| Plus... energy firms go bust, Martin's on TikTok, Three roam moan, 100 days to Xmas, £750 Sky saving  THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL
| | New. SIX banks will today pay you to switch to 'em.
Incl Santander's new FREE £130 and get paid to pay bills too.
Grab cash from one or maybe all...  It's been over two years, and a pandemic, since we last had so many top banks throwing cash out to vacuum in new customers. This week alone four new deals have launched. So if you're not deliriously happy with your existing bank account, I say carpe payem (seize the payment) and do it now while the choice is wider than a whale's yawn. For those slightly switch-tentative, perhaps remembering someone's past horror story, do check when that was. Most moans are over eight years old, before the new easier '7-day switch' system came into play.
Now bank-switching services do it for you - closing the old account and auto-moving all direct debits, standing orders, and payments. To get the cash you must usually be a new customer, pass a not-too-harsh credit check, and use the bank's official switching service. All accounts are available both as single and joint accounts. 1. New. Santander pays the most upfront cash - £130 (its first cash bribe for 9yrs) plus cashback when you pay bills. MSE customer service poll rating: GOOD. 61% 'great', 26% 'OK', 13% 'poor'.
It's been a long time since Santander played the sign-up cash game, and as one of the accounts the money is offered on, Santander 123 Lite*, was already a top pick without it, this makes it a real doozy.
 As well as the free £130, with this account you pay a £2/mth fee and get cashback on bills paid by direct debit from it. You can get up to £5/mth in each of 3 percentage tiers: 3% for water, 2% energy, 1% council tax, mobiles, broadband, paid-for TV & Santander mortgages.
Even after the fee, for those with medium to large bills this usually means £40-£80/yr cashback. To get the cashback you need to pay in £500/mth (its way of saying pay your salary in) and use digital banking.
- To qualify for the £130: Apply, then within 60 days switch (incl 2+ direct debits), log in to its mobile app, and pay in £1,000+. Though you must either be new to Santander (incl Cahoot or Cater Allen) or if not, be switching in a non-Santander account to your existing one (as long as you've not had a Santander switch incentive before). 2. Nationwide pays a free £100 (£125 for existing customers) and is especially strong for those who are overdrawn. MSE customer service poll rating: GOOD. 67% 'great', 13% 'OK', 19% 'poor'.
Nationwide's free switchers' £100 is across a range of accounts, but the standout is the fee-free Nationwide FlexDirect as it offers a year's 0% overdraft too - depending on your creditworthiness. So switch and use the £100 to reduce your overdraft, then work on getting rid of the rest of the debt within the year, as after it jumps to the same horrid 39.9% EAR that most banks charge.
- How to boost this to £125 if you're an existing Nationwide member: If you've already got its FlexDirect, FlexAccount or FlexPlus account, and have another bank account you can switch into it, you get £125 via selecting 'Switch to Nationwide' in online banking.
Or if you've another Nationwide current account, mortgage or savings, open one of the three 'Flex' accounts above, and request the switch during application.
- Trick to get £125 if you're not an existing Nationwide member: Open the FlexDirect account via the link above but DON'T request to switch during application - wait until the day after it's fully open, so you're then a Nationwide member, and at that point in online banking request to 'Switch to Nationwide' to get the £125.
- To qualify for the free sign-up cash: Apply, then within 30 days switch (incl 2+ direct debits). There's no min pay-in for this. | Overdrawn? Nationwide isn't your only option
With overdraft rates now typically 39.9% EAR they should be considered a danger debt, and clearing them is a priority, often even over credit cards. Nationwide's free £100 and year's 0% are useful, but there are other options too such as an ongoing £250 0% overdraft. Full info and help in 10 ways to cut your overdraft. | 3. New. HSBC's simple deal gives £110 cash and £30 Uber Eats voucher. MSE customer service poll rating: OK. 40% 'great', 27% 'OK', 33% 'poor'.
The fee-free HSBC Advance* has reintroduced its £140 sign-up incentive - made up of £110 cash and a £30 voucher for either Uber Eats or The Dining Out. The minimum monthly pay-in is a high £1,750/mth though - equivalent to a salary of £25,600/yr going in.
- To qualify for the cash & perks: Apply online and within 30 days switch (incl 2+ direct debits or standing orders) and meet the minimum monthly pay-in. You can't have had an HSBC current account, or opened a current account with its sister bank First Direct, since Jan 2018. 4. New. RBS pays £100, an ongoing £3/mth, and jump through hoops and you can get £50 if you're still with it after a year. MSE customer service poll rating: OK. 58% 'great', 21% 'OK', 21% 'poor'.
RBS and sister bank Ulster are now again offering those switching in accounts from elsewhere a free £100. The standout is RBS Reward which bizarrely charges a £2/mth fee but then pays most people £5/mth, so you're £3/mth up.
Stick with it and it'll give you another £50 in Nov 2022, provided you've met both its £1,250/mth min monthly pay-in (its way of saying have a salary of £17,000+ going in) and do 10 transactions each month from Jan to Sept next year. If you manage this, depending on your bill size, for some it may beat Santander as the most cash over a year.
- To qualify for the sign-up cash: Apply online or in app, then switch and pay in £1,500+. Plus, to get the monthly bonus too you'll need to pay out 2+ direct debits and log in to its mobile banking app every month. You won't get the switching bonus if you've already had one from RBS or sister banks NatWest and Ulster Bank since Oct 2017. 5. New. Lloyds Bank gives a free £100, and gets perky, with freebies such as cinema tickets. MSE customer service poll rating: OK. 58% 'great', 27% 'OK', 16% 'poor'.
Club Lloyds pays £100 and is fee-free as long as you meet its £1,500/mth minimum monthly pay-in (equivalent to a salary of £21,500/yr). You also get to pick one of these four perks for the year:
- 12 digital movie rentals (that would normally cost you c. £55)
- OR six cinema tickets (that'd cost £35-£65, depending on location)
- OR a magazine subscription (that'd cost £30-£50)
- OR a Gourmet Society membership (that'd cost c. £35)
It pays decent in-credit interest too... 0.6% AER variable, similar to the top easy-access savings, from £1 to £4,000 (so nowt on the first pound), and 1.5% AER variable on the bit between £4,000 and £5,000. Nowt above.
This is a fiddly to explain structure, so to clarify, if you saved £5,000 you'd earn 0.6% on £3,999 and 1.5% on £1,000, giving an avg 0.76%.
- How do I qualify for the cash? Apply and start a switch by 19 Oct. You're ineligible if you've had a switch bonus from it since April 2019. To get the interest you need to have 2+ direct debits going out of the account each month. 6. Virgin Money says pah - forget cash, have a £150 'experience', 2% interest and a top overseas debit card instead. MSE customer service poll rating: OK. 46% 'great', 19% 'OK', 35% 'poor'.
The fee-free Virgin Money* account's incentive I suspect aims to target those who feel free cash would just disappear into their account, and instead want to be excited by something they wouldn't otherwise do.
Switch to it and you get a £150 gift card to put towards Virgin Experience Days, from driving supercars to quad bikes, sushi-making classes to hot-air balloon tours. I suspect most MoneySavers would prefer the cash, but some of you may fit into this category.
It also... YAY... pays a whopping 2.02% AER variable in-credit interest, but BOO... only on up to £1,000. Its debit card is a top pick for spending abroad, meaning you get the same near-perfect exchange rate banks do, in every country (though you can do similar without switching banks - see Top overseas cards).
- To qualify for the voucher: Apply online, then within 45 days: switch (incl 2+ direct debits), register for mobile banking and keep £1,000+ in the linked 0.35% savings account until you get the gift card. You can't have had its previous switch bonus, or a current account with Virgin or its sisters Clydesdale or Yorkshire Bank, since Mar 21. | Bank switching FAQ
Full details on all of the accounts above and more are in Best bank accounts, but to answer some of the key questions... Q. Can I cheat the minimum pay-in if I don't earn enough? Usually, yes. Say the pay-in is £1,000 but you only have £500 coming in, pay in the £500, withdraw either to an external bank account or as cash, then pay it back in, and BINGO. Worth noting if you earn a long way below the minimum pay-in, some banks may reject your application anyway. Q. What if something goes wrong with the switch? If you're hit with charges due to a switch error that leads to a missed payment, these will be refunded by the new bank. Q. I don't qualify for one of these accounts - what can I do? Sadly, over a million people don't have a bank account. Yet if you've ID, you can get an account where there's no overdraft, called a basic bank account. |  They may look like ordinary people, sound like ordinary people, hell, even smell like ordinary people (to be fair I've not checked). Yet hidden across the UK is a disparate tribe of money-making super-switchers.
Quite rightly they love to share their tales with us, such as this one: 'We made £1,000 switching banks and used it to do up our garden.' And read about the battle of the bank switchers. Indeed we even have some of these fiscal Clark Kents who work in MoneySaving Towers.
To do this isn't simple. If you fancy joining the MoneySaving elite though, here are a couple of quick tips to help:
- The easy route is multiple switches of your main account: You can just repeatedly switch your main bank account, and once you've got the free cash simply switch to a new one meeting all the criteria.
- Or grab one or more burner accounts: To get switching cash, you need to use banks' switch services, and they will close your old account. So if you're looking to do multiple switches at once, or want to keep your main account, open any old naff account, so it's a burner account for switching.
Then once you've got the new account, meet the minimum criteria until you get the free cash or perks, then use it to move to the next.
- Check if you need to switch direct debits: Most banks want you to switch 2+ direct debits, so ensure you spread direct debits, and funding for them, so they're coming out of each account (or burner account) that you're switching. If you don't have enough, set up a direct debit for charity.
- Bounce cash from account to account to meet min monthly pay-ins: Many accounts impose these requirements, as effectively a way of saying pay your salary in. Yet there's nowt to stop you bouncing your cash from one to the next to meet the criteria, then moving it out the next day.
Many successful super-switchers do this via standing orders a couple of days apart and use a spreadsheet to keep track of what's needed. - Be very careful doing this if you've a big credit application coming: A single bank switch can be slightly negative to your creditworthiness for a few months as some lenders like to see evidence of longevity. Yet multiple applications and short-lived banking tenure can look really odd. So don't do it if you've, say, an important mortgage or credit card application due. - Reclaim £1,000s in packaged bank account fees for free. If you pay or have ever paid monthly fees for your bank account, you may be able to reclaim £100s or £1,000s, as many of these accounts were mis-sold.
- Get up to £500 of insurance for £150 via your bank. The right packaged bank account can get you £100s of travel, mobile & breakdown insurance for a far smaller monthly fee. - Reclaim £100s in bank charges for free. Excess bank charges are now less of an issue as many banks no longer charge fees for going over your overdraft limit, yet many people can still reclaim £100s in past charges. | | DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads
Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning. | New. Shift debt to 27 months 0% at essentially NO FEE (the next best is just 20 months 0%) If you can't clear your credit card debt, then you can't afford not to try to shift it to 0% A balance transfer is where you get a new card that repays debts on old cards for you, so you owe it instead, but at 0% for a set time. Your repayments then clear the debt, not the interest, meaning you're debt-free quicker. - BOOM. There's been a price war this week. Most long balance-transfer deals charge a one-off fee, calculated as a percentage of the debt shifted. Yet a price war saw the longest NO-FEE card rise from 18mths to 19mths last Thurs, then up to 20mths on Mon lunchtime, then that afternoon came the knockout blow of an equivalent 27mths at 0% - only 2mths shorter than the longest 0% cards, which charge fees to shift debt. We say 'equivalent' as this card does have a low 1% fee, but then gives £30 cashback, wiping the fee out for many.
- The real challenge is getting accepted. Instead of just applying, which marks your credit file, use our 0% Balance Transfer Eligibility Finder. It shows your acceptance odds for a wide range of top cards (without hitting your ability to get credit in future), so you can home in on the one most likely to accept you, minimising applications.
| TOP NEWBIES' 0% BALANCE TRANSFERS | | CARD | KEY 0% & ONE-OFF FEE INFO | HOW GOOD IS IT? | | 'No-fee' 0% balance transfer credit cards | New. MBNA
Best to check acceptance odds first as you can be 'pre-approved' for this card, meaning you'll be told if you'll definitely get the full 27mths 0%, or apply* direct.
| - Up to 27mths 0%.
- 1% fee but shift £1,000+ within 60 days and you get £30 cashback, which wipes the fee out for many (cashback paid within 180 days).
- After the 0%, it's 21.9% rep APR interest. | Longest NO-FEE card if shifting £1,000 to £3,000 (some even get paid to shift debt). For example, for someone shifting £1,000 the 1% fee means you pay £10, but there's £30 cashback so you're £20 up. At £2k you're £10 up, by £3k there's no fee. Above, shorter no-fee cards are better.
It is an 'up-to' card though. So use our eligibility calc to check acceptance odds to see if you're pre-approved. If not you may be offered a shorter 0% period and/or a higher fee if you apply (which cashback wouldn't cover). | New. HSBC
Best to check acceptance odds first or apply*. | - 20mths 0%.
- NO FEE.
- After the 0%, it's 21.9% rep APR. | Longest definite no-fee 0%. All accepted get the full 0% length so if you clear the debt within 20mths there's no cost. | | Longest 0% cards - unsure how long you'll need to repay? Play safe and go long | New. MBNA
Best to check acceptance odds first (pre-approval available) or apply*. | - Up to 29mths 0%.
- 2.69% fee + £30 cashback, if shifting £1,000+ within 60 days (comes within 180 days).
- After the 0%, it's 21.9% rep APR. | Joint-longest 0% card with lowest fee for those shifting £1,000 to £4,000. Again, this is an 'up-to' card, so if you're not 'pre-approved' via our eligibility checker, you may be offered a shorter 0% and/or a higher fee. | Virgin Money
Best to check acceptance odds first (pre-approval available) or apply*.
| - 29mths 0%.
- 2.7% fee.
- After the 0%, it's 21.9% rep APR. | Longest definite 0% period. As the 0% length and fee is definite for all accepted, if you've good acceptance odds for this, it can be a winner. |
Getting a card? Always follow the Balance Transfer Golden Rules: a) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you could lose the 0% deal and it'll cost far more.
b) Clear the card (or balance-transfer again) before the 0% ends, or the rate rockets to the higher APR.
c) Don't spend/withdraw cash. It usually isn't at the cheap rate and withdrawals hit your ability to get future credit.
d) The balance transfer must usually be done within 1-3mths to get the 0% and any cashback - check your card.
e) You can't balance-transfer between two cards from the same banking group. Full help and info, including options for poorer credit scorers, in Best balance transfers (and see APR examples). | 30 Amazon hacks, incl free Deliveroo delivery, totally free £6, £10 off £60 Amazon Fresh. We've updated our list of its not-too-taxing deals, with a host of new offers. See them in our 30+ Amazon hacks guide. Warning. Martin: 'Your energy bill is about to JUMP by £100s - fail to act and you face a huge shock.' The cheapest deals cost 40% more than a year ago and are still rising. It's tough to prevent rises, but Martin's 11 energy need-to-knows, updated from last week, will take you through how to minimise them, saving some £100s. Two energy firms that supply 500,000 homes go bust - People's Energy and Utility Point. Following on from the above, please spread the word to customers of these firms that we've full help, important info on what to do, and Martin's view here: Help for People's Energy and Utility Point customers. New. £40 cashback for investing £400. MSE Blagged. If you plan to 'robo-invest' - where investments are selected for you based on your attitude to risk - then this Wealthify deal is equivalent to a 10%-ish head start, provided you keep it for at least 6-7mths. The fact we've included it doesn't mean we recommend Wealthify - just if you're going to use Wealthify anyway, get cashback. 3,000 available. Full help and explanation in Robo-investing cashback . Will traffic light overseas travel change this week? Plus Wales to allow cheaper PCR tests. There's speculation changes to the traffic light system could be revealed in the next couple of days. As soon as anything changes, we'll update our Covid travel rights guide. Plus from next Tue, those in Wales returning from abroad needn't book £68 NHS tests, but are free to order private tests from £40. See Cheapest PCR tests. Dyson FLASH 25% off refurbished vacuums code. Six models, incl V7 cordless vacuum £150 (£249 new). Plus £180 hairdryer (£299) and £187 air purifier (£299). Ends Sun. Dyson code Spread word... blimey, Martin's only gone and joined TikTok! His dance moves are legendary, but his money tips are even better, so (thankfully) each day on Martin's new TikTok, he's putting out a new MSE vid focusing on 16-35s' financial issues. The first launched on Mon, and had 2m views by the day's end. Do check it out. | New. Not great at saving? Chip's autosave app does it for you, paying 0.7% on up to £30,000 (beating top easy-access savings) and it's 'free' via our special code
Savings rates are inching up yet many people struggle to know how much to save. That's where autosave apps help, as they connect to your current account, use an algorithm to work out how much you can afford to save, and automatically put that aside for you - great for those without the self-discipline needed. So how does this autosave deal work and compare with normal savings? All accounts here have the full UK £85,000 savings safety protection. -
 New. Autosave with Chip and get 0.7% interest. Normally autosave apps pay little interest. But Chip's partnered with Allica Bank to offer a 0.7% AER variable interest easy-access account - which beats the top normal savings account. However, Chip charges a £1.50 fee every four weeks, which would outweigh the interest gain for most.
Yet we've a code to get £20 cashback, which covers the fee for over a year (diarise to cancel if you don't want to keep the account after). Sign up to Chip's app* and select the 'ChipAI' plan, and it'll set up a Chip Savings Account. Once you've registered, enter code CHIPMSE07 in 'Earn and track rewards' on the app's 'Profile' tab. Then provided you've saved at least £1 with Chip by Tue 12 Oct, you'll get the £20 cashback a month later. You can then withdraw it to your linked current account to cover the fees, which are charged to your debit card.
- How to get the 0.7% interest: The standard Chip Savings Account pays no interest, so head to the 'Accounts' tab and open the Allica Bank account (min deposit £1, max £30,000) then go into your 'Autosave settings' to ensure that's where your autosaves are going. If you reach the max £30,000, autosaves will automatically stop.
- Want the 0.7% interest without autosaving? Follow the same process as above to set up the account, and the Allica account. Then pause autosaving in the app settings - it allows this for up to three months at a time so you'll need to remember to keep doing it. Note that you can manually save up to £5,000 at once. If you want to get the whole £30,000 in quickly you can do this, just in six transactions (you can do six a day).
- Top simple standard savings pay 0.65% easy access. App-only Tandem (no min pay-in) is the top easy-access payer at 0.65% AER interest, and you can withdraw when you want. If you'd prefer not to do it via an app, Aldermore* (min £1,000 deposit), pays 0.6% AER though it does only allow two penalty-free withdrawals a year. Both rates are variable, so keep watch. Full options in top easy-access savings.
- Lock money away and you can earn 1.5% fixed. If you're prepared to lock your money away without access, you can earn more and the rate is locked in. Top one-year fixes: App-only Atom Bank pays 1.5% AER interest (min £50 deposit) or Investec pays 1.33% AER (min £5,000). Top two-year fixes: Again, Atom Bank pays the top rate of 1.75% AER or Isbank (via 'savings marketplace' Raisin) pays 1.7% AER (+ newbies can claim £50 cashback). Full help, including more options and longer fixes paying up to 1.86%, in top fixed savings.
| Three to charge for roaming in Europe and elsewhere. It's the latest to announce it'll start charging in Europe, and it's scrapping 'free roaming' in many non-European countries too. See Three roam moan. Can you believe it's only 100 days until Christmas? ACT NOW to save then. We're great believers in early preparation (not celebration). From applying now to get 5% cashback on all Christmas shopping to starting a Christmas cupboard as there's concern there may be toy shortages later and more in our 40+ Christmas MoneySaving Tips guide. Plus read Martin's Make a pact NOW to ban unnecessary Christmas presents blog. 'I saved £750 a year after haggling with Sky - thanks.' For our success of the week , Luke emailed after reading the tips in our Haggle with Sky guide: "I have just haggled with Sky as my contract was coming up for renewal, and I've got them to go down from £133 a month to £70 a month for a TV, movies, sports and Netflix add-on. Used your haggling information. Thank you, MSE." Please send us your MoneySaving successes on this or anything else. 500,000+ water-saving FREEBIES, incl £20 shower heads and £5 tap inserts. There's new stock in for autumn, including garden hose nozzles and shower-water regulators, though what you can get depends on your supplier. Free water-saving gadgets FREE Homebuilding & Renovating Show tickets (normally £8-£12). For London 24-26 Sep, Harrogate 5-7 Nov and Shepton Mallet 20-21 Nov. 40,000 available. Homebuilding & Renovating | Tell your friends about us They can get this email free every week | | AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS New. Longest 0%: MBNA (check eligibility / apply*) up to 29mths 0%, 2.69% or 3.49% fee + £30 cashback if shifting £1,000+ within 60 days (21.9% rep APR interest)
New. No-fee 0%: HSBC (check eligibility / apply*) 20mths 0% (21.9% rep APR) | Cheapest for £5k-£7.5k: AA (check eligibility / apply* ) (3.3% rep APR for AA members, 3.4% rep APR for non-members + claim a £30 Argos/ M&S/ Costa etc voucher)
Cheapest for £7.5k-£15k: M&S Bank (check eligibility / apply* ) (2.8% rep APR, plus £30 M&S gift card for accepted new loan applicants) | | THIS WEEK'S POLL How do you prefer to contact customer services? Many firms' phone lines were overwhelmed during the pandemic, leading many people to try new contact methods such as live chats. With life slowly going back to normal, are you inclined to choose a different way to contact customer services? Vote in this week's poll. Nearly two-thirds of you do most of your shopping online. Last week, we asked you how much of your shopping is online versus in store. Over 60% of the 4,700 who responded said they do most of their shopping online, compared with just 25% who prefer to shop in store (and the rest said they didn't have a preference). See the full online shopping poll results. | MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 15 SEP ONWARDS) Wed 15 Sep - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, from 1pm MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (MOST SUBJECTS TBC) Thu 16 Sep - BBC Radio Lancashire, Afternoon with Nishma Hindocha and MSE's Guy Anker on how to beat bill hikes, from 2.15pm
Fri 17 Sep - BBC Radio Stoke, Mid-morning with Stuart George and MSE's Guy Anker on mortgages, from 12.10pm
Sat 18 Sep - BBC Radio Leicester, Mid-morning with Summaya Mughal, from 11am
Mon 20 Sep - BBC Radio Manchester, Drive with Phil Trow, from 2.20pm
Tue 21 Sep - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 12.40pm
Tue 21 Sep - BBC Radio Berkshire, Mid-morning with Sarah Walker and MSE's Guy Anker on student banking, from 11.35am | HOW DO YOU IRON WITHOUT AN IRON TO SAVE A FEW QUID ON A NEW APPLIANCE? That's all for this week, but before we go... Forumites are sharing their nifty tips for ironing clothes without an iron. One recommends the "time-honoured" practice of putting trousers under the mattress. Another swears by using hair straighteners, while others hang up creased clothing in a steamy bathroom. Then there's the trusty 'wear a jumper over your shirt' method, to hide away any crinkly clothes. Have you got an alternative remedy for creases? Join the Ironing without an iron discussion in the MSE Forum. We hope you save some money, stay safe,
The MSE team | |
