Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

We've added shedloads of new functions to our already ultimate mortgage calculator, meaning it's now, erm... ultimate-er?? New features inc... The 'Is offsetting worth it?' Calc: Compares getting an offset mortgage, where your savings act to reduce your mortgage debt, to a standard mortgage and savings. The 'Compare 2 fix deals' Calc: Puts costs, including fees, rate and fix length, side by side. The 'How much can I borrow?' Calc: Works out what you're likely to be lent, and how much of your hard-earned cash that is. Lots more mortgage calcs: These are the tip of the iceberg, all the existing calcs are there too eg, work out the cost of a rate change, how much you'll save (it's often £10,000s) by overpaying and whether it's worth ditching your fix. Full info in the New Tool: Ultimate Mortgage Calculator Free Printed Guides: Remortgage Guide, Mortgage Guide

Many ISAs pay pitiful rates after year one, yet you can transfer all old cash ISAs to massively boost your interest. Check your rate now, if it's low - switch! How to transfer: Never withdraw cash, you lose the tax free benefit - always ask the NEW provider to move it for you. A tiny number of old ISAs may charge 'transfer out' fees - do check. Top for easy access transfers: The Halifax* ISA Direct Reward pays 2.8% AER (some existing customers get 3%) on new & existing cash ISA money, though after a year the rate plummets, so diarise to ditch & then switch again. Top new cash ISA rate: The Santander Flexible ISA (issue 3) pays 2.85% AER (min £1) easy access and guarantees to be 2.35% above base rate for the first year (some existing customers get 3%). No transfers in allowed. Top easy access savings: If your ISA's used up, the top easy access account is Natwest's* E-savings paying 2.89% AER, inc a year's 1.85% bonus starting 15 Nov. so be ready to switch again then. All accounts have full £50,000 per person UK savings safety protection. FULL info & fix rate alternatives in the Updated Guides: ISA Transfers, New Cash ISAs, Top Savings, Safe Savings

The cheapest annual worldwide travel insurance policy for a family costs £54, for a couple aged 75 it's £103. Yet we've been asked if you can cleverly use a couple of financial products to cut it to nowt - you can! Free if you switch bank: The Co-Op's branch & online Privilege Premier* account includes free worldwide family travel insurance (plus breakdown & mobile insurance) for those aged up to 80 (though pre-existing conditions may be excluded). It usually costs £13/mth but switch to it by 20 Nov (min. income £11,200/yr) and if you're accepted it'll waive that fee for a year. After 12mths it will charge though, to avoid that either switch again or just drop down to its non-fee account. It pays no interest in credit, but does have an up to £300 0% overdraft (15.9% above that), see how it compares in the Best Bank Accounts guide. Pay £5/mth but cancel whenever. Alternatively Sainsbury's Gold* credit card charges a £5/mth fee and includes free worldwide family travel insurance (up to age 65) plus it's a cheap overseas spending card. At £60 a year, it's not a bad deal for family insurance, but to play the game you could get one then cancel after a trip if you've no claim. Of course do set up a direct debit to ALWAYS repay in full each month to avoid the 9.9% APR and always declare pre-existing conditions. FULL info in the Updated Guide: Travel Insurance Related: Cheap Travel Money, Cheap Flights

Tesco Clubcard Rewards to be CUT from 4x to 3x
Exchange BEFORE 6 December to get maximum value for your points

Currently trade in your Tesco vouchers for 'Clubcard Rewards' and you get 4x the value of redeeming them in store, so each £10 voucher becomes £40. From 6 Dec that'll drop by 25% to 3x in rewards (£30). What can Rewards vouchers be spent on? They include travel like Eurotunnel hols, days out like the Eden Project, gifts like Goldsmiths vouchers & magazine subscriptions like Cosmo, see the full Clubcard Rewards list. What's the best thing to do? Either trade in now, or wait until Tesco sends next quarter's vouchers arrive in Nov. then ensure you get in before the deadline (we'll remind you in this email beforehand). Any exceptions? Not all rewards will drop strictly by 25%, but the crux is your points will mostly buy less than right now. Do note Tesco's 4x or 3x are based on list prices, and you may be able to get the goods elsewhere cheaper. See details in the Updated Guide: Boost Tesco Points MSE News: Tesco Cuts Rewards

The cost of car insurance has radically increased this year, partly due to fraud, according to the AA's British Insurance Premium Index. So it's more important than ever not to simply renew, but to compare, often saving £100s. Do a FULL comparison: The trick is using the right comparison sites to cover as much of the market as quickly as possible. Use BOTH MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* to cover over 150 providers at speed. Check big ones they miss: Get quotes from Aviva* & Direct Line* who aren't included by comparison sites. Young drivers options: Here quotes can be a massive £2,500 a year. To cut costs, as well as doing comparisons, also consider pay-as-you-drive cover from Coverbox*. More Than's Drive Time (0800 294 8911) and i-kube, but each has caveats so read carefully & be sure you know what you're doing. And for provisional drivers ProvisionalMarmalade* and Endsleigh often have cheaper learner only policies. FULL info including cashback on top and multi-car deals in the Full Guide: Car Insurance - cheapest ever 96p Related: Home Insurance, Van Insurance, Bike Insurance

Spend £50 in store or online and from today (Wed) Sainsbury's and Tesco give a 5p off per litre petrol/diesel voucher, valid for two weeks. The Sains. deal ends on 2 Nov. and Tesco on 7th. How cheap are they? In general with the 5p voucher they will be cheapest, but it's worth doing a quick check on petrolprices.com comparison site to see. Make your car more efficient. For bigger savings, it's important to make your car work less hard eg, by pumping up tyres, getting rid of extra junk, turning off unnecessary aircon and detaching empty roof racks combined you can save 15%. Save 30% by driving more smoothly. This is the BIG saving, accelerate gently, think about road positioning so you brake less and you can get 20-30% more miles per tank (see full info in the guide). For more tips 'n' tricks see the Updated Guide: Cheap Petrol / Diesel Related: Cheap Car Insurance, Breakdown Deals