Quick: the BEST debit card's ending, £5 shoes, does your energy firm owe you £100s?, £43 plants £10, cheap prosecco

Plus... Key warning for over-66s, 500Mb b'band £30/mth, try MSE's app, diesel claims: worth it?

                                                           

02 May 2023 | View in browser

Banking & Savings Household Bills Deals Insurance Cards & Loans Mortgages Income Reclaim

 

THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL Last chance. Grab a Chase account for... - Unlimited 1% cashback - Cheapest way to spend abroad - Easy-access 3.1% savings Urgent! Over 66? Last chance to claim £301 cost of living help Ends Thu. 67Mb broadband '£19.59/mth' Try the free MSE app Martin: 'Now's time to check if you're due £100s in energy credit' £1 to £6 clothes & shoes code Martin: 'Are you one of 100,000s missing out on council tax discounts?' £43 tomato plants & veg seeds £10 Are diesel car claims worth it? 'Thanks, I'm saving £150+ on my mobile bill and got a data boost' Kärcher cordless vacuums up to £190 off Martin podcast: Are your savings safe & Help to Buy ISA v LISA 'I'm petrified' - homeowners trapped on 8% mortgages Marcus saver? Boost your rate MSE's cheap prosecco taste test Martin: 'I need your help. Have you or someone close had mental health & money issues?' This week's best buys, including free £200 bank bribe, 20GB Sim '£4.62/mth', Car Insurance Compare+ tool Should I save up child benefit to give to my children when they're older? 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

Last chance. Grab a triple threat You've a week to get a free Chase account for... 1. Unlimited 1% cashback worth £100s 2. The cheapest way to spend abroad 3. Easy-access 3.1% savings interest No hard credit-check, so easy to get For over a year now, the Chase banking app*, owned by US giant JPMorgan, has been in three best-buy categories. And as you don't need to switch to it to get the perks, it's easy to use in conjunction with your existing bank. It also only does a soft credit-check, which doesn't impact your ability to get credit in future. So it's a winner. Yet... Sign up by 8 May or you get less cashback Apply by Mon 8 May, and for the first year its debit card gives you 1% cashback on all normal spending done on it (it excludes buying cars, art, gambling and cash from bureau de change - see the full list). Many have earnt big, like our own MSE Steve B who says: "I've earnt £402.24 in cashback since Feb last year." From next Tue, newbies get cashback limited to £15 a month (so only cashback on the first £1,500 monthly spending). Still a best buy, just not as good, especially for bigger spenders. So if you're going to get it, don't delay. THREE banks also pay you £200ish to switch to them... You can do these ALONGSIDE getting Chase, as it doesn't need to be switched to (just load it up and spend to get the cashback). There's: - NatWest's FREE £200 plus £3/mth cashback* - HSBC's FREE £200* and - First Direct's FREE £175, top service & 7% linked saver* Do read full info & reviews, including crucial eligibility info, in Best banks. Chase is also the top way to SPEND ABROAD... It's rare to have a debit card that's good at home and abroad. Yet unlike most debit cards, spend on Chase* abroad and there's no exchange rate fee (usually 2.75% on top), so you get the same near-perfect rates banks do in every country. Here's how it compares: - Normal cards: £100 worth of euros / dollars / dong costs you £102.75. - Specialist cards: £100 worth of euros / dollars / dong costs you £100. - Chase: It's the same as the other specialist cards, but you also get the year's 1% cashback on spending abroad, so £100 worth of euros / dollars / dong spending effectively costs you £99. Nor does it charge any fees for ATM withdrawals (though you won't get cashback on that - so spending on the card is better than withdrawing cash to spend. And remember to always opt to pay in the local currency, not pounds, at the till). Alternatives to Chase for spending overseas... As Chase is a debit card, you don't get Section 75 spending protection (just the lesser chargeback). So if you buy important things costing £100+ while away, the top-pick credit card Barclaycard Rewards* (first check your acceptance odds) gives you that. It also has near-perfect exchange rates, no ATM fees and 0.25% cashback. Yet as it's a credit card, only do it if you'll repay IN FULL each month, or it's 25.9% rep APR interest. See our full Top cards for spending abroad guide for far more options. For a prepay card, where you can load up in advance and lock in the exchange rate before you go (rather than getting the rate on the day you spend as with the cards above), our top pick is Revolut. Chase's savings rate is good, but beatable Chase pays 1% interest paid on its current account, but the key is its 3.1% interest on its linked easy-access savings, and you can swiftly move money between the two. This is a good rate, and you can put up to £500,000 in the savings (though like all UK regulated banks, you're only protected up to £85,000 per person per financial institution). It also pay 5% interest on round-ups from any debit card spend (so spend £4.50 and it will save 50p at 5%). A great rate, but trivial amounts. Top easy-access savings now pay 3.71% and fixes 4.83% It's easy to beat Chase, as there's decent competition out there in the savings market (all rates are AER): - Top easy access: App-only Chip is 3.71% with unlimited withdrawals, but can be fiddly to operate (see more info through the link). Shawbrook is 3.65% and can be opened online (min £1,000), though has minimum £500 withdrawals. - Top high street name easy access: Sainsbury's* offers 3.37% (min £1,000), though only allows three withdrawals per year. Post Office offers 3.22% with unlimited withdrawals, and Nationwide* offers 3.2% but limits you to three penalty-free withdrawals a year (both min £1). You can also get top one-year fixes at 4.83%. For full details on this and more, see the Top savings guide. And do remember specialist savings alternatives... - Bigger saver & pay tax on interest: Top cash ISAs. - 50% bonus for many on universal credit / tax credits: Help to Save. - 25% bonus for 1st-time buyers (aged 18 to 39): Lifetime ISAs. - Earn 7% on smaller amounts if you save monthly: Regular savings. Cashback on Chase is top all-rounder, but it is beatable, especially after a year No other card pays as much as a flat 1% cashback - but for short amounts of time or if you've had the card for a year when the £15/mth cap comes in, it is beatable. - The Amex Everyday pays 5% cashback for 3mths* (max £100) (check your acceptance odds), then an ongoing 0.5% to 1% cashback. Yet you have to spend £3,000+/yr on it to get any cashback. - There's also the Amex Nectar card that gives enough points for £120 at Sainsbury's or 15,000 air miles if you spend £2,000 in the first three months. Both of these are credit cards, meaning you get Section 75 protection on spending, but fail to repay IN FULL each month and it's 29.4% rep APR interest for Amex Everyday, 35% for Nectar. Full help in our Top cashback cards guide.

 

 

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: Urgent! Last chance for over-66s to claim £301 If you're single with total income under £220/wk or a couple with total income under £320/wk, check NOW if you're due pension credit - a gateway to urgent payouts There is a deadline for the nearly one million pensioner households MISSING OUT on vital help they're entitled to. You've only until 19 May - two weeks away - to sign up for pension credit that'll trigger eligibility for the current £301 cost of living payment. Please help spread the word on this. Here are my 4 key need-to-knows... 1. Not sure if you're eligible... don't stall, just call. Pension credit's job is to top up total income for those of state pension age to - for this tax year - £201.05/wk for single pensioners (£306.85/wk for couples). Yet there are some complex criteria (eg, you may get more if you've savings, caring responsibilities, disabilities), so check even if your income's a little higher. Don't worry, you won't be told off if you're not due, they're happy to help. To be fair I'd check the online eligibility calc first, unless you're not great online, but I liked the 'just call' rhyme. See full details of easy ways to check if you're due pension credit. As Carole kindly wrote to me earlier this year... "As we've savings I didn't think I'd be eligible, but following your advice I applied anyway. Imagine my surprise on checking last month to see a payment of over £2,000 - backdated pension credit to last May. Now receiving over £300/mth, so am delighted and VERY grateful to your team for encouraging me to at least try!" 2. The average pension credit payout's £3,500/yr, but claim even for 50p, as it has a SUPERPOWER. Pension credit is simply an income 'top-up' - a means-tested benefit with two parts, the guaranteed credit and the savings credit. Yet even if you're only eligible for pennies, claim as pension credit is what I call a 'gateway benefit' - eligibility for it can then entitle you to so much more, including... A free TV licence if you're over 75. Housing benefit worth £1,000s for some renters. A council tax reduction worth £1,000/yr for some. £25/wk cold weather payments and the £150 warm home discount. More pension credit benefits, including free dental care, vouchers for glasses and more. 3. URGENT: Claim now and you also get the first £301 (and £599 to come) 2023/24 cost of living payment. Unlike with other benefits, pension credit can be backdated, so even though the first £301 cost of living payment has started, if you claim by 19 May, you can still get the first £301 spring payment, and will then be due the remaining payments in autumn 2023 and spring 2024. This is on top of the £300 additional payment all state pensioners will get later this year, alongside the normal annual winter fuel payment. 4. Checked before? Check again. If you were just over the margin before (primarily due to a small private pension) you might be newly eligible, as since April the pension credit threshold has increased by 10.1% (in line with the state pension). For a few, it is worth checking again. Also, if you've got new responsibilities as a carer, it's vital to re-check.

 

Have you tried the free MSE app available on Apple and Android? Martin: 'Now's the PERFECT TIME to check if you're due £100s in energy credit. Stop the rip-off.' If you're in energy credit, the beginning of May is spot-on perfect to check if you're owed some of the up to £7bn energy firms may be sitting on. See Martin's new 'How much energy credit is too much' blog, including firm-by-firm help. Clothes, shoes & accessories £1 to £6 via 5% off code, plus free delivery. MSE Blagged. Discount retailer Everything5pounds (where confusingly, not everything's a fiver) sells a mixture of ex-high street and non-branded items, and we've blagged a code. Everything5pounds Martin: 'Are you one of 100,000s missing out on council tax discounts (& possibly due a backdated payout)?' Watch Martin's new council tax discount video briefing which takes you through it. Tomato plants and vegetable seed bundle £10 delivered (normally £43). MSE Blagged. 10,000 bundles available (not to Northern Ireland or parts of Scotland). Thompson & Morgan Had a diesel car made from 2009 to 2020? Should you join claims against Audi, BMW, Mercedes & more? Claims firms are advertising again, so is it worth it? Check Diesel claim pros and cons, including latest case updates. 'Thanks, I'm now saving £150+ on my mobile bill and got a data boost.' Our success of the week comes from John, who followed our mobile cost-cutting tips in last week's email. He said: "After taking your advice, my bill went from over £19/mth to just £6/mth. A saving of £156/yr, plus another 5GB/mth of data staying with the same provider (EE)." If we've helped you save money (on this, or owt else), please send us your MoneySaving successes. Up to £190 off two Kärcher cordless vacuums - makes 'em £180 or £230. MSE Blagged. Via codes, 1,000 available. Kärcher vacuums Are your savings safe in the bank? Help to Buy ISA v LISA? (And paying to squeeze blackheads.) This and more in this week's episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast - listen through BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple and more.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - £10 tomato plants & veg seed bundle 10,000 available - Clothes, shoes etc £1.43 to £5.66 via code Ends Sunday - Kärcher cordless vacuums up to £190 off 1,000 available	DID YOU MISS? - Supermarket coupons: Free £2 Tango drink, Tesco £5 off - Are you keeping the RIGHT food in the fridge? - FREE jacket potato and beans at Morrisons cafés

 

 

Ends Thu. 67Mb broadband AND line '£19.59/mth.' Half what most pay & after recent hikes, a strong deal Or if you feel a need, a need for speed, 500Mb for '£30/mth' April's broadband price hikes of up to 14% have now hit bills, leaving £40/mth for basic broadband the new standard. Yet if you're one of seven million who aren't in contract, so are free to leave, you can ditch, switch and likely save £100s a year. As we always say, the best way to bag cheap broadband is through short-lived promotional deals - we've got the top picks below. They're not quite as cheap as a few months ago, but we think under the new pricing regimes they're hot. Top switchers' broadband & line deals Deals are postcode dependent, so links go to our broadband tool, which shows if you can get 'em New. Shell Energy (18-month contract) - 38Mb fibre & line '£19.38/mth' - No price rise this year, but it will increase in April 2024 Cheapest fibre broadband & line, but 'poor' service rating. Apply though this Shell 38Mb link and you pay £9.95 upfront, then £22.99/mth. You can then CLAIM - don't forget - a £75 Amazon voucher within four months. Factor that in over the 18-month contract before calls, and it's equivalent to £19.38/mth. Shell's customer service rating from our poll is 'poor' (1). Ends Thu 4 May. Vodafone (24-month contract) - 67Mb fibre & line '£19.59/mth' - No price rise this year, but it will increase in April 2024 Cheapest fast fibre, plus 'good' service. Apply through this Vodafone 67Mb link and you'll pay £25/mth, but you can CLAIM - don't forget - a £130 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher within four months. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £19.59/mth over the 24-month contract. Vodafone was rated 'good' in our last service poll. Ends Thu 4 May. Vodafone (24-month contract) - 500Mb fibre & line '£29.59/mth' - No price rise this year, but it will increase in April 2024 Cheapest mega-fast fibre. Apply through this Vodafone 500Mb link and you'll pay £35/mth, but you can CLAIM - don't forget - a £130 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher within four months. If you'd have spent there anyway, factor it in and it's equivalent to £29.59/mth over the 24-month contract. It's available to the 35% of UK homes who can get fibre to the premises (FTTP) - where fibre cables run directly into your home from the exchange. On universal credit, pension credit or similar benefits? Try a social tariff. Many providers offer special discounted social broadband tariffs, which give long-term cheap prices. To see the deals in our comparison tool, check the 'Show social tariffs' box and enter your postcode, and we'll now show you those with near-national coverage (plus each provider's eligibility criteria) alongside all standard deals available to you, so you can compare. We use 'equivalent costs', adding all costs except calls, deducting promo credits & averaging over the contract. (1) Broadband service ratings tend to be worse than other sectors, so all scores are lower. See our Broadband service poll results page. Don't want to switch? Haggle. If you're out of contract and free to move, you're in a powerful position to haggle. In our December poll, the vast majority of those who'd haggled with the big broadband firms were successful. So use the deals above as a benchmark price to help you get your costs down. Not sure how? Read full Broadband haggling tips. Slow broadband? Test your speed - is it the Wi-Fi or the connection? Do a broadband speed check - first when using Wi-Fi, and then when plugging your device into the router (if you can). If Wi-Fi's a lot slower, try our eight speed-boosters. At least 50% of customers must get the advertised speeds at peak times. All providers above also tell you the estimated max speed you're likely to get before you sign up. Switching usually only means about two hours' downtime. You're told the switch time, and most don't need an engineer to set it up - though some leaving Virgin may need an Openreach engineer. Members of cashback sites can sometimes undercut deals. In some cases, the cashback can mean these sites undercut promos elsewhere, though sometimes the deal differs - so check carefully. More in Top cashback sites.

 

'I'm petrified all the time' - the homeowners trapped on 8% mortgages. See Mortgage prisoners' rate hike hell. Got a Marcus savings account? Boost your rate to 3.3% with a few clicks. How toboost your Marcus rate. MSE's cheap prosecco taste test - did the cheapest bubbly take the crown? See which supermarket prosecco won. Please be Drinkaware. Martin: 'I need your help. Have you or someone close had mental health & money issues?' "My Money and Mental Health Policy Institute charity is celebrating its 7th birthday. It's had a huge impact on Govt, regulators and firms. Now we need more people to join the 5,000-strong research community (especially men, ethnic minorities and under-30s) to help us ensure the policies suggested work in the real world. If you can, please do."

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: NatWest - 30 months 0% 2.99% fee (23.9% rep APR) No-fee 0%: NatWest - 19 months 0% (23.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts £200 to switch + £36/yr cashback: NatWest / RBS £200 to switch + 5% regular saver: HSBC Top savings accounts Top easy access: Chip 3.71%, min £1 Top one-year fix: Allica Bank 4.83%, min £10,000 Car insurance Try our Car Insurance Compare+ tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: AIB (NI) (apply), 5.6% rep APR Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: HSBC (check eligibility - existing customers only / apply*), 4.8% rep APR Broadband top picks Fibre (30Mb+): Shell Energy '£19.38/mth' Fast fibre (55Mb+): Vodafone '£19.59/mth' On universal credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lycamobile, '£2.38/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lycamobile, '£3.35/mth' for 5GB 10GB+ data: TalkMobile, '£4.62/mth' for 20GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL Have you ever asked for a pay rise? The jump in the cost of living and soaring inflation has had a major impact on the power of pay packets - as for many, wages haven't increased nearly enough to cover these additional costs. Many public sector workers have resorted to industrial action to collectively demand better pay, yet for many, the question is asked on an individual basis. So this week, we want to know whether you've ever been successful in asking for a pay rise (disregarding any company-wide annual rises). Vote in this week's poll. MoneySavers want a £25+ saving to make it worth their time using multiple insurance comparison sites. Last week, we asked you how much of a saving it would take to make going to multiple insurance comparison sites worth the effort - over 1,800 of you responded. A third (34%) said they'd need to save at least £25 on a £300 home insurance quote to make using a second comparison worth it, and almost half (46%) said the same for a £700 car insurance quote. See the full poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: NHS dental treatment charges in England rise by 8.5%

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I save up child benefit to give to my children when they're older? I have two children - aged one and four - and receive child benefit for both, totalling about £140 a month. I've been using it for their general living expenses, such as clothes, clubs and so on, but I've started to wonder if it's their money to decide what to do with. Should I be putting it in a savings account each month until they're old enough to decide, or is it OK to continue spending it on them as I have been? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I save up child benefit to give to my children when they're older? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MARTIN'S BLOG - This is the PERFECT TIME to check if you're due £100s in energy credit back	MSE TEAM BLOG - MSE Forum highlights: Safari, stereos & subpar seating

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 3 MAY ONWARDS) Wed 3 May - Good Morning Britain, ITV, presenting from 6am Wed 3 May - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 9 May - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.25am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECTS TBC) Thu 4 May - BBC Radio Leicester, Mid-morning with Summaya Mughal, from 11.35am Tue 9 May - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am

 

BATHS, WALKS AND DUVET DAYS - HOW DO YOU ENJOY NO-SPEND WEEKENDS? That's all for this week, but before we go... they say the best things in life are free, so we asked our MoneySavers if they take part in 'no-spend' weekends to save money, and what they get up to during them. Treating yourself to a long bath, going for a walk, and visiting local churches, gardens and libraries are particular favourites, while one film fan slithers into bed and watches all eight Harry Potter films (we're not sure if they're being Sirius!). Let us know how you enjoy your weekends while keeping your cash in your pocket in our Facebook and Twitter conversations. We hope you save some money, The MSE team

 

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