Free £200, 15% energy price CUT, 50GB Sim £6/mth, £14 plant bundle, QUICK 29mth 0%, prescription savings

Plus... It's DD day, car finance complaints, £2 Megabus, FAST broadband £24/mth

                                                           

20 February 2024 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL FREE £200 bank switching is BACK: - Two banks now pay £175+ bribes - Boost your gains with cashback - Top accounts to slash overdraft costs - How does your bank rate for service? It's DDday - are you WASTING £100s? Energy prices set to DROP 15% in April... yet you can beat this Used our free car finance complaint tool? Please take our 2-min survey Ends Thu. 50GB Sim just '£5.50/mth' 1m overpay for prescriptions - do you? Grab top 29mth 0% debt shift O2 and Virgin Media hike broadband & mobile bills 8.8% Urgent. Cheap 100Mb FAST broadband '£24/mth' Summer plant bundle £14 8pm tonight. The Martin Lewis Money Show Live Report 'unusually high call volumes' firms Megabus £2 coach tickets 'We got a £10k council tax refund thanks to MSE, as we care for our adult son' 30+ birthday FREEBIES from Greggs, Costa & more 3,000 FREE pairs of Build It Live tickets This week's best buys, including 5.16% savings, 5.9% loans, Compare+ Car Insurance Should my son share his insurance payout with his mother? 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

Grab a FREE £200! Free cash bank switching is back, and even sooner than we thought Three weeks ago, the curtains went down, the lights went off, the crowd left and we had to announce "the last bank switch has left the building". For the first time since (we think) the pandemic, no banks were willing to pay £150+ legal bribes for your custom. Now, wrapped up in a glittery jumpsuit, things are looking rosier. There's a brand new £200 switch, on top of last week's £175. So without further ado, let's run you through the main (banking) acts which are: Free cash | Boost the gain with cashback | Top overdraft accounts | How does your bank rate for service? The 'we'll pay you to switch' accounts Switching, whether single or joint accounts, is usually easy and hassle-free. You must be a new customer, or at least not have had an account / switching cash for a couple of years, and usually need to pass a not-too-harsh credit check. You must also use the bank's seven-working-day switch service, which'll... - Move all money, Direct Debits & standing orders for you. - Close your old account (so download a couple of years' statements first). - Forward any payments made to your old account after it's closed. Full info & options in Best bank accounts, but in brief... New. Top payers: NatWest / RBS free £200 cash Key perks: £36/yr cashback, 6.17% linked regular saver MSE service rating: NatWest 49% 'great', RBS 47% 'great' Sister banks NatWest's Reward* and RBS's Reward* accounts pay £200 upfront plus £3 monthly cashback (you actually get £5/mth cashback, but with a £2/mth fee). You also get access to its linked 6.17% regular saver, where you can pay in up to £150/mth. To get the £200, pay in a total of £1,250 (you can withdraw it again after 24 hours if you need) and log in to the app within 60 days. The cash will be paid within seven days of that. To get the cashback too, each month you must have £1,250+ going in (equivalent to a salary of roughly £17,500), log in to the mobile app and have two £2+ Direct Debits paid out. If you won't do that, the £200 is also available when you switch to the no-monthly-fee NatWest*, RBS* or Ulster Select account. Lloyds free £175 cash and perks Key perks: 1yr Disney+ or 6 cinema tix etc, 6.25% reg saver MSE service rating: 59% 'great' Club Lloyds is a Mickey Mouse account, as not only do you get £175 free, you can also opt for a year's free Disney+ (with ads) which you'd pay £60 for, even if you're an existing subscriber to the streaming service. Alternatively, you can choose six free cinema tickets (costs around £30 to £90) OR a magazine subscription (c £30 to £50) OR a Coffee Club & Gourmet Society membership (c £60). You also get access to its linked regular saver paying 6.25% interest, fixed for 12 months, which allows a decent whack - for these account types - of up to £400/mth. To get the £175, you need to open the account then switch, including 2+ Direct Debits. The free cash should arrive within 10 working days of the switch starting. You also need to pay in £2,000+/mth (roughly equivalent to a salary of £31,500 going in) or there's a £3/mth fee which would lower the gain. Can you make £1,000s by repeatedly switching banks? While there are only two banks that pay cash at the moment, more may come, and becoming a bank bribe bagger can pay well. See full pros & cons in Make £1,000s by repeatedly switching bank. Q. Will switching bank impact my credit file? A single application for a new current account can have a slightly negative effect on your ability to get new credit for a few months, though it'll be minor. Yet if you've an important mortgage or credit card application due, it's perhaps best to prioritise that. See credit scores for full help. Q. What if something goes wrong with the switch? If you're hit with charges due to a switch error that leads to a missed payment, these will be refunded by the new bank. Boost the gain by grabbing cashback on top  In addition to bagging the free cash with the above accounts, you can BOOST earnings with 1% cashback on bills and/or spending... 1% cashback on debit card spending. Couple either of the accounts above with the app-only Chase current account* - there's no need to switch or pass a hard credit-check to get it - and, once activated, you'll get a year's 1% cashback on all normal daily debit-card spending (max £15/mth, it generally excludes bills, investments and major purchases such as cars). So you can use the switched-to account for banking, but if you put money in this each month for spending too, you get the best of both worlds. The Chase debit card is also top for spending abroad, and you get an OK 4.1% on a linked saver. See our full Chase review. Do you have a 'bills only' account (possibly joint)? Get 1% cashback on bills too. If you have your own account and a (maybe joint) bills account, you could switch that to Santander Edge*. With it, you pay £3/mth but get 1% cashback on water, council tax, energy, broadband, phones, and paid-for TV bills up to a max £10/mth (most people will easily earn more than the fee). You also get 1% cashback on supermarket, fuel, and train and bus travel spending, again up to a max £10/mth. For households with average bills, we'd expect the gain to be around £80/yr to £100/yr. If you get this account, you can also open a 7% linked saver, which lets you save up to £4,000 in it.  To get the interest and cashback, you must pay in £500+/mth and have 2+ Direct Debits. So if you're doing this alongside either of the switcher accounts above, make sure you've two Direct Debits set up for those in order to qualify for the switch cash/rewards, and move the rest here. Full info in our Santander review. Top accounts to cut the cost of your overdraft Overdrafts are a danger debt, with almost every bank now charging a typical 40% - dwarfing most credit card rates. You can switch when overdrawn, though there's no guarantee the new bank will match your existing overdraft - or even offer you an overdraft at all. So use the bank's OVERDRAFT ELIGIBILITY CHECKER before applying to get an indication of whether you'll likely qualify. Full info's in top overdraft accounts. Option 1: Always owe less than £250? Switch to a 0% overdraft. First Direct* offers many a £250 0% overdraft, though above that you'll pay the 40%, like elsewhere. So it's a decent option if you often slip into your overdraft, but not by much. Full info in First Direct review. However this is one of the rare times when First Direct isn't offering a switcher bonus, so it may not be perfect timing, though we're hoping it'll come back soon. Option 2: A potentially bigger 0% overdraft, but only for a year. Nationwide FlexDirect can offer a far bigger 0% overdraft, though the limit depends on your credit history. However, it's only 0% for a year - then it's the standard 40% like most providers. So plan to clear the debt within that time. Full info in our Nationwide review. Again, Nationwide has had switchers' bonuses until recently, but it doesn't right now. Option 3: Do a 0% money transfer. These are specialist credit cards you can use to clear your overdraft. Quite simply, you apply, then ask it to pay money into your bank account, so you owe it instead, at 0% interest for up to 12 months. You need to be careful though. Our Money transfers guide will take you through it, including top deals. It may be worth doing this as a first step - it'll give you up to a year at 0%, so you've time to start paying it down and to also see if the bank switches on the above accounts come back. If they do, you can then use the switch bonus to pay down the card, plus any 0% overdraft you get. Four quick tips to help with overdrafts... It's not just about making your overdraft cheaper - you should also try to pay it off. Full info in Cut overdraft costs, but briefly... 1) Aim to repay a fixed monthly amount. For example, if you're £500 overdrawn, 'paying' £100 means you'd be £400 overdrawn at month-end. A budget can help. 2) Consider moving Direct Debits to just before payday. Then you're overdrawn for less time, so costs are lower. 3) Can you reclaim past bank charges? See Bank charge reclaiming. 4) Struggling with several debts? Get free help from Citizens Advice, National Debtline or StepChange. It can make a huge difference. How does your bank rate for service? We've just completed our latest bank survey poll, of 4,250 voters. The crown goes to Chase, though as many use it as a secondary spending account, it perhaps doesn't get the more robust challenges the others do. After Chase, it's First Direct, which used to win year after year on these polls, and has never come below third, with app-only Starling rounding out the top three. Barclays once again collected the wooden spoon. Here are the full results, with links to banks that have an account that features in our top picks... Bank (no. of votes)  % 'great' % 'poor' 1. (=1st last time) Chase (216 votes) 96% 0.5% 2. (3rd) First Direct (740 votes) 91% 4% 3. (=1st) Starling (95 votes) 90% 4% 4. (4th) Nationwide (735 votes) 84% 5% 5. (5th) Santander (565 votes) 69% 10% 6. (8th) Lloyds (362 votes) 59% 15% 7. (6th) Halifax (185 votes) 55% 14% 8. (7th) Co-op Bank (89 votes) 55% 15% 9. (9th) NatWest (284 votes) 49% 19% 10. (11th) HSBC (251 votes) 42% 26% 11. (10th) Virgin Money (81 votes) 43% 16% 12. (12th) TSB (83 votes) 35% 36% 13. (13th) Barclays (317 votes) 30% 42% Only banks with 75+ votes included. See full bank poll results.

 

 

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: It's #DDday. Prepare for a shock! Take my 5min Direct Debit (standing order & recurring payment) challenge to see if you're WASTING £100s It isn't rocket science, but it is important financial housekeeping. Regular payments are PASSIVE transactions, money auto-paid, dripping from our pockets without our conscious action. While they're often a valuable tool to ensure crucial bills are paid, millions who don't check them often enough are likely wasting £100s on products and services they no longer want or use - or worse - that are completely pointless... So let's make today Direct Debit Day. Check now what you're paying for (& pls report surprise finds on social media using #DDday) As for what I mean by pointless, here are two people who have previously discovered that: "For the last four years, I'd paid £12 a month (£144/yr) for extended warranty on a laptop I no longer had", and: "Moved two years ago, but still paying a Direct Debit to my old gym (£330/yr) & local wildlife centre (£43/yr) - both too far to visit (and I never go to the gym anyway)." The THREE types of regular payments to check... DIRECT DEBITS You give a firm your BANK ACCOUNT details and permission to debit it for a variable amount each time. See full Direct Debit rights. Typically: Energy, broadband, mobile & water bills, plus credit card bills, mortgages & more STANDING ORDERS You instruct your BANK / BUILDING SOC to pay a fixed amount to a person / business at a regular interval (see standing order help). Typically: Paying rent, moving money to savings, paying family members RECURRING PAYMENTS (oft hidden) Aka a Continuous Payment Authority. It's when you give a firm the long number on your CREDIT or DEBIT CARD, so it can take variable payments when it wants. See Recurring payments help. Here you've far weaker rights than with Direct Debits. Typically: Gym memberships, 'adult' entertainment, streaming services, payday loan repayments, magazine subscriptions & buy now, pay later How to check what you're paying for. Your standing orders & Direct Debits (DDs) should be listed in your online banking, or just ask your bank. Unsure what a payment's for? A search engine should tell you (put the exact phrase in speech marks). It's trickier with recurring payments, as they may just be listed as any other payment, so are effectively hidden - scour through to spot repeats. To help, here's a sample of common firms that often use recurring payments: AA | Amazon Prime | Apple TV+ | Audible | AutoAid | David Lloyd | Disney+ | Dropbox | Giffgaff | HelloFresh | iD Mobile | Klarna | Laybuy | Microsoft Office | Mubi | Netflix | Now TV | PureGym | RAC | Spotify | Virgin Active In the MSE App tools section, we've an early stage recurring payments finder. It won't necessarily spot them all yet, but it's worth a play. Some banks, including Monzo, Revolut, Halifax, Lloyds and HSBC, may have a section in their app/site called 'subscriptions' or 'scheduled payments' which lists them. Even then, don't assume it'll catch them all. Is it time to ditch the payments? Obviously if you're paying for something pointless, ditch it, though always check you're out of contract. If not, you may need to speak to the firm to see if you've a right to cancel first. - Still need & use it? Do check if you can get the same service & pay less. See our money makeover guide. - Not essential? Convert the cost to an annual amount (eg, £10/mth = £120/yr). Then use my money mantras to ask yourself: "Can I afford it? Will I use it? Is it worth it?" If you answer no at any point, get rid if you can. You can easily cancel DDs and standing order payments via your bank or building society. With recurring payments, it's often easier to cancel via the firm. If not, you have a legal right to stop them via the bank - see how to STOP recurring payments. Occasionally you even may discover something useful, as Cathy did: "I reviewed all my Direct Debits and found we'd been paying for critical illness cover for years. When I looked into it, I realised it also covered our children. My son had brain surgery in 2020, and after talking to the insurance company, we received a £15,000 payout - a massive help. I've been following MSE for years, thank you for all your advice." I've been paying for something pointless - can I get the money back? By pointless, I mean 'insurance for a fridge I got rid of a decade ago' type things. For many, frankly it'd be lucky if you did, so prevention is key. While you can politely ask, and sometimes will get, the onus is often on you. With regulated financial products though, there's an argument that firms have a responsibility to offer regular suitability checks, and if it hasn't offered them, it has a 'Consumer Duty' to refund. So ask it to refund and, if it doesn't, you may want to make a formal complaint, and go to the Financial Ombudsman, if needed.

 

740,000 car finance complaints now sent via our free tool. If you've sent one, a favour... A recap: Two weeks ago, Martin launched our free car finance mis-selling guide & tool for anyone who got a car, van, motorbike or camper van on PCP or HP between April 2007 and 28 January 2021. If that's you, jump to the guide. Submitted your complaint? We're gathering info on how different firms are dealing with it - please help by filling in this two-minute survey. Ends Thu. Cheapest 50GB mobile Sim we've seen - just '£5.50/mth'. This iD Mobile Sim (uses Three's signal) is £8/mth, but you can CLAIM (don't forget) a £30 Amazon or Currys voucher. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £5.50/mth over the 12mth contract. Want different data / network? Use Cheap Mobile Finder. News. Almost 1m in England overpaid for prescriptions in 2022/23. Are you one? Check if you can save with a prescriptions season ticket. Can't afford to clear your credit cards? QUICKLY shift debt to up to 29mths INTEREST-FREE. Top balance transfer deals have got worse recently, and that's likely to continue. So if you're paying interest, check NOW if you can shift debt to 0%. The longest card is Barclaycard's up to 29mths (one-off 3.45% fee), or if you can repay quicker, NatWest 13mths (NO fee). Links go via our eligibility calc, but see full info and other options in Top balance transfers. O2 and Virgin Media to hike broadband & mobile bills by 8.8% in April. It's the biggest price hike of the major telecoms firms. With BT, EE, Vodafone, Sky, TalkTalk, Three or others? You've 3% to 7.9% rises. Urgent. Cheap FAST broadband, 100Mb for '£24/mth' or 500Mb for '£28/mth'. Two hot fibre to the home promos available this week. Till 11.59pm on Thu, newbies can get Sky's 100Mb deal for £28/mth, but you can CLAIM a £65 prepaid Mastercard or shopping voucher, so it's equivalent to £24.39/mth over the 18mth contract. You'll need to pay a £5 upfront fee, but you get it back as bill credit. Or even faster is Vodafone's 500Mb offer, where you pay £32/mth but can CLAIM an £85 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher. Factored in, that's equivalent to £28.46/mth over the 24mth contract... though go quick, as the cost rises £1/mth from 10pm today (Tue). Both are available to 60% of homes (it checks when you click through). Or see other deals in our powerful broadband comparison. Summer plant bundle £14 delivered. MSE Blagged. 10,000 sets available, including bulbs, tubers & bare root plants. Excludes Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. Thompson & Morgan Toon in for a special: Celebrating DD day, key energy updates, and up to £5k a year for 1.1m pensioners. The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV 8pm tonight (Tue). Over to Martin: "It's a big live audience special in Newcastle for the last in the series. Lots of important information for you, and frankly much of the show will be 'ask me anything', so you set the agenda. Got a question? Tweet using #MartinLewis or email the team at martinlewis@itv.com. Do watch (or catch up via ITVX)."

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - Summer plant bundle £14 delivered 10,000 available	DID YOU MISS? - FREE postcode lotto with £200+ daily prize - Londoners: Can you save £100s on TfL fares with a Railcard? - FREE Ideal Home Show tix (and a chance to see Martin live) - FREE bowl of porridge and hot drink at Asda Café

 

 

On Fri, we'll likely be told the price of energy for most homes will DROP 15% in April... yet you can beat this with the cheapest tariffs At 7am on Friday, Ofgem, the energy regulator, will announce its new Price Cap for the three months from 1 April. This dictates what the vast majority of households in England, Scotland & Wales (ie, almost everyone bar those on fixes) will pay for energy. That Price Cap is primarily dictated by an algorithm based on an assessment of average wholesale prices from 16 Nov to 15 Feb, so now the assessment period is closed, it's possible to have a pretty good idea of what the new rates will be. 1. While overall costs are down, if nowt changes, the annual £300 standing charge 'poll tax' is predicted to rise. Martin calls the standing charge a 'poll tax', as you pay £100s just for having gas & elec meters regardless of usage. This is a moral hazard, as those on lower usage get less benefit from cutting bills. We've been campaigning hard for change, now Ofgem is reviewing it. The Cornwall Insight prediction doesn't factor in a standing charge policy change from Ofgem - we hope that happens this Friday, but aren't sure it'll be that quick. 2. You can undercut the Price Cap by 3%... E.on Next's Pledge is open to switchers & existing customers who pay by Direct Debit. It promises to remain roughly 3% below the Price Cap for a year (so £50/yr at typical use), so if the Cap drops 15% in April as predicted, so will this tariff. Therefore, as long as you're happy going to E.on, if you're going to stick on the Price Cap, you may as well move to this discounted tariff. It has £25 per fuel early-exit penalties. 3. The cheapest fixes, if you want peace of mind. The big benefit of a fix is you know exactly what you'll pay, so there won't be any shocks. Yet if the predictions are right (and it's a big if), over the next year you'll pay 17% less on average than you do right now, so you want a fix that's substantially cheaper for it to really look a winner. Most are primarily for Direct Debit customers only (and not N. Ireland). British Gas's 'Cheaper than April' fix. The British Gas Price Promise tariff is open to switchers & existing customers. It's currently roughly 12% cheaper than the current Price Cap, but on 1 April it is promising to move to £1 less than the new Price Cap and stick there until June 2025. While current predictions do look like the Price Cap (and especially the E.on Next Pledge tariff above) will beat it, for those wanting price certainty, and a guarantee of no big hikes, it looks to be the best bet if the April Cap is as cheap as expected. Though it does have £75 per fuel early-exit penalties if you leave before June (these are waived if you switch to another BG fix). Outfox the Market's 'no early-exit penalties' fix. Just launched, the current cheapest fix is Outfox the Market's Fix'd 24 one-year deal. It's open to new & existing customers at 14% below the current Cap, and while it's likely British Gas will be slightly cheaper, as this has no early-exit penalties, you can ditch and switch if prices get cheaper. For more info on the tariffs, including a full list of all deals available, see Should you fix your energy? 4. Substantially cheaper energy is possible with Octopus's tracker tariffs, but it's not guaranteed. Existing Octopus customers can switch to its Octopus Tracker tariff (other firms' customers can try switching to Octopus's Price Cap tariff, then once in, switch to this). Its rates change daily based on wholesale costs, which - as they're low - mean the rates have been 35% cheaper than the Price Cap on average (though of course, things can change). Alternatively, its elec-only Agile tariff's rates change half-hourly, based on wholesale prices - good for those who can shift their use out of peak hours. 5. Got an EV? Consider a dedicated tariff. Several suppliers have launched specific two-rate tariffs that offer cheaper electricity overnight for charging your electric vehicle (EV). See what's available in our EV tariffs guide. 6. Struggling to pay your energy bills? Speak to your supplier about a payment plan or bill reductions. Plus most suppliers have hardship grants available for their customers, to help you get out of fuel debt. If you're really struggling, see our Help if you can't pay your bills guides. 7. Cut your bills by cutting energy use. Obviously, cutting use cuts bills - and hopefully there are cuts you can make to improve efficiency that don't affect your lifestyle too much. Plus many suppliers will actually PAY YOU to cut your energy use this winter. For full info, see 70+ energy saving tips | Energy mythbusters | Heat the human not the home.

 

We've had 14,000 responses to our "sorry, we are experiencing unusually high call volumes" tool... but need more. If you call a bank, broadband, mobile, credit card, energy, water or sewerage firm and hear something like this, please take 30 seconds to report it via our unusual call volumes tool (please bookmark this for when you need to use it). We think it may be a breach of the Consumer Duty and are building data. Megabus £2 coach tickets. 10,000 available - can you find 'em? For travel between 15 March and 15 April, though it excludes Northern Ireland and trips within (not to/from) Scotland. Megabus 'We got a £10,000 council tax refund thanks to MSE, as we care for our adult son.' Our success of the week comes from Paul and Pamela, who emailed: "Having read your severe mental impairments (SMI) article about council tax rebates, we contacted our council as we're both carers for our 35-year-old son who has cerebral palsy. We've just been issued a refund for the past 7yrs, amounting to almost £10,000, and had our council tax reduced by 50%. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention." Also see: Council tax discounts and Are you in the wrong band?  And please send us your MoneySaving successes (on this or owt else). 30+ birthday FREEBIES, including sweet treats from Krispy Kreme, Greggs, Costa & more. MSE turns 21 on Thursday, so we've updated our birthday freebies round-up, which works whenever you're celebrating. Happy birthday to us! 3,000 FREE pairs of Build It Live tickets (normally about £12 each). For Kent (24 to 25 Feb), Oxfordshire (8 to 9 Jun) and Exeter (7 to 8 Sept). Includes free £9.99 self-build guidebook. Build It Live

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 29mths 0%, 3.45% fee (24.9% rep APR interest) No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility / apply*) - 13mths 0% (24.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts £200 to switch + cashback: NatWest Reward £175 to switch + rewards: Club Lloyds Top savings accounts Top easy access: Paragon Bank 5.16%, min £1,000 Top one-year fix: SmartSave 5.21%, 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, TSB has asked us to only link to our eligibility calculator), 5.9% rep APR Broadband top picks Fast fibre (55Mb+): Vodafone '£23.55/mth' Superfast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin Media: '£21.78/mth' On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£3.20/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.45/mth' for 5GB 10GB to 30GB data: iD Mobile, '£4.09/mth' for 30GB 31GB+ data: iD Mobile, '£5.50/mth' for 50GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL How much do you typically spend on birthdays? In honour of MSE's 21st birthday this week (yippee!), we're updating our Birthday freebies guide - a round-up of the best goodies you can claim on your birthday. Yet while there are tons of free and cheap ways to treat yourself and others, the cost of birthdays can still add up. It leaves us wondering, how much do you spend on birthdays each year? Add up your own and other people's and vote in this week's poll. Over half of employees pay more than 8% of their income into their pension. Last week, we asked you how much of your pre-tax income you contribute to your pension each month. Over 8,000 MoneySavers voted, with roughly one in two employees paying in more than 8%, and one in eight paying in more than 20%. Fewer than 2% of employees don't contribute anything, compared to some 26% of those who are self-employed. See the full poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: DPD voted top courier service in MSE poll - Third cost of living payment being paid to those on benefits - Council tax to rise for millions in April with most facing 5% hikes

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should my son share the insurance payout from his mother's hospital stay with her? My son has private healthcare, which he pays £200/mth for and can add family members to for free. He added his mother, and a year later she had a badly-infected leg. The private hospital had no room, so she had to go to an NHS hospital, where she stayed for 12 days. My son's policy lets you claim £100/night if you have to use the NHS. His mother made a claim, and after she did all the paperwork, he was sent a cheque for £1,200. Yet he refuses to give her any of it, as he pays for the policy. Is he right or wrong? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should my son share his insurance payout? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - MSE Forum highlights: Makeovers, mice & mowers

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 20 FEB ONWARDS) Tue 20 Feb - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live (from Newcastle), ITV1, 8pm (watch previous episodes) Wed 21 Feb - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 27 Feb - This Morning, phone-in, ITV1, 10.15am

 

BUYING A PARAMEDIC COFFEE & A COCA-COLA PHONE - YOUR RANDOM ACTS OF MONEYSAVING KINDNESS That's all for this week, but before we go... it was Random Acts of Kindness Day on Saturday, so we asked our followers to tell us what random gestures of goodwill they've given or received. One person saw a paramedic pull up behind them in a Starbucks drive-thru and so paid for their order, while another gave their spare Edinburgh Castle tickets to some tourists, who then gave them £5 for some ice cream. When it comes to receiving, one MoneySaver asked a lady if they could park on her road and she responded by giving them a visitor permit. Finally, a few years ago a group of colleagues saved up ring pulls from cans to claim a free Coca-Cola phone for a fellow worker who didn't have a mobile - it even played the music from the Coca-Cola advert whenever someone called! See the full list, and let us know your random acts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We hope you save some money, The MSE team

 

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