Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

New! Bank Charges Comparison Tool
Unique tool to show how your bank compares, plus 20 bank charge busting tips.
The days of hideous £30-35 charges per transaction when you breach overdraft limits are ending due to pressure from bank charges reclaiming. To show how your bank now stacks up we've a brand new comparison system, and 20 top bank charge busting tips. See the New Tool & Charge Beating Guide: Compare Bank Charges Never Charged? Best Accounts: If you're charge free, focus on rates. Always in credit: Earn over £23,300 and First Direct* gives you £100 for signing up, otherwise pay a salary of £15k+ in Halifax* & it gives you £5 every mth. Go overdrawn: Alliance & Leicester's Premier* account offfers new customers a 12 mth 0% overdraft. FULL info & more best buys in the Best Bank Accounts guide. Related: Reclaim Bank Charges, Beat Halifax Overdraft Change

Tesco loophole! Make £11 buying a CD
Buy CD (e.g. Leona Lewis' £8.95) and get 500 Clubcard points convertible to £20 in Tesco Rewards
Also possible on Take That (£8.95) & Harry Potter & HBP Blu Ray (£16.98) & others Full Info: Tesco Clubcard Loopholes

One day M&S 1p sale. This Fri
It's returning to its historic roots with a 15-item penny bazaar this week.
Hankies, card games, children's puzzles, tea towels & more. Full list in the Daily Deals List: High Street Sales

Cheap Disney World & other Florida Theme Park Tickets New guide & full list of Disney, Universal, Busch Gdns & Seaworld deals If you're one of the 1.5m Brits heading for the Florida sun this winter or next year, we've a new park-by-park guide. It includes Ticket Picking: Each park has a mass of ticket options, so we take you through which to buy, when & from who. Discount Websites: Having priced the tickets direct, see if discounters like Undercover Tourist* & Theme Park TD can beat them. Top Deals: Then see if any of the specific deals listed fit, eg, Disney's 2009 14 days for 7* £211 deal, or for SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa and Aquatica there's Floridatix's 3 for 2 parks at £62. FULL step by step info & deals in the New Guide: Cheap Disney & Universal Tickets Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Package Holidays, Cheap Hotels, UK Theme Parks

Beauty Deals! Free £11 Virgin Vie lippie (pay £2.50 p&p)
Plus £10 Nails inc. polish in a £2 mag and 10% off everything at Halfpriceperfumes
Join 15% off Benefit online & more in the Deals List: Beauty Deals

Coast £30 off (no min spend) & Boden 15% off online
New shopping vouchers! These plus Waitrose, Oasis and Reiss
Joins Approved Foods 10% off online and B&Q 15% off printable voucher in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

NEW Top 3.6% Easy Access Savings
New top payer 3.6% if you've over £10,000 otherwise 3.3% from £1
The just-launched Ulster Bank Pathway account pays 3.6% variable with easy access if you've £10,000 plus. This includes a six month 1% intro bonus, though even once that ends it could still be a reasonable, if not table topping, rate. Top from £1: Citibank's Flexible Saver pays 3.3% AER from £1, though here the high rate's artificially from a year's 2.65% bonus, so be prepared to ditch and switch then. 1 yr fix at 3.95%: If you're prepared to lock your cash away for a year you can get a guaranteed 3.95% AER for 12 months from NS&I (min £1,000 up to £1million), and as it's government owned, the cash is totally safe (the other two accounts have the usual £50,000 UK guarantee). FULL info and many more best buys in the Updated Guide: Top Savings Related: Top Cash ISAs, Fixed Savings

New Strada, Cafe Rouge and ASK vouchers!
New Restaurant Vouchers! Strada 2 meals £10, Cafe Rouge 2for1 & ASK 2for1 for £1
Join Pizza Express, Brasserie Gerard & Tesco Dine In for two in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

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Last chance! £4/mth Broadband. Ends Thurs midnight
Get 4 mths free on Plusnet's £6/mth deal, so it's effectively £4/mth over the year's contract
For the 4mths free, use this Plusnet* link (80% UK can get it) with code bbchoices4 see the Full Guide: Cheap Broadband

Is it time to ban Christmas presents? Read Martin's contentious Ban Xmas gifts? blog.

Prepare your Credit Cards for Christmas
Stop Christmas & debt going together like Easter & Bunnies
Follow these steps. Step 1. Minimise current debt's interest. Always start by trying to get a cheap deal for shifting existing debts. Virgin* offers new customers 0% for 16 mths with a 2.98% fee (then 18.6% APR) or Barclaycard Platinum's a longer term 6.3% APR for 3 years, see Best Balance Transfers for full info. Step 2: Don't borrow, earn cashback. If you can repay in full, then use a top Cashback Card to get up to 5% back on all spending. Step 3: Instant 1mth 0% borrowing. Pay in Dec on almost any clear credit card repay IN FULL in Jan and there's no interest; a useful way to spread Christmas' cost. Step 4: 0% for purchases cards. If you must borrow, do as little as possible - Xmas's is one day and not worth a debt-filled new year. Cheapest for new spending is Tesco 0% for 12 mths (then 16.9% APR) but ensure you can repay it within the year. See the full 0% Spending Card guide for more. Step 5: In trouble - get help. If you simply don't know how you'll cope financially this Xmas before it hits urgently see a free non-profit debt counselling agency

Cheapest Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - £26 (RRP £55)
Slash the cost of the latest blockbuster Xbox 360/PS3 game
Full info on the cheapest deals for this big Xmas release (cert. 18) in the Forum Note: COD Modern Warfare

Save £100s haggling your mobile bill. VIDEO OF THE WEEK Revisted. Speedily slash mobile renewal or new phone costs A key reminder that if your mobile contract's ending, always ask for an amazing deal, not just an upgrade but more mins & texts or a lower monthly fee. If it refuses, say you're considering leaving. It'll put you through to its disconnections team, who's real job is customer retentions and can make much better deals to persuade you to stay. Find the cheapest deal: To work out your pitch, or just find cheap deals quickly, check comparisons like MoneySup*, MobPhonChecker* & OneCompare*. Video of the week: Filmed when she was Martin's MS Fiance (now she's Mrs MSE), it's the true story of how early on he spotted her nasty £75/mth mobile bill and helped her cut it to £25/mth with one call. See the Full Guide & Video: Mobile Haggling Related Guide: Cheap Mobiles

Quick! BA & Virgin flight sales
Inc. New York £299, Rio £389 etc... great for lovers of these airlines but often beatable
A range of flights, but limited dates, full info & how to beat them in the Forum Note: BA & Virgin Sale

Possible low income families boost. Check now!
200,000 families could gain £1,000ish a year in Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit
The rules have changed so that the Child Benefit payment (£20 for first child) parents get will no longer count as income when working out how much Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit a family is entitled to. Already get these benefits? This started on 2 Nov. and existing claimants will see their entitlement automatically recalculated so you should start getting extra. More families may now be eligible. Some people who were just over the limit before may now count - so its worth doing a quick benefits check up, to do that see the Full Guide: 5 min Benefits Check-up guide Related: Childcare Cost Cutting

Reminder. La Senza 2 for £20 flannel pyjamas (usually c.£30 each)
If you missed it last week it's replenished stocks in sizes from XS to XL
Nearly 100,000 went for these after last week's email. See the Forum Note: La Senza Pyjamas

Code for free 3mth Skysports & news on O2 iPhones
This trial WiFi deal's for the first 150,000 only. Full info in the Forum Note: Free Sky

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New look weekly e-mail - did you notice?
We've made a few tweaks this week, the big headlines at the top are now clickable, we've increased the spacing, changed the fonts all to make it easier to scan and read. Though of course different in-box software can read it differently. So we'd love your new look MSE email feedback.

Free Book Giveaway! 'The Christmas Pocket Bible'
It's a cute little hardback pocket companion for a special Christmas - 25 copies blagged for MoneySavers. Want one?

Great 'Your fave sub-£5 wines' Hunt
As long as you know where to look, you can get some cracking wines for under a fiver. To help sort the stonkers from the stinkers, we want MoneySavers to name their favourite sub-£5 plonks. You don’t need to be a connoisseur, just let us know which vinos hit the spot. Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great 'Your Fave Sub-£5 Wines' Hunt Past Great Hunts: View all

CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT: £3(ish) Europe flights (Dec-Feb). Ends midnight Thurs 12 Nov
Ryanair has a million flights for £2.99 each way (inc.some charges) from various UK airports to over 60 European destinations. Speedily find them using the Updated Guide: £2.99 Flights then beat the scores of add-on charges with the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels

Donate £1 to The Children's Society for FREE
All you need do is promise to give an unwanted item to charity or drive slower. See the Forum Note: Free Charity Giving

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Gwyneth let the older lady take the reduced steak?
Gwyneth is rummaging through the supermarket reduced section bargains and, as usual, there’s a bit of a scram for the cheapest goodies (get clearance food bargains online too see the Supermarket Shopping guide). She manages to grab a posh steak down to 50p from £6, but, as she picks it up, a woman in her late 70s says the steak belongs to her, she just put it down so she could browse the rest. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Gwyneth give up her reduced steak? Previous MMDs: View All

Great 'Free UK Museums' Hunt Result
There’s nothing better than an inspiring day inside a museum during the cold winter. So, last week, we asked MoneySavers for their top free museums. There were some fab suggestions, including Manchester Museum, Tropical World in Leeds and Liverpool World Museum

BOARD OF THE WEEK: Consumer Rights
Ensure you're dealt with fairly
The Consumer Rights board has a huge range of topics being discussed including Received a laptop I didn't buy, Returning wrong goods and Gym membership fees Related: Consumer Rights Guide

Are you cutting back on Christmas? This week's poll
Vote and Xmas cutbacks? discussion.

57% of MoneySavers got higher rates than applied for!
When applying for credit, 25% of the 3,726 that voted last week have been given a higher rate than you applied for on many occasions, and 32% had experienced it once or twice. 23% have usually been given the rate applied for. See Rate For Risk poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week!
Perfect your culinary skills. Cooking with Candy

The Worst Facebook Blunders. That's it for this week, but before we go, if you use facebook - take a look at this for what not to do. Egg on your facebook!

We hope you save some money,

Martin & the MSE team