Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Tax credits warning! One month to renew, act NOW! Everyone check urgently, avoid overpayment hell. The Budget won't affect renewal. Child & Working tax credit renewal forms have been sent out; sort it by end of July or payments could stop! How to renew: If you get a 'renewal form' and the info's correct, do nothing. If it's wrong call 0845 300 3900. Yet if you've a 'declaration form', you must check and return it by 31 July. What if I don't renew? There's a risk payments may stop and you'll be asked to repay all credits since April. Must I repay overpayments? Renewals assess future eligibility AND if you've been paid correctly in the past. Overpayments only need repaying if you didn't tell them the change that caused it (so if anything changes "TELL 'EM, TELL 'EM, TELL 'EM"). Never claimed? Last week's Budget said from April 2011 families with £40,000+ salaries will get fewer tax credits, but earn under £66,000 and you could still qualify for something until then. For full info on renewals, claiming & overpayment issues read the Updated Guide: Tax Credits Related: Childcare Costs, Benefits Check-Up

FREE £7 cheeseburger & chips at Yates's! Just sign up, print voucher and use at over 60 Yates's UK-wide. Full info in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

£100 Tesco Rewards codes (2,500 pts) on wine, groceries & clothes
1,000 on groceries (new customers), 500 on wine & 1,000 on clothes. Each c.£50 min spend
Plus wine sale makes it a good time to stock up. Even more Tesco codes in the NEW Daily Deals List: Tesco Codes

Cheapest iPhone 4! New comparison tool £200+/year savings possible on new gadget with the cheapest tariff iPhones aren't MoneySaving, but if you're determined to get one, we've an all-new cost cutting guide and tariff-finder tool. Cheapest contract: Tesco Mobile offers a 16GB iPhone at a costly upfront £349, but then £20/mth; over the 12 mth contract it averages £49/mth. You get 250 mins, unlimited texts and 1GB web-browsing plus after just a year you can switch to cheaper deals for further savings. Cheapest PAYG: Buy the unlocked handset for £499, then get a one-month rolling contract; they start at £10/mth. Compare ALL deals: There's a labyrinth of options so we've built a quick tool to quickly compare all iPhone deals and find one that suits. FULL info on all these options plus top 18- and 24- month deals in the new Deals Note: Cheap iPhones Related Guides: Cheap Mobiles, Haggle Mobile Contracts

Travelodge £19 July-Oct 65,000 room sale inc. School Hols
Available for July to Oct '10 stays, usual cost c. £29-£59. Plus 100,000 £22 rooms
The key to bagging them is to get in quick. See the Deals Note: Travelodge Sale Related: Cheap Hotels, Hotel Sales

Sell old iPhones & iPods for up to £280. Use the right 'recycler' and you can get £282 for an iPhone 3GS 32GB or £85 for an iPod touch 3G 32GB. Find the top payer using MSE's MobileValuer.com: Compare Mobile Recyclers

End Today (Wed) Free BA European flights (inc. taxes & charges) Credit card freebies! Plus TWO Flybe rtns. Get card, spend normally & repay in full Two big freebies end today. Free BA Europe return: Lloyds Airmile Duo* (15.9% APR if you don't fully repay) effectively offers a free British Airways European return inc. taxes & charges (& no time limit so don't worry about strikes), as for 3mths you get 1 Airmile per £1 spent on the Amex (you also get a Mastercard), up to a max of 1,500, enough for returns to Spain, Italy, Germany & more. Alternatively... get the same card on the AirMiles* website and spend £10 for a 1,500 miles voucher, though this expires and you must book one hotel night via AirMiles (can be costly). Two free returns: Get a Flybe card now (18.9% APR) and buy anything (eg. pack of gum) before 31 July to get a voucher for two returns, though you pay taxes of c.£50. How to grab freebies: Spend a 'trigger amount' by doing normal spending on the card to unlock the freebie, then repay IN FULL to avoid interest. Full info & more freebies inc £30 high st. voucher in the Updated Guide: Credit Card Freebies Related: 5% cashback, Cheap Travel Money

75% off Ikea sale. Inc £25 table (was £169), office chair £38 (was £149)
Starts Fri 2 July in most stores across the UK. Plus more sale bargains at Habitat, Debenhams.
Joins existing sales at House of Fraser, Urban Outfitters, Clarks and loads more in the Daily Deals List: High Street Sales

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£5 off £40 at Morrisons (in 20p paper), 20% off BodyShop.co.uk & Millets codes
New shopping deals! Plus 10% off La Senza code and £10 off £20 spend at Secret Sales.com
These and many more in the Daily Deals List: Discount Vouchers

Free £100 AND 5% interest - bank account war hots up!
New top bank account! Santander's new top bank account if always in-credit, plus get 0% overdraft if not
Yet another new account tops the market. Free £100 and 5% interest: Switch and pay your salary (min. £14,700) into Santander's* 'Preferred In-credit' account and get a free £100, plus 5% interest for a year on the first £2,500, netting £50 pre-tax if you maintain £1,000 balance. After 12 mths it drops to 1% so then check what you can get. Free £50 & £5/mth: Halifax's* Reward account gives £5/mth if you pay in £1,000/mth, plus new switchers get a £50 bonus via comparison site Moneysup (the link takes you there), but avoid if ever overdrawn as charges are huge. Earn under £14,700? You can still get Halifax's* £50 bonus but not the £5/mth. Alternatively, Nationwide's* Flexaccount pays no interest, but the debit card's a spending overseas top pick. Top for overdrafts: Switch to another Santander* account - the Preferred Overdraft Rate - and it gives a year's 0% overdraft if you pay a £14,700+ salary in. After 12 mths it jumps to 12.9% so switch again then. How difficult's switching? If you pass the credit check it's much easier than previously, as it'll move all standing orders & direct debits for you. Updated Guide: Best Bank Accounts Related: Free Credit Rating, 12 month 0% spending card

Free 22-track download inc. Florence + Four Tet. Plus Bonobo and more in a special Glastonbury re-mix. See MSE's TuneChecker.com: Free & cheap downloads

Anti-histamines 79p for 30 Zirtec equiv. tablets. £1 min spend for free delivery on Hayfever meds. See the Updated Guide: Cheapest Hayfever Remedies

FREE Giorgio Armani make-up with £2 mag
New beauty deals! Free '17' gift with £6 spend at Boots & five Boots Botanics shadows for £5
Join 1/2 price sun sprays, 70% off VIE at Home & 80% off Nailsinc.com. More in Daily Deals List: Cheap Beauty Deals

Budget airline fee-fighting. Wear a jacket with 15 pockets! On ITV1 Tonight this Thur 7.30pm see new budget airline fee-beating experiments They charge for checking in bags & they charge for over 10kg of hand luggage, so I ordered a special US 'survivalists' jacket' with pockets that hold a laptop, books, passports, clothes and more; see the results and other tips in the prog. Yet you don't need be that extreme to get the deals super-cheap. Find all sub-£10 sale flights: The FlightChecker is designed so you can find all budget airlines' sales seats at speed, eg, ask it to find any £10-and-under inc. taxes & charges going in August. Avoid £10 per person payment charges: Pay on a credit OR debit card and you are charged up to £5e/w per person yet, so they can call this 'added extras', each airline has one way to pay free. For Ryanair it's a prepaid Mastercard, the cheapest is FairFX*. For the rest, it's Electron, the cheapest prepaid is the Post Office Travel Electron card. FULL info and best buys on this, plus airline-by-airline details to beat EVERY 'extra', in the Updated Guide: Budget Airline Fee-Fighting Related: Cheap Flights, Annual Travel Ins £15, Cheap Travel Money

Giraffe, Haha & Pizza Express 2for1s, La Tasca 50% off & GBK 2 burgers & fries £10
New restaurant vouchers! Plus last chance 2for1s at Strada, Ask, Prezzo, Auberge, Azzurro & Cafe Giardino
Plus YO! Sushi free plate, B King 2for1 Whoppers, Zizzi 2for1 for £1 & more in Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

5p/litre off fuel voucher per £50 Tesco spend. Ends Sun 11 July. Updated Guide: Cheap Petrol

You no longer need buy an annuity. Updated FREE printed guide
Crucial change for most who contribute to a pension, plus £30,000+ gain possible if you buy one
Until last week's Budget, most people by age 75 HAD to buy an annuity, a product that pays a regular income until death in exchange for your pension pot, and the biggest financial decision of many's lives! What's changed? You're no longer forced down the annuity route. Instead, you could draw cash straight from your pension pot. What should you do? It's a huge decision, and many experts say not buying an annuity is a risk with pensions smaller than £200,000, because the cash may run out or its value may drop. Unless very savvy, seek independent advice. WARNING! Never just take your provider's deal. You've a legal right to go elsewhere (a shocking 66% don't). A 65-year-old with a £100k pot may get just £6,460/year from his pension provider, while the best pays £7,740. Live to 90 and that's a £32,000 difference. Updated free printed guide: We've a full guide to boosting your income, getting advice & more, now updated with the latest news. Free Annuity Guide: Order printed copy or get Instant PDF download or More Guide Info More Free Guides: Remortgaging, Mortgages

Kids' Summer Camps £49 for families on some benefits. Normally £299
Paintballing, archery, kayaking, filmmaking & more for 10-19 yr-olds during school holidays. 5 night stay
Young people from eligible families get big discounts. See Deals Note: Cheap Days Out

Been called by Money Claiming Expert? Don't use it, it's not us
A claims handler's trying to flog PPI reclaims using this name. Don't be fooled, it isn't us
We're looking at what can be done. MSE NEVER calls anyone! And you can reclaim free anyway, see the PPI reclaiming guide Report other confusions

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Lloyds TSB hikes overdraft charges from Dec 2010
Authorised o/d charges to rise, unauthorised borrowing fees will fall
From Dec, authorised overdraft charges for most Lloyds bank account customers will jump to £5/mth. Customers using its unauthorised overdraft can see how the new charges stack up, against both its current charges and other banks, in the updated Bank Charges Compared tool. MSE News: Lloyds charges change

CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT:
Airline: Ryanair. Price: £10 e/w. Ends: Thurs 1 July
Ryanair's got £10 each way (inc. some charges) flights from various UK airports to a range of European destinations, for travel in Sept and Oct. Speedily find them using the FlightChecker then beat the scores of add-on charges with the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Travel Insurance

Real life MONEY MORAL DILEMMA:
Should they pay for the chicken?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...
The lovely people next door keep chickens & we buy our eggs from them. The chickens keep getting out into our garden (we've asked our neighbours many times to stop this), and yesterday they ate almost everything. These fruit 'n' veg would have lasted through till September. Should we ask the neighbours for compensation? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should they pay for the chickens? Previous MMDs: View All Suggest: A Money Moral Dilemma

Great 'Flatmate MoneySaving' Hunt Result
Sharing a house is often MoneySaving but has its problems too. So last week we asked MoneySavers their top tips for flatmate MoneySaving. There were some great suggestions like listed sharing items, sharing calls and bulk buying food.

BOARD OF THE WEEK:
Weddings & Anniversaries
Wedding season is upon us and whether you're looking for advice on what to wear for the big day or how to make a wedding cake on the cheap, the Weddings & Anniversaries board is full of great tips. Recent discussions include DIY wedding buffet, hen do ideas and reading suggestions.

Should doorstep sellers be banned? This week's poll
Vote and Knock Knock discussion.

Cash still rules when it comes to travel money. 8,506 voted
Asked how you spend abroad, almost half (46%) get money changed before going away (hopefully using TravelMoneyMax to get top rates). 15% withdraw cash on their card on arrival, and 12% spend on credit/debit. See Travel Money poll results

Archna's Free Game of the Week!
Find the hidden pearl in Shinju

Are you a true movie buff? Check out these 250 must see films, from Avatar to Casablanca. Take the fun test... how many have you seen? - but don't be upset if you're not a buff/nerd!

We hope you save some money,

Martin & the MSE team