![](https://pixel.app.returnpath.net/pixel.gif?r=8bc6952e6a606dddf03dc0296ed21ba80f6d9f9b&c=326d154a72f940b2822f9f7ee0752118)
|
|
|
|
---|
DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
Martin: Millions of cash ISA savers are being underpaid... The top cash ISA rates have more than trebled in the last year. Even before that, millions with cash ISAs were underpaid. Now the gap is even bigger. If you have one of these tax-free savings accounts, do my cash ISA check-up now to see if you can gain £100s more interest to reduce the bite of inflation. 1. Normal savings beat cash ISAs for most. Since 2016, the personal savings allowance (PSA) means: That means currently you'd need £34,500 (£17,250 at the higher tax rate) in top easy-access savings before you earned enough interest for some to start being taxed, or £23,000 in the top 2yr fix (£11,500 at the higher tax rate). Most savers have far less. If so, as all your interest is tax-free, the main focus is on moving your money to the highest interest rate, and as the table below shows, that's usually top normal savings not cash ISAs, so many should ditch & switch. As Gill emailed in November: "Thanks. I finally moved from a 0.4% cash ISA to a 4.5% two-year fix. The remaining savings will go to a 3.5% instant access. I was the definition of a lazy saver, but my eyes have been well and truly opened."
- The top easy-access cash ISA pays 2.75%. If you do have an easy-access cash ISA, beware, many are paying diddly-squat, often under 1%, so check yours. If it's pants, simply open a new top-paying cash ISA, and usually in the application form you can ask the new provider to transfer your existing cash ISA(s) to it. Don't just withdraw the money though, as then you lose the ISA status.
As Lester emailed me: "After one of your excellent programmes before Christmas, you highlighted the option to switch from a low- to high-interest cash ISA. I did with two of ours: 0.55% switched to 4.20%, and 1.45% to 3.95%. We took the interest penalty hit (150 and 180 days'), as the higher rates makes a very considerable difference." 4. Can you boost interest further? Some specialised options in our Savings section pay even more: - 50% bonus for many on universal credit or tax credits. See Help to Save. |
Martin: 'Important. Energy wholesale rates have plummeted. There are many myths about. Watch my 6min briefing on how it'll really impact your bills.' See his latest Energy bills video explainer. Clothes, shoes and accessories 95p to £3.61 through 5% off and free delivery code. MSE Blagged. Discount retailer Everything5pounds sells a mixture of ex-high street and non-branded items, and we've blagged a code for 5% off AND free delivery (normally from £4) that works in conjunction with its up to 50% off sale, where everything's £3.80 or less. Everything5pounds sale 15%-ish broadband rises expected to be announced this week by BT, TalkTalk, Vodafone and others. Tomorrow (Wed), December 2022's inflation figures are published, which broadband firms use to base their mid-contract price rises on (plus a few % on top). Use our powerful Broadband Comparison tool to see now if you can cut costs. While you won't be immune to the hikes, 15% on top of £20/month is a lot less than 15% on top of £40/month. We'll be tracking these in our price rise announcement update. TWO pairs of specs from £14. MSE Blagged. Stack code and discounts for a spec-tacular deal. Glasses Direct Martin: Students in England dealt a blow as maintenance loans increase by just 2.8%. From September, English students will see a real-terms cut to maintenance loans of 8p in the £1 - a shortfall they or their parents will have to make up for themselves. Full details and Martin's reaction in Maintenance loans latest. New. Cheapest iPhone 13 contract we've seen - 100GB data for '£29/month'. MSE Blagged. They're not MoneySaving, but if you're going to buy one, at least do it the cheapest way. Until 11.59pm Sun, Three newbies can get this 128GB iPhone 13 with 100GB/month of data through Affordable Mobiles. It's £69 upfront, then £26/month, so £693 over the two-year contract - £633 cheaper than a similar deal from Three itself. Note: Three is responsible for the contract, Affordable Mobiles for the handset. Price rises: Most mobile firms, including Three, are likely to do big in-contract inflation-plus price rises this spring, sadly. Want a different handset or a Sim-only deal? See MSE's Cheap Mobile Finder tool. VEGANUARY. Free £3 plant-based egg, £2 off Burger King 'Bakon' burger & more. For restaurant discounts, coupons & more, see MSE Rhiannon's Veganuary blog. Tonight (Tue 8pm), ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show LIVE. Over to Martin: "Billions of extra debt has been added to credit cards, loans and overdrafts in the last few months. It's a must-watch to show you how to ensure it's all as cheap as possible - and help for those struggling. Plus another energy bills update, and lots of news you can use. Do watch or at least set the Betamax." New. Code gets £15 off flexible, weekly and monthly train season tickets costing £30 or more. 100,000 available, excludes annual season tickets - full info in Cheaper train tickets. | Related: Not sure if a season ticket's cheaper for you? Check with our Commuter Calculator. |
| |
---|
Can't afford to clear your debts? You can't afford not to check if you can shift them to 0% The key tool to cut credit card debt costs is a balance transfer, where you get a new card to repay debt on your old card(s), so you owe it instead, but at 0%. Your repayments then clear the debt rather than just mostly cover interest. Last week, in Martin's debt cost-cutting masterclass (do read it for full help to cut card, overdraft, loan & more costs), he explained the big best buys for shifting debt from NatWest/RBS were only for their existing banking customers, but that's now changed...
Full help and info, including cards for poorer credit scorers, in Best balance transfers. |
Confused over stamp swap deadline? You CAN still use non-barcoded stamps until 31 July. Despite a series of misleading Royal Mail adverts saying otherwise, non-barcoded stamps with a profile of the Queen's head can still be used for another six months. Full info in Stamp swap deadline. Two million Travelodge rooms for £34 or less. For stays to 20 Nov 2023. Travelodge 24,630 steps, sorting debts, kid finance gurus and more. Listen to the latest The Martin Lewis Podcast episode. Virgin Mobile customer? You'll be moved to O2 from March - what you need to know. It follows the merger of Virgin Media and O2 in 2021. See Virgin Mobile migration. Get £25 cashback for investing £100. If you plan to invest, this InvestEngine deal offers a tidy boost, provided you keep the £100 invested for at least 12 months. This isn't an InvestEngine recommendation - we don't do investment tips - just if you're going to use it anyway, you can get cashback. Full info in Robo-investing cashback. Amex cardholder? Get 8% off Nando's, £15 off Ikea, 15% off Disney+ and Krispy Kreme, plus more. See Amex's latest cashback offers, plus more ways to boost rewards in American Express tips & tricks. One month's 'tailored' dog food for £2.50 (normally £25) through 90% off code. MSE Blagged. Plus 30% off the second month. Add info about your dog and get a recipe especially for your four-legged friend. Newbies only. Tails dog food Ever worked for MoneySavingExpert? We're planning a get-together of MSE alumnae for the site's 20th birthday. Staff lists are a bit iffy for pre-2010 and 2013 to 2017. No promises, but if you'd like to come and fit those dates, get in touch. |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
|
THIS WEEK'S POLL Have you booked your summer holiday? Holidays have been back on the agenda this year for many. But with the cost of living increasing, many people might be deciding to spend less or to stay closer to home. So this week, we want to know if you've got a summer getaway booked and, if you have, whether you've spent more or less than you typically would? Amazon Logistics tops MSE's annual parcel delivery poll. Last week, we asked you to rate parcel delivery services, and just under 40,000 people voted. Amazon Logistics took the crown, with 63% of those who've experienced its service rating it 'great', while Evri was bottom of the pile (62% rated it as 'poor'). See the full parcel delivery poll results. |
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I use the birthday present I got my friend? Last year, I got my friend a tour of a gin distillery for her birthday. I was recently clearing my emails and came across the voucher code for the tour. I checked the code and it's not been used. My friend's now out of the country, and the code will have expired by the time she's back. So is it OK to go on the tour I bought for her, rather than let the present go to waste? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I use the birthday present I got my friend? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma |
MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 18 JAN ONWARDS) Wed 18 Jan - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Tue 24 Jan - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am |
ORGANISE A SEED SWAP & MAKE COMPOST FROM SCRAPS... TIPS FOR GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD IN 2023 That's all for this week, but before we go... many MoneySavers have resolved to grow their own food this year, and they've been sharing their top tips in the MSE Forum. One poster warned that 'Grow your own' kits are usually a waste of money - you can buy seeds cheaply and get the rest separately. Apparently, toilet roll tubes are good for pea seedlings and other things that need root space, and you can make your own compost out of kitchen scraps. Forumites also suggest organising a seed swap if you have duplicates or unwanted packets. And if you don't have outdoor space, MoneySavers reported good results growing things in a tub indoors, or in trays on a windowsill. Find more tips in the 2023: the good (and not so good) of growing your own MSE Forum thread. 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 chase.co.uk, skyscanner.net, kayak.co.uk, travelsupermarket.com, carrentals.co.uk, moneymaxim.co.uk, holidayextras.com, skyparksecure.com, looking4.com, airparks.co.uk, natwest.com, rbs.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk 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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment