Martin's 'energy prices to be frozen?' help, FREE £400 trick, £11/mth broadband, McDonald's Monopoly tips, top 0% borrowing deal ending

Plus... free photo prints, uniform tax rebate, 24 craft beers £27, got leftover holiday cash?

                                                           

07 September 2022 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL Ends Sun. '£11/mth' broadband - Or seriously fast fibre '£18/mth' Martin: 'Energy price cap to be frozen? What it means for you' Make £400 this year in easy cashback What to do with leftover holiday money Boost McDonald's Monopoly chances 'I haggled £400/year off my mobile bill' Claim a uniform tax rebate Ends Fri. 2 yrs' 0% spending + £20 Print your summer snaps for free Birthday FREEBIES, including doughnuts Stopped work to raise kids? You could be owed pension NHS & emergency staff discounts Spend paper £20/£50 notes now 24 craft beers for £27 delivered Use buy now, pay later? It's now on your credit report Still chasing Covid travel refunds? FREE Grand Designs Live tix This week's best buys, including 1.81% easy-access savings, £175 bank bribe, MSE car insurance tool Should I return 100+ stamps Royal Mail sent me by mistake... AGAIN? BEST BUYS & TOOLS MSE Cheap Mobile Finder Credit Club including free credit report 0% balance transfers Compare broadband deals MSE Car Insurance Compare+ Best bank accounts Top savings accounts Credit cards for bad credit Credit Card Eligibility Calculator Loans Eligibility Calculator Mortgage comparison Compare travel money Cheap Energy Club, with Pick Me A Tariff Best Sim-only deals

Ends Sun. '£11/mth' broadband & phone line - cheapest since 2019. Many can save £300+/year Or SERIOUSLY fast 213Mb broadband at '£18/mth' In a world where inflation is 10% and rising sharply, it's nice for us to be able to write a headline about something... anything... being the cheapest price we've seen for three years, even if it's a short lived promo deal. Some of that is doubtless because this is just bog-standard 11Mb broadband, and more people these days feel a need for speed. Yet it's fine for browsing or light streaming, and - as many of the seven million out of contract can reduce bills by £300+/year - more than handy right now. Yet if you want more zip, which is better for households with multiple users, downloads or gaming, there are very cheap deals at faster speeds too... NEWBIES' BROADBAND & LINE DEALS Deals are postcode-dependent, so links go via our broadband tool which tells you whether deals are available in your area Deal headlines (1)  Analysis and details Ends 11.59pm Sun. Shell Energy broadband & line - 11Mb '£11.05/mth' - 67Mb '£14.27/mth' 18-month contract (which allows it to do a 3% above inflation increase in spring 2023) Cheapest basic broadband since 2019 and cheapest superfast. Just launched, but not on for long, apply either via this Shell 11Mb link or this Shell 67Mb fibre link, and you: - Pay £4.95 upfront then... - £17.99/mth (11Mb) or £23.99/mth (67Mb). - Then can CLAIM (don't forget) a £130 Amazon voucher within four months. - With the 67Mb deal you also get £50 auto bill credit. So factor it all in over the 18-month contract, before any calls, and assuming you'd have spent at Amazon anyway, the 11Mb is equivalent to £11.05/mth, the 67Mb equivalent to £14.27/mth. URGENT. Ends 11.59pm Wed. BT-owned Plusnet's fibre broadband & line - 36Mb '£19.34/mth' 18-month contract (which allows it to do a 3.9% above inflation increase in spring 2023) Cheapest GOOD SERVICE fibre broadband. Shell above is cheap, but its rating from our customer service polls is 'poor', Virgin below is 'OK'. So there's a balance to be had between price and service. That's why we've included BT-owned Plusnet 36Mb, as it's the cheapest fibre deal from a firm which has a 'good' service poll rating. You: - Pay £23.50/mth. - Then can CLAIM (don't forget) £75 to spend on a prepaid Mastercard. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £19.34/mth over the 18-month contract. Ends Thu 15 Sep. Virgin Media VERY fast fibre and line MSE Blagged - 108Mb '£17.40/mth' - 213Mb '£18.40/mth' 18-month contract Only available to 55% of homes - you're told if yours qualifies when applying. Cheapest eye-wateringly fast broadband we've ever seen These are blistering speeds for home broadband in the UK (though far faster is becoming the norm in other countries). Apply via this Virgin 108Mb link or this Virgin 213Mb link and you: - Pay £22.95/mth (108Mb), £23.95/mth (213Mb). - Get an automatic £100 bill credit added to your first bill (so nowt to pay for four months, unless you make calls). So factor that in and over the 18-month contract it's equivalent to £17.40/mth for the 108Mb deal and £18.40/mth for the 213Mb deal. We've only ever seen it this cheap once before. (1) Our 'equivalent costs' - adding all costs, deducting promo credits and averaging over the contract so you can compare easily. On universal credit or similar? You may be eligible for discounted 'social tariffs' Unlike the short-lived promotional deals, which are cheap for a year or two, you need to switch again to keep a low price. These social tariffs usually have consistently low monthly costs, so if eligible, they are unbeatable price-wise if you want to stick with one provider for a number of years. Eight providers currently offer discounted social broadband tariffs - eg, BT is £15/month (plus £9.99 upfront) for 36Mb speed broadband and line. Virgin, Sky, Now Broadband, KCOM, Hyperoptic, Community Fibre and G Network all also offer social tariffs. Plus TalkTalk offers six months' FREE broadband for jobseekers. These rarely appear on comparison sites (we link from ours, but are working on trying to incorporate them in future), but more than four million people qualify for these cheaper social tariffs, and Ofcom estimates that switching to one saves an average of £144/year. It's worth checking, as Susan emailed: "Thank you for the advice regarding the social tariffs offered by BT but not advertised. I have managed to transfer my elderly parent, with dementia, over to one of these tariffs, which will save them £250/year." Quick broadband switching tips A few things you need to know if you're planning to switch... Switching usually means about two hours' downtime. You're told the switch time in advance and it's often quick. Most won't need an engineer to visit, but with switches to or from Virgin it's more likely - you're usually told before you apply. Slow broadband with your new provider? Test your speed - is it the Wi-Fi or connection? It's always worth a broadband speed check, yet the best thing is to do this twice. First using your Wi-Fi, and then if possible by plugging your laptop or computer into the router if you can. If the speed is substantially slower by Wi-Fi, you may need to... Put your router higher up and make sure nothing is blocking it. A nice high router, not hidden in a cupboard or by walls, should help your speed. And of course nearer is better. For more, see our 8 speed-boosters to make it faster. If you're not getting the speeds your provider promises, you can leave penalty-free if it can't fix it. Advertised speeds are MUCH more reliable than they used to be - the rules now are that 50% of customers must get the advertised speeds at peak times. All bigger providers also must indicate your estimated minimum speed pre-application. All the providers above let you cancel penalty-free if your speed is below the minimum for three consecutive days, and they can't fix it within a month. Happy where you are? Haggle. If you're out of contract and happy with the service you get, just not the price, use our broadband comparison to benchmark a cheap deal available in your area. Then use that to haggle a better deal with your existing provider. Broadband firms are often easy to haggle with. In our last poll in November 2021, the success rates for those who tried were over 80% for Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin, and over 70% for BT. See how to haggle with broadband providers. Members of cashback sites may be able to undercut some deals. Our Top cashback sites guide explains how these sites work - they often feature broadband deals and give cashback on 'em. In some cases, the cashback means they can undercut promotional deals elsewhere - though don't assume it's the same deal, they can be structured differently, so check.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Martin: 'Energy price cap to be frozen? Will it work, what does it mean for you, what about if you're on a fix?' Plus, revealed, how your firm sets its direct debits, and our new energy price cap calc We have a new Prime Minister (congratulations to her), a new administration, and rumours of a radical shift in energy policy, both compared to Boris Johnson's regime, and to what Liz Truss herself had been discussing during the campaign. Last week I talked about the coming horrendous 80% rise in the price cap on 1 Oct, and more rises after that. Now things may be changing fast, I'll try to update you as best I can. Will prices be frozen at the current level? The latest mutterings are the cap, currently at £1,971/yr for someone on typical use, will rise to £2,500/yr (it was due to go to £3,549) yet the pre-planned £400 discount will be applied - if true, all in, it'd only be a small increase. We're likely to hear on Thursday the exact details. My 12-point Energy price freeze rumours - how it'll work, what it means for you, will it succeed? blog takes you through what you need to know so far, and some pros and cons. Fixed in the last 14 days? Check when your cooling-off period ends. With the rumoured big changes coming on Thursday, be prepared to cancel if you still can. If you fixed earlier, see my already fixed thoughts in the blog. New. Exclusive, firm-by-firm, how your energy supplier sets your direct debit. Direct debits are likely (see the ifs and buts above) to rise again - yet how do energy retailers decide how much to increase them? Our new firm-by-firm guide reveals exactly how it works, after energy firms agreed to co-operate with us on this, as part of the energy summit the Ovo boss and I called back in July. New. Energy price cap rise calc, what will you really pay (now incl prepay)? The price cap varies by region and dictates the cost of the daily standing charge and the unit rate you pay for energy use. While there's an average 80% rise currently due (until we know different), depending on your situation it could be between 50% and 90%. Tell our Energy price cap rise calc your usage and region, and it estimates what you'll pay from 1 Oct. We've updated it to include prepay as well as direct debit. What to do if you're struggling now, or will be in October? If you're struggling, it's always worth talking to your energy firm - be polite and straight with it - and make sure you explain if you're vulnerable. Hardship & debt grants may be available. Do read our full What to do if you're struggling to pay energy bills guide, which includes energy and debt help charities that may be able to suggest something. Try to cut your usage if possible. Cutting use cuts bills and helps the environment (and the country's energy security). Start with our Energy saving tips, add in the Energy mythbusting guide for less clear-cut issues, and if you're really struggling, see our Heat the human not the home guide (thankfully the summer warmth helps right now).

 

Got holiday currency left over? Swap with a friend or use our buyback tool. If you have currency left over, the best thing to do is find a friend/colleague who is going away, look up the 'spot rate' (perfect rate) and agree to sell at that price, then you both win. If you're a no-mates (or have no mates going away), use our TravelMoneyMax buyback tool. Free food or cash with McDonald's Monopoly - how to boost your chances. See McMonopoly tricks and please eat responsibly. 'I've saved £400 a year on my mobile after haggling.' Our success of the week comes from Andrea, who used our mobile haggling tips to save on her contract. She said: "My contract came to an end last week and, taking advice from MSE, I told Vodafone there were cheaper Sim-only deals elsewhere [use the Mobile Phone Comparison to check]. It matched what I'd found, and now I only pay £14 a month (down from £47 a month). This will give me an extra £396 to put towards my electricity bills. I want to say a big thank you for all your amazing and helpful advice." Send us your MoneySaving successes, on this or anything else where MSE's helped you save. Back in work uniform after the summer? Can you claim a tax rebate? If you wear a recognisable work uniform (for example, a branded T-shirt) and wash or repair it yourself, you can likely claim (and back-claim) a small uniform tax rebate. Ends midday Fri. Top 25mth 0% borrowing card pays £20 cashback. This Barclaycard* (check acceptance odds first) gives newbies £20 cashback if you spend £250+ on it within 90 days. So you can just use it for spending you'd do anyway, pay it off, and you're quids in at no cost. Yet it also offers up to 25 months at 0% on new spending (so borrowing) too, so it's a good choice if, and only if, you NEED to borrow (for one-off, budgeted, affordable spending) as done right, it's interest-free. Golden rules: 1) Pay at least the min monthly payment. 2) Clear the debt before the 0% ends or it's 22.9% rep APR. Full info in 0% spending cards. Print your summer snaps for free (or cheap). See our round-up of photo printing app deals, including 10 free 6"x4" photo prints and 50 prints for £3.50. Birthday FREEBIES, including Krispy Kreme/Greggs doughnut, Body Shop £5. September is the most common birth month, and some firms give freebies just for getting older. 30+ birthday freebies

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - 108Mb fibre Virgin broadband '£17.40/month' Ends 15 Sep - 213Mb megafast Virgin broadband '£18.40/month' Ends 15 Sep - 24 craft beers for £27 (normally £46) 1,000 available	DID YOU MISS? - Extra 20% off Amazon's 'hidden' Warehouse - FREE visits to 3,000+ historic buildings & heritage sites - Deals hunter? Want to help in an energy crisis? Work for MSE... - Streaming savers - watch 100s of hours of TV & movies FREE - Student loan interest rates have risen - but DON'T panic

 

 

Easy trick to make a FREE £400 this year by... Earning cashback on ALL normal spending Earning cashback on ALL main bills paid And getting paid £175 cash to start MSE was born on tricks to play the system. Yet over the years firms have got wiser, so they've got fewer and further between. A few days ago, however, Martin sent an excited edict, asking us to write about this way to help you make a little extra cash, because it's just easy for many to do (and he's the boss, so we're doing it). This is less of a manipulation, more of a combination though. There are two steps, and it's all about bank accounts... STEP 1: Switch to Santander's bank account, get a FREE £175 and cashback on all main bills paid via it. The Santander 123 Lite* bank account costs £2/mth, but currently pays switchers a FREE £175 cash - the highest switch bonus available. Then pay bills by it via direct debit and it pays cashback. There are three tiers, and you can earn a maximum £5 per tier (so £15/mth max) - this is also good for those with joint bills accounts. 3% back on water bills | 2% on energy bills (doubled at 4% up to £10/mth for Sept & Oct) | 1% on council tax, paid-for TV, mobile, home phone & broadband, and Santander mortgages. We estimate a home with mid to large bills could earn up to £80/year, even after the fee. To get it, you need to have/switch two direct debits, log in to online/mobile banking, have a one-off £1,000 going in, then fund £500/mth (for example, by paying your salary in). The bonus will be paid within 30 days of meeting the criteria. - Alternatives to Santander: You can get the same FREE £175 switch bonus from top service bank First Direct. There's no cashback, but it has a linked 3.5% saver and many get a £250 0% overdraft. More options in Best bank accounts. STEP 2: Open a Chase account, WITHOUT switching, to get 1% cashback on spending. You can get the app-only Chase current account* without switching, without a hard credit search, and it's usually opened quickly. For the first year it gives an uncapped 1% cashback on all normal daily spending (it generally excludes bills, investments, and major purchases like cars). For a family who'd spend £1,000 a month on the card, that's £120 cashback over the year. So use Santander for your bill payments, and then fund this for normal spending. It also pays 1.5% interest on up to £250,000 savings, not that far behind the top easy-access savings, and its debit card is top for spending abroad. - Alternatives to Chase: Virgin Money can also be opened without switching and gives 2.02% interest on £1,000, plus has a linked 1.71% easy-access account, and a top card for spending abroad. Yet if you do switch to it, you can also get 25% cashback on all UK supermarket and fuel spends for the first two months (max £160). PS: You can also join a top cashback website to see if you can boost the percentage earned when spending online.

 

Warning. Taken time off work to look after kids? You could be owed state pension. Some people - mostly women - who stayed at home to care for family, as far back as 1978, have been hit with errors that could see them missing £1,000s in state pension payments. See how to check & claim. Discounts for NHS & emergency services workers, for example, 10% off at Asda. Emergency Services Day is on Friday, so we've updated our list of NHS & care worker freebies & discounts. Less than a month left to spend old paper £20 and £50 notes. Check sofas and pockets as you've only got until Fri 30 Sep before shops stop accepting them. What to do with old notes 24 craft beers for £27 delivered (normally £46). MSE Blagged. Newbies only - 1,000 boxes available. Flavourly. Please be Drinkaware. Use buy now, pay later schemes to shop? You (and lenders) can now see it on your credit report. Laybuy has become the latest firm to start reporting to credit reference agencies, alongside Klarna and PayPal, meaning late or missed repayments can hurt your credit file. See which firms report to which agencies. Tell us if you're still chasing a refund for Covid-related travel disruption. Did you have a flight, hotel or other booking cancelled during the pandemic? Let us know if you got your money back in our 5-minute travel survey. 18,500 FREE Grand Designs Live Birmingham tickets. For 5-9 October, normally £13-£16 each. Grand Designs

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: Sainsbury's Bank (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 34 months 0%, 2.88% or 3.88% fee (21.9% rep APR interest) No-fee 0%: Sainsbury's Bank (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 22 months 0%, no or 1% fee (21.9% rep APR) or NatWest - 22 months 0% if you're a NatWest/RBS customer (21.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts £175 to switch + TOP service: First Direct £175 to switch + 1-3% bills cashback (£2/month fee): Santander Top savings accounts Top easy-access: Zopa 1.81%, min £1, app only Top one-year fix: Tandem 3.3%, min £1 Car insurance Try our new MSE Car Insurance Compare+ tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Finble 3.6% rep APR interest (1-8 years, only available via our eligibility calculator) Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: Finble (1-8 years, only available via our eligibility calculator) or M&S Bank* (1-8 years) 2.8% rep APR interest Broadband top picks Standard (10Mb+): Shell Energy '£11.05/month' Fibre (30Mb+): Shell Energy '£14.05/month' Superfast fibre (55Mb+): Shell Energy '£14.27/month' On universal credit or similar? Check discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£3.90/month' for 1GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.95/month' for 5GB 10GB+ data: TalkMobile, '£4.67/month' for 15GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL Are you allowed to buy cheap school uniforms? Buying new school uniforms can be a costly exercise - especially if you have to buy specific items with school logos. In England, new rules now mean schools must look at removing branded items and allow parents to buy from the high street and supermarket own-label uniforms. So we want to know, does your child's school let you buy from supermarkets, or are you restricted to a specific shop? Vote in this week's poll. A third of us have cut back on paid-for streaming services - mainly to save money. Last week, we asked how many streaming services you pay for, and whether you've cut back in recent months. More than 6,000 people responded - almost half (46%) currently subscribe to two or more services, and of those who do stream (or did previously), just over a third (34.1%) have cut their number of subscriptions, with the majority doing so to save money. See the full poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: Ovo announces £50 million support package for customers - Lidl axes £10-off vouchers as it shakes up its loyalty scheme - Chip to charge for autosaving in October – but free alternatives are available - Single bus journeys in England to be capped at £2 for the first three months of 2023 - Sainsbury's Bank to slash Nectar points earned using its credit cards

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I return the 100+ stamps that Royal Mail sent to me by mistake? I sent 45 non-barcoded stamps to Royal Mail under its swap scheme, and it sent me back four envelopes, each containing 45 barcoded stamps - 180 in total. I called Royal Mail, explained the error, and was sent an envelope to return the 135 extra stamps. I posted them back, only for another 132 stamps to arrive! This has already taken a decent amount of my time and effort to try and solve - do I need to keep sending them back? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I return the 100+ stamps sent in error that I already returned once? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MARTIN'S BLOG - Energy price freeze rumours – what it means for you, will it work?	MSE TEAM BLOG - Lettuce, lottery tickets & loud tenants – last week's MSE Forum highlights

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 7 SEP ONWARDS) Wed 7 Sep - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.55am Wed 7 Sep - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm. Listen again Mon 12 Sep - Guest-presenting Good Morning Britain, ITV, from 6am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Tue 13 Sep - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am

 

CADBURY'S FUSE BAR? BURTON'S PUFFS? WHAT SNACK WOULD YOU BRING BACK? That's all for this week, but before we go... snack giant KP has just brought back its infamous Scampi 'N' Lemon flavour Nik Naks, 14 years after being discontinued. So we asked what snacks you'd love to see return (OK, it's not strictly MoneySaving, but we all need a bit of light relief right now). Those with a sweet tooth yearned for a comeback of the Cadbury's Fuse bar, Nestle Secret and Toffo chews. Savoury fans were hankering after Bovril crisps, curry-flavoured Twiglets and Burton's Puffs. And while there were a few mentions of the Heinz Beanz Pizza - we reckon some things are probably best left in the past. Tell us what snacks you want back by adding to the Twitter conversation. We hope you save some money, stay safe, The MSE team

 

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