Free £200, 5.2% ISA, beat pension tax-trap, reclaim student loans, cheap car insurance, 1p photo birthday card

Plus... top 20 celebs in scams, £239 vac £119, 30% off used clothes, Amazon Prime Day preview

                                                           

09 July 2024 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL New. FREE £200 bank switch bonus: - Top new free cash deals, incl a rare one - Best deals if you're overdrawn Martin: Millions overpay student loans - can you reclaim £100s? 5 quick steps to save on car insurance Ending. Free £140 + £10/mth Deliveroo cashback + 4 airport lounge passes Exclusive. Top 20 celebs used in scams 1p photo card delivered £239 Hoover cordless vacuum £119 Top 5.2% easy-access cash ISA Extra 30% off used Zara & more clothing New. How to beat the pension tax trap Amazon Prime Day: 40% off air fryer? Netflix axing cheapest ad-free plan New. How student loans REALLY work What'll Keir Starmer do for your wallet? Interrail 20% off sale The Sun '£9.50' holidays are back... Laybuy, the BNPL firm, has gone bust 'Free' sports sessions for kids aged 5-16 This week's best buys, including 29mth 0% debt shift, 30GB Sim '£4/mth', 6.1% loan Should I get my fence fixed and bill my neighbour after he messed up? BEST BUYS & TOOLS MSE Cheap Mobile Finder Credit Club including free credit report 0% balance transfers Compare broadband deals MSE Car Insurance Compare+ 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 Best Sim-only deals

New. FREE £200 bank switch bonus New & boosted deals, including a rare one (so many can get it). It's easy to grab the cash The bank switching yo-yoing continues. This year started with no deals available, then they launched in a rush, then went, came back, went again, and now we've two new ones, including the joint biggest upfront bonus we've seen in 2024. So we'll start with top free cash, then there's special info later on the best deals if you're overdrawn. Switching is usually easy and hassle-free. To get the free cash, you must use their 7 (working) day switch service. This moves all your money, Direct Debits & standing orders for you, closes your old account, and auto-forwards any payments to it to the new account. Top FREE CASH bank switch bonuses All but Barclays available for joint accounts as well as single New. First Direct 1st Account* Service: 91% 'great' Min pay-in for all perks: None, but within the first 30 days, you must: pay in total of £1,000+ (can then withdraw it), use debit card 5+ times, & log in to online banking. You must also switch over 2+ Direct Debits or standing orders. Top all-round FREE £200 (£175 cash + £25 Amazon voucher), 0% overdraft, top debit card abroad & 7% regular saver. First Direct's* been near-top of every banking customer service poll we've ever run and right now, via this special link, it has boosted its £175 switching bonus by adding a £25 Amazon voucher, though it's unlikely to be around too long. It also gives many an ongoing £250 0% overdraft, and allows you to save £300/mth into its linked 1yr 7% fixed-rate regular saver (maxed that's £136 interest). Plus its debit card doesn't add a foreign exchange fee when you spend abroad, so you get the same near-perfect exchange rate as the bank. Do you use the Safari web browser? It asks if you can apply via another browser, as it can be tough to track bonus eligibility via Safari. Who can get it? First Direct newbies not switching from HSBC and who have not opened an HSBC current account since 2018. New. Barclays* Service: 30% 'great' Min pay-in for all perks: £800/mth for Blue Rewards (nothing if you later cancel that). You must also be switching 2+ Direct Debits. Rarely offered FREE £175 plus extras, eg, 5.12% saver, Apple TV+. Barclays* bank switch bribes aren't common, which is great news for regular switchers as it means many won't fall foul of the 'must be a new customer' rule. To switch, go via the link above, then it'll direct you to download its app, you must do that and then join Barclays' Blue Rewards scheme to get the £175 (the Barclays money ISN'T available for joint accounts). Blue Rewards costs £5/mth, but you only need be a member for 1month to qualify for the £175. However as until Sept, Blue gives you £5/mth cashback, keep it until then. After that, whether to ditch depends if you think the perks are worth a fiver...  - Free Apple TV+ (normally £8.99/mth) - Major League Soccer stream (normally £12/mth) - 5.12% easy-access savings on up to £5,000 (though top normal savings pay similar) Who can get it? Barclays newbies who haven't had an account since yesterday (8 July), and who have never received a Barclays switch bonus. Club Lloyds Service: 59% 'great' Min pay-in for all perks: Needs a hefty £2,000 each month (equivalent to £28,500/yr income) or there's a £3/mth fee (if so, avoid). Must switch 3+ Direct Debits too. A perky account FREE £175 plus extras, eg, free Disney+ & 6.25% regular saver. With Club Lloyds, each year you can choose to receive 12 months of Disney+, OR six free cinema tickets, OR an annual Coffee Club & Gourmet Society membership, OR a magazine subscription. Though its minimum pay-in criteria to get this is much higher than other banks. It also has a linked regular savings account, at 6.25% fixed for a year, for up to £400/mth (maxed out, that's £161 interest). Who can get it? You can't have had switch cash from Lloyds, Bank of Scotland or Halifax since April 2020. Service ratings come from our poll done in January. Got a (likely joint) bills account? Get 1% cashback No free cash here (it was offering it, but has dropped it) but open Santander Edge* which costs £3/mth and it's all about cashback. So you could switch your joint bills account here, and use it as well as your main account, or as you don't need to switch to get it, you could just open it up. You get two lots of 1% cashback, each up to £10/mth (so £20 total). - 1% on bills paid by Direct Debit, eg, water, council tax, energy, broadband, phone and paid-for TV - 1% on supermarket, fuel, and train and bus travel spending For typical bills, this will be a gain of about £90/yr even after the fee. You can also open a 7% linked saver, which smashes the best-buy easy-access account, and lets you save up to £4,000 in it (£4,000 each if it's a joint account) - maxed out, that's £280/yr in interest. See full eligibility criteria in our Santander Edge review. Now for those questions you ask us a lot... Q. Will switching bank affect my credit score? One extra search on your credit file shouldn't make much difference (though many in a short time can). Some lenders do score you down for switching bank accounts as they like evidence of longevity, but this shouldn't be an issue for most. For belt 'n' braces safety, if you're imminently (within a couple of months) about to apply for a mortgage or an important, needed debt, it's probably best to prioritise that. Otherwise, one bank switch isn't really an issue. More in how switching banks affects your credit. Related: Check your Credit Eligibility Rating - are you a 10/10? Q. Can you make £1,000s by repeatedly switching banks? Becoming a bank bribe bagger can pay well - we've had people tell us they've made a shedload. Could you do it too? See full pros & cons in make £1,000s by repeatedly switching bank. Get ANOTHER £180 cashback on top (& top savings) The Chase current account* is a different beast from those above, and you can combine them, as Chase offers an app-based account you DON'T need to switch to to get, there's no hard credit-check (just an ID check), and it's fee-free. Spend on its debit card and you'll get 1% cashback on all normal daily debit-card spending up to £15/mth (so £180/yr). It generally excludes bills, investments and major purchases such as cars. So you could just use the free cash accounts above to pay your salary into and pay bills from, then fund Chase and use its debit card to spend on. It's also top for spending abroad and has a new 5.1% top-rate easy-access savings deal (from £1 to £1m). Top accounts if you go into your overdraft Too many think 'credit cards bad, debit cards good'. For those overdrawn, it's more a case of 'credit cards bad, debit cards worse', as almost all overdrafts are now charged at a typical 40% interest - nearly double even a bog-standard high-street credit card. Yet there are ways to cut this. You CAN switch banks when overdrawn, though there's no guarantee the new one will offer you an overdraft or even match your existing one. But all banks below have overdraft eligibility checkers you can use before applying to see if it's likely you'll qualify. Full info in top overdraft accounts, but in brief... Owe less than £425? Get paid to switch to a 0% overdraft. First Direct* (details above) offers new switchers £175, and many get a £250 interest-free overdraft. So if your overdraft's up to £425, the £175 pays some off and the rest is at 0%. Above that you'll pay 40%, like elsewhere. Full info: First Direct. A year's potentially bigger 0% overdraft. Nationwide FlexDirect* can offer a far bigger (or smaller) 0% overdraft, as 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: Nationwide FlexDirect. Do a 0% money transfer. These specialist cards pay money into your bank account so you owe them instead. You can get up to 12mths 0%, though be careful, it's easy to get it wrong. Our Money transfers guide takes you through it, including top deals. The rate isn't the only thing to focus on, though. Our Cut overdraft costs guide has full info, but here are Martin's 5 most important tips: 1) Aim to repay a fixed monthly amount. For example, if you're £500 overdrawn, 'paying' £100 means aiming to be £400 overdrawn at month end. A budget will help. 2) Consider moving Direct Debits to just before payday. The idea is you're overdrawn for less time, so costs are lower. 3) Got savings? Use 'em to clear it. See Repay debt with savings? 4) Can you reclaim past bank charges? See Bank charge reclaiming. 5) Struggling with all debt? Get free help from Citizens Advice, National Debtline or StepChange. It can make a huge difference.

 

 

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: 'Are you paying off a student loan? Over 4 million graduates are due £100s of overpayments back!' There's a new online way for some to reclaim too... Student loans, like tax, are repaid via the payroll - but only if you earn over a threshold, and what you pay is in proportion to earnings. And just as millions can reclaim tax overpayments, many uni leavers can reclaim unwittingly overpaid student loans. Our Freedom of Information (FOI) requests indicate that over four tax years (6 April 2019 to 5 April 2023) likely more than 4 million overpaid, and many more did before & since. When I did a video explainer on this last year, it went viral & we drowned in successes, such as Kayleigh's: "I wanted to thank you. I've just found out I'm due just over £800 through having made 5 repayments to my student loan when I hadn't reached the yearly threshold." Full info in reclaim student loan overpayments, but in brief... The big four reasons you may have overpaid the student loan Reason 1: You repaid the loan in some MONTHS, despite not earning enough in the tax YEAR. (~3.3m affected over the 4yrs). Student loans only need to be repaid if you earn over an ANNUAL threshold, but they are taken by the MONTH, so if you earn over the equivalent monthly threshold, it'll be deducted by your firm's payroll. So some have money taken monthly, even when their total annual income isn't enough. This is common for those who don't work a full tax-year (eg, your salary's above the threshold but you only worked nine months), or are on variable incomes or commissions. So check whether you repaid some loan when your total annual earnings were under your plan's threshold... Plan Who's on that plan (based on when you STARTED & where you live, not study) Repayment threshold 1 Eng: 1998-2011. Wal: 1998-2011. NI: 1998-today incl postgrads £24,990/yr (£2,082/mth) 2 Eng: 2012-2022. Wal: 2012-today £27,295/yr (£2,274/mth) 3 Eng: Postgrads. Wal: Postgrads  £21,000/yr (£1,750/mth) 4 Scot: 1998-today, incl postgrads £31,395/yr (£2,616/mth) 5 Eng: 2023 onwards (but won't be repaying yet) £25,000/yr from earliest April 2026 PS: Paid too much in a month, but earnt OVER the annual threshold? You CAN'T reclaim. Eg, earn £2,000/mth on Plan 2, you'd make no repayments as it's under the monthly threshold (£2,082/mth). Yet get a £4,000 bonus on top in December (so total £6,000), and you'd have 9% of the excess over the monthly threshold taken (so £335). Yet your annual earnings are £28,000, only £705 over the £27,295 (and 9% of that is £63), but the rules say here you can't reclaim the excess, as you earnt over the annual threshold. Reason 2: You're on the wrong student loan payment plan by default. (~600,000 affected over the 4yrs). If you've not told your firm which plan you're on, the Govt tells it to default to a Plan 1 loan, where you repay on income above £24,990/yr. Yet millions are on plans where you only repay if you earn over £27,000/yr - so if the default setting is then used, you'll have overpaid, so should speak to your payroll to fix it & reclaim. Reason 3: You started repaying your loan too early. (~120,000 affected over the 4yrs). You're usually only eligible to start repaying in the April after you left your course. If you mis-stated when your studies finished, or your employer got it wrong, you could've repaid too early, and are due that cash back. Reason 4: You had money deducted after the loan was fully repaid. (~190,000 affected over the 4yrs). After a set time the loan is wiped - often after 30 years for those currently repaying, but it does vary (see When will my loan be wiped?). However, you could still repay even after your loan is cleared due to pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) timings. If this does happen, you will automatically be repaid so don't need to reclaim. Yet better still, to prevent this, you can set up a Direct Debit for the last two years of your repayments, rather than do it through the payroll. PS: The Student Loans Company asked me to say that there may be overlap between each reason, so you can't simply add them up to get the total people impacted. So I've said it. And while we're on mostly irrelevant geeky notes, the reason the numbers are estimated is because we missed doing an FOI request in one of the four years, but as the patterns are consistent, I've estimated the missing years on that basis. 'Nuff of this, let's get on with the important bits...  How to reclaim (you can go back as many years as you like)... There's no time limit here either, so even if this was a decade ago, you can still do it. If possible, gather old payslips, your payroll number and a PAYE reference number. But if you don't have those, don't let it put you off - this can often be done in a phone call, and now a new system allows some of the claims to be done online. Full free help in how to reclaim student loan overpayments. Should you claim the money back if you've overpaid? Overpaying on normal loans is a good thing - it means you clear the debt quicker and pay less interest. Yet student loans don't work like normal loans. It's complex... see Should I reclaim overpayments? for plan-by-plan details (spoiler alert: for many, the answer is 'yes').

 

Exclusive. The top 20 celebrities used by scammers - beware ads with these people in. We've exclusively analysed data from Action Fraud on public figures, & yes, it does include our Martin. Full top 20 with tips to avoid scams. 1p personalised photo birthday / wedding / thank you greetings card delivered (normally £3.84). MSE Blagged. No typo - it's just 1p via our exclusive code including delivery. 5,000 available. Card Factory £239 Hoover 'pet edition' cordless vacuum for £119. MSE Blagged. Or £229 'home edition' for £109. 5,500 codes available. Hoover Top savings: 5.2% easy-access tax-free cash ISA (min £1). Not only is it the top easy-access cash ISA (ie, you can withdraw money whenever you want) but Trading 212's 5.2% AER* (min £1) pays the same as the top normal open-to-all savings too, so if you're saving up to £20,000, it's worth a look. You can normally put in new money & transfer in from other cash ISAs (though with transfers, over-demand means it's saying open now & it'll let you transfer by approx the end of July). While it's a share-trading platform, it should all work like normal, though you can read more about its complex structure. Far more options in Top savings & Top cash ISAs. Extra 30% off already-reduced preloved Zara, White Stuff & more clothing. Used-clothes site Thrift+ has 60,000 items in its up to 80% off summer clearance, & our code gives an extra 30% off £20+ orders. Thrift+ New. How to get money out of your pension - avoid the tax trap, annuities, drawdown & more. The final Not The Martin Lewis Podcast has just launched, where Martin asks specialists key questions on subjects he doesn't cover. They delve this week into taking your pension, including: Avoid the tax trap | Annuities | Drawdown | The 25% tax-free lump sum | Plus far more, & it's now embedded, with transcript, in our Pension need-to-knows guide. Amazon 'Prime Day' predictions - will the 40% off Ninja air fryer return? Prime Day's next week & it perversely lasts two days, & while many deals are often meh, there can be hidden corkers. Prime Day predictions. Related: 1-click check to see if you can get £15 off £30 at Amazon. Netflix axing its cheapest ad-free 'basic' plan. Find out what this means for you in our Netflix shake-up news. New. How student loans REALLY work (tuition fees, living money, rents, etc) - crucial if you or your kids plan uni in the next few years. This is the big topic of this week's The Martin Lewis Podcast (just to confuse you, it's separate from the Not The Martin Lewis Podcast on pensions above). It's now embedded, with transcript, in Martin's 2024/25 student loans guide. All this & more via BBC Sounds | Spotify | Apple or wherever you get your Martin fix.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - 1p personalised photo greetings card 5,000 available - £239 Hoover 'pet' cordless vacuum £119 or £229 'home' cordless vacuum £109 5,500 available	DID YOU MISS? - Martin's car finance mis-selling update - are you owed £1,000s? - Should you consolidate existing pensions? - FREE jacket potato & beans at Morrisons Cafés (normally £4) - Warning for Scottish Power smart meter customers

 

 

Car insurance costs level off after big year-on-year rise  5 quick steps to try to save £100s, even if not at renewal  Use Marc's success as inspiration: 'I saved £618 via the Compare+ tool' It's the too-little-discussed inflation that has been the final nail in the coffin of many budgets. Car insurance, already a grudge purchase for many, rose substantially again over the year to May/June 2024 (Consumer Intelligence says 34%, MoneySuperMarket 19%). Overall its now up around 70% since 2021. Though things seem to be levelling off somewhat... Yet big savings are possible, as Marc found when he emailed last month: "My car insurance renewal increased by the princely sum of £800 (for a 14-yr-old car, and I've 30yrs' no-claims), roughly a 305% increase. Using your Compare+ Car Insurance tool, I got a like-for-like policy for £182 [a saving of £618]. So I'm taking the Mrs to lunch courtesy of your good selves! 😊😊" Full help in Cheap car insurance, but in brief... NEVER just auto-renew. Instead take five minutes on our tool, which does far more than just compare... Auto-renewing denies yourself the benefit of choice and competition, and with prices in a state of huge churn, different firms' competitive stances are changing all the time, so there's no guarantee that because your current insurance was cheaper for you a year ago, it still is now. So use our Car Insurance Compare+ tool, where you... - Fill in one questionnaire. We borrow MoneySupermarket's, so if you've used it before, your answers are auto-filled. - Get 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... - Personalised tips to try for a bigger saving. These include whether you should look to add an additional driver or pay annually, not monthly - and some have one-click checks, so you can easily find out if they work for you. - The other sites to try to see if you can slice down costs further. We assess if Direct Line - which isn't on comparisons - is worth trying too, and give the order of other comparison sites to try, to see if you can drive down the price more. More than one car? Always 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" as they 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. Already got home or other insurance with another firm? Some firms, including Direct Line, Aviva and Churchill, give discounts of usually 10% if you get more than one policy type with them. This won't be included in your comparison result, but when you scan down the list, if any of them are cheap it's worth factoring in the increased discount which usually applies on the new policy when picking. Even if your renewal is ages away, it can be worth checking NOW. The sweet spot to get car insurance quotes is 23 days before renewal (so put that in your diary) - prices can double if you leave it later. Yet even if you're far from renewal, with the recent price flux it's still worth checking in case you can make big savings. Then provided you haven't claimed this year, you can just get a new policy, cancel your existing policy and get a pro-rata refund if you paid upfront, minus a usually £50ish admin fee (so factor that in). See save if not at renewal help. The only negative is you won't earn the year's no-claims bonus, but for big savings, it's often worth it. Make sure the policy is right for you and complain if you're unfairly treated. As with any insurance, check the policy details to be sure it's the cover you want, and ensure that insurers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority before you buy (all via Compare+ will be). If a claim is unfairly rejected, remember you have a right to take 'em to the free Financial Ombudsman.

 

What has Keir Starmer promised to do for the pound in your pocket? We group his answers from our Leaders' Debate, on energy bills, rents, first-time buyers, WASPI, carers, student finance & more. See Labour's pledges. Interrail 20% off sale - unlimited travel on European trains & ferries. Gets adult (aged 28+) 7-day pass for £259. Works in 32 countries but NOT in the UK. Interrail sale The Sun '£9.50' holidays are back... but are they ever really £9.50? Our analysis suggests otherwise, though decent savings are still possible. For hols from now to July 2025. The Sun holidays Buy now, pay later firm Laybuy falls into administration. If you're a customer, see full Laybuy help. 'Free' sports sessions for kids aged 5 to 16, including football, netball, swimming, taekwondo & more. Via promotional packs of Capri-Sun juice (normally £2 to £5). 'Free' kids' sports

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: Tesco Bank (check eligibility / apply*) - 29mths 0%, 3.49% fee (24.9% rep APR interest) No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility, NatWest has asked us to link only to our calculator) - 13mths 0% (24.9% rep APR interest) Broadband top picks Fast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin '£22.34/mth' Superfast fibre (500Mb+): Vodafone '£29.05/mth' On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Top savings accounts Top easy access: Ulster Bank (NatWest-owned) 5.2%, min £5,000 Top fix: Nationwide 5.5% for 18mths, min £1 Car insurance Try our Compare+ Car Insurance tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Tesco Bank (check eligibility / apply*), 7.2% rep APR (for Clubcard holders) Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: Tesco Bank (check eligibility / apply*), 6.1% rep APR (for Clubcard holders) Top energy deals Try our relaunched Cheap Energy Club Best bank accounts New. £175 cash + £25 Amazon vch to switch: First Direct New. £175 to switch + perks (eg, Apple TV+): Barclays Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£3.15/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.25/mth' for 5GB 10GB to 30GB data: iD Mobile, '£4.09/mth' for 30GB 31GB+ data: iD Mobile, '£5.75/mth' for 50GB

 

Ending. Triple reward: FREE £140 of Amazon / Sainsbury's / M&S + £10/mth Deliveroo cashback + 4 airport lounge passes Credit cards want you to spend on them, so much so that some pay you to do it. They of course hope they'll earn far more in interest. Yet just neuter that by setting up a Direct Debit to repay the card IN FULL each month, then provided you don't withdraw cash on it, bust your credit limit or see it as an excuse to overspend, it's interest-free and you're quids in (don't do it if not). Yet a boost - clearly targeting middle Britain - on one of our long-standing top picks is about to end. Free £140 shopping + Deliveroo cashback + airport lounge passes. The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card (link goes via eligibility so you can see if you'll be accepted, or you can just apply*) has temporarily increased the points you get for signing up to it, making it a powerful deal for some. You get... Ends next Tue (16 July). 1) Enough bonus points to get £140 at Amazon, M&S or Sainsbury's if you spend £3,000 within 3mths. For those who haven't had an Amex card within the last two years, and who'll spend a total of £3,000+ over the first three months (so it's for higher spenders, but many families do £1,000/mth if they put all spending on it), open the card by 11.59pm on Tue 16 Jul and you can currently get 25,000 bonus points (normally it's 20,000) on top of the standard one point per pound spent. So hit the trigger and you'll have at least 28,000 points, which is enough to be exchanged for... - £140 in Amazon, M&S and Currys, or £140 worth of Sainsbury's Nectar points. - Or 28,000 air miles with Avios, Virgin, Emirates and other airlines, or 42,000+ Hilton, Marriott or Radisson hotel points. 2) Two £5 Deliveroo cashbacks a month (worth up to £120/yr). Save the offer to your card (found under 'offers' in the Amex app or online banking) and use the card to pay for Deliveroo (min spend £5), and you'll automatically get £5 credit on two orders a month. 3) Four free airport lounge passes a year (worth around £50 each). These should come within six weeks of acceptance and they're usable in many airport lounges worldwide. Warning. The card is fee-free in year one, but £195/yr after. Diarise to cancel before year two if you don't want to pay the £195. Plus if you don't repay IN FULL each month, it charges 31% APR on purchases. Make sure you've a Direct Debit in place to ensure that never happens. When we say pay off IN FULL, we mean IN FULL, not nearly in full. The words IN FULL are Martin's catchphrase for a reason. If you spend £1,000 in a month and clear the card entirely, there's no interest. Spend £1,000 and pay off £999, and you usually pay interest on the whole £1,000, not just the £1 left.

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL Are you going on a summer holiday this year? With peak summer holiday season fast approaching, we want to find out whether you're going away this summer, and if so, how much you're planning to spend, and whether it's more or less than you typically do - especially as many are still feeling the squeeze of the cost of living. Vote in this week's poll. Over half of MoneySavers use several comparison sites when shopping for home insurance. Last week, we asked how many comparison sites you use when shopping for home insurance. Just over 3,000 of you responded, with more than half telling us that you browse at least two different sites when looking for deals - important as they can cover different insurers, and often have different prices for the same insurer. We were also pleased to see that fewer than 5% of respondents let their home insurance auto-renew - the worst thing to do for a cheap deal. See full home insurance poll results.

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I get my fence fixed and send my neighbour the bill after he messed it up? I had my garden fence repaired and stained, and it looked great. Then my neighbour spray-painted his side, and it came through and went all over my side as well as my path, shed and some of my plant pots. I was devastated as I'd spent a lot of money on that fence. I spoke to my neighbour, who said he'd fix it, but did nothing. I chased over several weeks, but still nothing. I've considered getting it fixed and sending him a bill, or should I just let it go and sort it myself? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I bill my neighbour over botched fence? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma (MMD) | View past MMDs

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - MSE Forum highlights: Charity shops, cottage gardens & cycle helmets

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 9 JUL ONWARDS) Wed 10 Jul - The Martin Lewis Podcast, BBC Radio 5 Live, from 6pm (listen to previous podcasts) Tue 16 Jul - This Morning, ITV1, from 10am

 

 

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