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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
Cheap pet insurance Vet bills (already sky high) and general pet care costs have risen a further 13% in the year leading up to September 2023. So much so that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has stepped in to investigate. The outcome's unlikely to be speedy, so in the meantime here are our top tips for those who want to cut the cost of pet insurance, to ensure you're not left facing tough decisions in the event of an unexpected trip to the vets. Our full Cheap pet insurance guide has a litter of tips to reduce costs, here's a brief walkies through it...
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£120 Hoover cordless vacuum (normally £269). MSE Blagged. Via code. 5,000 available. Hoover New. Please report "sorry, we are experiencing unusually high call volumes" messages. We want to test if some firms have this for EVERY call. If you call a bank, broadband, mobile, credit card, energy, water or sewerage firm, please take 30 seconds to report it via our unusual call volumes tool. In some cases, it may be a breach of the Consumer Duty (please bookmark this for when you need to use it). £1 to £6 ex-high street shoes, clothes & accessories via rare 10% off code plus free delivery. MSE Blagged. Everything5pounds (well, it's not all £5) sells a mix of ex-high street & non-branded items. Everything5pounds Martin debunks credit scoring: Three quick videos... how credit scoring works (the pub version) | 12 tips to boost your credit score | how lenders actually analyse you. Or watch the full credit scoring Martin Lewis Money Show and read the How to boost your credit score guide for a detailed explanation. 'My wife saved £7,000 and boosted her state pension after reading your Child Benefit article.' Our success of the week comes from David, who said: "My wife has a low-paid job, so doesn't contribute to national insurance (NI), leaving her state pension record with a 10-year gap. We'd been thinking about making voluntary contributions, then I read your Child Benefit missing years article and realised as I'd been claiming Child Benefit, I could transfer all the Child Benefit credits to my wife and plug her NI holes. She got 10yrs' worth of free pension credits, which would have cost us approx £7,000. A huge weight off our minds. Thanks." If we've helped you save (on this, or owt else), send us your successes. New. How much will your water bill rise in April? Some 20 out of 22 water and sewerage firms will raise prices for bill & meter customers. See how much your water bill will rise and our How to slash £100s off water bills guide.
ITV 8pm tonight (Tue) - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live. Over to Martin: "I'll be brief because, as I've already written above, tonight I'm leading on the huge new car finance reclaiming campaign, plus loads more news you can use. Do watch, or set the Betamax (and catch up via ITVX)." |
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Can't afford to clear your debts? You can't afford NOT to check if you can shift 'em Last week, we gave you 24 credit card need-to-knows, including how to slash interest rates to 0%. No apology for a bit of repetition this week, as it was hugely popular and we've learned the longest card is losing its promo cashback. As a reminder, a 0% balance transfer is when you get a new card that pays off debt on your existing card(s), so you owe it instead but INTEREST-FREE. This means your repayments clear the actual debt, not just mostly cover interest. Two tips first... 1. Don't 'just apply', as that can hit your ability to access credit. Go via an eligibility calc. In two mins, our 0% eligibility checker shows your card-by-card acceptance odds, so you can home in on those most likely to accept you. 2. If you've a choice, go for the LOWEST FEE within a 0% time long enough to clear your debt. Generally, the longer the balance transfer, the bigger the one-off fee, eg, 3% of the amount transferred (so £30 per £1,000). So if you can clear your debt quicker, go for a shorter deal to minimise fees. UNSURE? Play safe, go long, like the Barclaycard.
Quick balance transfer FAQs (click links for Martin's answers) |
New podcast: In the wrong council tax band? 100,000 are, and are due £1,000s back. With news that council tax is to rise (see below), this a very timely podcast from Martin. It includes council tax discounts for students, single parents and some with dementia, low incomes. Plus landlord tips for renters, money mastermind and more, all in the new The Martin Lewis Podcast. Listen via BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to get your Martin fix. News. Council tax in England set to rise by 5% on 1 April. See council tax hikes. Tesco shopper? You've a month to use/extend £18 million of expiring Clubcard vouchers. The deadline is 29 Feb. Full help in Tesco alert. Absolute last chance. Unmarried with kids and partner died since 2001? Claim up to £40,000 bereavement help. The deadline is THU 8 FEB and many MUST apply via post, so it really is the last-moment chance. Spread word, and get full info in our bereavement help. Free 4mth days-out pass (norm £4/mth) for 40% off cinema tix, 20% off Laser Quest and more. MSE Blagged. Other attractions include 40% off Drayton Manor, 30% off SeaLife and Legoland Discovery, 10% off Go Ape. For Day Out With The Kids pass newbies. Related: Free & cheap half-term ideas. Grind coffee 30% off code. MSE Blagged. Valid on ground coffee, beans and pods. Grind Live in Scotland or a park home & claim benefits? Apply for the £150 warm home discount ASAP. It's worth £150, but it's paid on a first come, first served basis, and some suppliers have already closed their applications. Full info in Warm home discount. Related: Final £299 cost-of-living payment paid from today - check if you're eligible. |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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THIS WEEK'S POLL How much mobile data do you use in a month? Mobile phones are an essential part of everyday life for many, with streaming, gaming, social networking and more all increasingly done on data-hungry handsets. When we last did this poll in 2022, three-quarters of MoneySavers used less than 3GB/mth. We want to see if this has changed. Vote in this week's poll. Almost a third of people pay at least £50/mth for TV or streaming services. Last week, we asked how much you spend on TV and streaming, and more than 8,000 responded. After a TV licence, the most popular services are Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, with around half paying for at least one of these. And while more than half say they spend less than £30/mth on TV, a third are spending £50+/mth, with almost 9% spending £100+/mth. See the full TV and streaming poll results. |
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I accept an expensive birthday present from my boyfriend who owes me money? My boyfriend, who has been trying to sort himself out financially, got me a beautiful bike that cost £1,500 for my birthday. He says it's a larger-than-normal gift to say thank you for finding us our flat and helping him sort his life out. Yet he owes me a month's rent and half of the deposit on the flat we recently moved into, and has been stressed about finding money to buy things his daughters want. Do I accept the bike to avoid hurting his feelings, or decline to continue helping him with his finances? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I accept an expensive present from my boyfriend who owes me money? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma |
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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 6 FEB ONWARDS) Tue 6 Feb - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV1, 8pm (watch previous episodes) MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Fri 9 Feb - BBC CWR, Mid-morning with Mollie Green and MSE's Molly, from 10.40am |
BENDY BREADKNIVES & NEXT-LEVEL BARGAIN HUNTING - MONEYSAVING HACKS FOR NEW HOMEOWNERS That's all for this week, but before we go... what are your MoneySaving tips for someone about to move into their first home? One user goes everywhere armed with a notebook of measurements for all their windows and walls, so they know if any bargains will fit. Another writes on the wall how many rolls of wallpaper they used before applying the last sheet, as a reminder for when they come to re-paper. Making long-term choices is a recurring theme, with Forumites avoiding cheap toolkits and 50p bendy breadknives in favour of quality tools and cookware that'll last a lifetime - one says their 80-year-old woodworking chisels are still as good as new. Share your tips for anyone kitting out their first home in our MSE Forum thread. We hope you save some money, |
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