| | | For more tips, alerts & inevitable bad puns follow Martin: |  |  |  | | It's back to basics this week, with the big, easy savings you mustn't ignore. These major cost-cuttings can have a mammoth impact on your cash. Check everything. | 1. | Has your mobile bill been cut? If not, you're likely overpaying. Mobile tariffs are getting cheaper, so annually for the same usage you should expect to pay less. Use Billmonitor* to assess your bill, and Mobile Phone Checker* to compare costs, or Omio* for ease. Don't automatically switch, though. Call your network, and ask it to match or beat the best. See Cheap Mobiles Don't forget insurance savings: If you need speedy replacement, your network's cover usually wins, but for cheaper peace of mind, cover for £5ish/mth is poss from InsureandGo* (£25 excess). See Mobile Insurance | | | | | 2. | Do you LOVE your bank account? If not, get paid £100 to switch. First Direct* (min salary £23k) has a 90% 'great' rating in our poll, and gives you £100 if you switch to it. See Best Bank Accounts for more options. | | | | | 3. | Check your gas & elec savings in 2 mins (typically £250/yr). Someone on a standard tariff paying £1,320/yr could see it cut to £1,030 by switching to the cheapest. Check what you can save by plugging your details into a comparison site (plus via these links you get cashback/freebies). Top comparisons: Energyhelpline* (£15 cashback too) Dual fuel: MoneySup* (£30 cashback), uSwitch* (crate of wine). Don't miss: EDF Blue+* is one of the cheapest tariffs, but ALSO promises no price hikes until Sep 2013, no early exit fees & to email you if anyone else launches a cheaper tariff. Full info: Cheap Gas & Electricity | | | | | 4. |  Are you owed £1,000s in back council tax or PPI? Up to 400,000 homes are in the wrong band. If yours is too high, you can get it lowered with a backdated payout. See Council Tax Check & Challenge. Plus anyone who's had a loan, credit or store card in the last 10 yrs should check if they were mis-sold insurance, as banks now must pay it back. See Reclaim PPI For Free | | | | | 5. | Do you have more bedrooms in your home than people? If so, it's likely you'll save on a water meter (some can cut costs by £500/year). See the Water Meter guide for calculators which show how much you can save. | | | | | 6. | Do your savings pay less than 3%? Savings providers suck us in with high rates, slap 'em down when we're not looking, then flog new similar-sounding accounts so we think we're still doing well. Check & boost your rate now. Boost old ISA rates: The top rates allowing new money & transfers are Santander* 3.3% AER easy access, or lock cash away in Halifax* at 4.25%-4.5% for 3-5yrs or, Santander* 4% for 2yrs. Full info in Top Cash ISAs. Easy access savings: Derbyshire BS* pays 3.06% AER. Earn more with limited withdrawals at Nationwide* 3.17%, min £25k or Coventry 3.15%, min £1. Intro bonuses mean rates crash in a year, diarise to switch again. Top Savings | | | | | 7. | Is your mortgage over 4%? Slash it & save £100s/year. A raft of lenders have just hiked their standard rates. Check yours now. Can you cut your rate? You'll usually need to: a) Owe less than 85% of your house's value. b) Not be on a discount/fixed rate special offer. c) Have a decent credit score. If so, big savings are possible. Many pay 4%+ yet deals as low as 2.79% are possible, saving £750/yr per £100,000 of mortgage. Full help via the Free MSE Remortgage Booklet and our Mortgage Calculators. | | | | | 8. | Has your car insurance cost been hiked? Even if not at renewal, check if your car insurance is too costly. Many overpay £100s. Provided you've not claimed, many can switch for a small admin fee that's easily outweighed by savings. Click on the relevant link for your cheapest system. For typical drivers | 17-24 year olds | Previous claims | 4+ points | | | | | 9. | Are you getting benefits & tax credits you're entitled to? For some families, these can be £1,000s a year. Try our 5-min Benefit Check-up Tool | | | | 10. | Are you paying over 10% interest on credit cards? If you're paying interest and don't have a poor credit score, try a balance transfer. Here you apply for a new card that repays debts on your old cards, so you owe it the money at a much lower rate. See the top credit cards note below for full best buys. | | | | | | More MoneySavers mean more collective consumer power. Please forward this email to friends and suggest they get it themselves via moneysavingexpert.com/tips | | | |  Free TicketySplit app slashes train fares
Revolutionary new split ticket tool | Uncover hidden ticket combinations to cut the cost
Train split ticketing gives massive legal savings on scores of routes, even though you travel on the SAME TRAIN at the SAME TIME. Eg, a Solihull to Reading single costs £47. Yet the train stops at Banbury, so instead buy Solihull to Banbury & Banbury to Reading tickets & it costs just £23, saving £24. The problem's been finding when this trick works - until now. - It's for walk-on singles. This first incarnation doesn’t cover advances or returns, only ‘today tickets’. Always check their prices too, as often they’re cheaper. To split ‘em, find where the single’s split as often it’s the same, then check prices to see if it works.
- Why does it work? Because train fares and logic go together like Coco Pops and ketchup. Yet it does work. They can ask you to get off and on the train, but we've only ever heard that once in six years. See full Split Ticket help.
- How to buy tix. Ask at station kiosks (not machines) for separate tix (you can buy tix for anywhere at any station).
- How does the app make money? Quite simply, it doesn't. It's free, with no ads, so please be prudent, we pay each time you search. We just wanted to go for it. If it's huge and costs us a packet, we'll need to look at how we fund it.
| New 15mths 0% on BOTH balance transfers & spending
Top all-rounder credit card | Protects your credit score — one application for two functions All-rounder cards let you shift existing debts and do new spending at 0%. As only one application hits your credit file, your score is protected. Ensure new borrowing's only for planned, budgeted-for expenditure. All cards require a credit check.  New top all-rounder card: Barclaycard's* joined Halifax* in giving accepted new customers 15mths 0% on debts shifted to it (for a 2.9%/3% fee), AND new spending. It wins as Halifax is representative rate; meaning only 51% of accepted applicants get 15mths, the rest 11 or 13mths. For Nationwide FlexAccount holders ONLY, its Select* card's 17mths 0%, with a 2.95% fee on balance transfers and 18mths on spending.
Always try to balance transfer again or repay before the 0% ends, or rates jump to 18.9%, 17.9% & 12.9% rep APR respectively. See 0% Balance Transfers & Spending.- Shift existing debts to 22mths 0%. Again, Barclaycard* & Halifax* let accepted new cardholders shift debts to them at 22mths 0%. Barclaycard's fees are lower, 2.9% compared to 3.5%, plus transfer £2,500+ and you get a £30 fee refund. Next top's NatWest's 20mths 0% for a 2.9% fee. Clear the debts before the 0% ends or they're all 17.9% representative APR. Full help in Best Balance Transfer Cards (don't spend on these). See Official APR Examples.
- 15mths 0% on new borrowing, PLUS rewards. If you only need 0% for new spending (be careful), M&S* is 15mths 0% plus M&S points worth 0.5% of spending. Tesco's the same but with 0.25% points (0.75% when converted to rewards). Repay before 0% ends or they jump to 15.9%/16.9% representative APR. Full help in the 0% Cards guide.
| New guide. Uncover hidden big-brand flash sales
Whether its M&S, Kenwood or Prada, even if you shop upmarket, we've tricks to slash costs
If you're going to stick with brand loyalty (bah, humbug) then at least we can help ensure you do it the cheapest way....  Up to 70%-off flash sales via 'members only' sites. To intimate exclusivity, a range of branded/designer goods e-tailers operate 'membership clubs'. You register for free, then they send alerts for online flash sales lasting 2-5 days. A bit poncy, but it can mean big discounts. Never assume they're cheapest, though — always compare elsewhere.
What's on right now? Current discounts include Diesel men's jeans, Versace sunglasses, Elle women's sportswear and Swarovski jewellery. For a full guide, including extra discounts, eg, £10 off £50 codes which we've blagged specially, see the new Hidden Brand Sales guide.- M&S, Argos, Amazon, Net-A-Porter online outlets. Alternatively, many retailers offer online outlet stores to sell last season's goods at clearance rates. See the full Online Outlet Stores list.
| Warning. Beware 'recurring payments' from your plastic
If it wants your card's long number, it's NOT a direct debit | If it wouldn't cancel — reclaim Subscriptions such as web services, telecoms or payday loan repayments via plastic are called recurring payments (or continuous payment authorities) & can be a nightmare to cancel. We've fully updated our Recurring Payment Help. A taster... -
 If it wants your long card number, beware. Direct debits are set up with bank account details and give easy cancellation rights. Yet if subscriptions, eg, telecoms or websites (incl top-shelf) want your credit OR debit card's long number, it's a recurring payment which lets them take payments when they want. These can be a nightmare to cancel.
- Ignore your bank if it says you can't cancel. A Nov 2009 rule change means if retailers refuse to cancel, your bank/card firm MUST if you ask. Yet some banks still have old T&Cs, and Consumer Focus found 44% of bank staff gave the wrong answer when asked. If it won't cancel, take it to the free Financial Ombudsman.
- Reclaim old payments if your bank failed to cancel. The regulator, the FSA, says if you tried to cancel in Jan 2011 or later and the bank refused, write to or call the bank to get back payments that left your account after that time. We say go back further — the new laws hit in November 2009. See Reclaim Recurring Payments.
| Van, car or motorbike — beat insurance hikes
Motor insurance costs up 8% | Don't give in, fight back and slash £100s off cover Insurance prices are up 8% this year, on top of 40% last year, according to the AA. To drive down costs, get as many quotes as possible. We've updated our guides — here are the key snippets. -
 Cheapest car insurance. We've used the latest data to update our pick of how to get max results at speed. As a minimum, use Gocompare* & MoneySup*, then add the biggies they miss: Aviva* & Direct Line*. If time add the RAC* which gives £70 M&S vouchers to see if it's competitive. For the full bespoke system, including bespoke info for those with points or past claims, see the Cheap Car Insurance and Young Drivers' Car Insurance guides.
- Cheapest Van Insurance. Again combine the top comparisons Gocompare*, MoneySup* plus The Van Insurer* and then add the ones they miss - Aviva and Direct Line*. Got a van AND car? Aviva's* multi-vehicle policy lets you combine them, to see if it beats separate insurers. These tips are the, er, tip of the iceberg — there's full cost-slicing help in Cheap Van Insurance.
- Cheap Motorbike Insurance. Combine as many as you can of GoCompare*, The Bike Insurer*, Confused* and MoneySup*. If you're a fair weather rider only, check eBike*'s monthly policy to see if it'll save you. If you've car & bike, Carole Nash's 'six wheel' policy insures both, see if it beats standalones. For wheelie big savings info, see Cheap Motorbike Insurance.
| | |  | Have you had problems with a payday loan?
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is concerned that payday lenders are breaking its irresponsible lending guidance. If you've taken out a payday loan and things went wrong, it wants to hear from you. Whether a firm didn't check you could afford the loan, rollovers were encouraged or you weren't offered help if you got into financial difficulty please get in touch with its Lending Review Team (all contact is confidential). Related: Free Problem Debt Help Suggest a campaign: This space is for MSE to support the work being done by other charities, community groups and campaigners. Send Campaign of the Week suggestions.
| | | | | | | | | | | Thursday 10 May
Lorraine, ITV1, between 8.30 & 9.30am.
Real Deals.
Shelagh Fogarty, Radio 5, 12-1pm.
Consumer Panel.
Listen to last week's show. Monday 14 May
This Morning, ITV1, between 10.30am & 12.30pm.
Subject tbc.
Tuesday 15 May
Daybreak, ITV1, between 7 & 8.30am.
Delivery special part one. | | All Martin's Appearances | | | | | | UK's Best Currency Rates | | £100 will buy you: | | Best | Worst |  | € | 123.53 | 110.93 |  | $ | 160.96 | 144.38 |  | TL | 277.60 | 243.19 | | Rates correct at 5pm Tues | Find all top currency rates
Compare travel cash | | | | | | | | Have you been hit by recession?
Sadly the poll highlighted the recession isn't just technical, it's felt real to many people. A massive 8,100 of you are worse off financially than you were six months ago compared with just 3,440 who are better off, though 26% haven't seen any real change. See Recession Poll Results | | | | | | | Q: Rumours are flying round my uni that the new tuition fees will be on students' credit reports (unlike now) so they won't be able to get mortgages in the future? Rowan, by email. MSE Wendy’s A: No, this isn't true. Like current students, 2012 starters won't see their student loan repayments (or lack of) reported on their credit file. The only people who do are pre-1998 uni starters who default.
The only ways lenders can know if you've got a student loan is if they ask on application forms or you send documents about your income. The bigger the transaction, the more likely this is to happen.
In some ways 2012 starters will be better off for getting a mortgage than current students as they'll have more disposable income (2012 starters repay 9% of everything above £21,000, current students above £15,795). Though as the overall borrowing's bigger, and it takes longer to repay, in later years the benefit is flipped around. Full explanation in the 2012 Students Mythbuster guide. Please suggest a Question of the Week (we can't reply to individual emails). | | | | Get Goofy to visit your gaff He's got your street map, he knows where you live, and he's coming to get you... (thankfully it isn't as scary as it sounds!) Invite Goofy over. We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team | | |
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