Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
Over 50 ways to save, incl... £5k home improve grants, £16/mth fibre, furlough replaced, Amzn secret, mortgage help, 1.1% savings, new self employ grant, 2 specs £15
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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
New. Cheap fibre b'band & line '£16/mth' This is a vital moment for anyone with broadband as a rash of hot deals have launched, but they won't last long. What's incredible with these offers is that many of the 9m out of contract who may be on slower speeds can switch to fibre (which is a faster and more consistent type of b'band) for less than half the price they pay now. So check now if you can save, as these prices are close to the cheapest for fibre we've ever seen. Note: They're for newbies to each firm only.
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1,000s sign up to our new, free, easy MSE energy auto-compare-and-switch tool to save £200+ EVERY YEAR. Last week we launched MSE Autoswitch, and it's perfect for those who want to stay on a top tariff, without any effort, and many joined in their droves. Tell it your priorities (eg, price, service, name you know, green, fixed, exit penalties) and it then compares and picks YOUR top whole-of-the-market tariff based on that. Then annually, with just a one-click verification, it autoswitches you to YOUR new top deal, based on those preferences. HAVE A 2-MIN PLAY WITH IT... DON'T WORRY, IT'S TOTALLY FREE, AND YOU'RE NOT COMMITTED UNTIL YOU CONFIRM. Secret Amazon discounts on returned (often unused) items, eg, £30 off a Nespresso machine, £250 off an HP laptop. There's a hidden part of the giant retailer's site many haven't heard of called Amazon Warehouse, which can be a bargain hunter's dream. See MSE Becky's Amazon Warehouse explainer. Tesco & Morrisons bring back rationing on toilet roll, cleaning products etc - what can you buy there & elsewhere? With lockdown rules tightening, the duo have added restrictions on some items, and that's on top of long-standing limits at other stores. See supermarket-by-supermarket limits + online delivery rules. Top interest-free credit card for spending - M&S Bank's 20mths 0%. If you NEED to borrow for a planned, affordable buy (eg, a new fridge), a 0% spending card is the cheapest way as there's no interest - but it's no excuse to overspend. The top deal is M&S Bank's 20mths 0% as it's the joint-longest 0%, all accepted get the full 0% period, plus you also get points for spending. Always pay at least the min monthly payment, clear or transfer the debt before the 0% ends and don't bust your credit limit. Full help and more deals in 0% Spending Cards (APR Examples). TWO pairs of prescription specs for £15. MSE Blagged. Code also gets free delivery. Spec-tacular |
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In Feb, there were 386 mortgages with a 5% deposit - now there's just ONE standard mortgage at 5% (ie, any others available have stringent conditions, eg, parents as guarantors). There were 751 at 10% - now there are just 57. So for many, 15% is the new floor, and even above that, rates are creeping up: the cheapest 2yr fix was 1.09% in July (with a 40% deposit), now it's 1.24%. There are no foolproof solutions. In some cases, it's a matter of accepting you can't afford to buy now, and wait and save up, but here are a few brief tips... 2. First-time buyers - are you saving the right way? To build a deposit quicker, read our Lifetime ISA (LISA) guide. With a LISA you get a 25% bonus each year (up to £1,000) towards your first home, though you need to hold it a year before you can get the bonus. Similar is true for those who opened a Help to Buy ISA while they were still on offer. 3. First-time buyers - check out specialist mortgages and scrape a little more. At each 5% level until you've 40% of the home's value, things get easier and cheaper. So if you have a 14% deposit, see if you can push to 15%, when a world of choice and cheaper deals open up. Use our mortgage comparison to check out what's around. 4. How to find the cheapest deals. If you have an existing lender, check what it will offer. Then use our mortgage comparison tool to benchmark what's out there for your situation. Acceptance is dependent on your property type, credit history and lenders' affordability checks. |
47 MoneySaving tips if you have a baby, incl free babygrows & how to breastfeed in clothes you already own. As Sept is the most popular month for births, we've rounded up 47 Baby MoneySaving Tips. ALL GONE Boots 'Star Gifts' are back - incl £34ish Benefit trio mascara set (norm £66ish indiv). That's the standout of 14 deals available from this week. MoneySavers may notice they've been released earlier than usual this year - normally they appear in the Christmas run-up. See Boots Star Gifts. Ends today (Wed). Cheapest 8GB Sim we've seen - '£6.33/mth' from Three. MSE Blagged. With this 1yr deal, go via reseller Fonehouse before 11.59pm on Wed and Three newbies* get 8GB/mth data + unltd calls & texts. It's £8/mth, but you get an automatic £20 cashback within 3mths making it equiv to £6.33/mth. 8GB is more than enough data for most people, who typically use less than 3GB/mth. Full help and more deals in Top Sims. |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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Important: Rates are moving fast. All the product links below go via our Top Savings guide - which is updated many times a day - in case they change between us sending this email and you receiving it (so if the 'top deal' isn't the one you clicked, that's because it's changed). All accounts below and in our guides have up to £85,000 UK savings protection.
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SUCCESS OF THE WEEK: |
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK Call for Government to pay 10,000s of women the pension they could be owed. Ex-Pensions Minister Steve Webb is campaigning on behalf of widowed and older married women who could be receiving too little state pension due to admin errors. He reports that payments of about £10,000 are common for those who have missed out, and is calling for those affected to be identified, contacted and given any money due. To show your support, sign the 'Review state pension entitlements' petition asking for a parliamentary debate. Plus check our news story to see if you might be affected. |
THIS WEEK'S POLL When did you last switch your bank account? The current account switching market is heating up, with some banks once again offering cash bonuses for switching. So whether you want better service, interest on your savings or just free cash, changing your main day-to-day bank account can be well worth doing. But when did you last switch? Giffgaff tops our mobile network service and coverage poll. In last week's poll, Giffgaff came top among providers with 75+ votes, with 73% of its customers rating it 'great' for customer service and 70% rating it 'great' for network coverage. O2 was best of the biggies, with 47% of customers saying its customer service is 'great' and 51% rating its coverage 'great', while Virgin Mobile took the wooden spoon overall - 25% of its customers said the service was 'poor' and 37% said its coverage was 'poor'. See full mobile service poll results. |
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I keep my overpaid final salary? I left my job in July and when I got my final payslip it was double the usual amount, as HR wrongly seemed to think I had holiday owing. I contacted HR and they said they'd sort it, so I put the extra money into my savings account until then. It's now two months later and I still haven't heard anything. Should I contact them or keep quiet? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I keep my overpaid final salary? | Suggest an MMD | View past MMDs |
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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 30 SEP ONWARDS) Thu 1 Oct - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.55am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (MOST SUBJECTS TBC) Thu 1 Oct - BBC Radio Leicester, Mid-morning with Ben Jackson, from 11.35am. With MSE's Guy Anker, on savings |
'I SOLD A LIP GLOSS FROM THE '90S FOR £50' - WHAT'S THE OLDEST THING YOU'VE FLOGGED? That's all for this week, but before we go... we've long given tips on selling your old stuff for cash, but after an 11-year-old Mars Delight bar was sold for £50, you shared the oldest things you've flogged, via our social channels. A bottle of 1998 Veuve Clicquot champagne was sold for £485, a 24-pack of original recipe Irn-Bru went for £54, with Polly Pocket lip gloss selling for £50, despite being over 20 years old. Let us know the oldest item you've sold in our Facebook post and if you need inspiration, see our Flog your rubbish for cash guide. We hope you save some money, stay safe, |
Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com worksWe think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of this email and the site. We're a journalistic website, and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques - but can't promise to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. What you need to know This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances - and remember we focus on rates not service. We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned, how likely they are to go bust, but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips). We often link to other websites, but can't be responsible for their content. Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion. Please read the Full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, How This Site is Financed and Editorial Code. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin LewisWhat is MoneySavingExpert.com? Who is Martin Lewis? What do the links with an * mean?Any links with an * by them are affiliated, which means get a product via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference; the links don't impact the products at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to them. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in the same way. More info: See How This Site is Financed. As we believe transparency is important, we're including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for content too: Unaffiliated web-addresses for links in this email fonehouse.co.uk, tsb.co.uk, santander.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, confused.com, comparethemarket.com, gocompare.com, tescobank.com, cahoot.com Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Note MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 303190). MoneySavingExpert.com Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number: 8021764. Registered office: One Dean Street, London, W1D 3RB. MoneySavingExpert.com Limited is an appointed representative of MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited. To change your email or stop receiving the weekly tips (unsubscribe): Go to: www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips. |