This week | MARTIN'S QUICK BRIEFING: For more tips, alerts & awful puns, follow Martin on Twitter Cut your mobile bill in HALF
As Samsung launches the S4, we've 10 need-to-knows to save £100s While handset costs rise, mobile tariffs are getting cheaper, so your bill should decrease each year. No one should pay much more than £30/mth - and if you do, you need to question why. Many can pay far, far less... | 1. | Cheapest Samsung Galaxy S4 (S3 & Note). While getting the latest handset is never textbook MoneySaving, to help keep costs down we've added the new S4 to our Cheapest Samsung Mobiles Comparison Tool.
For high users our top pick's Vodafone* (3,000 mins & texts, 1GB data) for £79 upfront. It's a hideous £47/mth, but as it's only a 12-mth contract, you can switch to a cheap Sim-only deal sooner. The top S3 pick's T-Mobile's* free handset then £23/mth (500 mins, 3,000 texts, 3GB) on a 24-mth contract. | | | | 2. | PAYG can be a winner - £20/mth unlimited texts & data. Pay-as-you-go is no longer just for low users. Giffgaff* has contract-style bundles, eg, untld texts, data & 800mins for £20/mth or untld texts, 1GB data & 250 mins for £10/mth. Contracts still win for hot handsets. Full help: Cheap Mobiles | | | | | 3. |  Beware being seduced by 'free handsets'. In the long run, the cost per month and what you get for it is what really adds up. So never just look at whether you'll get a cheap handset. Look at the total cost over the contract length, including per month and upfront handset costs, and compare that way. See Cheap Mobiles. | | | | | 4. | Tool to analyse your perfect tariff. The aim's to perfectly match free minutes, texts & data to your usage. Underuse means you're overpaying on the monthly fee. Overuse means paying too much for additional mins/texts. BillMonitor* analyses bills, then finds the tariff to match your usage. For breadth of choice, try MoneySupermarket*.
To find discounted deals, try MobilePhoneChecker* & Omio*, which allow you to first hone in on the right tariff, then search for where it's cheapest. Full info in Cheap Mobiles. | | | | | 5. | Don't forget to HAGGLE. Near the end of your contract? You're holstering a powerful weapon. Let 'em know your continued custom relies on them giving you a corking deal, including a handset upgrade and monthly reduction. Full info on what to do in our Mobile Haggling guide.
As Kittendothroar told us: "Phoned Orange to cancel, as Tesco had better. Got through to customer retentions (disconnections - ML) & after negotiations, it gave 1,000 mins & unltd texts at £16/mth - half my previous bill." | | | | | 6. | Cheapest iPhone deals. Our Cheap iPhones Comparison Tool finds you your right iPhone tariff. Eg, the cheapest low user iPhone 5 is Orange* at £300 upfront plus £10.50/mth (so £23/mth all in over 24-mth contract). Yet you get just 30mins, 500 texts & 100MB - so it's only for low users.
If you'd go for the still-recent iPhone 4S, Tesco* gives 500 mins, 5,000 texts and 1GB of data for £20/mth, plus £100 upfront on a 24-mth contract. | | | | 7. | £3 'granny in the glovebox' mobile (needs £10 credit). For a cheap non-smartphone back-up for emergencies without any need to top up each month, the Alcatel OT 228* is £3 on Vodafone PAYG if you buy £10 credit (make a call every 6 months and the credit will last). See Cheap Mobiles. | | | | | 8. | Smartphone insurance from £58/yr (whole family £120). Most networks charge £10+/mth, but Insure and Go costs £63/yr for up to £500 of smartphone cover, while Insurance2Go* is £70 for iPhone 5 (£700 cover). Use the code MSES4 on top pick Insurance2Go* to get £7.50 off all Samsungs (incl S4), making it £57.50.
A super-cheap option for families is the £10/mth Nationwide FlexPlus* bank account which includes free, decent cover for all the family's mobiles (incl iPhone 5 & S4), plus family travel insurance & European breakdown cover.
For full cover info, non-smartphone options, key rules and pros & cons of standalone policies versus network cover, see Cheap Mobile Insurance. | | | | | 9. | Text and call 0800 numbers FREE. If you don't have inclusive texts, costs can mount. Check our guide to nifty Free Texts Tools & Apps which let you message mates for nowt.
Call 'freephone' 0800 numbers from mobiles and, er, you pay, up to 40p/min. Beat this via special apps. See Free 0800 Numbers From Mobiles. | | | | | 10. | Flog old mobiles for MAX price - can be £200. If you've upgraded or are upgrading, don't flog your old mobile to the first site you see on TV. MobileValuer compares mobile buying sites and shows which pay most, eg, HTC Desire - best £56, worst £12. Or iPhone 4 16GB, best £145, worst £76. | | |
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 Get permanently cheap energy Our new club ensures you're always on the cheapest tariff.
Join free: Cheap Energy Club |
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Free help & templates: Reclaim PPI |
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| The Ones Not To Miss | Wed 1 May 2013 |
Boost your savings up to 5%
Check your savings rates NOW. Interest rates have plummeted, make sure you're maximising every penny The Govt saying it'll extend its Funding For Lending scheme until 2015 is a saver's nightmare. It means banks need to offer less to attract savers' funds. This is why rates are so dire, so boost yours now. All below have full UK £85,000 savings safety.
 Earn 2.3% tax-free. Cash ISAs are a no-brainer. Unlike normal savings, here the taxman doesn't take a cut of your interest, so you get more. On 6 April, everyone over 16 got a NEW £5,760 allowance. You needn't lock cash away. The Cheshire BS*, part of Nationwide, is 2.3% AER easy-access (min £1,000). It lets you transfer old ISAs in to boost their rates too. Full FAQs, more options & top fixed deals in Top Cash ISAs.
- Earn up to 5% (taxed). Bizarrely, right now the top bank accounts beat top savings. Santander 123 pays 3% AER if you've £3,000-£20,000 saved. Its £2/mth fee is usually easily covered by cashback earned from using it to paying bills such as council tax & phone. Nationwide's FlexDirect pays 5%, but only up to £2,500 saved & only for a year. For straight savings, Manchester BS is 1.81% AER, allowing up to six withdrawals/yr. If you want to lock cash away for 2yrs, Shawbrook is 2.45%. Full best buys in Top Savings & Top Regular Savings.
- Higher rate taxpayer? Consider Premium Bonds. The Premium Bond prize fund is 1.5% tax-free, but that doesn't mean put £100 in and expect £1.50 back, as the smallest prize is £25. In fact, 19 in 20 people with £100 win nowt. Our Premium Bond Probability Calc predicts likely winnings, and shows it's strongest for higher rate taxpayers.
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| FREE 3-mth Tastecard (RRP £80/yr). MSE Blagged. 2for1s at 1,000s of restaurants. Newbies only. Tastecard Deals A YEAR'S unlimited b'band + phone line rent £116 (equiv £10/mth). MSE Blagged. This Sky bundle's* cheaper than BT line rent alone. (A) Line rental. Pay £119.40 for a year upfront, equiv £9.95/mth. (B) Broadband. Then get unlimited download b'band at £3.75/mth - avail to 88% of UK. (C) You get £50 M&S voucher. Factor that in as cash (and add the p&p), and all in, it's £116 on a 12-mth contract - equiv £9.72/mth. Full info: Cheap Broadband Ends TODAY. Free Coke Zero (500ml bottle). Forum Hottie. Print voucher (Wed), use by 12 May. Coke Deals £29 e-ink touchscreen e-reader. Cheap Nook Touch alternative reduced from £79. Full info: Cheap E-readers |
30 ways to earn cash online. New guide
Click at home and make money - just watch videos, write, Google, make your own YouTube clips & much more Most 'earn cash from home' ads are cons. Yet if you've a computer or smartphone, there's a host of small ways to boost your coffers. Our new 30 Earn Cash Online Tips lists the top sites and apps that pay. Here are a few to start:  Let an app track your phone. Grab £50/year with a market research Android app.- Watch videos, play games and earn. Earning club Swagbucks pays £25ish/mth if you do this. Firms pay it for ads/market research as you're watching, so you get a cut.
- Be paid to Google. A browser add-on pays £5ish/mth to click ads when you search.
- Make watchable video clips. Upload homemade YouTube clips and get a cut of ad revenues. Sophie.christie says: "I've 80 birthday tips vids and a daily income of £20+."
- Write copy. Web content brokers pay £2-£30 per piece, eg, Groupon ads and travel descriptions. Forumite Sinkorswim says: "Been doing it 9mths & made £1,000. It's a godsend."
- Give your views. Up to £800/year filling in survey site polls - see Top 20 Online Survey Sites.
- Check shop prices. Free iPhone app pays up to £10/ job to check shops' prices & snap photos - see Field Agent.
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| 'Free' £20 Buckley earrings (£3.50 p&p). MSE Blagged. Only 3,000 codes avail - it'll be a scramble. Buckley Deals Code for £100 Guess specs £30. MSE Blagged. Gets you 50 different frames, lenses & delivery. Glasses Deals Poundland £2 off £12 vch, Oasis 20% code and more...
Poundland £2 off £12 vch | Oasis 20% off code & in-store | Debenhams 10% off code | Tesco Clothing £10 off £50 code
Vertbaudet 25% off code | River Island 25% off code/vch in mag | Joules 15% off code | Full list: Discount Vouchers Free Arriva local bus travel till Sun. On most of the Arriva networks via app. Arriva Deals |
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| Last Chance: 7,500 more Sky TV 50% off codes. MSE Blagged. Redeem by THURS. We've managed to get a few extra codes for newbies (or those who cancelled 12mths+ ago), following the codes we had last week. Cheap Sky TV Free £39 Clinique serum (London only). Just turn up to Selfridges. Limited availability. See Clinique Deals. Lowest fee 0% debt shift AND spending card. Accepted Halifax All-In-One customers can currently shift debt to it for a representative 15mth 0% for just a 1% fee. It's also 0% on new spending. More deals in Best Balance Transfers. |
10-year mortgage fix 3.99% - cheapest EVER
Locking in for the long term may save £10,000s, as you needn't pay remortgage fees every couple of years A new mortgage lets you lock in for a once-unthinkable 4% for a decade (and it can move with you). Of course, like all top mortgage deals, you'll need a reasonable credit score and decent deposit/equity to access it. So how does it stack up? - A fix is like an insurance policy. With a mortgage fix, the amount you repay is, er, fixed. If you're on the brink of affordability, this is like buying an insurance policy against rate rises. Consider how important that is to you.
- A longer fix costs more but means fewer fees. You pay a premium to fix longer - but also get certainty for longer, and there's no certainty rates will be this low in a few years. Plus, go for two-year fixes and you could pay remortgage fees five times a decade. The smaller your mortgage, the bigger an impact a fee has...
| THE CHEAPEST MORTGAGE FIXES (picked by mortgage broker London & Country*) | | Mortgage lender | LTV (% of home value borrowable) | Fix | Admin fee | Standard variable rate (rate after fix ends) | Overall cost of comparison APR
(if you never switch) | | Yorkshire BS* | 75% | 10yrs - 3.99% | £130 | 4.99% | 4.4% | | HSBC | 60% | 7yrs - 3.49% | £999 | 3.94% | 3.9% | | Norwich & P'borough | 60% | 5yrs - 2.74% | £295 | 4.99% | 4.2% | | Norwich & P'borough | 60% | 2yrs - 2.24% | £295 | 4.99% | 4.6% | | Chelsea BS* | 60% | 2yrs - 1.74% | £1,675 | 5.79% | 5.2% | | Assumes £100,000 on a 25-year term, fee paid upfront. As they say, "your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments on your mortgage", so ensure it's affordable. Repay before the fixes end and there are charges. | back to top ↑ |
| £1 BBQ, B&Q & bank hol deals: £1 BBQs | B&Q 15% off £150 | Tesco garden & BBQs 25% off | 20 Carlsberg £12 Flash 1-DAY 20% off at Jack Wills, Diesel, Office, Havaianas & more (London only). This Thurs, get a voucher for more than 100 Soho stores, restaurants and bars. Also incl Puma and American Apparel. See Carnaby Offers. Reminder: Lock-in no energy hikes for TWO winters. EDF's Blue Feb 2015 fix* typically saves someone on a standard dual fuel tariff £200/yr (also avail for elec only), promises no hikes for two winters and has no early exit fees, so you can leave if things change. To see if you'll save, compare & get £30 cashback if you switch via our free Cheap Energy Club, which'll then alert you whenever you need to switch again. More help & cashback options: Cheap Gas & Elec 80% off kids & teaching books, eg, Horrid Henry £1. Till Fri. 100+ titles. Min order £10, £3 p&p. Cheap Books |
Cheapest pet insurance. Beware big vet fees
Paying for pets is no walk in the park. There's no NHS for cats and dogs - slash costs if you need cover Summer's on its way, Rover & Tiddles are ready for the great outdoors, but is your pocket? Vet bills can cost a fortune, a cat's cataract op alone over £1,000, so savings mightn't be enough. Our Cheap Pet Insurance guide can help. A taster...
 Find cheapest cat & dog policies: Both Gocompare* & CompareTM* do pet insurance comparisons, but add missed biggies Quotezone*, Aviva* & Direct Line*.
More than one pet? Check for multi-cat or dog discounts, or a combination of the two via Confused.com*. - Horses, snakes, rabbits, fish and more. Here, you need manual quotes.
Horses & ponies: Petplan Equine*, Animal Friends* and NFU Mutual.
Snakes, tarantulas, etc: Exotic Direct* (as the name suggests) is the specialist.
Rabbits / budgies (going cheep) / chinchillas: Exotic Direct* (bunnies), Quotezone*, Petplan* & Helpucover*.
- The golden rules: 1) Do you need it? Instead, could you build a pet emergency fund? Consider what you'd do if your pet was ill, but you didn't have funds to pay. It'll help you prioritise. 2) Insure 'em young. There's less choice & it's costlier as they age. 3) Legally cats are 'free spirits', so you're not liable for any damage they cause to property or people. But you are with dogs, so if no pet insurance, consider The Dogs Trust's £25/yr 3rd party cover.
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| 'Free' £2.50 grub in Scotland. Different snacks each day, incl toasties, baguettes in 45p papers. Baguette Express Days out deals in Cheshire, South Wales and Yorkshire
'Free' £22 motorsport Pageant of Power tix in £4 mag (Cheshire) | 50% off Ant & Dec charity golf cup tix (Newport)
Free Yorkshire Wedding Sale tickets | For lots more deals all over the UK, see Days Out Web developer jobs available at MSE. Based at MSE Towers, west London. See MSE Jobs. |
Restaurant vouchers | Discount vouchers | Top deals |
| The Moneysaving community |
 CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK:
Find a new home for your unwanted furniture
If you're planning a spring clean this bank holiday and you've good quality sofas, tables, chairs or wardrobes you no longer need, there are lots of charities looking for donations. Collections are often free, and can sometimes include electrical goods. Find one near you on the Furniture Re-use Network or see if there's a BHF shop nearby. Related: eBay selling tips Suggest a campaign: This is for MSE to support work by other charities, groups and campaigners. Send your campaign of the week suggestion. BOOK GIVEAWAY:
Urban Gardening For Dummies. 25 blagged for MoneySavers. Want one? MONEY MORAL DILEMMA:
Should we forgo our holiday as our disabled friend can't go?
This week's MoneySaver who wants adavice asks... One of our friends is disabled. For the most part, it's of no consequence. But going on holiday is both difficult and more expensive when she comes (we need wheelchair access, adapted cars, etc). While we've been happy to pay extra in the past so she can come, an offer's come up me and other friends would like to take up - but it'd be impossible for her to come. Should we go and risk her feeling left out, or wait until next year when we have enough for a holiday we can all go on? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should we forgo a holiday because our disabled friend can't go? | Suggest an MMD | View Past MMDs THE GREAT HUNT:
Cheap BBQ tips revisited
Admittedly, the weather's been a little changeable, but we have seen some sunshine (hurray). So we're looking for some fresh top MoneySaving tips on how to have a good BBQ on the cheap - from the best BBQs to buy, to cheap, tasty food and drink recipes to go with it. Share yours/read others': Cheap BBQ tips revisited Past topics: View all CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT:
Airline: Aer Lingus Offer: Up to 50% off Ends: Fri 3 May
Our pick this week is Aer Lingus's up to 50% off sale. It's for flights to Ireland from 14 UK airports between 1 Jun and 24 Oct. The sale's on till Fri 3 May, but excludes taxes & charges. We found flights from Cardiff to Dublin for £35.37. To find flights quickly, use the FlightChecker on a £50 one-way max search. Extra charges warning: Avoid payment and check-in charges - see the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED:
Pregnancy MoneySaving
We got some great tips - it's a must-read for expectant parents. Several forumites recommended reusable nappies and many said adding items to the weekly shop early on was great for spreading the cost of having a baby. One mother's ultimate advice: Avoid wasting money on stretchmark cream and use olive oil instead. back to top ↑ |
Quick forum tips | Freebies |
Martin's blogs | Martin's appearances 2 May
Daybreak, ITV, 7.35am-7.45am.
Deals of the Week. | 2 May
Shelagh Fogarty, Radio 5, 12noon-1pm.
Consumer Panel.
Listen to past shows. | 3 May
The Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV, 8pm-8.30pm.
Packaged accounts and financial self-defence .
PS. Missed past shows? Watch them here. | |
MSE team corner - Team blogs:
- No team blogs this week.
- Team appearances:
- No team appearances this week.
| Board of the week The Up Your Income Board Share advice and top tips on making extra pennies. Discussions include Setting up a blog, Fiverr and Best place to sell games/DVDs? | Cheap travel money |
This week's poll: Would you KNOWINGLY buy sweatshop-made cheap clothes? If it was CONFIRMED a fashion store sold cheap, sweatshop-made clothes, which of these statements would be CLOSEST to your attitude? | Poll resultsDoes "do you need help?" in shops put you off?
Most voters find offers of help in shops annoying.
- 68% said "don't ask me".
- 19% said "do ask me".
- 14% "don't care".
11,120 voted. See the Full results |
Question of the week If you have savings in an account for five years or more and haven't made any transactions, is the Government entitled to take that money for its own use and not repay it? Graham, via the forum. MSE Helen S’s A: No, the Government can't take it after five years, but after this time, your savings account's likely to be marked 'dormant' if it's not been touched. Accounts need to have been dormant for a full 15 years before the Government can add the cash to its community fund. Even then, you've still got a right to reclaim it. Either contact the bank/building society directly, or use an account tracing service. See our Reclaim Forgotten Cash guide for more details. As an aside, if you've had savings in the same account for five years, you're likely to have earned a pitiful 0.1% a year on it. Use our Top Savings guide to switch for the best rates. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
 Archna's free game of the week: Chat Noir |
25 bizarre optical illusion photos... That's it for this week. Yet before we go, take a look at these frankly bizarre photos that play tricks on the mind. A picture is worth 1,000 words and we don't have space, so just click... 25 photos you need to see. We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team |
| Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com works We 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 we 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 MoneySaving Expert and Martin Lewis What is MoneySavingExpert.com?
Founded in February 2003, it's now the UK's biggest consumer help website with over 6 million people getting this email and nearly 10m using the site. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple: how to save cash and fight for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 30 full time staff about half of whom are editorial researching, analysing and writing to continually find ways to save money. More info: See About MSE Who is Martin Lewis? Martin set up and runs MSE, he's an ultra-focused money saving journalist and consumer campaigner. He has regular slots on Daybreak, Lorraine, Radio 2 Vine, BBC1 Watchdog, Radio 5 Consumer panel and presents ITV Tonight. He is a columnist for amongst others the Sunday Post as well as an author. More info: See Martin Lewis' biog What do the links with a * mean? Any links with a * 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 product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to it. 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 phones4u.co.uk, chitterchatter.co.uk, giffgaff.com, billmonitor.com, mobilephonechecker.co.uk, tescomobile.com, carphonewarehouse.com, insureandgo.com, insurance2go.co.uk, nationwide.co.uk, thecheshire.co.uk, ybs.co.uk, thechelsea.co.uk, sky.com, barclaycard.co.uk, halifax.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, confused.com, directline.com, aviva.co.uk, admiral.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, thecheshire.co.uk, gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com, quotezone.co.uk, aviva.co.uk, directline.com, confused.com, petplanequine.co.uk, animalfriendsequine.co.uk, exoticdirect.co.uk, petplan.co.uk, helpucover.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, santander-products.co.uk, postoffice.co.uk, productsandservices.bt.com.
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