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FREE £5 train ticket voucher (no min spend)
Urgent! Bag cheap Xmas & NY tickets now, eg, London-Manc £11.50 one way (£6.50 with voucher)
This is the perfect moment to book Christmas and New Year train tickets to ensure you get bargain rates. To help, we've blagged a fiver off any rail ticket.
FREE £5 train tickets voucher. We've blagged 20,000 £5 e-vouchers for new users of rail ticket shop RedSpottedHanky. There's no minimum spend, so if your ticket's under £5, it's free. There are no booking fees, prices are usually the same as other sites & first class delivery is free. See Free £5 deal.
- Book Christmas and NY trains now. Network Rail's obliged to set timetables 12 weeks in advance, so from then on, train operators release super-cheap advance fares. So, as there's limited supply, now's the perfect time to book a big Xmas and NY bargain. Tickets up to 3 Jan are out for most companies. We found 24 December Lond - Leeds singles for £11.50 & Glasg - Manc £15. For 1 January, Lond - Edin is £17.50. Full 'how to find them' in the Cheap Train Tickets guide.
- Hidden tricks for huge savings. To really slice down train costs, remember train fares and logic go together like Coco Pops and ketchup. Split ticketing is the number one example: a Leeds to Bristol return costs £230, yet the train stops in Derby. One MoneySaver bought 4 separate tickets (Leeds-Derby, Derby-Bristol & vice-versa) for the SAME train at the SAME time for £80. See Split Ticket Help Video in the guide.
Masses more help in the Updated Guide: Cheap Train Tickets Related: Train & Coach Deals
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Get 100% savings protection as banking crisis threatens
Keep under £85,000 per institution (not bank) in case disaster strikes | How safe is Santander?
It's not just the eurozone crisis. A ratings agency downgraded 12 UK banks & building societies last week, which means it has less faith in their ability to pay debts, including savers' deposits. It's still unlikely cash is at risk, but consider how you're protected. Our full Are Your Savings Safe? guide takes you through it, here's a taster...
How savings are protected. If your bank goes bust, the first £85,000 per person saved in each UK-regulated financial institution will be paid back by the govt-backed Financial Services Compensation Scheme (see how it works for joint accounts). If you've more, consider spreading it across a few institutions.
- It's per institution, not bank. Confusingly, while sister banks Halifax and Bank of Scotland share a licence, so you've £85,000 total protection in both; sisters Natwest and RBS don't, so there it's £85,000 EACH. Check in our linked savings tool.
- Warning! Some UK savings aren't UK regulated. EU banks are allowed to opt for the 'passport scheme'. The big one that has is ING Direct, which means its UK savers would rely on the Dutch Govt's up to €100,000 protection (see the foreign bank status list). Many of you've asked about Santander. It is fully UK-protected but for more info, see the Santander news story.
- UK's top paying easy access account. The top easy-access deal is Nationwide's* 3.12% AER, min £1,000 deposit. Though withdraw more than once a year & you lose interest for that month. The rate includes a year-long bonus, so diarise to ditch and switch when it ends. More options, incl longer term fixes, in Top Savings.
FULL info in the Safe Savings guide. Related: Top Savings, Cash ISAs, Cash ISA Transfers, Where to Start Saving
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Cheapest iPhones. New comparison tool
If you're succumbing to the new 'must-have', save £200+/year with the cheapest tariff
iPhones aren't MoneySaving, both phone and tariff costs are inflated. Yet if you're determined to get one, our Cheap iPhone Comparison and guide are fully updated including the new, slightly-improved 4S. Here's a taster...
- Cheapest iPhone 4S contract. The cheapest per month tariff (factoring in the handset's cost) is Orange* at £310 upfront plus £20/mth, which works out as £33/mth all-in over the 2 year contract. Yet it's a low 50 mins, 50 texts and 100MB data. For £36/mth all-in, T-mobile* is 100 mins, 100 texts, 500MB.
Instead consider signing up for the shortest decent contract possible so, once it ends, you can switch to a massively cheaper Sim-only tariff (see below). Tesco says it'll offer a 12 mth contract for £335 upfront then £25/mth - a total of £635 over the year for 250 mins, 5,000 texts and 1GB data (it should be available from Fri).
Far cheaper 3GS contract. If you want an iPhone but aren't bothered about having the latest, go to Three* and you can get a 3GS iPhone free with a £20/mth 24-mth contract, which gets you 100 mins, 5,000 texts and 500MB data.
- Buy unlocked & save. Buy an unlocked iPhone 4S 16GB direct from Apple* and it's £499 (or cheaper old models from eBay*). Then get a Sim card from GiffGaff* for £10/month which gives 250 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data on a one month rolling contract. You'll need to cut the Sim card to an iPhone size, but GiffGaff says it's easy.
- Compare ALL deals and get cashback. There's a labyrinth of options changing rapidly so we've built an iPhone comparison including 4S, 4 and 3GS deals. Plus, once you've found the right deal, some Cashback Sites pay money back.
FULL info in the updated Guide: Cheap iPhones Do you really need an iPhone: Try Cheap Mobiles, Haggle Mobile Contracts
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