Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Will your credit card take 40 years to repay? New tool
Barclaycard, MBNA, Santander etc change min. repayments - will you need to pay more?

Credit card minimum repayments are designed to keep you perpetually in debt as what you repay reduces with what you owe. New rules mean they must always cover the interest and reduce debts by 1% ...

• Your repayments may jump. Monthly mins under the new system from Barclaycard, Santander, MBNA & others (see full min. repayment changes) mean you'll repay more, eg, £5,000 on an 18.9% Barclaycard is £123 (was £114).
• Beware defaulting. While repaying more's good as it clears debts quicker, of course it maybe unaffordable forsome, so CHECK your new min. now so you can put enough aside to ensure you won't default. It's also bad for those repaying multiple cards, rightly trying to prioritise repaying the costliest (highest APR) card as now more of your cash must go elsewhere.
• Will you be in debt for 40 years? New Tool. Our new Minimum Repayment Calculator lets you select a card, then tells you how long it takes to repay at the minimum. Even with the new rules, a £5,000 Barclaycard 18.9% debt takes 32 yrs and costs £7,000 interest. The easy answer's repay more, though that's not always do-able. At least FIX repayments so it doesn't drop with what you owe, in this case fixing at the original £123 min. payment cuts 26 years and £4,500 off the cost.
• Shift debts to 20 months 0%. Cutting the interest rate means you clear debts far quicker. The longest 0% debt-shifting deal is Barclaycard's* 20mths 0% for a one-off 3.2% fee (17.5% representative APR after), or if you can repay quicker MBNA Platinum's* 0% for 18 months with a lower 2.88% fee (18.8% rep. APR after). Try to repay or shift debts before the 0% ends. Full info in the Balance Transfers guide.

Full details in the New Guide & Calc: Minimum Repayments (and Official APR Examples) Related: Debt Help

Uncover secret 5* hotels - save £100s
Giant broker launches cheap mystery hotels, eg, five-star Vegas for £66/night (rack rate £140)

While comparison sites like Travelsupermarket*, Tripadvisor* and Hotelscomparison are the standard way to find hotels cheaper, if you're staying in a big city, secret hotels - where you aren't told their name till you've paid - can seriously undercut them. Now huge US site Hotwire has joined UK players Lastminute and Priceline.

• How it works. To get rid of unused rooms without cannibalising existing customer base, sites flog unnamed hotels at super-cheap prices. Yet there's a loophole; you can play detective eg, paste the description given into Google, to narrow down where you'll end up staying before paying.
• Grab secret hotel rooms: For Lastminute's* 'top secret' worldwide hotel deals, well established tricks reveal the identity for super-cheap deals eg, Hilton London Paddington for £69 instead of £205. Now giant US broker Hotwire* has hit the UK, with rooms in London, L'pool, Manc, Paris, Rome & more. It shows location and facilities, but the name's hidden until payment. You can uncover the identities here too, though it's new and we're still honing techniques - please feedback.
• Priceline's 'name your price' function: Giant US site Priceline lets you pick a city area & star level, name your price and see if any hotels accept - for top results start low, eg, £20, then keep raising your bid till it's accepted. You can ONLY bid once-a-day, but the Priceline Bidding guide has techniques to increase this. One MoneySaver got the Times Square Sheraton for £55 a night rather than the listed £200!

Full Guides: Cheap Hotels & Priceline Bidding Related: Car Hire, Travel Money, Flights, Package Hols

The pollen season's here but don't cry. Allergy sufferers can beat big brands' prices by grabbing remedies online with the same 'active ingredient' for just 80p/mth. For instance, chlorphenamine tablets contain the same as Piriton. Here are the top buys:

• Free in N.Ireland, Wales & Scotland. For those living in Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland, prescriptions are free. Simply visit your GP & you won't pay a penny. If you live in England but can get a bulk prescription it may be cheaper than buying over the counter.
• £2.40 for up to 3 mths - online: Online pharmacy Chemist-4-U has boxes of 28 Piriton-equivalent tablets for 80p if you order three boxes min, plus free delivery. Alternatively it's also selling loratadine tablets (same active ingredient as Clarityn) for £2.91 for 3 mths' supply delivered. Branded Clarityn would generally be over £20 for the same.
• £1.50 for 1 mth - high street: The drawback of online chemists is speed - in the past, demand from this email has caused delivery delays. If you're suffering now and need some meds to tide you over, Morrisons' 14 cetirizine tablets (Zirtek equiv) are on BOGOF until 7 June. This makes it £1.50 for a month's supply, saving up to a tenner vs the branded version.
• Are online sellers safe? Always check the active ingredient to ensure it's the right tablet for you. All sellers we mention are General Pharmaceutical Council registered. It checks pharmacies are safe but is a new regulator so ensure you're happy with the company before buying. Read all pros and cons about using online pharmacies and info on buying safely in the guide.

FULL best-buy listings and loads more tips in the Updated Guide: Cheapest Hayfever Remedies Related Guide: Cheap Prescriptions & Medications

If you're soon jetting off to the sun, or even holidaying in the UK for two or more nights, annual cover will be cheaper than single trip if you're going away more than twice in the next year. Check our rundown of the cheapest deals. All prices are annual and fulfil our min cover levels.

• Cheapest cover - £15/year. All these prices are through comparison site Moneysupermarket* because you pay more direct. Single person: Virgin Money costs £15 in Europe or £24 worldwide for under 50s. For over 50s Virgin costs £21 for Europe while Insurefor's £33 worldwide. Families: Virgin wins again at £36 for under 50s, while Insurefor is £38 for over 50s or costs £42 for worldwide cover.
• Top VALUE cover £23/year. Unlike the ones above, these policies incorporate feedback from our users and Defaqto, plus payout history, though even then nothing's perfect. The top pick is Direct Travel - for European cover go through Moneysupermarket* and it's £23 for individuals and £48 for families. If you're going further afield, apply through Direct Travel's* website to pay £44 for singles or £77 for families.
• Annual worldwide cover for £5! The Sainsbury's Gold* card is the cheapest plastic to use for overseas spending if you also need worldwide family travel insurance (included), but there's a £5/month fee (20.1% representative APR). There's no need to book on the card, you just need it in your wallet.

Full info, pros, cons & best-buys in the Updated Guide: Cheap Travel Insurance Related: Package Hols, Travel Money, Cheap Flights

Are you a spender or a miser?
BBC Big Money Test by Martin & psychologists | Shows money ability, personality & knowledge

BBC Lab UK is the mass participation experiment section of the BBC. Last week for BBC1 Watchdog, Martin launched its latest major project - the Big Money Test, designed to test the nation's ability with money.

• Full evaluation of your financial personality. As well as Martin's knowledge test, it establishes your financial personality via a range of psychometric questions designed by two eminent psychologists - including your money management skills, money motivation, money liabilities and your emotional connection with money.
  
  You get detailed video results of your strengths and weaknesses and how to improve. As this is the real McCoy, expect it to take about 20mins (perfect timing with Easter weekend coming).
  
• It's a major scientific experiment. While fun, the aim's to evaluate the nation's financial capability. Psychologists will analyse the agglomerated results to give a profile of the UK's financial awareness and skills, ie, how good or bad the UK is with cash so policy makers can see what needs doing. Hopefully it will be a useful tool in the financial education in schools campaign.
• How to do it: Go to the BBC's Big Money Test. You'll need to log in, but all data remains anonymous when the scientists interrogate it so you can't be matched to any answer. Then you can compare with Martin's results and report your results in the forum.