Martin's 16 pension boosters, EV tax trick, car insurance 16% cheaper, 20 Walkers 90p, 25% off railcards, 5.16% savings, free £150 ends

As my hair gradually greys at the edges, I find more of my social group ask me pension questions. That's a worry. These questions shouldn't wait until you're in your fifties, they should be asked the day you start working, or even earlier - after all, children can have pensions. Though never feel it's too late. If you haven't done it yet, the sooner you start, usually, the better.

Thankfully though, for my ITV Pension Help Special last week, I had more questions than any other subject in this series so far (it's well worth a watch as a primer). And I realised I hadn't covered private pensions here in a while, so now I'm remedying that.

For those saying: 'ah, just live for the now'. Remember, we typically only work 45ish of our 85-year lifespan. So that work income needs to cover all the fallow years (when we're ickle, our parents pay for us, but most of us then need do the same for our kids), meaning saving for retirement is crucial. My tips 1 to 12 cover building up a pension and tips 13 on cover using the money when needed.

1. There are three types of pension, don't confuse 'em

Here's a very brief, simple overview to see which you may have...

i) The State Pension: Every year worked in the UK builds up National Insurance years (as can looking after your child, caring or being ill). Most people now need roughly 35yrs to qualify for the full new State Pension of currently £221 per week for a single person.

This payment is taxed as other income is and currently paid when you hit 66 (though State Pension age is gradually rising to 67) whether you still work or not. Do check your State Pension forecast & see if you can boost your State Pension.

From here on, I'm focusing only on private & workplace pensions. I plan to cover State Pension tips in a future email.

ii) All private and most workplace pensions are 'Money Purchase' (defined contribution): You'll know you've got one of these if when you check your pension statement, it shows you an amount of money (an example is below). Here, the investment's built up via a pension firm, and can use the money in the pension pot from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028) or leave it there to grow more. The pension pot's size depends on two things, how much you put in and the investment growth.

iii) Some workplace pensions are 'Salary Schemes' (defined benefit): These used to be seen as the gold standard - it's where you get a set percentage of your 'final' or 'average' salary each year, eg, 1/60th, so work at a company for 20yrs and get 1/3 of your final salary (not all the tips below apply to salary schemes).

You'll know you've got one of these if, when you check your statement, it shows your current salary, how long you've been with the firm, and your predicted final annual income (as opposed to a total amount invested as in the image above).

Salary Scheme tip: Thinking of working less/going part-time in your final years at a firm? Check its terms first, as it may mean as you get a % of 'final salary', you're massively reducing your pension.

2. Don't accidentally leave your private or workplace pension to your ex! You CAN'T usually leave pension savings in your will. If you die before taking your pension, the provider / trustees decide what to do with it, so you should fill out an expression of wishes form (also called a nomination form) which tells them your preference - it's not binding, but it is very strong evidence & helps.

Most people fill one in when they first set up a pension, but many fail to keep it up to date. So I've had messages such as this in the past: "@MartinSLewis It's just happened to us! My mother-in-law died... only for her pension firm to want her ex's details... they split 20 years ago! She'd be spitting feathers if she knew!" Do check yours.

3. There's over £31 billion sitting in lost, old pensions. Do you have £10,000s hidden? With people regularly moving job, especially as many now start paying into a pension without being asked (see below), some lose track. There are a number of tracing old pensions tools you can use to track them down.

And it's worth a check, as Deborah emailed us: "I've been having a major sort out of our paperwork. I found information about a very old pension from 1998 four addresses ago. We used your advice about tracing a lost pension and found a pension pot of £61,700 that my husband didn't know he had! So a big thank you. That will make a big difference to our retirement!"

4 & 5. Pensions have two SuperPowers...

This is far easier to understand if you first watch my pensions' two SuperPowers brief video explainer clipped from my ITV show. You'll also get to see if I wore my underpants outside my suit. Spoiler: I didn't (on air anyway).

Pension SuperPower I: You pay from pre-tax income, so you get more saving than it costs you. Imagine you're putting £100 into your pension from your salary, which is how many do it (see how it works if self-employed or on NEST pensions below). Normally for a basic 20% rate taxpayer when they're paid that £100, they only actually receive £80 in their pocket after tax.

Yet pension contributions are made before tax is taken off. That means you get to invest £100, but it only costs you £80 off your payslip due to the tax relief. With other savings, investments or ISAs, you contribute from what you get after tax has been taken off. And the pension relief doesn't just apply to basic-rate taxpayers...

PS: A secondary perk. As this SuperPower lowers what counts as your salary, it may be beneficial, eg, for those who pay the Higher Income Child Benefit Charge, or mean a bigger tax saving for those who earn £100,000 to £125,000 where your personal allowance is removed.

Pension SuperPower II: Employee? Don't throw away a hidden pay rise. If you save, your firm MUST contribute too. By law, employees aged 22 to 66 earning over £10,000 are automatically enrolled into a pension. In other words, you are 'opted in' to contributing without being asked. I'm a supporter of this as it pushes people into good financial behaviour and, crucially, because if you're opted in, your employer must contribute too. For a Money Purchase pension...

The minimum contribution is 8% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 - and the employer must contribute a minimum 3% points of that (meaning you pay 5%) - though some contribute more. This is a huge boon. It means it pays you more in total (though of course, your disposable income is less due to your contribution).

For example, if you pay £100 into your pension, the employer adds £60, so that's £160 total going in. Yet due to the tax relief, this only costs you £80. So that's double invested compared to what it costs you, and this is accelerated for those on higher tax rates (I'll leave you to decide whether that's fair or not).

Earn under £10,000? Or too young / old? You may still be able to force your employer to contribute. Even if you're not auto-opted in, you may have a right to opt in, as the table below shows. If so, then your employer has to follow the matching contribution rules above. So you can push it to give you that SuperPower too.

Auto-enrolment is based on age & annual earnings
	Earn £6,241 to £10,000	Earn £10,001+
Age 22 to 66	Right to opt in	Auto opted in
Age 16-21 & 67-74	Right to opt in

Beware 'opting out' or even just dropping contributions. Opting out is usually a bad idea, as you're throwing away free cash. See my old don't give up a pay rise blog for the very few times it may be worth considering.

Even more so, you may think 'I just want to lower my contributions'. Yet if you lower it below the minimum 5%, then your firm doesn't need to contribute (many do, but they don't have to), so check that by doing that you're not losing all their cash.

6. Does your employer offer 'salary sacrifice' pensions? Salary sacrifice is where employees agree to a salary reduction in 'exchange' for the firm to put that amount into the pension for them. This results in both the employer and employee saving on National Insurance (NI) contributions, meaning a gain. Plus some employers also give some or all of their NI gain to employees too:

- For someone earning £30,000 per year.
- Save £125/mth pre-tax into their pension, and the employer adds £75 on top. They'd have £2,400 in the pension at the end of the year.
- Their take-home pay would have reduced by £1,200/yr to do so.

If the same was done by salary sacrifice, so their salary was reduced to £28,500/yr and the firm made the pension contributions, they'd actually take home £120/yr more due to paying less National Insurance, and the firm would gain around £200/yr, which it may give the employee.

7. Self-employed? On Nest? Or a private pension? You get the same tax relief though it works differently. Save in a private pension, which is the only choice for the self-employed, and you get the same Pension SuperPower I (though not II) as above. Though it works a different way, so let me explain it....

(To confuse things, those whose workplace pension uses the huge Nest system also work this way [though then you also get SuperPower II]).

20% tax relief is automatic. In other words, put £80 in a private or Nest pension, and magically it'll show a £100 investment - without you doing anything. This continues up to the limit you can contribute. See how much can I put in my pension?
Higher 40% or top 45% rate taxpayer? As well as the 20% automatic relief, you can claim the rest of the tax back via your annual self-assessment tax return. It isn't added to your pension, but reduces your tax bill on other income instead, so you may want to put in more to your pension to cover that gain you've made on your Income Tax bill. See Don't miss out on £1,000s pension tax relief.

8. Want to start a pension? How to do it... This is primarily for non-employees (eg, the self-employed or children, see below). As for employees, your workplace pension will usually be the winner due to the added employers' contributions. Yet if you've maxed that out (ie, if you pay in more, the firm won't up its contributions), another pension provider may be an option for lower charges / better investment choice.

Recommending pensions is tricky, and is about investing, so I can't give my normal MSE best-buys-type treatment. Yet chartered financial planner Sarah Lord said on my ITV show that the basic newbies' simple start-point is a stakeholder pension, the big providers of which include Aviva, Standard Life and Legal & General. Here you put your money in, and there's a relatively simple, limited choice of, crucially, low-charges investment funds.

Yet to step it up, she suggested self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), where you have a huge range of investment choices (even individual shares across the world, or funds, or property funds), just as if you invested outside a pension. They're offered by the likes of AJ Bell*, Fidelity*, Hargreaves Lansdown*, and Interactive Investor*. More info in Cheap Sipps. Yet you must be comfortable doing your own research (or paying an adviser to do it). There are many other options too, such as robo-investing pensions.

It's worth remembering what'll ultimately dictate your pension's growth is the investment you choose within it. When I hear someone say 'pensions are terrible, mine's performed badly', I'm minded of my ancient one word that caused a pension crisis blog. A pension isn't a product, it's a valuable tax wrapper that lets you invest from pre-tax income. If the investment isn't a good one, that doesn't mean pensions are bad.

9. Take a deep breath... how much should you save in your pension? Here's a scary old famous rough rule of thumb...

Take the age when you start putting money in your pension, halve it, and that's the % of your salary to aim to put into your pension for the rest of your working life for a strong retirement income. So start at 20 and it's 10% (this includes employer's contributions), at 40 it's 20%.

Don't worry, almost nobody gets there. The real takeaway is that the earlier you start, the better, as you've longer for gains to compound. Plus my tip is, every time you get a pay rise, if possible put a chunk of that into your pension before you get used to the increase. See our beginners' guide to pensions for more.

10. Children can have pensions too! Almost anyone can save into a pension and get tax relief, even if they've little or no income. The minimum allowance is £3,600/yr (meaning it only costs you £2,880). This means even a newborn baby can get a pension.

And indeed I know grandparents who open them for their grandchildren, liking the idea it'll trigger a memory of them in 50 years' time. The advantage of this is as the earlier you start, the more time it has to grow, so starting super young should be very valuable once your ickle ones are old 'uns like me. It's no surprise that more than a couple of kids of the parents in MSE Towers have pensions.

However, I'd caution to always first look after your own finances, then look at top children's savings and fill up a junior ISA, as they're shorter-term priorities. Yet if you're lucky enough to have enough to do that, then a pension for the children may be a good option.

11. Pension SuperPower number III
With pensions, FREE ONE-ON-ONE impartial help and guidance is available. You should use it

Unlike many other financial areas, with pensions, totally FREE guidance is available, online, via chat or on the phone, funded by a government levy on the finance industry. I get great feedback on it.

Over-50s can speak to Pension Wise, everyone else can go to MoneyHelper. You find both at www.moneyhelper.org.uk or call 0800 011 3797 (opening times: Mon to Fri, 9am to 5pm).

Or consider paying for full independent financial advice: Guidance can talk you through rules, tax-efficient routes and options, but can't give you a personal decision, or talk about best products or investment choice. For that, you need to find a financial adviser. This is usually primarily for those with, or saving enough to get, bigger pension pots, let's say £50,000 minimum, so the gain offsets the cost. Yet while you do pay, getting it wrong on big amounts can cost more, so it's usually worth it.

12. Should you consolidate your pensions? This is always the most-asked question when I do pension shows.

Clearly having them all in one place eases the administrative burden, and can mean lower fees if you choose carefully which pension you're moving them all to. Different financial advisers I discuss it with have different views, so let me run through the key things to consider.

- Are there any perks in your existing pension, such as boosted annuity or other rates, which you'd be missing out if giving up on?
- Compare the charges and investment choices of your old pension(s) to the one you will consolidate them all in.
- Are there any exit penalties that apply to the schemes?
- How flexible are the options for taking retirement or death benefits?
- Be very careful moving money out of Salary Schemes (if it's even possible), you could be giving up unbeatable benefits.
- If you've under £10,000, you can use the 'small pots rule', letting you cash in up to three of them without it impacting how much you can contribute in future. So leaving them untouched may be useful later.
- Don't close a pension your current employer is contributing to. If it's not a great scheme, instead you may be able to regularly sweep the money into a pension you prefer.

If that's all gobbledygook to you, that's a very good reason to - as a bare minimum - get some free guidance or advice before consolidating anything, as get it wrong and it can cost you. For more explanation, read our Should I consolidate my pension? guide. This should all get easier when the 'pensions dashboard' launches in 2026.

13. Important. How you take money out of your pension matters - getting it wrong can cost £10,000s extra. To make it easier to understand, watch my Avoid the huge tax trap when taking money out of a pension video clipped from my ITV show. It's already gone viral with over 6.5m total views over the past week on social media.

That should give you the basics, yet the most important thing is, before you do anything, get free one-on-one guidance. This is all about when you take the 25% tax-free lump sum in a money purchase pension, which you can do from age 55 currently (rising to 57 in 2028).

In a nutshell, if you just withdraw money from your pension, say £10,000, then £2,500 is tax-free, the rest is taxed at your current tax rate (unless it pushes you up a threshold, in which case it's higher, so staging the withdrawals is crucial).

Yet many want to take the 25% tax-free cash out first, likely as they'll pay tax at a lower rate later in life (as their income drops), so want to wait until then to take the taxable money out. You can do that, but only if you take up to 25% of your money out and, at that point, put the rest in an annuity or drawdown.

14. Annuity rates are higher now, but NEVER just grab your pension providers' annuity. Just imagine that with your pot of money saved up in a pension (company or private), you could buy a product that gives you the security of a fixed, sometimes even inflation-linked, income each year for the rest of your life. You can, it's called an annuity.

It used to be the way almost everyone had to take their pension, but then in 2015, new 'pension freedom' rules meant it all changed. And many breathed a sigh of relief they wouldn't need an annuity - not because the idea is bad, but because in practice the rates were pants.

Yet now interest rates have risen, annuities have become an option again for some who value security for some of their money. On a standard annuity, you can now get around £6,500 a year per £100,000 pension pot, though it can vary hugely with circumstance, so do get guidance / advice to ensure it's right for you.

The key rules if you're considering an annuity:

DON'T just get an annuity from your pension provider without checking elsewhere (start with a quick annuity comparison), as you could be locking in many £1,000s less each year for life.
DO remember if you've health issues, or are a smoker (as smokers die sooner), you may be able to get a special higher rate.

15. You don't pay Inheritance Tax on a pension... BUT that's set to change. Under current rules, if you die and there's money left over in your private pension, it's not treated as part of your 'estate', meaning there's no Inheritance Tax to pay on it.

However, in Rachel Reeves' first Budget in October, she announced from April 2027 pensions will be eligible for Inheritance Tax, though the exact regulations aren't in place yet. Do remember though, only 6% of estates have to pay Inheritance Tax (see my 5 Inheritance Tax need-to-knows video for why most don't), and while that will rise when pensions are included, it's still likely to be only 8% who pay it.

That's not the only tax though. Currently, die aged under 75, and with a Money Purchase pension or drawdown, your beneficiaries can usually take money out tax-free. If you die aged 75 or over, their withdrawals are usually taxed at their normal tax rate on income (or some of what's taken may even push into the higher band). That will also remain from 2027, meaning the pension you leave behind could be double-taxed for some. Read more in Inheriting a pension.

16. It's worth getting an idea of when you'll die... What a great way to end (literally). You can currently take your private pension money aged 55, though most should hold it in there for later if they don't need it. Yet knowing how long you'll need it to last gives you a rough idea of what you have to spend each year (do factor in any State Pension or other income too).

- Spend it all too soon, and you'll have a poor retirement.
- Be overly cautious, especially when you first retire, and you'll have a worse lifestyle at the time when you can most enjoy it.

Health and genetics affect longevity, but your current age is the single most important factor. The Government has a basic tool, the Life expectancy calculator, as a start point. Here's the situation for someone aged 66...

Average life expectancy for someone aged 66 today. A man has a 50% chance of living to 85, a 25% chance of living to 92 and a 10% chance of living to 96. A woman has a 50% chance of living to 88, a 25% chance of living to 94 and a 10% chance of living to 98. Image links to a point titled "What happens when I retire?" in our Pension need-to-knows guide.

PS: Thanks to the Money & Pensions Service, Sir Steve Webb (LCP), Chris Hallam (First Wealth) & Tom Selby (AJ Bell) for giving this a once over for me.

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.

Be alert. Car insurance prices are down 16%, so don't assume if your renewal stays the same it's a good deal. It actually means you're possibly significantly overpaying

Our Compare+ tool has all the tricks in one place. Karen used it and saved £1,700!

Yes, you read it right. Hurrah. Finally an indicator that signals car insurance prices are turning a corner, down 16% year-on-year (source: pricing consultancy Pearson Ham). Yet that's on the back of huge rises, leaving prices still nearly 60% more than in 2021 and averaging £834 (source: Confused). So always check how your renewal price compares against the market - the easy route to do this is through our Compare+ Car Insurance tool. In fact, it's worth doing even if you're not at renewal.

Big savings may be possible, as Karen recently emailed us: "I wanted to say a huge thank you! I've spent days searching for car insurance for my 17-year-old son who just passed his driving test. The prices were between £3,000 and £20,000(!). I then went to Martin's page (why didn't I go there first?) and used the tool. I ended up with insurance for £1,300 for him and me. So much better. Thank you." Here are four key steps:

1. Use Compare+ which, as the name suggests, does far more than just compare...

- Fill in a questionnaire. Answer our Compare+ Car Insurance question set (we borrow MoneySupermarket's. If you've used it before, your answers are auto-filled).
- Get MSE cost-cutting tips as you answer. Such as whether you can legitimately tweak your job title to reduce the cost.
- See your cheapest insurers from the comparison as a benchmark. But, of course, we want you to beat them.
- Follow our personalised tips to try for a bigger saving. These include whether you should look to add an additional driver or pay annually, not monthly - some have one-click checks, so you can easily find out if they work for you.
- Find out if you're asking at the right time. The tool will let you know if you're too early (and suggest coming back later) or too late (then see if you want a reminder next year). Timing it right can, at the extreme, save you 50%.
- The other sites to try to see if you can slice down costs further. We assess if Direct Line - which isn't on most comparison sites - is worth trying too, and give you the order of other sites to try, to see if you can drive down the price more.

2. How to compare mid-year (and how to switch if doing so saves you money). Many wrongly assume you can't change insurer mid-year. You can, and with prices dropping, it's worth checking (especially if the risk has changed, eg, you've changed car or moved address). The first thing to do is check using Compare+, and then set a policy start date about three weeks ahead as that's the sweet spot for lower premiums. If the new quote is significantly cheaper than what you're paying, it's worth considering - as long as you've not made, or plan to make, a claim for this insurance year.

If you can make a big saving, sign up for your new policy first, then cancel your old one. You should get a pro-rata refund for the rest of the year (minus a £50ish admin fee, check the amount before doing this). Yet be aware you usually won't earn the year's no-claims bonus.

3. More than one car at home? Check if you can save with a multicar policy. Comparison sites don't check multicar cover, so you'll need to check manually whether it saves you money. Martin's rule of thumb is: "If you're on a multicar policy, check separate policies to see if you can save. If you're on separate, check multicar." This is because insurers use marketing discounts to suck people in, but these can then disappear at renewal.

- Multicar (one policy for all): Probably the best known is Admiral*, but LV*, Aviva, Elephant* and Diamond also offer these policies. Don't worry if your renewals are at different dates, their systems work with that.
- Discounts on separate policies: Axa, Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege all offer discounts for multiple cars - so check, especially if they're cheapest for one of your vehicles.
- Got home or other insurance with another firm? Direct Line give discounts of usually 10% if you get more than one policy type with them, so keep an eye on them in your comparison result, and check with them.

4. Make sure the policy is right for you and complain if you're unfairly treated. As with any insurance, check the policy details to ensure it's the cover you want, and that the insurer is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority before you buy (all via Compare+ are). If a claim is unfairly rejected, remember you have a right to take 'em to the free Financial Ombudsman.

PS: We're currently testing our soon-to-hard-launch MSE Compare+ Home Insurance tool if you want to try it.

Drive an electric vehicle? Trick to get another year tax-free. From 1 April, electric vehicle (EV) owners will need to pay car tax, typically £195/yr. We've a trick to delay this by up to one year. See EV tax trick.

Out of pocket after Barclays outage? See our how to get your money back news or you could...

Ends Wed. Grab a FREE £150 to switch bank and 1% cashback on your bills. Four banks currently pay you to switch. Yet Santander Edge's FREE £150* deal ends at 11.59pm on Wed. It's our top pick for (joint) bills accounts, as while it costs £3/mth, you get 1% cashback (max £10/mth) on bills you pay via it on Direct Debit, plus a separate 1% cashback (max £10/mth) for grocery/travel spend on its debit card. See full Santander Edge review and eligibility. More free cash-switch deals: First Direct FREE £175, top service, 0% overdraft, 7% linked savings | Nationwide's free £175 all-rounder deal | TSB's FREE £100 + £60 cashback and perks. Full info in Best bank accounts.

20 Walkers crisps 90p & other bargains with 10% off code for already-reduced, past 'best befores'. MSE Blagged. Approved Food sells cheap groceries near or past 'best-before' dates (NOT 'use-by', which is a safety rule). We've seen four bottles of Coca-Cola for £1.80, 3x Heinz spaghetti hoops 89p & more. Min £22.50 spend, delivery's £3+. Approved Food

New. Got Sky TV? Why you still CAN'T cancel penalty-free if it hikes your price mid-contract. Our investigation has uncovered a gap in the new rules that leaves Sky TV customers in the lurch, just as it confirms bill rises of 6.2% in April. See Sky TV loophole.

Get 25% off £30 railcards code, especially good as the price rises in March. 1yr railcards are going up by £5 to £35 from 2 March (£10 to £80 for 3yr), but TrainPal app newbies can bag Friends & Family, Two Together, Senior, or 16-30 cards for just £22.50 right now with this railcard code.

New. Top 5.16% easy-access savings (cash ISA). Easy-access cash ISA rates are up yet again (a cash ISA's just a savings account you never pay tax on). And the current top rates beat top normal easy-access savings, so for those who haven't used this year's £20,000 ISA allowance, Trading 212's 5.16% AER* (min £1, unlimited withdrawals) is the top rate. That's 4.9% variable standard interest, plus a year's 0.26% boost for newbies. It has a slightly complex structure, so see full info in Top cash ISAs or, if you've used your ISA allowance, see a wider selection in Top savings.

£130 Shark steam mop £60 with code. MSE Blagged. 5,000 available. Shark

New. UNLIMITED data on your mobile for under £10 - why pay more? Prices for unlimited data Sims have fallen again, and newbies to iD Mobile (uses Three's network) pay £16/mth plus get £75 automatic cashback. Factored in, that's £9.75/mth over the 12mth contract. Want a different network? Use our powerful Cheap Mobile Finder to see how much you can save.

Max your chances of getting a FREE £100/yr from Nationwide. Its Fairer Share scheme to reward 'loyal' customers has been running for two years - here's how to boost your chances this year. Get your fair share

TWO branded prescription specs from £25. MSE Blagged. Aspire, Scout & more. Glasses Direct

BLAGGED FOR MSE

- 10% extra off past-best-before food & drink Ends 12 Feb
- £130 Shark steam mop for £60 code 5,000 available
- Two pairs of branded specs £25 Ends 13 Feb
- 30% off Grind coffee Ends Mon 10 Feb

DID YOU MISS?

- Will you pay tax on your savings interest? Watch Martin's video
- How to get 18 successive days off for just 9 days' annual leave
- Coupons: 50% off Oxo, 30% off Kellogg's etc
- FREE gym passes, tennis lessons, workout classes & more

New. Cheapest loans. Rates finally drop back under 6% for the first time in nearly a year
Plus Santander, already a best buy, is giving a £20 Amazon voucher

Loan rates are finally creeping down, meaning for those who need to borrow, and want the security of fixed repayments and a definite pay-off time, things are finally looking up. Loan rates tend to loosely move with the prediction of UK interest rates over the loan term, so this latest move likely factors in some of Thursday's predicted UK base rate cut. Having said that, for smaller borrowing especially, the cheapest loans are far above the base rate. Here are the speedy need-to-knows...

ONLY borrow if it's NEEDED, budgeted for & affordable. Loans need careful thought. They are best for a deliberate, planned, budgeted one-off expenditure with lasting gain (eg, repairing a broken kitchen, not booking a holiday). Ask yourself if you really need it - if not, don't do it. If you do, then do a budget to ensure you can afford the repayments. Aim to repay as quickly as you can, as that cuts the cost too.

- Doing it to consolidate other debt, eg, credit card debt? See Martin's is consolidation worth it? briefing.
- Already struggling with debt? Ignore this, go straight to our Debt help guide.
The UK's cheapest fixed-rate unsecured (a good thing) personal loans. Our Loans Eligibility Calculator helps you home in on the lenders most likely to accept you, protecting your credit file by minimising applications. The loans are all unsecured, which means unlike secured loans, they can't automatically look to take away your house if you don't repay (secured means security for the lender, not for you).

- The links below go via our eligibility calc on lenders' request as it helps reduce queries in to - and delays on - their helplines, as only those with a chance apply.
- The rates below are 'representative APR', meaning sadly only 51% of accepted applicants need to be given the advertised rates, yet Santander is bolded below as it offers guaranteed rates via the eligibility calc, meaning you'll know the specific rate you'll get if accepted.

£1,000 to £2,999: Zopa via John Lewis Finance 9.9%, though 0% credit card loans are likely cheaper for many.
£3,000 to £3,999: Novuna 9.9%, Santander 9.9% + £20 Amazon voucher via our link.
£4,000 to £4,999: Novuna 9.7%, Santander 9.9% + £20 Amazon voucher via our link.
£5,000 to £7,499: Tesco Bank 7.1%, Santander 7.2% + £20 Amazon voucher via our link.
£7,500 to £25,000: TSB 5.9%, Novuna 6% (only via our link, 6.2% direct), M&S 6%.
Santander £20 voucher. Normally we're against incentives to sign up to loans, as they should be a needs-based - not a sales-based - product and you should focus on the rate, but as Santander is in the best buys at most values, we've included it. The £20 is only available via a few sites, not direct (the link above gets you there).

PS: While generally you should minimise borrowing, if you're borrowing just below a threshold where rates get cheaper (eg, £4,900 is 9.7% and £5,000 is 7.1%), it can actually mean you repay less if you borrow a little more. See rate loophole for how to work it out.
How lenders decide who to lend to and other key loan need-to-knows. As with all lending, when you apply you'll be credit-scored to see if you've been a good credit citizen. Each lender scores you differently based on its own wish list of what is a profitable customer. Yet that's not all that happens. Lenders also do an affordability score (the crucial factor is your income in your application form, so do include everything - but don't lie) to see if you can actually afford to repay, and this is more important with loans than, say, with credit cards.

That's because with a loan you're applying for a specific amount, so they're checking if you can repay it. It's why the same lender may accept you at £3,000 but reject you for a £10,000 loan. MSE's free Credit Club (available via the MSE App on Apple and Android) can show you your credit and affordability score and help diagnose any issues. Plus, there is a version of our eligibility calc within the Club (if registered, you won't need to enter any more details).
Can you cut the cost of EXISTING loans? With slightly lower rates, it's worth checking to see whether you could cut your loan's cost, especially if you had a poorer credit score then than you do now. The start point is to find a loan with a cheaper APR than you've got, yet even if you can find one, there are further key checks as there can be early repayment penalties. Follow our step-by-step Cut existing loan costs guide, including a calculator to see.

Martin's must-listen new pod: Holiday hacks: cheapest way to spend abroad, car hire, insurance, 18 days off for 9 days' leave, passports, GHIC & more... All in The Martin Lewis Pod. Listen via BBC Sounds | Apple Podcasts | Spotify or wherever you get your Martin fix.

Boots 70% off 'end of sale clearance', eg, £10 Soap & Glory for £3. Limited stock. Boots bargains

Warning. Buying stuff on eBay? You'll pay a fee on many purchases from TODAY. You'll be charged up to 4% AND 75p per item when buying from private sellers. eBay's rolling this out over a few weeks, starting with electronics. For this and more changes for sellers, see new eBay fees.

Grind coffee 30% off code. MSE Blagged. Valid on coffee, beans, pods and more. Grind

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'I successfully applied for £5,644/yr in Attendance Allowance after reading your email.' Our success of the week comes from Nina, who emailed us last week: "I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for bringing this allowance to my attention. I applied for the higher-rate Attendance Allowance on my mother's behalf on 2 December, and I'm pleased to share that it has just been approved, getting the full amount of £108.55/wk (£5,644/yr). The funds will go towards paying for the stairlift she recently had fitted - something that will make a huge difference for her. Without your guidance, I wouldn't have even known about this." If we've helped you save (on this, or owt else), send us your successes.

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility) up to 32mths 0% + possible £20 cashback, 3.45% fee, 24.9% rep APR
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Free £175 + TOP service: First Direct 1st Account
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On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs

Car: Use our Compare+ Car Insurance tool

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MSE NEWS

- Top story: More mobile, broadband and TV price hikes confirmed for spring
- Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland to close more branches
- Zing travel money app to shut down

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

Should I refuse to pay for the ongoing costs on our deceased father's house? I'm one of three siblings. Our father has died, and his house is on the market. The highest offer we've received is £10,000 off the asking price, and the estate agent advised us to consider it as the market's slow. I think we should sell now, as the small amount of money from our father's estate that is covering costs such as Council Tax and energy will soon run out, but my siblings want to wait until the market picks up. Should I refuse to pay my share of the ongoing costs as they won't accept the reasonable offer? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I refuse to contribute to the costs on our deceased father's house? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma (MMD) | View past MMDs

MSE TEAM BLOG

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DEALS HUNTER BLOG

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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 4 FEB ONWARDS)

Thu 6 Feb - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, noon
Tue 11 Feb - This Morning, phone-in, ITV1, 10.20am

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