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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
New. Santander: FREE £140 + £40-£80/year bills cashback. Santander 123 Lite* (+44% customer service score) gives switchers £140 free cash. Plus, you pay a £2/month fee to receive cashback on most household bills paid via direct debit - for example, 3% on water, 2% on energy and 1% on council tax, phones, broadband, paid-for TV and Santander mortgages. Cashback is capped at £5/month per tier, so a total max of £15/month. We estimate someone with mid-to-high bills would get £40-£80/year after the fee. New. NatWest: FREE £150 + up to £36/year. There's a free £150 to switch to NatWest Reward* (+34% customer service score). You can also get an extra £3/month as long as you use its mobile app and pay two direct debits out each month (that earns you £5/month but you pay a £2/month fee). Three more bank switchers' offers. If those don't quite cut the mustard there's also HSBC's free £150, Nationwide's free £100 (or £125) if you prefer a building society, or Virgin Money's free 12 bottles of wine or £150 experience voucher.
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Martin: 'Was the call to DO NOTHING with energy since October right, with hindsight, and is it still right today?' Doing nothing leaves most on the price cap - was that right then, and what about now? See Martin's new video briefing. Ends Sun. Unsold de-tagged high-street coats, shoes, dresses £4.50 with a code. MSE Blagged. Surplus stock and non-branded items from high-street names (has previously included M&S, Topshop and more). Everything5pounds Martin's Money Makeover Masterclass: 22 ways to save you £2,022 in 2022. If you missed it in last week's email, catch up on the money maestro's (well, it alliterates) makeover masterclass. 10,000 FREE pairs of (normally £20ish) Ideal Home Show London tickets. 11-27 March. Ideal Home Show Ends 11.59pm Sun. Top one-year fix if saving £5,000+... 1.3% AND up to £75 cashback. MSE Blagged. Zenith Bank's 1.3% AER one-year fix* is only a smidge behind Zopa's 1.36% AER (min £1,000) top rate. Yet if you're new to savings marketplace Raisin and get Zenith via it (the link takes you there), you get £25 cashback if you use code MSE25 in registration step 4 by Sun and put £5,000+ in by 7 Feb. If you can put £10,000 in, Raisin newbies can claim an extra £50 cashback, so it easily beats Zopa. Full help in Raisin write-up. Both accounts have full UK £85,000 savings safety protection. Barclaycard customer? Now REALLY don't bin post. Last week we told you some were being sent unexpected refunds, with the biggest we knew of at £300. Now we've heard from a few people due £1,200 back. See Barclaycard refunds. 'Thanks - I'm saving £800 a year interest after switching loan.' Our success of the week comes from MoneySaver Rose who followed our tips to cut existing loan costs: "Thank you so much for last week's newsletter. We've been approved [for a new loan] and will be saving £66/month, which will go towards our rising energy bill." Please send us your MoneySaving successes on this or anything else. |
The warm home discount - £140 off your winter bill: You should get it automatically if you're with a bigger firm and get the 'guarantee credit' element of pension credit - though one million people who qualify for this gateway benefit don't get it, so check if you're eligible for it. Even if not, you can apply for it if you're on certain benefits, but ONLY E.on, Bulb and So Energy still have applications open - see warm home discount help. There are also the Northern Ireland Energy Payment Support and Welsh Winter Fuel Support schemes. Cold weather payments: £25 for each week the temperature is, or is forecast to be, at or below 0°C for seven days in a row. It's usually automatic if you get pension credit or other benefits including universal credit (for some recipients), and for some who get support for mortgage interest - see cold weather payment help. Winter fuel payment - for those born on or before 26 Sept 1955: Between £100 and £300 depending on age and who you live with, if there's someone aged 66 or older in the home - regardless of income. It should have been paid automatically by now - if not, check the full details and what to do in winter fuel payment help. FREE energy and debt advice. All help schemes are busy right now, but it'll likely be worse come April, so make an appointment now. They can help with all the above plus accessing the big energy firms' hardship funds (including British Gas's, which uniquely helps any firm's customers, not just its own). - Energy help and grant specialists: National Energy Action (England and Wales) gives benefits advice and helps with bills, debt and hardship fund applications. NI Energy Advice and Home Energy Scotland are similar. PS: A fortnight ago Martin announced he'd provide £100,000 to fund National Energy Action to build a webchat service. - Wider debt and energy help: Try Citizens Advice (England, Scotland and Wales) and StepChange (UK-wide). - Support for older people or those with disabilities: Age UK offers help on benefits and the financial support available, and guidance on bills, meters and heating your home. Scope does similar for disabled people in England and Wales. Are you entitled to free insulation or a boiler grant to make your home more efficient? Grants to help people on certain benefits are on offer from firms under the Energy Company Obligation scheme. You need to apply, so see Free insulation and boiler grants for more. Simple steps to use less energy. It's not a silver bullet for all - especially those who already can't afford to heat their homes - but it's worth checking everything. See our 9 energy saving tips. |
Martin: 'Are you one of over 7 million eligible households missing out on state funds and benefits?' Watch Martin's new benefits video briefing. New Tesco prepaid card scheme - is it worth it? Do points really make prizes? Read our Is it worth it? analysis. £105 Nails Inc make-up and nails set £30 delivered. MSE Blagged. Nine-piece set includes blusher, lip balm and nail polish. 2,000 available. Nails Inc Republic of Cats 28 meals for £1 (normally £15). MSE Blagged. Plus 50% off your second order and 25% off your third. Enter some info and it creates a recipe especially for your furry friend. Not available in Northern Ireland. Republic of Cats Energy supplier gone bust? Tell us how your transfer to your new supplier went. Please fill in our 5-min energy survey. |
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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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THIS WEEK'S POLL How much mobile data do you use in a month? Smartphones are an essential part of everyday life for many, with streaming, gaming, social networking and more all increasingly done on data-hungry mobiles. So we want to know how much mobile data you currently go through in a month. Vote in this week's poll. More than half of MoneySavers have a summer holiday booked. Last week, we asked about your summer holiday plans. Nearly 4,000 people responded - 45% said they've already booked a holiday abroad, while a further 11% have booked to go away in the UK. Of those with holidays booked, a whopping 81% were confident they'll actually be able to go this year. See full summer holiday poll results. |
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I ask my gran for a new birthday cheque? My gran very kindly gave me a cheque for £100 for my birthday, but made it out to my nickname, so the bank won't accept it. My gran is in her nineties and doesn't have a lot of money, but is always excited to give her grandchildren what she can as presents. Should I ask her for a new cheque or just leave it, and hope she doesn't notice that I didn't cash it? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I ask gran for a new birthday cheque? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma |
MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 26 JAN ONWARDS) Wed 26 Jan - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm. Listen to past episodes MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SOME SUBJECTS TBC) Wed 26 Jan - BBC Radio Manchester, Mornings with Michelle Dignan, MSE Gary on the energy crisis, 9.20am |
I GAVE £20 TO HELP A FAMILY TOP UP THEIR GAS METER: YOUR MONEY-RELATED ACTS OF KINDNESS That's all for this week, but before we go... last week we asked for your stories of money-related acts of kindness. And one MoneySaver told us of the time she gave the £20 she'd just won to a struggling family to top up their gas meter, while another overheard a student saying she couldn't afford to get to college, so gave her £5 for the fare. And one Forumite just wanted to acknowledge those who, time and time again, freely offer their expertise to help others on the MSE Forum who are struggling. Read all the heart-warming tales and add your own in the money-related acts of kindness forum discussion (or to our Twitter thread). |
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 lebara.com, idmobile.co.uk, firstdirect.com, santander.co.uk, natwest.com, raisin.co.uk, uk.virginmoney.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, comparethemarket.com, confused.com, moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, bank.marksandspencer.com 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. |
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