Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Are you sitting on a £10,000+ success?
10 BIG MoneySaving WINS from 2024 (so far) to inspire you, incl...

- £3,300/yr state pension boost
- £21,000 saved in mortgage interest
- TV & broadband bill slashed by £1,750/yr

Not a week goes by without huge numbers of you telling us about the heart-warming ways you've used our MoneySaving tips to balance (or boost) the books, play the system, right wrongs and, of course, nab great deals. Yet we can't help but feel many more of you are missing out on similar successes, big or small, without realising it. So hopefully these recent examples will motivate you to follow in their footsteps...

PS: If these success stories do inspire you, please tell us how much you saved, made or reclaimed.

1. 'Spending £8,200 on NATIONAL INSURANCE YEARS has bought my wife a £60,000 state pension boost.' This is possibly the single MOST LUCRATIVE thing you can do with your money - if it's right for you. To get the full state pension, you need a full national insurance (NI) record - but if you've gaps in yours, you can usually buy extra years to fill 'em.

Temporary rules mean you can buy missing years from as far back as 2006, so anyone aged 40 to 72ish should check now. Our buying national insurance years guide has the full step-by-step to help you decide if it's worth doing.

David emailed in May: "Dear Martin & team, a big thanks for reminding me to top up NI. My wife had 10+ years missing. Her pension forecast was £69/wk, but a (large £8,200) contribution to fill the gaps increased it to £132/wk [a £3,280/yr boost, over £60,000 if she gets it for 20yrs] - no brainer!"

2. 'Got a water meter and we now pay £16/mth instead of £60/mth, saving over £500/yr.' On a water meter, you only pay for what you use, rather than paying a fixed bill based on estimated usage depending on your home's size. If you're in England or Wales (there's a different system in Scot and N.Ire), Martin's rule of thumb is...

More bedrooms in your home than people, or the same number (eg, three bedrooms, two people)? A water meter is likely to save you cash. Try a water meter calculator to get a better picture.

Ursula emailed us her HUGE saving in June after pulling the plug on pricey bills: "I got a water meter fitted as there are only two of us in a three-bed house. We now pay £16/mth instead of £60/mth [saving £528/yr]. Thank you."

PS: If you're on a low income or some benefits, check if you can get a social water tariff or help through the WaterSure scheme.

3. 'I saved £1,000/yr in credit card interest using your eligibility calculator to find a 0% BALANCE TRANSFER.' A balance transfer is where you get a new credit card to pay off debts on old ones, so you owe it instead, but at 0% interest for a set time. Yet acceptance is key, so use our 0% Balance Transfer Eligibility tool, which shows the top cards you're most likely to get before you apply.

In June, Trevor emailed: "Hi Martin & co. I was paying £300 for two credit cards, costing me £76/mth interest. I took out a balance transfer deal with £5,299 credit and transferred both card balances to it for a £164 fee. With 28mths 0%, I'll have saved a bankroll. Bangin'! Thanks for all the tips, keep 'em coming." [That's a saving of nearly £1,000/yr in interest.]

4. 'My HOME INSURANCE renewal was up by more than 50% - following your tips, I slashed it by £210.' Home insurance prices have soared this year, driven by inflation and the cost of repairs. The key to saving (or at least limiting the rise) here is to NEVER just auto-renew - use our home insurance guide to get quotes and bespoke cost-cutting tips to slice the price down.

Jan did so in May: "I recently received my home content and buildings insurance renewal, which had increased by £150 to £420 [a 54% rise]! After about an hour of searching online via your website, I secured a much better deal for £210, saving me £210. Thank you Martin."

5. 'I'm saving £1,746 off my broadband, TV & landline bill after using MSE's HAGGLING TIPS.' The best savings usually come from switching broadband and TV provider, but if you don't want to, haggling with your existing one can help you slash costs, sometimes massively. See full help in our haggling guide.

Sam followed our tips to save, and emailed in February: "I had an email to say my contract was ending and my monthly bill would rise from £79/mth to £158/mth. I phoned them and, after haggling with them, my new monthly bill is £61/mth, a saving of £1,746 over the 18mth contact. Bingo!"

6. 'We got a £20,000 refund & our future bills have been halved due to little-known COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNTS.' It's thought that 100,000s of people are missing out on the 'severely mentally impaired' (SMI) council tax discount, which can be awarded if you live (or someone you live with is living) with a condition such as dementia, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, have severe learning difficulties, or have been impacted by a stroke.

Last month, Paul got in touch to tell us that they were due the discount because his son lives with cerebral palsy, and that he and his wife qualified for a further council tax discount because they're both live-in carers.

In addition to getting their bill halved moving forwards, Paul said: "We've just received an email from our council, confirming a refund of £19,593. This is backdated to May 2007 - the year of our son's 18th birthday. I'd like to thank everyone at MSE for bringing details of council tax discounts to our attention."

PS: In England/Scotland? Is your home in the wrong council tax band?

7. 'I followed your SECTION 75 tips and paid a furniture deposit on a credit card - it meant I could reclaim £2,800.' If you buy something costing more than £100 and less than £30,000 using a credit card, the card company has a LEGAL responsibility to come to the rescue if there's a problem with your purchase.

This powerful protection is called Section 75, and it really works. Gael emailed us a couple of weeks ago to say: "Just wanted to thank you... we paid a deposit of £2,800 for furniture from a firm which went bust the next day (what timing!) using a credit card as per the tips you give. Our credit card company was great, all the money was back in our account as soon as the administration was confirmed (a month later)."

8. 'I used your calc and saved £21,000 making MORTGAGE OVERPAYMENTS.' If you've spare cash, your mortgage rate is higher than you can earn in savings, and you don't have other, more expensive debt, overpaying on your mortgage, even by a little, can really add up over the long term. Full help to decide if it's right for you in Should I overpay my mortgage?

To whet your appetite, Lucy emailed in January to say: "We used your mortgage overpayment calculator back in 2017 and began to pay an extra £1,000/mth. Exactly 11 years after getting the mortgage, we made the final payment and cleared it, having saved over £21,000 in interest and 14 years of payments. All because we used your calc, played around with the numbers and stuck to it. Thanks!"

9. 'I got the max possible £1,040 FLIGHT CANCELLATION COMPENSATION.' While most flights go to plan, a minority don't, with travellers suffering the impact of delays and cancellations. Yet many are unaware of their legal right to claim between £110 and £520 in compensation each if the airline is at fault. That's ON TOP of any refund, alternative flight or food reimbursement. Our flight delay and flight cancellation guides have full help, including template letters.

It worked for MSE Forumite steve111s, who posted in April: "We were due to fly from Miami to London but got a text on the way to the airport cancelling the flight. We put a claim in but got denied twice on the grounds of 'aircraft damage'. After a bit of hunting around, we found a legal test case which contradicted the airline's position. After seeing that, it had no choice and paid out in full, totalling £1,040. Thanks."

10. 'A quick DIRECT DEBIT AUDIT saved me £1,000/yr.' While Direct Debits, standing orders and recurring payments are often a valuable tool to ensure crucial bills are paid, if you don't check them often enough you could be wasting £100s on products and services you no longer want or use.

Even if you don't think you're one of them, it's worth a quick 5-min Direct Debit check, like Sarah who emailed in Feb: "I've just reviewed my Direct Debits, prompted by MSE, & saved just over £1,000/yr. I used to work for a bank & assumed I'd find no savings, but the review was well worth it. Thank you."