Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

New. Cheapest loan rates slashed!
Eg, the cheapest loans under £5,000 were 10% last week, now are 7%

It takes a while after UK base rates are cut for that to filter into the personal loan market, but now it's happened, and with aplomb. Almost across the board, the last fortnight's seen new cheaper loans launch, and today that's accelerated, with People's Choice massively undercutting all other providers, especially for amounts under £5,000. It's done this before... offering super-cheap rates on smaller loans, but then withdrawing them after a week. So for those who need to borrow, and want the security of fixed repayments, applying sooner is likely safer. Detailed help in our Cheap loans guide, but here's the key info...

• ONLY borrow if it's NEEDED, budgeted for & affordable. Loans need careful thought. They are best for a deliberate, planned, budgeted-for one-off expenditure with lasting gain (eg, repairing a broken kitchen, not booking a holiday). Ask yourself whether you really need it. If not, don't do it. If unsure, don't do it. If it is right for you, then do a budget to ensure you can afford the repayments, and aim to repay as quickly as you can, as that cuts costs.
  
  - Doing it to consolidate other debt, eg, credit card debt? See Martin's Is consolidation worth it? briefing.
  - Already struggling with debt? Ignore this - go straight to our Debt help guide.
  
  
• The UK's cheapest fixed-rate unsecured (a good thing) personal loans. Always go via our Must-Use: Loans Eligibility Calculator (all links below go via it too) as it helps you home in on the lenders most likely to accept you, protecting your credit file by minimising applications. The loans are all unsecured, which means unlike secured loans, they can't automatically look to take away your house if you don't repay (secured means security for the lender, not for you). Here are the best buys by loan amount...
  
  £1,000 - £2,999: New. People's Choice 7.1%, Zopa (via John Lewis) 9.9%, but 0% credit card loans may be cheaper.
  £3,000 - £4,999: New. People's Choice 7.1%, Novuna 9.9% (9.7% on £4,000 to £4,999).
  £5,000 - £7,499: New. People's Choice 7% (6.5% on £7,000 to £7,499). New. Tesco Bank 7% (need free Clubcard).
  £7,500 - £25,000: New. People's Choice 5.8%. New. M&S Bank, TSB 5.9% (both up to £20,000).
  
  - A word on People's Choice. It's the loans arm of insurer Hastings Direct, and with rates so much lower than the competition, it's unlikely these will be around for long. We also think it is likely to be credit-scoring tightly (ie, accepting a select few), but the link goes via the eligibility calc, so at least you'll see if you've a chance.
  
  - All these loans are 'representative APR', meaning sadly only 51% of accepted applicants need to be given the advertised rates (others accepted can be charged more, without limit). However, a few lenders now offer guaranteed rates via the eligibility calc, meaning you'll know the specific rate you'd get before application - you'll see these in your results.
  
  PS: While generally you should minimise borrowing, if you're borrowing just below a threshold where rates get cheaper (eg, £7,499 is 6.5% and £7,500 is 5.8%), it can actually mean you repay less if you borrow a little more. See loan rate loophole for how to work it out.
  
  
• How lenders decide who to lend to... As with all lending, when you apply you'll be credit-scored to see if you've been a good credit citizen. Each lender scores you differently based on its own wish list of what is a profitable customer. Yet less known is that lenders also do an affordability score (using your income from your application form, so do include every penny - but don't lie) to see whether you can actually afford to repay.
  
  And with loans, affordability is far more important than with, say, credit cards because you're applying for a specific amount, eg, the same lender may accept you for a £3,000 loan but reject you at £10,000. MSE's free Credit Club (available via the MSE App on Apple and Android) shows your credit and affordability scores and helps diagnose any issues. Plus, a version of our eligibility calc is within the Club (so, once registered, you needn't enter more details each time).
  
  
• Can you cut the cost of EXISTING loans? With rates lowering, it's worth checking to see whether you could cut your loan's cost, especially if you previously had a poorer credit score than you do now. The start point is to find a loan with a cheaper APR than you've got. If you can do that, it's important to do further key checks as there can be early repayment penalties. Our step-by-step Cut existing loan costs guide will take you through how to decide.
  

'I found a £40,000 pension' & 'I found an £11,000 work pension'
Reclaim lost pensions for FREE - are you entitled to a share of a forgotten £70 BILLION?

There can't be many more (potentially) profitable uses of time than to spend a bit of it checking whether you've any lost pensions - especially for those who worked for lots of different firms over many years. More than three million pensions are thought to have gone astray, worth an average of £9,500 each (though some can be far bigger). There's full info on how to check whether any of this cash is yours in Find lost pensions, but all the basics are below.

As Vikki (pictured right) emailed Martin: "Love your website and TikTok and often use your tips. I decided to trace my pensions and they have come back to say they have found one from the 1990s which I only paid a very small amount into for around five years as I recall. This pension is going to pay me around £160 per month for the rest of my life - if I manage to get to even 75, that's a lot of money!" [We estimate this could be worth nearly £40,000 if she does.] Please let us know if you find a pension using the info below (and how you did it).

• How do you lose a pension? It's not like it can drop out of your pocket. There are some very common causes. The biggies are... a) You've moved house without updating your details with your pension provider. b) You've changed jobs (especially if you've done it a lot) - as workplace pensions are often with different providers. c) Your pension provider has merged or rebranded, as this can make it difficult to know which firm you need to contact.
  
  
• And more importantly... how do you find it again? Whatever type your pension is, whether private, State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), final salary, money purchase or anything else... thankfully, the steps to find it are the same.
  
  Step 1. If possible, make a list of all your former employers & pension schemes so you know how many you're looking for. You should have details on pension statements, but if you can't find these, try contacting the HR department at old employers to see whether they can help find details of previous workplace pension schemes you might have been part of. If you can't remember any of this, don't give up (jump to step 4).
  
  Charlotte found a lost pension: "Hi Martin. I'm new to your programme and newsletter, but just wanted to say thank you so much because after your programme on pensions, I found an old work pension... worth £11,000!"
  
  Step 2. Use the Pension Tracing Service. If you can't find any paperwork or can't get hold of an old employer, try the simple, free Gov.uk Pension Tracing Service tool. You can search by employer name, and it has details of over 200,000 different schemes. It will give you the contact details for the pension provider (usually an address and/or phone number), though it won't tell you if you've a pension there.
  
  Step 3. Once you've got the details from the Pension Tracing Service, contact the pension firm. It's then up to you to contact that company yourself. Many will have an email address or contact form on their websites, as you certainly won't be the only one in this situation. The ID you'll need to prove that you are you varies by firm, but it'll commonly be your National Insurance number, and possibly your passport or driving licence. The firm should then marry you up with your pension, if it holds one for you.
  
  Step 4. No luck or can't remember details? Gretel works a different way, and it's also free. While the Pension Tracing Service has a huge database, you need to remember the names of your past workplaces or of private pension plan providers. If you can't, fintech firm Gretel will do a 'soft search' on your credit report (this doesn't impact your 'credit score') to check your identity and match you with prior addresses where you may have accounts registered (so you needn't remember them to do this, though if you remember any that don't appear on your credit report, that'll help too).
  
  It'll try to track down any dormant pensions (and investments, bank accounts, shares, life insurance and Child Trust Funds) for you. It's free because the financial firms pay it (as they've a duty to try and find you, and this fulfils that, likely more cheaply than doing it themselves). Fewer financial institutions are signed up to it than the Pension Tracing Service, but once you register, it will redo your search every two weeks, so if a new firm joins it and there's a new hit, it'll let you know.
   
• Find deceased relatives' lost pensions too. If a family member has died and you're responsible for their estate, or you're the beneficiary, you may be able to reclaim any pensions that person had lost (though you'll need the will as proof that anything found is due to you). See how to recover deceased relatives' assets.