MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Martin: It's BILLBUSTER time!
Stop the rip offs! 12 big & easy ways to slash bills. Many can save £100s, some £1,000s, a few £10,000s

January has folded itself up, put on a coat and slipped out the back door. It's the month most people intend to organise their finances, but intention isn't action, so if you never quite got there... this is your belt-and-braces, no excuses, bill-busting sweep-up.

We started this last week with the Big Energy Switch (still on till Thu). Yet remember, the easiest way to overpay a bill is to assume you've sorted it... when you haven't, so no apologies that I've already covered some of these this year - what matters is if you've checked them. I've tried to keep it as simple as possible to avoid TLDR, with links to more detailed info if you're following through.

1. Childcare bills
- Typical saving: 20% of childcare costs, up to £2,000/yr per child.
- Rough time to do: 30 mins.
- Key action: If you pay for childcare, check if you're eligible for the poorly named Tax-Free Childcare scheme, where working parents earning under £100,000/yr can get a 25% boost on what they pay (up to £2,000/yr per child, or £4,000 for a child with disabilities).
- Call to arms: Around 800,000 parents are missing out on this key help, and with childcare prices a huge burden than can often put people off going back to work, it's well worth a check. 

There's also up to 30hrs 'funded' nursery time for some aged 9mth to 4yrs (depending on which UK nation you're in) and childcare help for those on Universal Credit. 

2. Mobile phone contracts
- Typical Saving: £100 - 200/yr. 
- Rough time to do: 5 mins.
- Key action: Text 'INFO' for free to 85075 to see if you're out of contract. If so, speedily find your cheapest Sim (incl with same signal).
- Call to arms: Over 14m people are out of contract, and most are being ripped off paying massively over the odds. The cost of Sim-only deals have plummeted. Five years ago a 50GB Sim was £12/mth, today it's less than £4/mth. Full step-by-step help in our cheap mobiles guide.

As Rosie emailed the other week: "I took advantage of your deal with Lebara after disappointing service from my last provider. Saved £277 over the next year, get more data, better roaming, a month-by-month contract and keep my old phone number. Dead chuffed. Thanks."

3. Subscription conniptions
- Typical saving: £0 - £500/yr. 
- Rough time to do: 5 mins (for the initial check).
- Key action: Log into your bank account(s) and do a Direct Debit & Standing Order Check to ensure there's nowt on the list you're paying for that you don't need, want or use. See our step-by-step Direct Debit audit help.
- Call to arms: To see how important it is, just look at the things people found when they check... from mundane subscriptions that you no longer value, to paying for insurance for a fridge you chucked a decade ago.

PS: The 3rd type of regular payment is a Recurring Payment (or Continuous Payment Authority), used by firms such as Netflix, Disney and others. It's where they take your long debit or credit card number and you give them permission to take payment when they need. These are tougher to spot and give you fewer rights than Direct Debit. Scan through a few months of statements to see what recurs - it's worth doing.

4. Energy bills
- Typical saving: £100 - £500yr. 
- Rough time To do: 5 mins.
- Key action: See our urgent Big Switch energy deals below.
- Call to arms: Are you still on your energy firm's standard tariff, ie the Price Pants Cap? Get off it now - fix and save up to 16%.

5. Credit card bills I: If you pay interest on debt
- Typical saving: £250/yr per £1,000 debt. 
- Rough time to do: 10 mins.
- Key action: A balance transfer is where you get a new card that pays off debts on old cards for you, so you owe it instead, but at 0%. So then more of your repayment clears the actual debt rather than the interest. Nip to our eligibility calculator to find the balance transfer most likely to accept you (includes some for poorer credit scorers). 
- Call to arms: If you can't afford to clear your debts, you can't afford not to do a balance transfer. The longest 'all accepted get it' deal is 36mths 0% (3.45% fee), or if you can repay quicker there's 'up to' 14mths NO FEE.

If you do get a card, follow the balance transfer golden rules:
a) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you could lose the 0%.
b) Clear the card before the 0% ends, or the rate rockets to 25% ish.
c) Don't spend or withdraw cash - it usually isn't at the cheap rate.
See our full step-by-step balance transfer help.

As Brian emailed us a while back, "Thanks for your tip on 0% balance transfers. I had a £1,700 debt on my card and was being charged interest on it. 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." [Rough saving £425/yr].

6. Broadband (& digital TV) bills
- Typical saving: £200 - £500/yr. 
- Rough time to do: 5 - 10 mins.
- Key action: Jump down to our new top broadband deals below. 
- Call to arms: Over 7m homes are out of contract, and if that's you, you may be able to double the speed and halve the price. 

Streaming? See Disney+ | Amazon Prime | Netflix tips to save and also Do I need a TV licence?

7. Credit card bills II: If you're debt-free
- Typical saving: £100/+yr per year. 
- Rough time to do: 4 mins.
- Key action: Get a top cashback card that pays you when you spend on it. If it's a credit card, just ensure you pay it off IN FULL each month (and never do cash withdrawals) so there's no interest. 
- Call to arms: Spend on (virtual) plastic and the store pays the plastic provider, so the aim is to effectively get this paid to you. All it takes is swapping a card. 

The top flat-rate payer is the Lloyds Credit Card which gives a straight 1% uncapped cashback for all UK & overseas spending in the first year (& perfect exchange rates abroad). For each £1,000 you spend, you get £10 (PS: Don't see it as an excuse to spend more, just use it for your normal spending).

GlennTheBaker posted on our forum last month: "I usually use my Aqua Rewards card for all spending as I get 0.5% cashback (capped at £100/yr) and no FX fees but got the Lloyds Ultra credit card in October and received my cashback of almost £80 on 31 Dec 🙂"

8. Car & Home insurance bills
- Typical saving: £50 - £400/yr.
- Rough time to do: 10 mins.
- Key action: Use our Car Insurance Compare+ and Home Insurance Compare+ tools, which don't just do a comparison, but give you step-by-step personalised help on how to cut the bill.
- Call to arms: Insurance prices are dropping, yet we've all been programmed to expect big price rises, so many get their renewal bill, see "oh its only up 10%" and settle, when in reality that could easily mean paying £100s over the odds.

9. Mortgage bills
- Typical saving: £2k per £100k mortgage. 
- Rough time to do: 1hr.
- Key action(s): a) Check your current mortgage details. b) Do a quick mortgage best-buys comparison to see what's available. c) If it's looking good or you need help, speak to a mortgage broker.
- Call to arms: Over 1.8m mortgage fixes end this year. If that's you and you do nothing, you could see what you pay increase by say £300/mth as you'll be moved to your lender's Standard Variable Rate (typically 7% compared to the 4% cheap fixes).

So prepare in advance to stop that happening. This takes time, but an hour should be more than enough for you to work out if you're going to be able to save large. Our free remortgage guide can take you through it step by step and our ultimate mortgage calculator will help you see if you can save.

10. Council Tax bills I: In too high a band? 
- Typical saving: £3,000 - £10,000 back-pay & £100+/yr lower bill. 
- Rough time to do: 30mins to start (then if its a go-er far more later).
- Key action: Follow my check 'n' challenge your band system with videos & tools to see if you can lower your band
- Call to arms: Up to 400,000 homes in England and Scotland are likely in the wrong band and may be due thousands back. Some find this easy to do, others get push-back and find it a hard fight. Do ensure you go through the guide carefully, speculative challenges without proper research are dangerous.

Yet when it works, it works, as Trevor emailed me: "Following your show on Council Tax, we received a refund of £8,871 for an incorrect banding going back 28 years. Over ten years ago I appealed and it was rejected. After watching your show I applied for our PAD and discovered our 4-bed house was listed incorrectly as a 6-bed and nearly 80sq m bigger. Thanks again for your programme."

11. Council Tax bills II: Missing out on a discount?
- Typical saving: 25% off the bill.
- Rough time to do: 15mins.
- Key action: Scan the list of Council Tax discounts to see if you're missing out (single or only live with under-18s, students, on Pension Credit, low incomes, disabilities, have a carer, mental capacity issues, etc).
- Call to arms: Millions are likely missing out on Council Tax discounts. The biggest category is help for those on lower incomes, as many assume help is automatic if you get Universal Credit. It isn't, you need to apply separately. 

As a special mention... if you know someone with dementia, Alzheimer's, severe Parkinson's or who's had a severe stroke, they may be entitled to the 'severe mental impairment' discount, which can be worth £1,000s backdated (if so, it's worth checking if you're entitled to Attendance Allowance too).

12. Water bills
- Typical saving: Up to £300/yr. 
- Rough time to do: 5 mins.
- Key action(s): If you've more or the same number of bedrooms in your home than people, see if you can save £100s with a free water meter, if you can't get one, see if an 'assessed charge bill' is cheaper for you. For far more help, see last week's email's six ways to save £100s on water bills.
- Call to arms: Eng & Wales water bills are rising again in April, this time an average 5% (Scotland is up 9%).