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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
New. Free £200 bank switch is back (& cashback too) Banks will pay for your custom, so unless yours is glorious, why not take the cash? Unless you love your current current-account, why not earn by switching? This is the first £200 legal bank bribe since mid-December, good news as we've seen far fewer switchers' offers this New Year than normal (though we hear more may come in February). Most find switching easy - to get the cash, you must do it through the bank's seven-working-day switching service, which closes your old account, auto-moves your balance, standing orders & direct debits, and forwards all payments for you. You'll need pass a not-too-harsh credit check. Full info in Best bank accounts, but briefly...
PS: Done right, you can make £100s or £1,000s by repeatedly switching banks, just like Nicola, who emailed us to say: "Following your advice, I have made £1,360 since September - just three months! Easiest money I've ever made. I've got my friends and family on the bandwagon too, so a big thank you from all of us." |
40+ coupons including FREE Lucky Saint alcohol-free beer, vegan egg, lentil crisps & more. See our 40+ January grocery coupons. New. First open-market full easy-access savings paying over 3% since 2012. From next Wed (1 Feb) new app-only bank Kroo* will pay 3.03% AER interest (currently 2%) on up to £85,000 in its current account (it has the full UK £85,000 savings safety protection). You needn't switch bank to get it, and there's no hard credit check, so you could open one now to get money in there in time for the higher rate. Top for easy access today are Shawbrook Bank's 2.92% AER (min £1,000), though withdrawals must be £500+ each time, and Cynergy Bank at 2.9% AER (min £1). Or, for known names, there's Sainsbury's Bank paying 2.87% AER (min £1,000) and Nationwide* at 2.5% AER (min £1), though both limit you to 3 penalty-free withdrawals a year. All are variable rate accounts. Full info in top easy-access savings. Lifetime ISAs are no longer fit for purpose for some first-time buyers, who risk losing their money. We're calling on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to change the rules. Grab one of 10,000 FREE £50 investments. This is frankly a ridiculous deal. If you put £50 (or more) into robo-investment firm Wealthify (it chooses the investments for you to make it easier), then after a year it will give you £50 cashback. So put fifty quid in, get the investment, and then you get your money back, so whatever the investment is worth in a year is a win. Even if your investments flop, at worst you break-even. Full info in Robo-investing cashback. Energy bills update - prices now expected to fall even further in July. Things may reverse, but currently it looks like bills, while still hideous, will be less than expected from July. Our energy bills update includes Martin's video. Shift credit card debt for a big best-buy 33 months at 0% (2.9% fee) or 22 months for NO-FEE. A balance transfer's where you get a new card that pays off old cards for you, so you owe it instead, but at 0%. NatWest's 33 months 0% (2.9% fee)* is by far the longest 0% deal (22.9% rep APR after the 0% ends), as is - of its type - NatWest's 22 months 0% NO FEE* card (better if you can repay quicker, 21.9% rep APR after). Originally only existing banking customers could apply, but now anyone can. Full help in Top balance transfers and try our eligibility calc to find top cards that'll accept you (though we await data to include NatWest for some applicants). 100 flowering bulbs & 10 packs of seeds for £10 delivered. MSE Blagged. 7,500 bundles available, but it doesn't deliver to Northern Ireland or parts of Scotland. Thompson & Morgan BOOST SAVINGS INTEREST. Tonight (Tue 8pm), ITV, The Martin Lewis Money Show LIVE! Over to Martin: "Last week was debt, this week is savings. Interest rates have rocketed, but most people's hard squirrelled-away cash is earning diddly-squat - effectively most are being ripped off. I'll be taking you through every risk-free trick and tip to max your interest. Plus, lots more news you can use. Do watch or at least set the Betamax." |
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The state put money away for millions of kids but many weren't aware or have lost track This is for anyone in the UK BORN 1 SEPT 2002 TO 2 JAN 2011 as that means a Child Trust Fund (CTF) would have been opened in your name when you were born, which the state automatically started with up to £250 (£500 for those from low-income families). This tax-free savings product, which up to £9,000 a year can be added to, can't be touched until you hit 18 (which is now quite a decent number of people).
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Boost cash ISA interest, beware broadband hikes & WHAT-ER saving. Listen to the latest The Martin Lewis Podcast. And the worst parcel delivery firm is... Evri. 40,000 MoneySavers voted in our annual parcel delivery poll and despite its rebrand, Evri - formerly Hermes - fared worst, with a terrible 62% rating their experience 'poor' (up from 48% in 2022). See which firms did and didn't deliver the goods. Hot Diamonds 40% off EVERYTHING code, for example, £90 ring for £27. MSE Blagged. Includes already reduced outlet items. Hot Diamonds New. Top 3.5% six-month fixed savings plus £40 cashback (if saving £10k+). MSE Blagged. If you can lock your money away but only for a bit, Zenith Bank's 3.5% 6-month fix* is top, plus newbies to 'savings marketplace' Raisin get £40 cashback with code MSE40 if saving £10k+. With the cashback, it's an effective interest rate of 4.3%. More in Top savings. 'I claimed £4,780 back on my credit card after my funeral plan provider went bust.' Our success of the week comes from Chris, who recovered a significant sum after Safe Hands went into administration last year: "Following Martin's newsletter suggestion to claim against a credit card company using Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, we have just been successful and Capital One have reimbursed us with the full amount of £4,780. We're absolutely delighted and would like to pass our thanks to Martin, for without his help we would have lost everything." If we've helped you save money (on this, or 'owt else), please send us your MoneySaving successes. 3,000 FREE pairs of Build It Live tickets (normally about £12 each). For Kent (4 to 5 Feb), Oxfordshire (10 to 11 Jun) and Exeter (9 to 10 Sept). Includes free magazine. Build It Live The speedy overseas holiday MoneySaving checklist - easy ways to save & avoid pitfalls. GHICs, cheap currency, insurance, cheap flights, hotels, passports, car hire, airport parking and more. In case you missed them, here are last week's 18 easy ways to save if you're booking a holiday, plus Martin's two travel must-knows video warning. Less than a week to file your self-assessment tax return. Anyone told to do a tax return must do it (usually the self-employed or high earners), and some with complex affairs will need to as well. So beware: the self-assessment tax deadline is NEXT WEEK. £5 razor & refill kit (normally £8). MSE Blagged. 1,000 available, plus 15% off refill cartridges. Brighter Shaving |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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THIS WEEK'S POLL How do you rate your bank account's service? Every six months, we ask for your help to track the quality of banks' customer service. By comparing your answers with last time, we can see which have got better or worse. Let us know how you rank your bank. Around half of MoneySavers have a summer holiday booked. Last week, we asked about your summer holiday plans and more than 3,400 people responded. Almost 40% said they've already booked to go overseas, while a further 11% are holidaying in the UK. With the cost of living crisis pushing up travel prices, around a third (32%) said they've spent more than usual this year - though the majority have spent less than £2,000. See the full summer holiday poll results. |
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I take legal action against my daughter for refusing to repay the money I loaned her? Four years ago I remortgaged my cottage to help my daughter buy a house, and since then she's been paying me back in monthly instalments. But after her recent wedding we fell out, and she's stopped repaying me. I'm not well and live on a low income, and have started to think the only way to get my money back is to take legal action. Yet her husband has no idea I bought half the house, and I worry that if I do take legal action I'll cause problems in their marriage and she'll never speak to me again. But why should I struggle when they have a decent joint-income? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I take legal action against my daughter? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma |
MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 25 JAN ONWARDS) Wed 25 Jan - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Tue 31 Jan - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am |
SAMOSA-FOLD YOUR BAGS & CLEAN WITH LEMON RINDS... WHAT ARE YOUR TIME/MONEYSAVING LIFE HACKS? That's all for this week, but before we go... MSE Forumites have been sharing their time-and-MoneySaving life hacks. For a tidy home, they include the 'sushi roll' trick for putting on a duvet cover (video is supplied) and the 'samosa-folding' trick for storing plastic bags. One Forumite recommends saving lemon rinds for cleaning the sink, while another suggests leaving out a bowl of coffee grounds to deodorise a room. When it comes to food, hacks include topping up a pesto jar with olive oil to make it last longer and sticking savoy cabbage into a bowl of water to sprout roots for the same reason. Discover more and add your own on the Do you have a secret trick? MSE Forum discussion. We hope you save some money, stay safe, |
Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com worksWe think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of this email and the site. We're a journalistic website, and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques - but can't promise to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. What you need to know This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances - and remember we focus on rates not service. We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned, how likely they are to go bust, but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips). We often link to other websites, but can't be responsible for their content. Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion. Please read the Full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, How This Site is Financed and Editorial Code. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin LewisWhat is MoneySavingExpert.com? Who is Martin Lewis? What do the links with an * mean?Any links with an * by them are affiliated, which means get a product via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference; the links don't impact the products at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to them. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in the same way. More info: See How This Site is Financed. As we believe transparency is important, we're including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for content too: Unaffiliated web-addresses for links in this email santander.co.uk, firstdirect.com, chase.co.uk, kroo.com, nationwide.co.uk, natwest.com, raisin.co.uk Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Note MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 303190). MoneySavingExpert.com Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number: 8021764. Registered office: One Dean Street, London, W1D 3RB. MoneySavingExpert.com Limited is an appointed representative of MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited. To change your email or stop receiving the weekly tips (unsubscribe): Go to: www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips. |