Number 10…Inside Downing Street". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

How many shaves per razor? This week's poll. Vote and Razorlife discussion.

45% of MoneySavers would eat roadkill! 9,704 voted last week. Asked whether you'd eat roadkill, 8% said "Yes - I've eaten it before", 19% said "Yes - I've no issues with it", and 18% said "Yes - Provided it was from an animal I'd usually eat". On the flipside, 8% said they wouldn't touch it due to vegetarianism or religious beliefs, while a full 47% said they'd avoid it simply because 'it's plainly disgusting'. See Roadkill poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Fun physics game Cover Orange

Comic Creator: That's all for this week, but if you've ever tried to make a comic only to find your drawings lack, erm, charm, this might be just the thing. Marvel Comic Creator

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, broadbandchoices.co.uk, citibank.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, envirofone.com, fairfx.com, gocompare.com, love2recycle.com, moneysupermarket.com, mopay.co.uk, tescofinance.com, 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-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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