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DON'T believe the fake ads on Facebook |
New. Moved home since 1993? You could be owed £100+ in council tax We've been banging on for over a decade about how 100,000s people are in the wrong council tax band and are owed money. Then we added how to reclaim if you've a 'severe mental impairment' and haven't got the discount due. Today, we're adding a brand-new council tax reclaim to our arsenal and there's over £230,000,000 unclaimed. With news this week that council tax rates are rising by an avg 4.5%, here's all you need to know about council tax MoneySaving.
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New. Top 1yr fixed savings at 2% from Lloyds-owned Birmingham Midshires. If happy to lock cash away for the year, Birmingham Midshires* now pays a fixed 2% AER. You can open it with £1+, though your opening deposit must be by cheque. For more options, see top fixed savings. £75ish No7 skincare products for £35. Incl day creams, night creams & facial oil. Boots No7 Are you due one of 1.5m+ unclaimed Premium Bond prizes? Latest figures show more than £61m is out there, with some prizes going back to the 1950s. See Premium Bonds prize check. Martin's '8 urgent post-Brexit travel need-to-knows' + new EU driving warning. Will your passport still be valid? Should you buy currency now? What about EHIC cards? And more... Martin's Brexit travel guide. Plus a warning if you're driving in Europe after Brexit that you may urgently need to sort new paperwork. British Gas customer? You may be one of 100,000s facing huge hidden hikes. The giant has U-turned on a promise to keep many off its expensive standard tariff. See who's hit in the British Gas hike (and how to switch away). Ends today (Wed). Broadband & line '£10.24/mth' from BT-owned Plusnet. Till 11.59pm, Plusnet newbies can get an avg 10Mb b'band speed at that price on a 1yr deal if you pay line rent upfront. And to get it down to an equiv £10.24/mth, we've blagged a £75 cheque that comes automatically. We've seen an almost identical version of this before but you needed to claim the cheque, so some would have missed out. For more options, use our Broadband Unbundled tool. |
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Hot Sim cards incl HUGE 100GB data, unltd mins & texts '£15/mth' EE, O2, Three & Virgin Mobile are all hiking prices in the coming weeks, with Vodafone expected to follow suit. Yet if you're out of contract, you're free to switch to a cheaper Sim - the little chip in your phone that dictates your data, calls and texts allowance. And as millions overpay on expensive old deals, make this your trigger to check if you can slash the cost of mobile use, with a host of top deals about...
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Achoo... 120 hay fever tablets for £2.80. Useful with the big sneeze hitting some early. Cheap hay fever meds Warning. Tesco Bank's cutting current account interest from 3% to 1%. See Tesco rate drop info. FREE £500 daily prize draw - a MoneySaver's just won the biggest-ever sum of £2,500. Sounds too good to be true, but it's legit. Free lotto £25 Ciaté lip gloss collection (norm £90+). MSE Blagged. Six full-size lip glosses with glitter effect. Ciaté Cost of buying washing machines, fridges etc via pricey 'rent-to-own' firms to be capped. See Rent-to-own cap. |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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Cheap loans: Are the Post Office's new freebies (eg, Echo Dot) worth it? Loans are relatively cheap right now, especially if you're borrowing over £5,000. Competition is fierce, so some lenders are getting experimental. This week the Post Office entered the fray, offering borrowers a range of freebies if you get its loans. We know it's a popular brand, so wanted to help you decide if it's worth it. Let us take you through the logic...
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20% off code for The Book People, eg, Harry Potter Collection £24. MSE Blagged. Incl free deliv. Also £22 Roald Dahl set & £6 Veggie Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks. The Book People AMAZON PRIME REFUND - SUCCESS OF THE WEEK: "I contacted Amazon as it took £79.99 out for Prime after the free trial yet I didn't realise it automatically continued, and I didn't use it anyway. It was easy to get a refund within 10 minutes." |
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK Are you ScamSmart? Scams can dupe anyone - they're increasingly sophisticated, with fraudsters targeting consumers through mail, landline, text and online. Take this short quiz on tricks often used by investment scammers, so you can be better informed and less likely to be scammed. For more information on how to protect yourself, see our Stop Scams guide. |
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 customer service provided by banks. By comparing your answers with last time, we can see which have got better or worse. How do you rate your bank account's service? The easiest companies to haggle with revealed. Last week, we asked which firms you've haggled with over the past year and whether or not you were successful in getting a discount. Breakdown cover firms appear to be most haggle-friendly, with 88% of those who tried with the AA and 86% of those who tried with the RAC reporting some sort of success. In third place was Sky, with 84% of TV customers managing to haggle a better deal. See full haggling poll results. |
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I pay my driving instructor for missed lessons? I started driving lessons eight months ago and sometimes have to cancel at the last minute due to sickness or childcare emergencies. It's a fairly informal arrangement, but should I pay my instructor anything to make up for the inconvenience? She's also cancelled on me a few times, so I don't feel too guilty. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I pay my driving instructor for missed lessons? | Suggest an MMD | View past MMDs THE QUICKIES - Debt-Free Wannabe chat of the week: March WINS challenge |
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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 6 MAR ONWARDS) Thu 7 Mar - Good Morning Britain, ITV, Deals of the Week, 7.40am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (MOST SUBJECTS TBC) Wed 6 Mar - BBC Radio Cumbria, Money Talks with Ben Maeder, from 6pm, PPI |
QUESTION OF THE WEEK Q: Sky has written to say it is increasing prices in April. How can it do this when we have a contract? Elaine, via email MSE Steve B's A: Annoyingly, the regulator Ofcom's rules do allow telecoms firms to raise prices mid-contract. However, you may be able to leave your contract penalty-free. The rules say you can ditch your broadband contract penalty-free if prices rise, as long as you tell your provider you're off within 30 days of being notified. This means you are free to switch to another provider - see our Broadband Unbundled tool for the best deals. If you also have a Sky TV contract, unfortunately you won't be able to ditch it penalty-free, although you could still try to haggle with Sky if you're unhappy about the changes. See our Haggle with Sky guide for our top tips. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
BAGS ON SEATS, 'MANSPREADING' AND MORE - THE WORST COMMUTER HABITS That's all for this week, but before we go... last week on social we started a heated discussion on the worst commuter you've seen. We had "people who look at you shocked when you ask them to move their bag", "people who occupy the loo for ages" and "men who sit with their legs wide open". It didn't stop there... why not join in on our Twitter and Facebook pages? We hope you save some money, |
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