What'll happen to house prices?, last free (£185) bank bribe ending, 23p Doritos, 1.1m pensioners missing out on £3,500, TikTok beauty £35, urgent bereavement help

Plus... 24 credit card need-to-knows, £57 breakdown cover, Ted Baker specs £37, cheap iPhone 15

                                                           

30 January 2024 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL 24 tips to beat Jan credit card blues, incl: - Shift debt to 29mths 0% + £25 - Why 'no card' is bad - Credit cards' secret superpower Are you one of 1.1 MILLION pensioners missing out on £3,500/yr? Slash breakdown costs - full service cover from £57/yr Ends Wed. Last FREE (£185) bank bribe Doritos 23p, 4 Dairy Milks 90p - extra 10% off past 'best before' food Martin vid: Will house prices rise or fall? Extra 20% off already-reduced Nike, Converse & more English student loans CUT in real terms £107 viral TikTok beauty dupes £35 9 days left. Claim up to £40,000 bereavement help 8pm tonight. The Martin Lewis Money Show Live Martin's pod: Rip-off £7+ Sims and salespeople's secrets £135 Ted Baker specs £37 Ikea 50% off food, incl £2.45 meatballs £120 Kärcher Window Vac £60 Ends Thu. iPhone 15 '£34/mth' On prepay energy & struggling to pay? This week's best buys, including 5.15% savings, 5.9% loans, 30GB Sim '£4.50/mth' Is it OK if I choose to sell flooring to a woman over a man? BEST BUYS & TOOLS MSE Cheap Mobile Finder Credit Club including free credit report 0% balance transfers Compare broadband deals MSE Compare+ Car Insurance Best bank accounts Top savings accounts Credit cards for bad credit Credit Card Eligibility Calculator Loans Eligibility Calculator Mortgage comparison Compare travel money Cheap Energy Club, with Pick Me A Tariff Best Sim-only deals

Got a credit card? January's bills are coming in! 24 credit card need-to-knows (even if you don't have one) The 7 different credit card types | Slash interest to 0% | Credit cards' secret superpower | Shift partner's debt | Why 'no card' is bad | Never withdraw cash | Stooze | Debt help As January's dark days fade into February, many have felt a stab of pain as the letter box flips open and the post-Christmas credit card bills drop on to the mat. For others though, they bring a smile, as they show no interest, and cashback earned. As Martin says... "Credit cards are like fire. Used right, they're a great tool. Used wrong, they burn. Done right, they pay you and give extra protection. Done wrong, it's a debt nightmare." So we've 24 credit card need-to-knows, everyone should scan through. 1. Everything depends on if you repay IN FULL each month - miss by even a penny and it's all change. It's Martin's catchphrase for a reason. On a typical 21.9% APR card, if after spending £1,000 on an empty card in a month...  - Repay £1,000. Interest: None. - Repay £999.99. Interest: £17. This is because if you don't repay in full, even if there's only a penny left, you're usually charged interest on the ENTIRE AMOUNT, not just what's left. Clear in full and you pay none. That means repay IN FULL and you can ignore the interest rate and pick a card to rake in the perks. If not, all focus should be on the interest. 2. Paying card interest? STOP. Check if you can shift it to 0%. It only takes 2 mins. Put your details into our 0% Balance Transfer Eligibility Calc and it'll show the card you've best chance of getting to pay off your existing debt, so you owe it, but at 0%. This way, your repayments clear what you actually owe, rather than mostly just the interest. Sam recently emailed: "Last week I excitedly opened up the weekly MSE email and spotted the Barclaycard 29mth 0% balance transfer. I thought I've got nothing to lose on a soft search and it came back as 100% pre-approved! Now I have a £7,500 limit and have transferred all card balances on to it. Amazing work." If you've a choice, go for the card with the lowest fee in the time you need to clear the debt. Unsure? Go long. Full help in Best balance transfers, but here's our round-up of the top cards (if a card is an 'up to', you may get a shorter 0% if you're not pre-approved)... Top newbies 0% balance transfers include... Barclaycard Link via eligibility calc, or apply direct* Longest up to 0%, and cashback for some - Up to 29mths 0% (3.45% fee) - £25 cashback on £2,500+ transfers - 24.9% rep APR interest after Santander Link via eligibility calc, or apply direct*  Longest definite 0% - 26mths 0% for all accepted - 3% fee (min £5) - 23.9% rep APR after NatWest  Link via eligibility calc, or apply direct*  Cheapest if you REPAY QUICKLY as no fee - 13mths 0% for all accepted - NO FEE - 24.9% rep APR after If you're new to switching debt, here are the golden rules... a) You can't transfer between two cards from the same banking group. b) Clear the card before the 0% ends, or you pay the full rep APR. c) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you can lose the 0%. d) You must usually transfer within 60 days to get the 0%. e) Don't spend/withdraw cash. It isn't at the cheap rate. 3. You can shift your partner's debt to your 0% card (not a decision to take lightly). A few major lenders allow you to transfer a balance from your partner's debt on to your 0% card - useful if one of you has a better credit history, so is more likely to be accepted. One top newbies deal that allows it is Barclaycard 29mth 0% (3.45% fee). But see a full list of lenders that allow partner balance transfers. Warning: If you do this, your partner's debt legally becomes yours - making it your responsibility to pay off. Never feel forced into doing this - see Martin's financial abuse help blog if you do. 4. No credit card? That's not the savvy thing to do (unless you don't trust yourself). Many are anti-credit cards as 'neither a borrower nor a lender be'. Yet credit cards have two purposes: - A means of paying for stuff. - A means of borrowing yet this is neutralised if you pay off IN FULL each month, stay under the credit limit, and don't withdraw cash. And looked at just as a way to pay for stuff, they're great, both because you can get paid to spend via cashback cards (more in a mo) and you get greater spending protection. Of course though, if you struggle with impulse control and worry you may not follow the strict rules needed to make cards work for you, play safe and don't go near 'em. There are at least 7 different types of credit card  There's NO one best card, use the right one for each task Don't think one size fits all. If you do different things, you should have more than one card. And use each card for its specific purpose. While in a few cases one card is the best-buy for more than one thing, it's rare. Whichever you're applying for, use an eligibility calculator to minimise applications and rejections. First, cards for BORROWING. We've already discussed 0% balance transfers for shifting debt from other cards, plus there's... 5. Interest-free spending cards - the cheapest possible form of new borrowing (done right). Nothing is cheaper than interest-free, and that's what the top 0% purchase credit cards offer, and for far longer than any other mainstream interest-free borrowing type. The longest is Barclaycard's up to 21mths 0%, and the longest with a 0% that all accepted definitely get is NatWest's 19mths 0%. Yet ONLY do this if you need to borrow, for a planned, affordable one-off purchase you've budgeted the repayments for (eg, a replacement fridge). If in doubt, DON'T. If you don't trust yourself, DON'T. And do ensure you always meet at least the minimum repayments and clear it (or at least balance transfer it) before the 0% ends. 6. Interest-free all-rounder cards. These dual-function cards for 0% spending & balance transfers tend to be better for the 'spending' than the debt-shifting element. So there's Barclaycard's up to 21mth 0% purchase & 20mth 0% (3.45% fee) transfers and NatWest's 19mth 0% spending & (2.99% fee) transfers. The advantage of an all-in-one is it's only one credit card application, so there's less impact on your ability to access credit. 7. Interest-free 'pay cash out' cards. These are rare, they're 0% money transfer credit cards. The longest currently is just 12mths 0%. These allow you to pay money into your bank account, so you can use that as cash or to, say, clear your overdraft, and then you owe the card at 0% instead. Just be careful - the guide helps you step by step. The 'pay off IN FULL cards' to grab perks & freebies. Here, pay off in full each month (preferably by Direct Debit) to neutralise the card's ability to charge you interest, then you can safely grab the perks it offers 8. Cards that pay you when you spend. Cashback & reward cards that give you money or points when you spend on 'em. Amex Platinum Everyday pays 5% cashback for the first 3mths (you must spend £3,000 min over the year). And just to confuse things, for the last couple of years there's unusually been a debit card, the Chase card*, that also pays 1% back on spending (up to £15/mth) - at last in year one - and you needn't switch bank to get it. 9. Frequent flyer cards. Top airline credit cards are ideal for frequent flyers, as you collect airline miles or reward points for spending, and sometimes 'companion vouchers' which get a 2for1 flight when points are used. The guide link will take you through it. 10. Cheap cards for spending abroad. Top specialist overseas cards don't charge you the usual 3% exchange fee when you spend in a foreign currency, so you get the same near-perfect rates the banks do. 11. Use a bad credit card to get a good one. If you've poor (or no) credit history, you're unlikely to be accepted for credit, including for mortgages, contract mobile phones, and sometimes even energy bills. So you need to build a history as a good credit citizen. This is a catch-22 situation, as to get credit, you need (good) credit. So one solution is to get a horrible credit (re)build card. Horrid because if you fail to fully repay, the interest rates are hideous. However, if you get one, spend £50 to £100 each month on it (do not withdraw cash) and repay IN FULL each month for a year or so, and it'll rehabilitate your ability to get credit. Yet any mistakes will make it worse. Our Credit Rebuild Card Eligibility Calculator includes a range of cards, depending on the severity of your credit issues. 12. Credit cards have a secret purchase protection superpower. Under the Section 75 law, buy something costing £100.01 up to £30,000 and pay for any of it, even a penny, on a credit card, and the card firm's jointly liable with the retailer for the WHOLE amount. Then if things go wrong, you've a legal right to go to the card firm as if it was the retailer. This is especially powerful if, say, the retailer goes bust, is a long way away, or says 'take me to court'. So if you make an important purchase, put at least some of it on a credit card (paid off in full, obvs). Even better, use a reward card. Even when Section 75 doesn't apply - so for things under £100 or if there's a 'break in the causal relationship', eg, if you book a holiday via a travel agent - you still get the same chargeback protection as a debit card, which can help you get money back when things go badly wrong. 13. DANGER! Minimum payments are designed to keep you in debt till you've white(r) hair. Borrow £3,000 aged 23, make just the minimum repayments, and shockingly you'll still be paying it off DECADES later. And that's an improvement, as when MSE first started, some cards' minimum repayments left you perpetually in debt. Regulation changes now mean it must cover at least the interest, but only barely. The problem with minimum repayments is what you pay reduces in line with what you owe. Instead, assuming you don't borrow more, fix repayments at the first month's minimum payment as we know you can afford it (or more if possible)... For a £3,000 debt on a typical card at 21.9% APR: - Min payments: Cleared after 28yrs costing £4,790 interest. Yet the min payment in month one is £80, and if you fix it at that... - Pay £80/mth: Cleared after 5yrs costing £1,740 interest. Use our Minimum Repayment Calc to see how long it'll take you. 14. ...yet if you've multiple debts, pay the minimums on all but one. List all debts, including overdrafts, in APR order, as the one with the highest interest rate is growing fastest. So target all spare cash to clear that (even if it's the smallest debt) and just pay the minimums on all the others. Once the most expensive is clear, target the next highest APR rate and so on. This way, you'll clear your debts quicker. 15. Thankfully, card firms must pay your highest interest-rate debt off first. Even on the same card, different transaction types usually have different interest rates, so a purchase may be 18%, a balance transfer 0% and a cash withdrawal 29.9%. It used to be that card firms paid the lowest interest-rate debt off first, which was a nightmare and trapped costly debt in. Then after a campaign, which MSE was part of, this was changed. Now, your repayments first go to cover interest. After that, it's the highest interest-rate debt first - regardless of when it was accrued. So with the rates above, the cash withdrawal would be cleared first, then the purchase debt, then the balance transfer. 16. Withdrawing cash on credit cards can kill a mortgage application. Don't do it regularly, as that can be seen by some underwriters as a sign you're struggling. Plus even if you pay off IN FULL, you'll still pay interest on the withdrawal, and at a rate higher than that on spending. See our special guidance if withdrawing cash overseas on a specialist card. 17. Don't diss Direct Debits - always have one set up for credit cards. Miss a payment and you can be fined, lose any 0% deal, and it can hit your ability to get credit in future. The best route is to clear the card in full, and set up a Direct Debit to do that (if they don't offer it - which is naughty - call them and ask, and they should do it). If you can't do that, just pay what you can each month. But still set up a Direct Debit, even if only for the minimum. Then you can (and should) manually pay more each month, but this way there's no risk of you missing a payment and ruining things. 18. Rejections may be caused by errors on your credit file. You should always check your credit files at the three main credit reference agencies once a year, before any major application, and if you're getting rejected. You can check them all for free. Go through line by line - even minor errors (like wrong addresses on old, but still live, accounts) can cause problems. Do also see my full 38 tips to boost your credit score guide. 19. You don't always want it to be hard (a soft search is better). Most applications are 'hard' searches, which'll usually appear on your file whenever you apply for a credit product. Too many of these - especially in a short space of time - can be negative. Yet when you check your credit file, use an eligibility calculator, or in a few rare applications, a 'soft search' appears there. While you see this on your credit file, lenders usually DON'T (and if they do they can't use the info), so it has no impact. So when you check your credit file, don't worry too much about the soft searches. 20. Stooze (right) and you don't lose. Stoozing is where you deliberately artificially build up borrowing at 0%, in order to save it at high interest (say 5%), so that's roughly £50 annual profit per £1,000 debt (and some have earned £10,000s doing this). This is ONLY for the financially savvy and disciplined though. See the How to stooze guide. 21. There aren't joint personal credit cards in the UK. All additional cardholders are just that. The main cardholder is SOLELY responsible for the debt. See our Joint credit cards guide. 22. The word 'representative' before APR is a kick in the face. The 'annual percentage rate' (APR) is used by credit card providers to tell you the effective annual interest rate once all costs are factored in. Yet every card (and most loans too) say 'representative' APR. That one word has a huge impact. It means only 51% of successful applicants need to be given the stated rate. The rest of those who are accepted can be charged more, without limit. Annoyingly, in most cases the only way you'll know is by applying. So check after applications. 23. Stay in control by setting up spending alerts. If you're worried about overspending on a credit card, many providers let you set up spending alerts, meaning you'll receive a text message, email and/or mobile notification when your spending passes your set level, or when you're nearing your credit limit. 24. Struggling to pay? Get free debt help. The tips above are about cutting the cost of interest, but that still may leave you in a difficult position, which means you'll need a different tack. So Martin's developed three questions you should ask yourself... - Do you struggle to meet minimum monthly payments? - Is your total debt (not mortgage/student loan) over 1yr's salary? - Do you have sleepless nights or depression/anxiety over debt? If you answer 'yes' to any of these, forget trying to play the system, and instead get free, one-to-one debt-counselling help from Citizens Advice, StepChange, National Debtline, or CAP (which gives emotional support too). They're there to help, not judge. The most common thing we hear after is: "I finally got a good night's sleep." Just go for it, read inspiring stories in our Debt-free wannabe forum, and also see our Mental Health & Debt and Debt crisis help guides.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Martin's alert for ALL disabled or ill pensioners 'We struggled for 8mths, then read MSE's article on Attendance Allowance - we now get £3,500/yr!'  It's NOT MEANS-TESTED - if you or a loved one needs help with daily living, check NOW In December, I wrote an alert to all pensioners, after our report with Policy in Practice identified up to 1.1m pensioners were missing out on £3,500+ a year because they don't claim Attendance Allowance (a payment to help cover costs of pensioners who need someone to 'attend to' them). It's the first time we've covered this in detail on MSE, and it coincided with launching our new Attendance Allowance (AA) guide. I'm delighted to say the results are starting to come in... Philip recently emailed: "Dear Martin & all at MSE, I'm not sure if being ill enough to qualify for Attendance Allowance can be classed as success, but £68 each week certainly does not come amiss! Despite struggling on for 8 months, it never occurred to my wife and I that she might qualify for help until reading about it on MSE. We applied mid Dec and received positive notification today. Thank you - you have made our lives just a little bit easier in difficult times." It ISN'T means-tested - it's for pensioners who need some daily living help. With AA, your finances are irrelevant - it's not just for those on low incomes. To get it, you must be of state pension age (currently at least 66). There's no specific conditions list. It can be a mental or physical disability/illness - what counts is its impact on you. - You must've needed either help or supervision for six consecutive months (even if you didn't get the help). - Help means assistance with daily living (eg, washing, eating, shopping), so even if you don't think of yourself as disabled, you may be eligible. Supervision means someone to watch you to avoid danger to yourself or others. - It's common for those with Parkinson's, dementia, terminal illness, blindness, learning difficulties and more. Got a Power of Attorney for someone? You can apply for them too. If you're looking after someone who meets the criteria, you can apply for them as long as they can sign the form, or you've Power of Attorney. Basic Attendance Allowance is worth £68 a week - that's £3,540 a year. There are two rates of AA: - Lower: Those who need help during the day OR night get £68/wk (£3,540/yr). - Higher: If you need help BOTH during the day and night OR have under 12mths to live, it's £102/wk (£5,300/yr). Claims CAN'T be backdated, so do it ASAP. There's a paper form to fill in. You'll need to gather your paperwork together first, and a few may have to attend an assessment (the better you fill in the form about your condition, the less likely this is). See our step-by-step help to apply for Attendance Allowance, and please let me know how you get on. Attendance Allowance may unlock access to £1,000s of other extra help. Sometimes AA is the key to eligibility; more often it's an indicator you may be due other help. Here's a rundown of some key areas - click the links for more... - YOU WILL qualify for a Disabled Person's Railcard. Costs £20, and gets you & a companion 1/3 off rail travel. - YOU MAY be accepted for a blue badge to park in places others can't, often for free, but it's council by council. - YOU MAY get council tax help with the horrible-sounding severe mental impairment (SMI) discount, which can mean 25% off for some or 100% off for those who live alone (or with someone else with an SMI). - LOW INCOME? You may also be due £76/wk extra Pension Credit, or up to £390/mth extra Universal Credit. - HAVE A CARER? If someone close to you looks after you unpaid for 20 to 35hrs a week, your AA may mean they get carer's credit. If they do over 35hrs a week on low pay, then they may get paid carer's allowance, though how this interacts with AA is complex - see carer's allowance with Attendance Allowance help. - LIVE-IN CARER? If you live with someone who cares for you, you may be entitled to a council tax discount. Warning. Beware if you get personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance (DLA). Both PIP and DLA are usually worth at least as much as, and often more than, AA, and you can't get both. See our AA clashing benefits help. If you're not sure, get free benefits adviser help before doing owt if you're on these.

 

Coming next week - our new car finance reclaim tool - do tell anyone interested to sign up to this free weekly email. Ends MIDDAY Wed. And then there were none... the last FREE (£185) cash bank switch's ending. Last week we warned this could happen - First Direct's since pulled its offer, and now we know the only one left, TSB's £125 upfront + £60 cashback* ends midday Wed (the £60 is if you use its debit card 20x a month, you get £10/mth for 6mths). Full TSB eligibility criteria in Best bank accounts. Will free cash switcher offers return? Very likely at some point, we just don't know when. There's a rumour one may surface very soon, others possibly in March, but there's no certainty. Doritos 23p, 4 Dairy Milks 90p etc via 10% off code for already-reduced, past 'best befores'. MSE Blagged. Approved Food sells very cheap groceries near or past 'best-before' dates (NOT past 'use-by' dates, which are about health). Min £22.50 spend, delivery's £3+. Approved Food New Martin vid. Are house prices, mortgage rates and rents set to rise or fall? Watch Martin's What happens next quick video. Secret Sales code: extra 20% off reduced Nike, Gymshark, Converse & more, eg, £90 puffer jacket £26. MSE Blagged. High-street & designer stock at reduced prices. 4,000 codes available. Secret Sales News. English student living loans to rise just 2.5% - a real-terms cut, warns Martin. See Student update. 10-piece beauty dupes set £35 (£107 bought separately) from 'I Am Proud'. MSE Blagged. Only 3,000. This new-ish brand, much hyped on TikTok, is from the owners of Ciaté and Lottie London. We've got it to put together a set of 'beauty dupes' (mimicking expensive brands), eg, its vitamin C serum vs £100 Sunday Riley's. I Am Proud Urgent - 9 days left. Unmarried with kids & partner died since 2001? Claim up to £40,000 backdated bereavement help. Your posted application form needs to arrive by 8 Feb, so time's running out. See Martin's urgent bereavement support briefing. Credit score mythbusting & tricks to boost it. The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV 8pm tonight (Tue). Over to Martin: "If you're looking to get a mortgage, mobile phone, energy direct debit, a credit card, or any form of lending to cut costs, you may need a good credit history. Yet there are huge myths and misunderstandings about how credit scoring works and what you can do. In this show I'll decode it for you. Got a question? Tweet using #MartinLewis or email the team at martinlewis@itv.com. Do watch (or catch up via ITVX)."

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - Approved Food 10% off code Ends Wed 7 Feb - Extra 20% off reduced Nike, Converse & more 4,000 available - £107 of skin & haircare dupes £35 all-in 3,000 available - £135 Ted Baker prescription specs for £37 Ends 18 Feb - £120 Kärcher window vac for £60 4,000 available	DID YOU MISS? - BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk, Three & Vodafone to hike prices - Get fit for FREE - gym passes, workout classes, tennis & more - Ends 11.59pm today (Tue). Hot Diamonds 40% off everything - Martin vid: 'Are you too high a council tax band & due £1,000s?' - Martin to Chancellor: 'What you need to do in 6 March Budget'

 

 

Breakdown cover: Do you pay the AA or RAC £100s/yr? Slash the cost to just £57/yr FULL SERVICE... or just haggle! With so many bigger bills out there to sort each year, it's easy to understand why lots of people let their breakdown cover auto-renew each year. Yet that may mean you're paying £100s over the odds. Full help and lots more savings options are in our Slash breakdown costs guide, but here's a basic 1-2-3... Willing to switch? Roadside recovery, home start and onward travel for just £57/yr for you AND your partner. Two companies that use local recovery operators rather than their own fleets can massively slash the costs. AutoAid's* been among our top picks for over a decade, and it usually gets strong feedback. Its £57.28 full-service policy covers you & your spouse or live-in partner in any car you/they drive. Have an older car? Be warned, there's a £25 call-out fee for cars aged 10+, and if you've a car 16+ years old, the cost rises to £76.99/yr (plus any call-out fees). Eversure Gold* costs £57.50 and has similar cover. There's no call-out fee for older cars, though it won't cover cars 16 years old or more. We've less feedback on it, but what we do have is decent, and it's got good call-out times. Want a new AA/RAC policy? Use a cashback site to save 50%+. This is for new policies, but if you're with the AA you could go for RAC and vice versa for it still to work. Buy direct, and even basic cover can cost around £135, full cover just shy of £250. Yet use the right cashback sites, and it can work out as '£58/yr' basic or '£111/yr' full service. Sticking with the AA/RAC? NEVER just auto-renew - always haggle. The success rates for those who haggle at renewal are higher with breakdown cover than any other sector, with 85% of RAC and 84% of AA customers who tried it reporting that they got a discount in our most recent poll (Dec 2023). Our full list of tips is in Breakdown cover haggling. Try these to start you off... - Use charm, cheek and a smile: Don't be aggressive - you've no right to a discount (only a right to leave). - If they won't play ball, ask 'to cancel': This is likely to get you to 'customer retentions', and it's their job to keep you. - Don't be rushed into anything: If you're still not happy, say you "need to check with the wife / boyfriend / dog" to buy time. - If you fail, try again: Wait a few days - it may be that a different person can offer you something more. MoneySaver Catherine used these tips to perfection and emailed last week to say: "I took your advice and haggled. Success! My AA renewal for 2024 came in at £58.50/mth (personal cover for 3 of us, full package), up from £36.50/mth in 2023. I called and they reduced it to £32.12/mth. As you suggested, I said I needed to discuss it with my husband. Called back and they reduced it further to £23.62/mth [saving £420/yr] - result! Thank you Martin."

 

Martin's pod: Don't pay more than £7/mth for your mobile, salespeople's secret tips & more... All in the new The Martin Lewis Podcast. Listen via BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to get your Martin fix. £37 Ted Baker prescription specs (normally £135). MSE Blagged. Via SpeckyFourEyes code. Ikea 50% off restaurant food, including £1.35 breakfast, £2.45 meatballs. Every Fri till Sept. Swe-dish deals £60 Kärcher Window Vac 6 with 1/2 price code. MSE Blagged. Normally £120, 4,000 available. Kärcher Ends 9am Thu. Cheapest iPhone 15 we've seen '£34/mth'. Newbies to iD Mobile (uses Three's signal) can get the latest model iPhone, the iPhone 15 (128GB), on a 24mth contract with 250GB data via Mobiles.co.uk. It's £99 upfront, then £29.99/mth (though this'll rise in April by inflation + 3.9%), but you get £5 automatic cashback. So that's £814 over the 2yr contract, equivalent to £34/mth. Buying just the handset from Apple is £799, so this is a decent deal. The retailer is responsible for the handset, iD Mobile for the contract. Find your cheapest phone or Sim. See Cheap Mobile Finder. On prepay energy & struggling to pay? Check if you can get a hardship grant. Don't just cut yourself off - check if you can get help from your supplier.

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 29mths 0% + possible £25 cashback, 3.45% fee (24.9% rep APR interest) No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility / apply*) - 13mths 0% (24.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts Ends midday Wed. £125 to switch + up to £60 cashback: TSB 1% cashback on bills/travel: Santander Edge Top savings accounts Top easy access: Coventry BS 5.15%, min £1 Top one-year fix: SmartSave 5.16%, min £10,000 Car insurance Try our Compare+ Car Insurance tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Santander (check eligibility / apply*), 7.3% rep APR Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: TSB (check eligibility / apply*), 5.9% rep APR Broadband top picks Fast fibre (55Mb+): Vodafone '£21.71/mth' Superfast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin Media: '£21.78/mth' On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims 4GB to 9GB data: Asda Mobile, '£3.67/mth' for 5GB 10GB to 30GB data: iD Mobile, '£4.50/mth' for 30GB 31GB+ data: iD Mobile, '£7.50/mth' for 100GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL How much do you pay for TV or streaming services? As winter's long, cold nights go on, many of us love nothing more than to cosy up in front of the telly with a decent box set or film. Yet with Prime Video joining Disney+ and Netflix in showing ads from next week (unless you pay extra), the line between TV packages and streaming services is becoming increasingly blurred. So we want to know what TV you pay for. Vote in this week's poll. Chase retains the banking service crown. Last week, we asked you to vote in our biannual banking customer service poll, and over 4,200 people responded. Of the banks with more than 75 votes, Chase was once again at the top of the table, with 96% of customers rating it 'great'. First Direct was close behind, at 91% 'great'. Meanwhile, 42% of Barclays customers rated it 'poor' for service. See the full results here.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: Barclays to shut at least 77 bank branches in 2024/25 - here's the full list - Don't miss the self-assessment tax return deadline - or risk a £100 fine and 7.75% interest - Easyjet passengers have just DAYS left to redeem £58 million of flight vouchers

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Is it OK if I choose to sell something to a woman rather than a man? I've £100 worth of laminate flooring that I've put up for sale online cheaply to get rid of. As the buyer will have to collect, and I'm a woman who lives alone, I've been reluctant to accept any of the offers I've had as they're all from men. I said to a friend that I hoped a woman would make an offer, even if it was lower, as I'd feel safer dealing with them, but my friend said that's unfair and I should sell to the first person who offered the asking price. Should I wait for an offer from someone I'm comfortable giving my address to or do as my friend says? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Is it OK if I choose to sell something to a woman rather than a man? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 30 JAN ONWARDS) Tue 30 Jan - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV1, 8pm (watch previous episodes) Wed 31 Jan - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 6 Feb - This Morning, phone-in, ITV1, 10.20am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Thu 1 Feb - Gen X Radio with James Hazell, from 11.20am

 

VIKING MOUNTS AND 800-YEAR-OLD GOLD SEALS - IMPRESSIVE METAL-DETECTING FINDS That's all for this week, but before we go... following a post-pandemic boom in metal-detecting, the British Museum has just revealed that 2022 was a record-breaking year for everyday folk finding treasure. So we asked our MoneySavers what goodies they've found in the ground. One poster told us they discovered an unexploded bomb, and had to call a disposal unit to come and safely destroy it! A few managed to find some genuine treasure, from Elizabethan and Victorian-era coins to a Viking horse reins mount. The most impressive find has to be a gold seal from 1200AD featuring the portrait of a Roman emperor, which is now on display in the British Museum! Read what others have found and add your own discoveries in our Facebook and Threads conversations. We hope you save some money, The MSE team

 

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