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| DON'T believe the fake ads on Facebook |
| Urgent. The MSE Big Winter Energy Switch We've negotiated cheaper-than-the-cheapest fixes - save £270/yr The MSE Big Winter Energy Switch, our 13th collective, is on - but not for long. This is where we leverage our huge user base (10m+ email recipients and 3.8m Cheap Energy Club members) so firms provide special tariffs CHEAPER than the market's cheapest. And timing's everything. Last Thu, regulator Ofgem announced that from 1 Apr it's increasing the energy price cap by 10%+. Those on Big 6 standard tariffs will likely see bills hiked by £100+ to £1,254/yr on typical usage. So pick a better deal NOW. Under collective switch rules (which apply to the first three deals) you must go via our Cheap Energy Club (all links do) and have been a member of Cheap Energy Club or this email list (using the same email address) by Tue 5 Feb. WINNER 1: Cheap 1yr fix (& it's 100% renewable elec). Urgent: Only 8,000 switches left. Green Network Energy (GNE) - £967/yr on typical usage, incl MSE cashback & enhanced MSE service. The GNE MSE Exclusive Green 12mth Fix v2 was the cheapest 1yr fix available when we launched, an average £270/yr less than a Big 6 standard tariff for new dual-fuel (ie, gas & elec) customers. Plus as it's a fix, the rate is locked in for a year - so can't rise.However, two new fixes from tiddler firms have launched that just undercut it, based on typical use. One is from Utility Point (which we've no feedback on), the other from So Energy (which seasonally adjusts direct debits so you pay a lot more in winter). If they're cheaper for you, they'll show up in your comparison. GNE is a mid-sized firm owned by an Italian energy giant and has a decent customer service rating. Last week, we had 5,000 switches. They went so fast, we begged it (in a distinguished way obvs) for more and got another 10,000 - some of which have already gone. WINNER 2: Cheapest Big 6 fix & longer 16mth fix. Only 7,000 switches left. EDF Energy - £999/yr on typical usage, incl MSE cashback - existing EDF customers can get it too. If you want a name you know, the MSE EDF Simply Fixed Jun20v2 is the winner. It's the cheapest Big 6 deal on the market for a typical user, saving £235/yr over the avg Big 6 standard tariff. And the rate is locked in for longer - until the end of June 2020. It's avail on dual fuel & elec-only. WINNER 3: Cheapest TWO-winter fix & it's a Big 6. Ends Fri 22 Feb. E.on - £1,037/yr on typical usage, incl MSE cashback - existing E.on customers can get it too. The E.on Fix 2 Year MSE Collective Feb 2019 tariff is the cheapest longer fix on the market, giving rate certainty for 2yrs - good for anyone who doesn't bother to switch frequently. Typical savings are £230/yr over Big 6 standard tariffs. It's available on dual fuel and elec-only. Ends 5pm Thu: Cheap variable, top service, 100% renewable elec & it pays any early exit fees from switching (prepay version available). Exclusive MSE Bulb tariff - £965/yr on typical usage, incl MSE cashback & bill credit. Technically, it's not part of the collective, but use our Bulb Vari-Fair link to switch gas & elec and Bulb gives you an extra £30 bill credit, plus there's the usual £25 MSE cashback, on its already-cheap variable tariff (ie, it can change the price whenever it wants with 60 days' notice). Its real boon though is customer service, with a 76% 'great' rating in our last poll. It isn't quite the market's cheapest variable - a tiddler app-only supplier with very little feedback undercuts it by a few quid. On a Big 6 standard tariff? Your comparison SAVINGS will likely be UNDERESTIMATED. The new 10%+ higher price cap starts on 1 Apr. Most firms' prices will nuzzle up against this, yet as prices aren't finalised, while we've factored the cap in above, when you use our comparison it compares with the current price. In reality, savings will likely be much larger. For more help on how easy switching is, see our Switching FAQs. Sadly the deals above aren't avail in N Ireland. |
| 20,000 FREE Ideal Home Show tickets (norm £16-£22). For London, 22 Mar-7 Apr. Free Ideal Home tickets Martin: '7 urgent post-Brexit travel need-to-knows.' Will your passport still be valid? Should you buy currency now? What about EHIC cards? And more... Martin's Brexit travel guide HSBC free £175 bank-switching bonus - biggest of 2019. Just a heads-up - this morning (Wed) HSBC's Advance account boosts its free cash from £150 to £175 (click the link and once it's live it'll say £175, not £150). 12 roses £2, cheap grub & more last-min Valentine's deals. Romance is great, but over-commercialised pressure to show your love ain't. Yet if you want to spend, take advantage of the war of the roses to get the cheapest in-store bouquets, plus dine-in and restaurant deals. See last-min Valentine's offers. (Or to give without spending, try our Valentine's gift cheques.) Ends Thu. Top 1.55% easy-access savings. If you want to deposit or withdraw at will, ICICI pays the top easy-access rate at 1.55% AER (incl a fixed 0.3% 1yr bonus as long as you keep the account open for the year), but only till 11.59pm on Thu. See Top Savings for more. EE's raising mobile prices - what are your rights? See EE price rise help. Plus Three, O2 and Vodafone will likely follow - see mobile price rise rights. |
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| 41 comping tips: 'I won £75,000 by systematically entering competitions' On Martin's TV show last week, he met a comper who came to his roadshow to thank him for the £75,000 worth of prizes she'd won over the years by using our forum (though TV rules meant the mention of the forum had to be edited out). She would enter sometimes 100s of contests a week (with a win rate of c.1/100 at best). Her top wins included an all-in trip to watch Rafael Nadal at the French Open and so many holidays that her husband asked her to stop entering as they were never at home. Do watch her story - if inspired, read our 41 comping tips to boost your chances (and fun). Here's a flavour: Comping should be seen as a potentially lucrative hobby. The best compers view it as fun, with the wins just a bonus. Many work together via our Competitions forum board, posting free contests they spot to help others (only enter those where the prize really appeals) and using our tool to tick off the ones they've entered (as duplicate entry can disqualify you).Some (not all) win big. Already in 2019, we've seen forumites bag £20,000, holidays and a hen night. Sprinkles84 said: "Can't believe it. I've only gone and won a BRAND-NEW CAR - a beautiful Volkswagen Up. I'm thrilled." Turbo-charge your entries. Enter as many competitions as possible by using an auto form-filler, speedily opening multiple links and customising your keyboard. Creative comping boosts your chances. Lots of people give up if there's extra effort involved, like penning a poem or snapping a photo. This means you've a better chance - use a witty tie-breaker generator to help. Snap up prizes on social media. Loads of competitions can be found on Facebook and Twitter, but it's worth searching Instagram and Pinterest too, as forumites reckon these get fewer entries. Dodge the inevitable spam. Companies set up competitions to get your email, number etc. See how to avoid overloading your inbox/phone. |
| The best way to save if you're on a low income - are you missing out on free £100s via Help to Save? If you're on a low income, the Govt Help to Save scheme lets you save, and gives you a 50% bonus after 2yrs (max £600) - not on the amount in the account at that point, but on the highest balance you reached (even if you withdraw it all before the 2yrs are up). See our full Help to Save guide. EXTRA 10% off code for reduced 'past best-before' food, eg, 26p Monster Munch. MSE Blagged. 'Use-bys' are a health warning, 'best-befores' just a manufacturer's view of optimum quality. Approved Food sells discounted groceries past or close to their best-before date. Min spend £22.50, delivery £6, so best for stocking up. Approved Food FREE & cheap sanitary products, incl tampons. The British Medical Association has just called for free sanitary products to be given to hospital patients, and the Scottish Govt is making free sanitary products more widely available. So we wanted to add our two pennies'-worth and remind you of our guide to free or cheap tampons etc. 15 Roald Dahl books for £20 delivered. MSE Blagged. Via The Book People code. Incl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, and The BFG. Save some Wonka Ends Fri. Fibre b'band & line rent '£16.62/mth'. This short-lived promo offer for 36Mb fibre from TalkTalk includes a £60 vch, making it equiv to £16.62/mth over an 18mth contract. Note: While this is a very cheap deal, TalkTalk scores poorly for customer service in our regular polls. Bobbi Brown 20% off almost everything. MSE Blagged. Our early access code gets MoneySavers first dibs on discounted make-up until 11.59pm Wed - after which the discount's available to all, till 11.59pm Sat. Bobbi Brown |
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| AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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| Flight delay rights: 'We got £2,600 for 7hr BA flight delay with MSE's tips' Under EU rules, if your flight is delayed by over three hours or cancelled and it's the airline's fault, you are entitled to a fixed amount of compensation. Some get £1,000s, such as Leighton: "My family of five had a 7hr delay coming home from the US. We complained to BA but it wasn't interested. So we followed MSE's tips and escalated it. Then BA agreed to pay €600 each - €3,000 [£2,600] in total." Full help in our Flight Delay Compensation free tool and guide, but in brief... The key EU 261/2004 flight delay/cancellation compensation rules.- You can claim for delays dating back six years (so currently to 2013). See full claims timeline. - You must have arrived 3hrs+ late (see how to check past delay lengths). - Only EU flights count, defined as any from EU airports, or to EU airports if an EU airline. Which flights count? - Compensation's fixed, based on delay and journey length. The min is £220/person. How much am I owed? - It must be the airline's fault - so bad weather doesn't count. What counts? - If your flight is cancelled you are always entitled to a full refund or alternative flight. Whether you get compensation on top depends if it is the airline's fault. See flight delay cancellation rules. - You're entitled to cash, though some airlines offer vouchers. If that happens, go back to 'em. Use our FREE online reclaim tool - don't pay anyone to claim. Our flight delay reclaim tool (in collaboration with complaints site Resolver) uses template letters to draft your complaint, track it and help escalate it to the relevant regulator or resolution scheme if rejected - plus you keep ALL the compensation. Is it fair to airlines? Not always, eg, a delay on a £20 flight can cost it £100s. So it's up to you to decide whether to complain or not. For help, see Martin's legal vs moral concerns. What happens to EU 261/2004 after Brexit? The UK Government insists the same EU compensation rules will be written into UK law, whether there is a deal or not. We're somewhat wary, as exact details of how this will work aren't in place. Either way though, if you have a flight delay before 29 March, that will be covered by the prevailing EU law at the time of the delay. See Post-Brexit compensation latest. It is worth noting that if there are flight cancellations due to 'no-deal' issues, as the International Air Transport Association has suggested (though nowt's certain), you're unlikely to be due compensation as it wouldn't be the airline's fault. However, as always, if your flight is cancelled you are due a refund or alternative flight. |
| £35 for seven bottles of wine & two glasses (norm £80ish). MSE Blagged. 1,500 cases avail for Naked Wines newbies. Pls be Drinkaware. £1K CAR INSURANCE SAVING - SUCCESS OF THE WEEK:"I got a car insurance renewal quote 21 days before renewal and saved more than £1,000 thanks to your tips." (Send us yours on this or any topic.) £50 Eurostar returns to Paris. Book by Thu for 25 Feb-28 Mar, but you'll need to be flexible on times. Excl day trips. Eurostar |
| THIS WEEK'S POLL Is it OK to use a 2for1 voucher on a first date? Love is in the air... well, maybe, it's the week of Valentine's Day at least, so time for our traditional poll. Imagine David asks Alex to dinner on a first date, saying he'll pay. When the bill comes, David whips out a 2for1 voucher - what advice would you give Alex? Is it OK to use a voucher on a first date? MoneySavers consider Amazon gift cards the most valuable. In last week's poll, we picked two dozen popular retailers and asked how much you'd be willing to pay someone selling a £100 gift card at that store - 3,500 people voted. More than a quarter of respondents said they'd pay £90+ for an Amazon gift card, but fewer than one in 10 would pay the same for an equivalent Argos or Ikea voucher. See full gift card poll results. |
| MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should we return valuables to their owner? We found a box of valuables in our loft when clearing it out, which belong to a previous owner - but not the person we bought our home from, so they may be difficult to return. Are we obliged to attempt to do so? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should we return valuables? | Suggest an MMD | View past MMDs THE QUICKIES - Debt-Free Wannabe chat of the week: Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser |
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| MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 13 FEB ONWARDS) Thu 14 Feb - Good Morning Britain - Deals of the Week, ITV at 7.40am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (MOST SUBJECTS TBC) Wed 13 Feb - BBC Radio Cumbria, Money Talks with Ben Maeder, from 6pm, travel insurance |
| QUESTION OF THE WEEK Q: You say to book train tickets 12 weeks in advance - but if I wanted to book a return ticket, leaving on Friday and returning on Sunday, when do I book? Could I get them at the same time, and are two singles best? Bob, via email. MSE Megan's A: Train tickets are generally cheapest when first released, usually 12 weeks in advance. They tend to be sold in tranches, so you may get lucky and find both tickets in the same tranche. Then again, they may be released separately. To find out as soon as they go on sale, sign up for a ticket release alert. On two singles vs a return, it's worth comparing as either may win for you, such is the peculiar nature of the train ticket system. If the tickets are released in different tranches and the outbound tickets are going quick, you'll need to weigh up if it's worth waiting for the return ticket to be released, given the outbound price could rise in the meantime. See Cheap Train Tickets for lots more help. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
| BEEN THERE, SAVED THAT, GOT THE T-SHIRT That's it for this week, but before we go... we had a blast from the past this week when forumite 'arkonite_babe' sent in a photo of her official MSE Forum T-shirt, which dates all the way back to 2004. MSE Andrea dived into her wardrobe and found that 15 years on, she still has hers, too - so clearly it wasn't only the slogans that were MoneySaving. We'd love to see who else still has one - see pics of the T-shirts and share your memories in the MSE T-shirts forum thread. We hope you save some money, |
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 natwest.com, rbs.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk, firstdirect.com, santander.co.uk, nationwide.co.uk, autoaidbreakdown.co.uk, americanexpress.com, moneysupermarket.com, confused.com, gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com, directline.com, aviva.co.uk, admiral.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk 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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