Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Martin's Wallet Workout
Take my 5-min financial fitness class to GAIN pounds - £100s of 'em

17 ways to save incl getting paid to spend, £500m of travel refunds, free coffees, digital donor cards & more

The cards and products in your purse or wallet are a window on your finances, so a regular check-up of what you're holstering is important. And while many phones and watches are gradually morphing into wallets, my Twitter purse poll showed that just over two-thirds still take a physical purse/wallet out with them. So here are my tips, whether you're a cash king or a digital doyenne.

1. Emergency service, NHS or care worker? Do you have your discount card? The £5 Blue Light Card gets - among other discounts - 10% back on fresh food at Asda, which can be a huge saving if you shop there. See more NHS & care worker freebies and discounts.
   
   
2. Do you usually pay on plastic (even if via Apple or Google Pay)? Ensure you are PAID TO PAY. A range of cashback & reward cards give you money or points back when you spend on them. Our top picks currently include...
   
   a) The Chase cashback debit card* pays 1% cashback (max £15/mth) immediately on most normal spending, for at least a year, likely longer. You NEEDN'T switch bank to get it, so can use it alongside your normal bank, and it only does an ID not credit check when you apply, so is easy to get. It's also the cheapest debit card for spending overseas. As Sonia tweeted: "Joined April 2022. Made £278.06 to date plus interest on savings & current account." 
   
   b) The Amex Preferred Rewards Gold gives up to £115 in Amazon vouchers, £120 Deliveroo cashback and free airport passes. A complex deal but seriously lucrative for some - the link has a full how-to. It's a credit card so pay off IN FULL each month to avoid interest.
   
   c) The Amex Platinum Everyday pays 5% cashback (max £100) in the first three months and tiered rates afterwards. Again, the link has a full how-to. It's also a credit card, so again ensure you pay off IN FULL.
   
   If you're into frequent flyer rewards, see Airline reward cards too.
   
   
3. 40 digital coupons, including 'free' £6 Strongbow, 'free' £2.40 brioche swirls, 'free' £2 7up & more. The days of clipping coupons are mostly over. Our regularly updated 40+ coupons guide collates the best online coupons for you, so you have access to them wherever you are.
   
   

4. Can't afford to pay off your credit or store cards in full? You can't afford to miss a 2-min test to make the debt interest-free. If card debt is burning a hole in your pocket, don't assume you can't cut the cost - put your details into our 0% Eligibility Calculator and it'll show the most likely 0% deals you could be accepted to shift your debt to. That means more of your repayments clear what you owe, rather than just pay interest - so you're debt-free quicker.
   
   Brian emailed: "Thanks for your tip the other week on 0% balance transfers. I owed £1,700 on my Halifax card. I got a 0% balance transfer for 28 months which should make it easier to pay it back rather than being hammered with interest charges. I feel a lot better mentally for this."
   
   - Low eligibility: Try for your best chance anyway - this is important.
   - Lots of choice: Go for the card with the lowest fee with enough time to clear the debt. So if you can pay quickly, the longest no-fee card is NatWest's 14mth 0% card If you're unsure how long you need, go long, such as Barclaycard's up to 29mths 0% (3.45% one-off fee). If you do get a balance transfer card, follow my golden rules:
   
   a) Clear the card before the 0% ends, or you pay the full rep APR.
   b) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you can lose the 0%.
   c) You must usually transfer within 60 days to get the 0%.
   d) Don't spend/withdraw cash - it isn't at the cheap rate.
   e) Don't put your balance transfer card in your digital wallet - you don't want it accessible to spend on.

5. Has your photo driving licence expired? 2m have. They usually expire after 10 years - so check its SECTION 4B to see. Our driving licence check guide has full info on how to renew safely and cheaply and avoid a hefty fine.

   

6. Stash a free coffee or tea pass from Waitrose. Just sign up to its loyalty scheme then all you need do is bring your own cup and swipe your card or scan the app when you buy something (even a 20p banana). Ikea and others have free tea & coffee deals too.
   
   
7. Is your debit card a debt card? If you go overdrawn, it is, and it's seriously costly. Credit cards get a bad rap, but if you're overdrawn, debit card interest is typically double that of credit cards, as most now charge 40%. So it's important to manage it down and see if you can make it cheaper...
   
   a) Get PAID to switch your overdraft. First Direct* pays accepted new customers £175 to switch to it, and gives many an ongoing £250 0% overdraft (40% AER above that). So if you've an overdraft of £425 or less, the free £175 clears some and the rest is interest-free.
   
   Nationwide FlexDirect gives switchers £200, and a 0% overdraft, but only for a year. The size of it depends on your creditworthiness, so some get more, some less. Ensure you clear it within the year or you're back at 40%.
   
   b) Shift it to a 0% credit card. For big overdrafts, another option is to shift it to a specialist 0% money transfer card (be careful).
   
   c) Treat overdraft borrowing like a debt. Try to repay a set amount each month, eg, £50 (ie, you should start the next month with a £50 smaller overdraft than the one before). More help, tips and info in how to cut overdraft costs.
   
   
8. Travel in London? Are you due a share of £500m in unclaimed Oyster or contactless card credit? There's over £500 million of unclaimed credit on old Oyster cards. Plus if you paid via Oyster or contactless and failed to touch your card at the journey's end, or were delayed 15 mins by Tube, you may be due money too.
   
   See our quick Oyster & TfL contactless reclaiming guide for help. As Babs posted on my Facebook page: "After checking I had £40 on my card which I didn't use anymore. Got the cash in my bank account a week later."
   
   
9. Stash a FREE National Trust family pass. Normally £30ish, but the National Trust is giving away 1,000s of free family passes (excludes Scotland) to use until Fri 20 Oct.
   
   
10. Got expense receipts stuffed in your wallet? Get on with filing them - it turns them into cash, especially as some employers have time limits. Or many people find it easier to use one of the many apps that let you scan and digitise receipts. Even better, ask if your firm will let you pay for expenses on a cashback card (see point 2) then you can gain on what you shell out for.
    
    
11. Ditch your donor card to go digital donor. For four months now, since June, in every UK nation you're automatically considered willing to be an organ donor unless you opt out. Donor cards do helpfully let your loved ones know your wishes, but you can easily lighten the load by digitally registering your decision (do it via these links: England and Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland) so your family know your wishes. Better still, discuss it with them.
    
    PS: You can be a living donor too. There are many ways to help while living, including blood & plasma donation, bone marrow donation, stem cells (ages 16 to 30) & hair for young cancer patients.
    
    
12. Can't afford to buy it? Don't just reach for a card... Be very wary of doing willy-nilly new borrowing. If you need to borrow, ensure it's for a one-off planned purchase, you've budgeted repayments and do it with minimal interest. For new spending you can do in store the two cheapest options are...
    
    - 0% purchase cards which if you're accepted can allow you to spread the cost interest-free for up to 22 months.
    - Buy now, pay later, which is now ubiquitous online when you spend - and a bit of a nightmare tempting people into debt. Yet if you plan to borrow and want to spread the cost over a few months, it can be the easiest way (though the industry isn't regulated and I'm concerned Govt is going to can planned legislation to regulate it).
    
    
13. Chuck the loyalty cards out of your wallet. Unless you need it for bicep curls, a heavy purse is a pain. To help declutter, most loyalty cards can be stored virtually in Apple and Google Wallets, or apps such as Stocard. Plus check our tips and tricks to boost Nectar and Tesco points.
    
    
14. Is there a railcard in your (digital) wallet? If you spend over £90 a year on train travel there often should be. If you are under 31, over 60, disabled, a couple, have kids aged 5 to 15, live in south-east England, or are just two people who travel a lot together (eg, football friends), then look at a railcard. They cost up to £30/yr and get you a third off most train travel, so if you'll spend £90+ annually, even in one journey, you can save. See Is there a railcard for me?
    
    
15. Put m'money mantras in your purse as a spending block. Some people tell me they have my pic in their wallets as a form of fiscal contraception to remind them to stop spending. Ut hmm. I think I'm more comfortable if you use our designed free money mantras printout instead.
    
    

    

    And speaking of contraception...

16. Check any condoms you have are still in date. Carrying a condom around might be a cliché, but safety counts. Remember though, condoms have use-by dates, so as you're doing this workout, it's a good time to check. To replace, you can use the NHS England free condom search, and there's info for Wales & Northern Ireland too. For Scotland it's run area-by-area so a quick web-search is best.
    
    
17. ... and for a different protection, spend a penny. Under the Section 75 law, buy something costing £100.01 to £30,000 and pay for any of it, even a penny, on a credit card, and the card firm's jointly liable with the retailer for the WHOLE amount. So if you make an important purchase, if you can, put at least some of it on a credit card (paid off in full to avoid interest, obvs).
    
    This is powerful voodoo if the retailer goes bust, won't play fair with faulty items, or you buy abroad and can't take the item back. Full claiming help and info on when it doesn't work is in Section 75.
    
    Purchases on a debit card and on a credit card for £100 or less do have the lesser, though still decent, chargeback protection too.
    
    Section 75 can be dodgier digitally. Paying on credit card via buy now, pay later, or sometimes via PayPal, can break the causal link that gives Section 75 protection, though you should still have chargeback anyway. More details in Section 75 online help.