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| DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
| Don't wait until Christmas to deal with debt. The sooner it's sorted, the sooner it's cheaper If you have debt on a credit or store card, and can't afford to clear it each month, then you can't afford not to check out whether you can get a 0% balance transfer card. That's where you get a new card that pays off debt on old cards, so you owe it instead but with NO INTEREST. This means your repayments clear the actual debt rather than just cover the charges, so you're debt-free quicker. Yet the market's top longest 0% deal is being pulled imminently... What really counts is getting the best card you'll be accepted for... use our tool to check. Each application leaves a mark on your credit file, yet our 0% Balance Transfer Eligibility Calculator shows your acceptance odds (and in some cases pre-approval) for most top cards without affecting your future ability to get credit, so you can minimise applications.
a) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you could lose the 0% deal and it'll cost far more. Full help and info, including options for poorer credit scorers, in Best balance transfers (APR examples). | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ends TOMORROW. Biggest upfront FREE cash bank switching bonus... £150. Until 11.59pm on Thursday, newbies switching to the HSBC Advance* account via this link can pocket the biggest bonus we've seen since early 2020. To get the £150 (plus a £10 donation to Shelter), you must have £1,500+ going in within 60 days (so just salary for many). Full eligibility info and more options in Best bank accounts. LOOPHOLE: To get a totally free £40 Amazon voucher. Santander's top balance transfer card deal (see above) ends on Thursday at 11.59pm - everyone accepted (check acceptance odds or apply*) is sent an email after 30 days to claim a £40 Amazon voucher. So you can twist this to just apply, do nowt with the card, get the £40 voucher, then cancel the card. Though if you'll soon make a key credit application, such as a mortgage, all applications have a slight short-term negative impact on your creditworthiness, so in that case, it's best you don't. Ninja blender/soup maker, multi-cooker 'up to £80 off' via special codes. MSE Blagged. Deals to get £150 multi-cooker (normally £230) and £100 soup maker (normally £150). Ninja codes Working from home's back again in England. Are you now due up to £280 tax back? If your UK employer requires you to work from home, even just for a day, read Martin's Working-from-home tax back blog. How do you pay 18p for Doritos, 28p for Sprite, £2.70 for £13 Hotel Chocolat box? Via a 10% extra code for already-reduced 'past best-before' food. MSE Blagged. Approved Food sells cheap groceries near or past their 'best-before' date (just the manufacturer's view of optimum quality, not the use-by date, so they're safe). Min £22.50 spend, delivery is £3+ or free for newbies. Approved Food Urgent. Shelly saved £560 after Martin's car & home insurance warning - it's not too late. The clock is ticking - a fortnight ago Martin warned everyone to get quotes now, EVEN IF NOT NEAR RENEWAL, as new rules on 1 Jan 2022 may see costs spike. Our success of the week is from Shelly, who followed that and emailed: "After reading the recent email, I sorted out my home insurance. My renewal quote was £743, but I got a quote for £181. Thanks for all your tips." Please send us MoneySaving successes on this or anything else (PS: If you've got deja vu, that's because this was in last week's email, but the links were broken for some, so we've repeated it.)
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| Major recent rule changes to the state's 'universal credit' welfare payments mean there are now more than one million eligible people likely missing out - including a new clutch of 600,000 who are now eligible but weren't before. So if you're on a lower income, it is worth spending a bit of time to check if you're one of them... Use our free 10-minute universal credit & benefits checker tool. More than seven million households are missing out on some form of state support - our 10-min benefits calculator is a ready reckoner which shows what and how much you may qualify for. Christine emailed us after checking two weeks ago:"We completed it to see if we're eligible for housing benefit. It said we were, plus carer's allowance. We applied and will get £40 per week [£2,080/year] backdated until September. We're over the moon. Can only encourage others to do it, you'll never know unless you try. Thanks, Martin and staff." 600,000 more eligible - if you have family income under £30,000 (some under £50,000) check now. About 600,000 extra working households are now eligible for universal credit, and many who are already eligible will get more, because of two things... - Work allowances increased by £42 per month. The amount those in households with children, or those with 'a limited capacity for work', can earn before universal credit drops has been increased. - If you earn over your work allowance, you keep more of it. The amount of universal credit you receive is reduced if you earn over this, but now you keep 45p per £1 of earnings, rather than 37p. So who should check? Our rule of thumb is if you have less than £30,000/yr household income, especially if you have kids, use our 10-min benefits calculator (this doesn't mean you'll get it, just that it's worth investigating). But if you've two or more children and high rent, it can be worth checking if you've household income up to £50,000/yr. On legacy benefits such as tax credits or income support? Find out if universal credit now pays more. If you're one of the three million still claiming tax credits, income support, housing benefit, income-based jobseeker's allowance and income-related employment & support allowance, you'll eventually be moved to universal credit which replaces them all. Yet this may take years, so check if you'd be better switching now - many will (especially after the changes above), but some won't. - Who's likely to be better off on universal credit? Those who work and pay rent, especially if they live in a city. - Who's unlikely to be better off? Those who aren't in work | Those who work but don't pay rent | Self-employed people earning under £1,200/mth | Those with savings of more than £16,000. Read our full new step-by-step Should I switch to universal credit guide to take you through it. |
| As Ikea launches its 'up to 50% off' winter sale, our 20 hacks can cut its prices further. See our sale analysis in 20 Ikea hacks, also including '£9' Christmas tree as well as free tea and coffee. 'Martin, why do you say don't fix, when you're also predicting a HUGE price cap rise?' He's being asked this a lot, so watch Martin's 4-minute energy video explainer and share it to help counter the disinformation. SCAMS UPDATE 1: Parliamentary committee supports our call to put ads in Online Safety Bill. Brilliant news as the cross-party joint committee, that Martin gave powerful evidence to, has recommended big tech be responsible for the adverts they're paid to publish. Now we must hope the Govt listens - see Scam ads news. SCAMS UPDATE 2: Police warn about 300 'fake emails from Martin' reports. The police agency Action Fraud has warned about Martin scams. Remember, this newsletter and other MSE emails are the ONLY legit emails you'll get from Martin (unless you know him). See the scam emails to watch out for. Unique chance to try eHarmony premium for a week for free. MSE Blagged. Sign up via our link and get access to the dating site's premium membership free, with NO SUBSCRIPTION needed (normally £10/mth). eHarmony Can you gain £100s with just a 5-minute look in your wallet? Check if your purse is financially fit. |
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| AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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| THIS WEEK'S POLL How much is a £100 voucher at Amazon, M&S, Halfords and more really worth to you? These days, many short-lived promotional deals are discounted via store-specific vouchers, not cash. So we wanted to test which you found the most valuable and which are most appealing. To do that, we want to know how much you'd pay for a £100 voucher for different retailers. Lebara is the top mobile provider for service and network coverage combined. Last week, we asked how you rated your provider for service (how it treats you) and coverage (how strong the signal is) - more than 4,000 people voted. Lebara (which uses Vodafone's network) ranked best when the two elements were combined, as 63% of its customers rated it 'great' for customer service and 70% rated it 'great' for network coverage. For service alone, Giffgaff was top with 72% rating it 'great', while Lebara was unbeaten for coverage. Virgin Mobile took the wooden spoon for service, as 29% of its customers said it was 'poor', while Three ranked bottom for coverage, with a whopping 56% rating it 'poor'. See full mobile poll results. |
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| MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I tell my family their Christmas presents are second-hand? On a recent trip abroad, I bought Christmas presents second-hand for all my family. They're in amazing condition and I got them for good prices, plus I wanted to prioritise the environment (I didn't fly to my destination). To me, gift giving's about what you choose for a person and the effort you put in rather than the price you pay, but if they were to find out, I wouldn't want them to think I was trying to hide that I may not have spent as much on them as I have in the past. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I tell my family their Christmas presents are second-hand? | Suggest an MMD |
| MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 15 DEC ONWARDS) Wed 15 Dec - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm. Listen to past episodes MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECTS TBC) Thu 16 Dec - BBC Radio Manchester, Morning with Michelle Dignan, from 9.30am |
| 'TIS THE SEASON FOR... PACKAGES BEING LEFT INSIDE A RABBIT HUTCH & OTHER ODD PLACES That's all for this week, but before we go... it's the busiest time of the year for deliveries, but sadly not all courier firms treat packages with love and care, so MoneySavers on our social channels have been sharing wacky places their items have been left in. One was accurately thrown through a small open window on to the couch, another was left in a shed, while one was left inside a rabbit hutch with the bunny keeping guard. Let us know your stories and read those from others in our oddest place you've had a package delivered Facebook post. We hope you save some money, stay safe, |
Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com worksWe think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of this email and the site. We're a journalistic website, and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques - but can't promise to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. What you need to know This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances - and remember we focus on rates not service. We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned, how likely they are to go bust, but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips). We often link to other websites, but can't be responsible for their content. Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion. Please read the Full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, How This Site is Financed and Editorial Code. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin LewisWhat is MoneySavingExpert.com? Who is Martin Lewis? What do the links with an * mean?Any links with an * by them are affiliated, which means get a product via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference; the links don't impact the products at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to them. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in the same way. More info: See How This Site is Financed. As we believe transparency is important, we're including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for content too: Unaffiliated web-addresses for links in this email santander.co.uk, sainsburysbank.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk, comparethemarket.com, confused.com, moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, cahoot.com Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Note MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 303190). MoneySavingExpert.com Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number: 8021764. Registered office: One Dean Street, London, W1D 3RB. MoneySavingExpert.com Limited is an appointed representative of MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited. To change your email or stop receiving the weekly tips (unsubscribe): Go to: www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips. |
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