Tuesday, 3 April 2018

Tax calc 2018/19, Dyson 20%off, 2.7% loan, Pizza Exp 'free' £5, M&S £25 ‘free’, ‘I won a husband’, Martin’s student alert, bill hikes help

Hi - here are your latest deals, freebies, tricks and messages to help you save.
                                                           
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Check your bills NOW as hikes hit - save £100s on broadband, mobiles, fuel, food etc

It's price rise season with a host of hikes - urgghh. Most major mobile firms are upping prices by 4%-ish around now, council tax jumped this month by an avg 5%, while Sky raised b'band & TV rates on Sun. With the price of essentials such as food and fuel also up, make all this the trigger to sort your bills...

  1. Save £300+/yr with hot, short-lived broadband & line promos. Even before any hikes (remember BT raised prices in Jan too), millions already overpaid at up to £43/mth on older b'band & line rates. Yet the hot deals below are the best about and can more than halve some costs.

    They're for new customers and are postcode-dependent so links go to our Broadband Unbundled tool, which shows if you can get 'em.

    Standard speed (up to 17Mb) - fine if just browsing or emailing 

    - New. Now Broadband (part of Sky) standard b'band & line '£15.84/mth' - £9.99 upfront then £15/mth for 1yr, equiv £15.84/mth.
    - Ends Fri. Post Office standard b'band & line '£16.23/mth' - £19/mth for 18mths. Claim & spend a £50 Amzn vch & it's equiv £16.23/mth.

    Faster fibre (up to 38Mb or 52Mb) - best for heavy users, streamers, gamers or if many use it at once in your home

    - New. Now Broadband (part of Sky) up-to-38Mb fibre & line '£20.84/mth' - £9.99 upfront, then £20/mth for 1yr, equiv £20.84/mth.
    - Vodafone up-to-38Mb fibre & line '£21/mth' - A simple price for 18mths, with nothing upfront and nothing to claim.
    - Ends Thu. BT up-to-52Mb fibre & line '£21.16/mth' - There are a few steps to this 18mth deal so the full cost breakdown is in the link above. The key is to claim and use a £150 prepaid Mastercard & pay 1yr's line upfront so it's equiv £21.16/mth. Pay line monthly & it's equiv £22.22/mth.

    What about TV? Broadband Unbundled has top TV deals and shows if it's cheaper to get TV & broadband/line from the same firm or not.

  2. Drive down petrol & diesel costs by finding YOUR cheapest forecourt. Govt figures show fuel prices hit a 3yr high in Feb, and while they've since dipped, petrol is still 2% up on a year ago. As prices vary - eg, in Birmingham we found unleaded from 113p-127p/L on Tue - there's a nifty tool to find the cheapest fuel near you. Avoid hefty spending with lots more Cheap Petrol & Diesel tips.

  3. Pay over £10/mth for mobile use? STOP. It's Sim-ple to save with a new, er, Sim. While costs inch up, new Sim prices have actually dived in recent years. But many still pay well into double-figures per month on old deals, so if out of contract and happy with your phone, big savings are possible as you can get lots of calls and data for £10/mth or less.

    Here are the top deals for a new Sim - the chip in your phone that allows you to make calls etc - based on data use. All 1yr deals unless stated:

    - Low: iD Mobile* - £5/mth, 2.25GB, 250 mins, 5k texts (1mth).
    - Medium: Three* - £10/mth, 4GB, unltd mins & texts.
    BT b'band cust? BT Mobile - '£7.84/mth', 5GB, unltd mins & texts.  
    - High: Three* - £15/mth, 12GB, unltd mins & texts. BT b'band cust? BT Mobile - '£14.17/mth', 20GB, unltd mins & texts.

    IMPORTANT: Don't overpay for data. 60%+ we surveyed need sub-3GB/mth, so check old bills for your use or try a free checker tool.

    See our Top Sims guide for more deals and help, incl how to unlock your phone easily to allow a new Sim, and how to keep your number.

  4. Can you save £1,000s via our council tax check & challenge systemIt's gone up by about £80/yr for the avg band D home in England. You can't do anything about that but many are in the wrong band or aren't claiming discounts.
     
    - Are you in too high a band? Up to 400k homes in Eng and Scot are in the wrong band, so may have overpaid for years. Our council tax system shows how to check & challenge your band (incl the risks). Some get £1,000s back and cheaper bills, eg, Judy: "We were in the highest band in the village, claimed and received £2,500, thank you." 

    - Do you qualify for a discount? You may if you live alone, are on benefits, are a student or you have a severe mental impairment or live with someone who does. See council tax discounts.

  5. Urgently check if you can slash mortgage costs by £1,000s. If you've a mortgage deal ending soon - or you pay your provider's potentially pricey standard variable rate (SVR), which most intro deals revert to - check NOW if you can save.

    There's urgency as it's the biggest monthly expense for many, but also as rates are creeping up, as lenders brace for a possible - but far from certain - May increase in the base rate (the Bank of England's official rate that influences mortgages). Yet broker L&C says "it's not too late to get a good deal despite rising rates".

    If borrowing £150k over 25yrs, if you switch from the avg 4.75% SVR to a best-buy 2yr fix at 1.39% you could save £4-5k over 2yrs, after typical fees. Full help in our Remortgage Guide 2018, plus use our Mortgage Best Buys tool to benchmark the top deals.

  6. Ignore the 'own-brand stigma' & save £1,000s at the supermarket. Food and drink prices are up 3%, according to the latest inflation figures. What's more, supermarkets are geniuses at making us spend our hard-earned cash on stuff we don't need or by promoting expensive brands, and they don't always make discounts easy to find.

    To fight back, we've 34 Supermarket Tips incl how to max discounts and play the downshift challenge, which can save 30%, as forumite Metallica Fish did: "Saved £100s/yr losing the own-brand stigma." 

  7. NEVER auto-renew home & car insurance - find dozens of quotes in mins. The most recent AA figures show home insurance costs were up 5% over the last year but millions overpay anyway by auto-renewing, and Dawn discovered that's a money-waster: "Our policy soared. Had a search and it dropped from £450 to £170. Thank you." See our Cheap Home Insurance guide to get the best deal, but in brief:

    (a) Use comparison sites to speedily find cheap quotes - they don't search identical insurers or give identical prices, so combine 'em. Our order's MoneySupermarket*, Compare The Market*, Confused*, Gocompare* (why? see full order).
    (b) Check biggies Aviva* and Direct Line* which aren't on comparisons.
    (c) Then check hot deals comparisons miss, incl a £60 Amazon vch.

    What about car insurance? It's a similar story and many of the same rules apply - see our car insurance cost-cutting tips below.

  8. Check if you pay credit card interest - if so, use our 2-min tool to find YOUR best new 0% deal. Credit card debt is growing at its fastest rate in 12yrs, according to trade body UK Finance.

    Yet you can save £100s with a balance transfer card - which repays debt on old cards, so you owe it instead, at 0%. You can get up to 36mths 0% with a small fee, 28mths 0% NO fee. As you pay no interest, more of your payments eat into the debt, so you're debt-free quicker.

    But don't apply over and over. That adds a mark to your credit file, and if you're rejected and need to apply again, it makes it harder. Our Balance Transfer Eligibility Calculator shows which of the top cards you're most likely to get and doesn't harm your creditworthiness.

PS: For lots more ways to save on energy, childcare and other bills, see our Money Makeover guide.

 
 

DON'T believe the fake ads on Facebook

Lots of scam ads that litter social media lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning. 

 

 
 

New. Cheapest EVER loan rate is back - 2.7% 

The price war has reignited so if you need to borrow, and can afford to, now's a good time

It appeared the cheapest ever loans era was over in late 2017 when a set of rate rises hit. But the pendulum has swung back in recent weeks - now some of the best buys are as good as or close to the best then. The highlight is a new 2.7% rate, due to launch at 11am today (Wed) for £7.5k-£15k loans - the joint lowest we've EVER seen. Here's the lowdown...

  • Should you get a loan? We're not suggesting everyone rushes to get one. As we always say, only borrow if it's planned, budgeted for and affordable. 

  • Will you get a loan? What counts isn't just the rate, but whether you'll be accepted. Too many failed applications can affect your chances of getting a good deal. So use our free Loans Eligibility Calculator first. It tells you which loans you've the best chance of getting before you apply, without hitting your creditworthiness.

  • Lowest rates from £1k-£15k. We've listed our top picks, yet as all loans are 'representative APR', the headline rate ONLY needs to be given to 51% of those accepted. The rest can be charged more, with no upper limit. Full info in Cheap Loans, here are the table toppers... All for 1-5yrs, unless stated.

    - New. £7.5k-£15k: Sainsbury's Bank* (needs Nectar card) is due to drop from 2.9% to 2.7% rep APR (1-3yrs) at 11am today (Wed). M&S Bank* is 2.8% rep APR (1-7yrs).
    - £5k-£7,499: Admiral* is 3.3% rep APR, Zopa* 3.4% rep APR.
    - £3k-£4,999: Zopa* is 5%-6.9% rep APR, Admiral* 6.7% rep APR.
    - £2k-£2,999: Zopa* is 6.9%-7.9% rep APR, Ikano Bank* 7.8% rep APR - yet credit card loans are often cheaper.
    - £1k-£1,999: CU Loans* is 8.9% rep APR (min £1,500), Zopa* 9.5%-9.9% rep APR - credit card loans are often cheaper.
    - Also, Nationwide will beat most of these rates by 0.5 percentage points for its current account customers.

  • Loan Golden Rules:
    a) Minimise the amount and repay as quickly as you can.
    b) Pay on time or you may get a charge and credit black-mark.
    c) If you're applying to pay off credit cards, a balance transfer may be cheaper.

 

New. Income Tax Calculator 2018/19 - find your NEW take-home pay. The new tax year starts on Friday meaning allowances change, so we've updated our Income Tax Calc so you can check what'll be in your April pay packet. 

Dyson FLASH 20% off refurbished vacuums code. On 15 models already-discounted as they're refurbs. Eg, V6 cordless £128 (norm £160 refurbished, £188 new). Incl 1-2yr warranties, ends Thu. Dyson code

Martin: 'Big student loan shake-up means millions (but not all) will pay £1,000s less.' Read his new Student April change blog. Related: Martin's warning to every UK worker aged 22+.

New. Free £25 M&S on £100+ spends on its credit card. Accepted new M&S Bank (eligibility calc / apply*) credit card-holders who apply via our link & spend £100+ anywhere by 30 Jun are emailed a £20 M&S vch by 31 Jul. You also get a coupon which when swiped or quoted online when buying most things at M&S earns 500pts, worth £5. Important: Only do it for the £25 if you're debt-free and a disciplined spender. There's 25mths 0% on spending, but don't borrow willy-nilly. Pay at least the min & clear before the 0% ends or the rate jumps to 18.9% rep APR. Full info in 0% Cards (APR Examples).

Free £5 Pizza Express vch with £1 90-day Tastecard. MSE Blagged. Pizza Exp vch valid on other offers. Tastecard (norm up to £80/yr) gets 2for1 or half-price food at 6k+ eateries. Pizza & Tastecard. Related: Free Pizza Exp pizza

13 ways to use less plastic AND save cash. It's a hot topic with the proposed bottle deposit scheme - but you can crack down on plastic TODAY, eg, 50p off at Pret with reusable cups. How to cut plastic & save.

 
 

Drive down car insurance costs by £100s - EVEN IF NOT AT RENEWAL

Prices jumped 6% in the past year so use our top tips to stop your wallet being sent into a spin

With prices up, it's never been more important to use our cheap car insurance tips to keep costs down. Even if midway through a policy you may be able to save, especially if you've always auto-renewed - which is the worst car insurance sin. Here's how to fight back... 

  • Not at renewal? You can STILL save. Take John's story as inspiration: "Cancelled my £1,726/yr car insurance midway and was amazed to find a deal for £345/yr with extra cover. Thanks." How to save depends on when your policy ends:

    (i) Renewal due in next 2mths? Some insurers' quotes are valid for up to 60 days - so you could lock in a quote now, ready for renewal. These include Aviva* and Quotemehappy - see our list of insurers with lock-in quotes.

    (ii) Renewal further away? Use the info below to find your cheapest. If it's much cheaper than your current premium and you haven't claimed, for a £50ish admin fee you can usually cancel your policy and get the rest of the year refunded, though you won't earn that year's no-claims bonus. See switching mid-policy help.

  • Ready to save? NEVER auto-renew, instead find the cheapest deals via comparison sites. They don't cover the same insurers, so more sites give a wider spread. Our current order's MoneySupermarket*, Confused.com*, Gocompare* and Compare The Market*. (Why? See comparison order.)

  • Then check for hot deals comparisons miss, incl free £60 M&S gift card. Big insurers Aviva* and Direct Line* are never listed on comparisons, plus there are other hot deals not on comparison sites - we've blagged all below bar Co-op. We're not saying these will be cheapest, but they're worth comparing. Rewards can take up to 120 days to arrive.

    - £60 M&S gift card via this Age UK* link.
    - £50 Amazon gift card via this Admiral* link.
    - £45 Amazon gift card via this Direct Line* link.
    - £45 Amazon gift card via this Churchill* link.
    - £50 in Co-op food vchs via this Co-op Insurance* link.

  • Also try counter-logical tricks to save. It's worth checking if choosing comprehensive over 3rd party, adding an extra driver or tweaking your job title can save you cash.
 

Cheap post-Easter chocs, eg, 17p Creme Eggs, 50p Mars/Cadbury eggs, £2 Lindt bunny. Shops flogging leftovers. Cracking-value chocs 

40 London MoneySaving tips, incl free 'flight' over Thames and free Parliament tour. Great if heading to the capital during the school hols. London calling

Fill in surveys for Amazon/M&S/etc vchs - with DOUBLE pts for 10 days. MSE Blagged. For new AND existing users of mega-popular Swagbucks scheme. Swagbucks bonus

Hot Diamonds extra 30% off outlet code, eg, £16 earrings (were £45). MSE Blagged. On all items already 'up to 50% off', plus free delivery. Ltd stock. Hot Diamonds

Jetting off? Sort holiday cash BEFORE you get to the airport. Rates there are hideous and can cost £30 MORE for every €200. Instead, our TravelMoneyMax tool compares 30+ bureaux to show the best rates.

Cornerstone shaving set £14 all-in (norm £36). MSE Blagged. Incl personalised razor, 6 blades, face wash, scrub, gel and balm. 10,000 avail. Cornerstone set

 
 

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They can get this email free every week

 
 

AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

Longest 0%: MBNA* up to 36mths 0%, 1.99% fee (19.9% rep APR)
No-fee 0%: Sainsbury's Bank* 28mths 0%, no fee (18.9% rep APR)

Get comparison site quotes in this order:

  1. MoneySupermarket.com*
  2. Confused.com*
  3. Gocompare*
  4. Compare The Market*

Then check insurers they miss: 
Direct Line*
Aviva*

Cheapest for £5,000-£7,499: Admiral* 3.3% rep APR
Cheapest £7.5k-£15k (from 11am Wed): 
Sainsbury's Bank 2.7% rep APR* (1-3yrs, needs a Nectar card)

Standard b'band & line rent: Now Broadband equiv £15.84/mth
Fibre b'band & line rent: 
Now Broadband equiv £20.84/mth

£125 to switch + top service: First Direct
5% interest fixed for a year: Nationwide FlexDirect

 

'I've won prizes for 10 years, incl a £3,000 cruise... and a husband' 

How to master the art of comping for cash, incl a new trivia app with a min £550 prize split between winners  

Entering lots of competitions is a potentially profitable hobby. For Jay, using the MSE Forum for help paid in both prizes... and love: "My husband Al and I met on the forum. We swapped tips and things got serious when we won a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 worth £3,000. If we hadn't won it we wouldn't have got married. I've been comping for 10 years but now I donate most winnings to dog charities." To max your chances, we've 42 Comping Tips - here are some for starters:

  • 100s of competitions in one place. It's not just about entering the odd contest, it's a systematic way of entering loads. In the MSE comping forum board compers post hundreds of contests, share secrets and cheer the winners.

  • Turbo-charge your entries. Use web gadgets to speedily form-fill, open multiple links and customise your keyboard.

  • Get lucky on social media. See how to find and enter legit comps on Facebook & Twitter. Plus try snap-sharing sites Instagram & Pinterest - forumites reckon these get fewer entries.

  • New. Live trivia app with min £550 twice-daily pot. Get all 12 answers correct for a share of the min £550 pot per game - though it's been as high as £7,500. As questions are live, you must play at set times - see free trivia app.
 

£90ish Nails Inc nail polish collection £25 all-in. MSE Blagged. 10-polish set incl confetti effects. 1,200 avail

£3,500 FOR FIVE MINS' WORK - SUCCESS OF THE WEEK
 "After much deliberating I got paperwork to reclaim PPII got £3,500  for five mins' work. Thanks."  
(Send us yours on this or any topic.)

Do you qualify for a Disabled Person's Railcard? (Eg, if you've a hearing aid, you do.) It costs £20 for 1yr, or £54 for 3, and gets 1/3 off most fares incl peak times. See who's eligible for a Disabled Person's Railcard.

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL

When did you last use your bank branch? Whether it's customer behaviour, cost-cutting or both, banks are closing branches left, right and centre. This year alone, RBS/NatWest is to close 259 across the country - a quarter of its network. So when did you last use your main bank's branch?

Most MoneySavers over 50 are mortgage-free. In last week's poll, we asked how far you've climbed up the property ladder and received over 22,000 votes. Over half of those aged 50-64 own their own home mortgage-free, while a whopping 80% of over-65s are in the same position. But only 2% of those under 25 are mortgage-free homeowners. See full property poll results.

 
 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

Should I leave money to my gambling son? My son has racked up over £2,000 in credit card debt through a gambling addiction. He has stopped betting but admits he'd likely waste any money I left him. I don't want to leave him out of my will but I also don't want to allow him to get into more gambling debt. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I leave money to my gambling son? | Suggest an MMD | View past MMDs

THE QUICKIES

- Debt-Free Wannabe chat of the week: How much did my debt sell for?
- Competitions thread of the week: Win £1,000
- Old-Style board thread of the week: Weight loss the Old Style way
- Family, marriage, relationships chat: How to manage imbalance in husband/wife pension?
- Discussion of the week: How do you eat yours?

 

Ben & Jerry's - free ice cream cone in selected UK locations
Amazon - free £6 code for some with £30 gift card spend
Fire Fighters Charity - let firefighters wash your car for charity
Greggs - free Lucozade Energy (norm £1.50ish) via app
NHS - free 'Active 10' fitness app

Pizza Express - free pizza, pasta or salad via app
Toby Carvery - kids eat for £1
Just Eat - 20%-30% off selected takeaways
Prezzo - kids eat for £1
Harvester - two chicken dishes and drinks for £20

Debenhams - free mini vegan Kat Von D lipstick
Caffè Nero - how to get 50+ free drinks a year by stacking offers
Heartier - £30 free-range meat hamper (£40ish at supermarkets)
The Works - 10 kids' picture books for £10 mix & match
Vue - £4-£5 cinema tickets on Mondays

Quick Forum Tips

Free lactose-free milk coupon. Milk it
Free L'Oreal sugar scrub sample. Are you worth it?
£10 M&S dine-in meal deal for two. What's the big meal?

 
 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 4 APR ONWARDS)

Mon 9 Apr - This Morning, ITV, from 10.30am
Mon 9 Apr - BBC Radio 5 Live, Lunch Money Martin, noon

MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (MOST SUBJECTS TBC)

Wed 4 Apr - BBC Cumbria, Money Talks with Ben Maeder, from 6pm
Fri 6 Apr
BBC South West stations, Good Morning with Joe Lemer, from 5am, cheap gyms
Mon 9 AprTalkRadio, Breakfast with Julia Hartley-Brewer, 9.45am
Tue 10 Apr - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire with Jeremy Sallis, 2.20pm

 

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Q: We're encouraged to switch bank accounts for cash incentives, but how long do you have to stay with a bank before switching to another? David, via email.

MSE Rosie's A: You just need to keep the new account open until the incentive is paid, usually 30-50 days after switching. But some incentives - such as the £200 from HSBC which was available till last month - require you to still be with the bank in a year to get all the cash.

Note that if you close the account once it's paid you'll miss out on any ongoing rewards such as cashback. And each new account application marks your credit file, so you might want to wait a while if you've other credit applications coming up. For the best current switch offers, including a free £125 plus top service, see Best Bank Accounts

Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails).

 

'ARGOS TO LAUNCH FRAGRANCE THAT SMELLS LIKE ITS CATALOGUE'

That's all for this week, but before we go... what's the best April Fool's you've played or fallen for? From Argos unveiling a perfume with the scent of its new catalogue to dog treats disguised as chocolate buttons, MoneySavers shared their favourite jokes they've seen in our April Fool's Twitter thread. And be honest, did you fall for our 'news' on rail firms launching standing-only season tickets?

We hope you save some money,
The MSE team