| | | For more tips, alerts & inevitable bad puns follow Martin: |  |  |  | | British Gas warns: "Wholesale gas prices are 15% higher for next winter, and other costs are set to add £50/yr to bills." This follows some cheap online deals being pulled. Only Eon promises no hikes in 2012 on all tariffs. Compare NOW. | 1. | Take 2 mins to check what you can save (often £250+/yr). Millions of people are overpaying. A typical home on a standard tariff pays £1,320, the same home on the cheapest tariff pays £1,030. Not checking is like chucking a wad of tenners on the fire to keep warm. It only takes two mins... | | | | | 2. | Compare, switch, get cashback, save £100s. Your cheapest depends on the tariff, your region and usage. The easy way to find what you can save is to swiftly plug your details into a comparison site. Plus, use the links below & if they switch you, after 3mths you get cashback or freebies.
Top comparison: Energyhelpline* pays £15 per gas, elec or dual switch.
Dual fuel: MoneySupermarket* pays £30 cash, uSwitch* a crate of wine.
Full help in Cheap Gas & Elec. | | | | | | | 3. | How to guarantee no price hikes. A clever tariff launched last month. EDF's Blue* is near but not quite cheapest, so most'll save large, but it's easy to miss in comparison results. It has three big advantages to consider...
- Its rate is fixed until Sep 2013 — so no price hikes.
- Leave before the fix ends and, unusually, there are no exit penalties.
- It promises to always email within 10 days if anyone launches a tariff that'll save the average user over £1/week (£52/year). | | | | | 4. |  Fix NOW if you can't afford rises. With price hikes predicted, locking in on a cheap fixed tariff effectively insures you against rises. So if you can't risk a rise, do it. Better still, EDF's fix above and Sainsbury's Online Price Freeze have no exit penalties. If things change and other prices fall, you can ditch them — no problem. | | | | | | | | 5. | If possible, pay by direct debit to save 5%-10% more. Fixed monthly direct debits get you a further discount, so if you can, do. Plus don't assume dual fuel (getting gas & elec from one supplier) is cheapest. When comparing, check the cheapest separate suppliers too. | | | | | 6. | FREE insulation (some even get paid). Energy efficiency can seriously cut bills. Installing loft & cavity wall insulation can cut £300/yr. Each normally costs c.£150, but currently some energy firms give it free to fulfill efficiency obligations — some on benefits even get paid to take it. See Free Insulation. | | | | | 7. | Got electricity only? You can still save. Don't have gas? Don't think the rules are different. You can still save; use the comparisons above. | | | | 8. | What if you're on a prepay meter? Step 1: A credit meter (where you get bills) is cheaper, so see if you can convert. Some allow it free. Step 2: If it's unaffordable, compare & switch prepay provider. MoneySup* Energyhelpline* and uSwitch* have prepay comparisons. Step 3: When switching, favour companies that may convert you to bills for free. See Cheap Prepay Energy. | | | | | 9. | Fight unfair energy direct debits. Direct debits are the cheapest way to pay, but they're based on estimated usage. Providers can get them wrong, or hike them unnecessarily. If that happens, fight back with the step-by-step Energy Direct Debits guide. Doing regular meter readings helps, too. | | | | | 10. | Which? reveals its Big Switch winner. Over 285,000 signed up to its collective switch deal, and 20,000 of those will be able to get the winner of its auction: Co-op's fixed tariff. While switching with cashback via the links above gives an even cheaper deal, plaudits to our friends at Which? for disrupting the market and showing people the gains from switching. | | | | | | If this site has ever helped you — then please forward this email to friends and suggest they get it themselves via moneysavingexpert.com/tips | | | |  New easy-to-get cashback credit card
FREE MONEY. Cashback cards can pay £100s, usually only top credit scorers get'em Spend on a cashback credit card, and it pays you every time. Set up a direct debit to always repay IN FULL to avoid interest, use for all normal spending, and you're quids in. Normally, they're tough to get, but a new card's different...  - Poorer credit scorers — pays £5, plus 0.5% cashback. Capital One's* Classic Extra gives new cardholders 0.5% on all spending, plus a £5 sign-up bonus. Unusually it won't automatically exclude those with past CCJs or defaults over a year old (you still need to pass a credit score). Its APR's a huge 34.9% representative APR; so please, please, fully repay each month, so that's not an issue (never use it to withdraw cash).
- Good credit scorers — 5% cashback. If you've a good credit score, Capital One's Aspire World* gives new cardholders 5% cashback (max £100) for 3mths (and up to 1.25% after). Alternatively, Amex Platinum's* cashback's similar but has a £25 annual fee. Both require min £20k income to get — fail to fully repay and they're 19.9% & 14% representative APR respectively.
Full help and top cards in the Updated Guide: Top Cashback Cards. See Official APR Examples | Best euro rate for three years — take advantage?
Holidaymakers gain over euro troubles. Your pound will stretch much further in Europe This time last year, £100 bought €115. Now the eurozone crisis means it's €125, so European holiday spending is its cheapest for over three years. Yet don't waste the boost by getting cash the wrong way.  Ensure you've a super-cheap card for overseas spending. Most credit and debit cards add a hidden 3% load, so spend £100 of euros and it costs £103. Some credit cards have no load, giving UNBEATABLE rates in worldwide: Halifax Clarity, Post Office*, Saga* (over 50s) & for Nationwide FlexAccount holders, its Select* card.
ALWAYS set up a direct debit to fully repay each month, or the 11.9%-16.9% rep APRs defeat gains. See Top Overseas Cards. Also, from 28 May, Barclaycard will slash charges on withdrawing cash overseas, though it's still expensive for purchases. See Barclaycard boost news. All cards require a credit check. See Official APR Examples - NEVER buy cash at the airport — click for the best. For hard cash, TravelMoneyMax.com compares the best rates. If you want airport pick-up (rates there are hideous), order online first. You'll usually get a better deal.
- Buy now, or wait? With euro problems deepening, rates could improve further. If you're going in summer, do you buy now or wait? The answer needs a crystal ball, but we've asked a few pundits to guess. See Euro predictions.
| New. Part-time students now get loans
For the first time, new part-timers are eligible for official loans. New calc shows true cost
Radical changes for 2012's full-time starters in England have had leagues of column inches. Yet part-timers make up 40% of students, and the even bigger changes for them have been mostly ignored. As it's Adult Learners Week, and we're in the main part-time application period for courses (best to apply by July), let's change that.  Student loans for part-timers' fees. In the past, to study part-time you either needed to find the cash or get a commercial loan. This Sept, new first-time degree applicants will be eligible for official student loans for fees (not living costs), which are later repaid at 9% of all earnings above £21,000. The bad news is some fees have trebled — especially bad for those who don't qualify for loans. Full help in Part-Time Students 2012 & Martin's video guide- New free part-timers' calculator. With fees up to £6,750 a year, for, say, five years of study, the resultant loan could be large. Yet more important is what you'll actually repay — that depends purely on later earnings. To help, we've added a part-timers tab to our www.studentfinancecalc.com to show likely total repayments over the 30 years before the debt wipes.
- New full-timers. Lots of resources for you too. See the Student Finance 2012 Mythbuster, Parents' Guide, 6th Formers' Guide, Martin's video guide and three-minute cartoon.
| Tesco 2x exchange is back — incl iPods & clothes
Find lost Tesco vouchers — then get DOUBLE their value in-store or 5x on days out It's rumoured a staggering £1 in £7 spent in UK stores is spent at Tesco. No surprise, nearly 20 million stash points on its Clubcard reward scheme. Latest quarterly vouchers are being sent — here's how to max their value...  Step 1: Find £100s of lost Tesco vouchers. The right clicks on its website (see Reclaim Tesco Vouchers) let you reclaim unused or lost old vouchers. Then print them or use a code to boost your stash. Many have found £100+ — please report successes.- Step 2: Quick... can you QUINTUPLE rewards? Your first point of call is to see if anything in Tesco's Rewards brochure suits. There, you can treble points' value on train tickets, jewellery & more. Plus, until 11 June it lets you swap £5 of Rewards for £25 of Days Out, eg. Alton Towers costs £7.50 in Clubcard vouchers. This is based on list prices, not the cheapest available, so we've analysed real returns in our Top 10 Tesco Rewards guide.
- Step 3: New. Double vouchers' value in-store. Until 13 June, the Tesco Summer Exchange lets you swap each £5 voucher for £10 tokens to spend in-store on phones, clothing, gardens, BBQ, small electricals, iPods, baby food, nappies, toys, opticians' purchases, pet food and furniture.
Related: Amazon Discount Finder, Cheap Supermarket Shopping, eBay Local Discounts, MegaShopBot | 3.5m MORE tax rebates — free tool to check NOW
HMRC admits 5m tax codes wrong last year | 3.5m paid too much, 1.6m too little Another year, another raft of tax errors. The Revenue will sort it, but speed up the process and check now.  Unique tax code calculator. A tax code (eg, 810L) may seem innocuous, but it's an iron-clad instruction to employers on what to take from your pay. If wrong, it can cost you £1,000s. Each year the taxman reconciles the errors. 5m for the 2011/12 tax year are wrong. Use the Tax Code Calculator for this and past years to get action quick as it may wait months to tell you. - What to do if they owe you £1,000s? The biggest success using our tool so far is £5,000. If you've paid too much, contact HMRC straight away. Explain why you think you've overpaid and it'll investigate. Money could hit your bank account in weeks.
- What if you owe them cash? Under £50 from the last year'll be written off, while for older mistakes this can be up to £300 (HMRC has discretion). If errors are more than a year old, there's a small chance to get it written off under the 'A19 concession' rule, but it's unlikely. If you can't repay in a lump sum, ask the Revenue for a payment plan. More help in What If I Underpaid?.
| | |  | Shop a scammer
It's Scam Awareness Month, so the Trading Standards Institute, Citizens Advice and Action Fraud are asking anyone who receives a scam letter or email to shop a scammer and save the UK over £73 billion a year. Many are too embarrassed to say they've been a scam victim, so check on friends and family too. Use Action Fraud's online fraud reporting tool, or call 0300 123 2040. Related: 25 Ways To Stop Scams Suggest a campaign: This space is for MSE to support the work being done by other charities, community groups and campaigners. Send your Campaign of the Week suggestion. | | | | | | | | | | | Wednesday 16 May
Daybreak, ITV1, between 7 & 8.30am.
Delivery special part two. Thursday 17 May
Lorraine, ITV1, between 8.30 & 9.30am.
Real Deals.
Shelagh Fogarty, Radio 5, 12-1pm.
Consumer Panel.
Listen to last week's show Friday 18 May
Jeremy Vine, Radio 2, 1-2pm.
Haggling.
Tuesday 22 May
Daybreak, ITV1, between 7 & 8.30am.
Subject tbc. | | All Martin's Appearances | | | | | | UK's Best Currency Rates | | £100 will buy you: | | Best | Worst |  | € | 124.36 | 112.09 |  | $ | 160.06 | 143.16 |  | TL | 282.75 | 246.51 | | Rates correct at 5.30pm Tues | Find all top currency rates
Compare travel cash | | | | | | | Pick your dream Chancellor... | | | | Which companies ignore 'no cold caller' signs?
Judging by last week's poll of 1,684 respondents it seems charities are the worst offenders when it comes to ignoring your 'no cold caller' signs, with over 26% of people having problems. Surprisingly, it wasn't a pushy company that came close second, but religious organisations, with 24% of the vote. We hope the 38% who said they didn't have a sign have now printed and displayed one, even though it might get ignored... See Full Results | | | | | | | Q: Why do insurance companies always ask if you have part-time employment? Does this really matter? MSE Tony's A. Insurance companies like to know as much relevant information about you as possible, to make sure the quotation is priced (or risked) correctly. Employment details make up part of this, as insurers use them to make judgements on how much of a risk you are. Working part-time could be viewed as less stable than full-time (perhaps wildly unfair), and a similar assumption may affect self-employed folk. Job titles can have a big impact too — occupations which require driving around in a rush (eg, courier) are likely to bump up car insurance quotes. Not all are so obvious. For some indicative fun, see our Car Insurance Job Picker. Please suggest a Question of the Week (we can't reply to individual emails). | | | | How much is your moggy worth? If you're feline the pinch and want to flog your mog, a new website takes the stress out. Just enter a few details about your kitty on WeBuyAnyCat.com for an instant valuation. (Don't worry, it's all purr-fectly tongue in cheek.)
We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team | | |
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