This week | MARTIN'S QUICK BRIEFING: For more tips, alerts & awful puns, follow Martin on Twitter Cheap flights, hotels, packages & more
Looking to trip abroad in 2013? The 10 MoneySaving need-to-knows January's the biggest holiday-booking month. If you dream of sun, sand 'n' sizzle, not dark, damp 'n' drizzle, here are the key rules to get the best price: | 1. | Don't believe star ratings indicate hotel quality. It's not standardised, and is usually just an indicator of facilities. A 5* may be grotty, it just means it has a conference centre. While not perfect, check TripAdvisor* feedback to find a hotel, ignoring the very best and very worst feedback. | | | | 2. | Permanently get UNBEATABLE foreign exchange rates. Whether paying while on hols, or booking in a foreign currency, to get max bang for your bucks, euros or dong, grab a Halifax Clarity*, Post Office* or Saga* (over-50s) credit card or for Nationwide customers ONLY, its Select* card.
While most plastic adds a 3% load (spend £100 of dollars and it costs £103), these are load-free worldwide with no annual fees. That means they smash bureaux de change and you get near-perfect unbeatable rates.
To use effectively, just pocket one for going abroad. You need a decent credit score, and most importantly ALWAYS fully repay by direct debit to minimise the 11.9-16.9% rep APRs. Full help and card review: Top Cards Abroad (APR Examples)
Prefer cash? The cards above give better rates, but if you want cash, don't leave it till the airport - rates are dire. Use our Travel Money Comparison. | | | | 3. |  Is your free EHIC still valid? 3m expire in 2013. A valid European Health Insurance Card gets you treatment at EU state-run hospitals and GPs at the same cost as a local, so if it's no-cost for them, it's no-cost for you. Yet many have expired, so are worthless - check yours now. To renew or get one, NEVER PAY a shyster site, it's always free - see Free EHIC Help. | | | | 4. | Slash flight costs. First, use the right flight comparison for the job...
- Compare via: Kayak* for price tools, Skyscanner* ease, TravelSup* breadth.
- Flying to a holiday resort? Also check for spare seats on charters (bespoke tour operator chartered flights). For this, use Avro* and Flights Direct*.
- Totally flexible on date? For budget Europe flights, use the FlightChecker.
- Booking flight & hotel? Add in broker sites like Expedia* & Travelocity and you get extra protection & often discounts for combined bookings.
- Urgent: £15 off code: Until today (Wed), try this £15 off Opodo flight code.
This is just the start, our Cheap Flights guide's rammed with more tips, eg, Orlando package holidays can be cheaper than flight-only, so book & ignore the hotel. Check out Credit Card Free Flights sign-up incentives too. | | | | 5. | Package holidays can undercut DIY web bookings...especially if you're booking 7, 10 or 14 days away in a traditional resort. While super-cheap deals come by booking very late, if you need special facilities (eg, for families), book now. And don't think prices are fixed - you can often haggle travel agents down to shave more off. More in Cheap Package Holidays. | | | | 6. | Uncover hidden hotel discounts. Hotel room costs vary enormously, depending on how it's booked. Tips in Hidden Hotel Discounts include...
- Use comparison sites TravelSup* and Trivago to find cheaper prices
- Lastminute.com's* super-cheap secret hotel deals only name the hotel when you book, yet you can often paste details into Google to uncover them. Use code JANUARY10 for 24hrs from Thurs am to get 10% extra off.
- You get one bid a day on 'name your price' hotel site Priceline (great for US hotels), but our Priceline Loophole gets you many more, a huge boon, eg, tracylouiseg's: "Just booked a hotel in NYC for 7 nights at £518. Direct price with hotel £2,118."
| | | | 7. | Rent a posh villa - can be £1,000 cheaper than posh hotels. If you're going as a family group or with friends, villas can massively undercut similar quality hotels. A 3-bed villa in Sicily was £375/wk compared to £1,800 for a similar quality hotel. For tricks to score discounts, see Cheap Holiday Villas. | | | | 8. | Hiring a car? Act NOW (plus insurance up to 90% cheaper). The key rule in our Cheap Car Hire guide is don't leave it till you get there. Book sooner for as little as £10/day hire. Speedily find these with CarRentals* and Kayak* comparisons.
Plus beware hire firms scaring you with "one scratch and you pay £500 excess" to push their costly 'no excess' insurance. Use MoneyMaxim* to find the same at a fraction of the cost. As James says: "Thanks for suggesting this. I paid £17 for a week's cover in Portugal. The car hire firm wanted £12 a DAY." | | | | 9. | Pre-book airport parking ASAP. If you're going to drive to the airport, early booking's usually cheaper. Our Cheap Airport Parking guide shows how to cut costs with hidden local deals and special discount links, eg, SkyParkSecure 13-22% off*, APH 10% off*, FHR 12% off*. | | | | 10. | Get travel insurance as soon as you book (from £16/yr). If not, you're not covered for cancellation, change or collapse. Annual policies are cheaper if you go away more than twice a year. Full best buys and help in Cheap Travel Insurance - for quick reference, the following are the cheapest under-65s picks which hit our minimum cover criteria:
Europe: Indiv Travel Guard* £16-£20 (age-related), family £30-£38.
World: Indiv Travel Guard* £27-£33, family Protect Your Bubble* £48-£58.
Single Trip: Use MoneySupermarket* comparison. | | | | | |
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| Jan Money Makeover Special | Wed 16 Jan 2013 |
New. Find chance of getting 23 mths 0% debt shift WITHOUT applying
We've developed a 'pre-apply eligibility checker' to protect your credit score and let you know your chances Apply for a credit card and, even if rejected, other lenders see it and it can hit future chances. We've ranted about this for years, so now we've developed new technology to help you beat it - we're rolling it out first for Best Balance Transfers. - Find your best 0% debt shift chance. A balance transfer card repays costly credit cards for you, so you now owe it instead. The problem's getting accepted, but our new eligibility checker shows which card you've the best chance for (most are included, a few haven't allowed us to yet).
- How the eligibility check works. We do a 'soft' credit search YOU can see on your file, but lenders CAN'T, so it doesn't have any credit impact. We map this against lenders' criteria to show your % chance of getting it.
- Balance transfer golden rules. a) Repay at least the set monthly minimum or you can lose special rates. b) Plan to fully repay before the 0% ends, or rates rocket. c) Don't spend on these cards. That isn't usually at a cheap rate.
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Free 1,000 Tesco pts (worth up to £40) with £5 film download. First 10k to sign up for pay-per-view movie streaming site, then watch two films, get 1,000 extra Clubcard pts. MASSIVE profit. See Online Movie Streaming. Sales CODES - extra 30% off Body Shop sale, 20% FCUK, & more...
Codes off sales: Body Shop 30% | FCUK 20% | Wallis 10% | Lyle & Scott 25% code
Non-sale codes: New Look £5 off £25 & voucher | Kurt Geiger 25% & voucher (in mag) | H&M 10% | See All FLASH 48hr De Vere £20 UK hotel sale. 8,000 rooms across 20 De Vere venues (starts Thurs). Hotel Sales HMV - help on gift cards, refunds and job rights. Fight your corner with our HMV Admin Help Q&A. |
Urgent. Big £50 cashback on cheap energy fix until Sept 2014
Save £200 a year with no hikes promised for 18 mths, no exit penalties if you leave early, and cashback to boot No surprise, it's freezing and a big energy firm's (Eon) hiking prices 9% this Fri - the rest already have. Yet till next Tues, it's possible to (cold) snap up a super-cheap fix - with extra cashback we've blagged on top. Full info in Cheap Gas & Elec. | | Cost/yr | Cashback | | Avg. standard tariff | £1,400 | - | | Cheapest 'variable' tariff | £1.150 | | | Scot Power 31 Aug 14 fix | £1,195 | £50 | | EDF Blue 30 June 14 fix | £1,182 | £30 (1) | | Based on average monthly direct debit, typical usage, varies by region. (1) Dual fuel | - Fix for 18 mths & get £50 cashback. The Scottish Power* Sept 2014 fix is typically over £200/yr cheaper for those on standard tariffs and ensures no price hikes until 31 Aug 2014. It has no early exit penalties, so if things change you can ditch it. Until Tues, sign up via the special link above and you get £50 cashback (£25 gas, £25 elec) - paid within 3 mths.
Alternatively, EDF Blue* is fixed until 30 Jun 2014, also with no exit fees, but you can only get £30 cashback via the links below. More help in the Should I fix? FAQs.  Always check how it adds up for you. Your exact cheapest depends on where you live and your energy use. So always do a comparison to check. WARNING: To get the £50 Scottish Power cashback, you need to switch via the link above.
Top site: Energyhelpline* £15 cashback/switch (or call 0800 074 0745).
Dual fuel: MoneySupermarket* (0800 177 7861) £30 cashback | uSwitch* 6 x wine
On prepayment (key/card) meter: See our Switch Prepaid Energy guide.
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| Boots sale jumping to 75% off today (Wed). Now confirmed - bargains to be had. See Boots Offers. 2 specs £29 code (or £18 each branded, eg, Bench/Ghost). There's a site for sore eyes. See Cheap Glasses. FREE £3.89 snack box | FREE £3 Kleenex wipes. Find out how to grab them in Hot Bargains. URGENT. Sort tax return ASAP to avoid a £100 fine. 31 Jan deadline, but registration takes 10+ days. |
Mobile insurance from £16/year
If you got a new phone for Christmas, are you covered? Or maybe your network's been overcharging for years The flashier your mobile, the more it costs to replace. If you're the type to break or lose phones (Martin's a serial loser), consider mobile cover. Our full, updated Cheap Mobile Insurance guide takes you through it. Here are a few key tips... - Cheapest policies. Top picks for accident cover, loss & theft (depends on phone value).
 - iPhone 5 (£700 limit). Insurance2Go* is £70/year (£50 accident excess, £75 loss).
- Other iPhones & smartphones (£500 limit). Insure and Go* £62/yr, (£25 excess).
- Others (£150 max). Gadget Cover* £16/yr breakage/theft (£27 incl loss), but poor feedback. - Up to 4 x smartphone cover AND travel insurance £114/yr. If you've more than one mobile in the home, the highly-rated Co-op Privilege bank account's £9.50/mth fee (£114/yr) has insurance for up to 4 with a huge £1k limit each and family travel insurance. Full help in Best Packaged Accounts.
- Key questions: 1. Are you a mobile loser? 2. Check your home insurance - it may cover mobiles. 3. Do you need fast replacement? Stick to network cover. 4. Pay a bank fee? It may cover you, but you must register your phone.
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2for1 photo canvas + free del. MSE Blagged. Two 20x30cm canvasses for £25 delivered (norm £48). Photo Deals FREE London Eye, 50% off Eden Project, 2for1 attractions
500 FREE London Eye | 50% off Eden Project | 2for1 Merlin attractions incl Ldn Dungeon, Legoland. See Cheap Days Out. 50,000 £1 cross-country coach tickets | 2for1 Senior Coachcard. Via 50p newspaper. See Cheap Coach Deals.
Last chance! £3,500 boilers & insulation grants. Do you qualify? Low income/not on mains? Energy Grants P&O ferry £23 car day return + 6x wine | Eurotunnel £23 day rtn. Oh la la, tres bon marche. France Trips Over 65? Are you missing out on pension credit? If you are (or know) one of the 1.5 million pensioners entitled to pension credit who aren't claiming, check your eligibility. Even some with savings might get cash. See Pension Credits. |
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In 2013, earn cashback EVERY TIME you spend
Earn £100s with an easy new year resolution. Get 5% back for 3mths, or up to 3% off petrol for a year Whether viewed as a shopping discount or income boost, if you've a decent credit score, cashback cards are no-brainers. They may be credit cards, but use a direct debit to ALWAYS fully repay and there's no interest, just a better way to pay.  Earn 5% for 3mths, up to 1.25% after. Capital One Aspire* & Amex Everyday* fee-free cards pay 5p per £1 spent on up to £2,000 spent in the first 3 months. And up to 1.25% after, depending on spending. Fail to fully repay & they're 19.9% rep APR.
- Get 3% year-round on petrol & rail. If you do lots of miles Santander 123* pays 3% cashback on fuel, rail & TfL up to £9/mth; 2% on dept store spend and 1% in supermarkets. Its £2/mth fee should easily be offset by cashback earned. Fail to fully repay & it's 22.8% rep APR.
- You get extra consumer protection too. Only with credit cards when you buy goods over £100, Section 75 laws mean the card firm's jointly liable with the retailer, eg, if a store goes bust, you can demand rights from card firm.
- Cashback card golden rules. 1. Always fully repay to avoid interest. 2. Never withdraw cash, as you'll pay interest even if fully repaid. 3. Use it for ALL SPENDING instead of cash or other cards, as it pays you. 4. Don't see it as an excuse to overspend. 5. For full info, incl poor credit scorers' options, see Top Cashback Cards and APR Examples.
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2 wknd comedy tix £5 with code (RRP £36). MSE Blagged. 5 venues, incl London, B'ham, Leeds. Highlight Deals £163 cashback for Virgin Media switch. Combine several cashback website offers - see Sky, Virgin & BT TV.
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Restaurant vouchers | Discount vouchers & sales | Top deals |
| The Moneysaving community |
 What's happened to my (Martin's) £10m charity pledge? Read m'blog. CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK:
Become a 10 min-a-month social campaigner for Citizens Advice
Do you want to campaign on consumer issues but don't think you have time? Join the Citizens Advice (in England and Wales) social campaigners group and give just 10 minutes a month to help with quick social media actions. Spotted a campaign? This space is for MSE to support money based work by other organisations. Send us a campaign of the week suggestion. £48,000 saved in sealed pots in 2012 - join the 2013 club
Using a pre-sealed pot stops the temptation to spend spare cash and leftover change - then open it on a fixed date (this year, 28 Nov 2013). Join the Sealed Pot Challenge 2013. MONEY MORAL DILEMMA:
Should I keep paying postage shortfalls?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... This Christmas and on previous birthdays, I've often received cards or mail with insufficient postage paid and had to pay Royal Mail to re-deliver it, without knowing what I might be receiving. Should I let the senders know this is happening, or does it look ungracious? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I keep paying postage shortfalls? | Suggest an MMD | View Past MMDs Rome Travel Guide book giveaway. 25 blagged. Find out if you got one. THE GREAT HUNT:
Are you a re-user - what items do you reuse for max value?
Whether it's using old wine corks to cover knife points in the drawer, or simply getting another brew out of a used tea bag, we want to tap MoneySavers' collective knowledge on everyday household items which are good for a second use. Share yours/read others': Everyday reusable items Past topics: View all THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED:
Cheap internet dating sites
Your favourite suggestions include Match.com and OKCupid, both of which resulted in marriage for some of our users. One forumite was hoping to find a cheap date, so we can only hope they meet a fellow MoneySaver (wouldn't be the first!) CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT:
Airline: Flybe Price: From £25.07 each way Ends: Fri 18 Jan 2013
Our pick this week is Flybe's January sale. It's on till 11.59pm on Fri 18 Jan and includes some taxes and charges. It's for flights from 12 UK airports to various destinations from Mon 1 Apr to Sun 30 Jun 2013. We found flights from Belfast to Manchester for £25.07. To find flights quickly, use the FlightChecker. Extra charges warning: Avoid payment and check-in charges - see the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance back to top ↑ |
Quick forum tips | Freebies |
Martin's blogs | Martin's appearances All this week - Countdown
C4, 2.40-3.30pm. Dictionary Corner. Thurs - Daybreak
ITV, 7.35-7.45am. Deals of Week
Thurs - Radio 5
Radio 5, 12-1pm. Consumer Panel. Listen to past shows.
Mon - This Morning
ITV, between 11.30am & 12.00pm. Car insurance. All Martin's appearances | Cheap travel money | UK's Best Currency Rates | | £100 will buy you: | | Best | Worst |  | € | 119.51 | 108.79 |  | $ | 160.01 | 145.13 |  | TL | 276.00 | 253.53 | | Rates correct at 4pm Tue | Find all top currency rates
Compare travel cash | |
This week's poll: How do you split the bill? If you eat out with friends, when it comes to paying... | Poll resultsParcel delivery firms: who are the best and worst?
Yodel was voted the courier with the worst service by a long, long way - far ahead of second-placed Hermes for poor service. But Royal Mail and Parcelforce were rated first class by over half of voters.
- 71% voted Yodel 'poor'.
- 30% voted Hermes 'poor'
- 58% voted Royal Mail 'good'.
- 55% voted Parcelforce 'good'.
7,563 voted. See Full Results |
Question of the week Q. My car insurance renewal date always falls in mid-March, awkward as I often travel from Dec to April. Why won't my insurer let me buy just 3 mths insurance? Helen, by email MSE Tony's A: You can't just leave your car uninisured. The law changed two years ago so now, it's not whether you drive it, but whether you own it that requires insurance. The only way round this is to get a Sorn (statutory off-road notification) and make sure the car's not parked on a public road. Only then it can be uninsured (though if it's nicked, you're not covered).
If you are doing that, simply cancel your policy at the right time. Provided you haven't claimed, you should receive a pro-rata refund of the premium (if paid in full), but you'll be charged an exit fee of, say, £50, and you won't earn that year's no claims bonus. See our Car Insurance guide for full info. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). | Board of the week The Public Transport & Cycling Board Share advice and tips on how to cut the cost of getting around. Discussions include Hybrid bike with £300 budget, Day Return and London Travelcard and National Express from Gatwick north terminal. |
 Archna's free game of the week: Stepping Stones |
Can you make a meal in a mug? Save dirtying your best china with these one-mug recipes, that include coffee cup quiche and Nutella mug cake and a further 16 recipes We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team |
| Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com works We 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 we 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. MSE, Money Saving Expert, MoneySavingExpert and Moneysavingexpert.com are registered trade marks belonging to MoneySavingExpert.com Limited. More about MoneySaving Expert and Martin Lewis What is MoneySavingExpert.com?
Founded in February 2003, it's now the UK's biggest consumer help website with over 6 million people getting this email and nearly 10m using the site. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple: how to save cash and fight for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 30 full time staff about half of whom are editorial researching, analysing and writing to continually find ways to save money. More info: See About MSE Who is Martin Lewis? Martin set up and runs MSE, he's an ultra-focused money saving journalist and consumer campaigner. He has regular slots on Daybreak, Lorraine, Radio 2 Vine, BBC1 Watchdog, Radio 5 Consumer panel and presents ITV Tonight. He is a columnist for amongst others the Sunday Post as well as an author. More info: See Martin Lewis' biog What do the links with a * mean? Any links with a * 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 product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to it. 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 tripadvisor.co.uk, halifax.co.uk, postoffice.co.uk, saga.co.uk, nationwide.co.uk, kayak.co.uk, skyscanner.net, travelsupermarket.com, avro.co.uk, flightsdirect.com, expedia.co.uk, lastminute.com, carrentals.co.uk, moneymaxim.co.uk, skyparksecure.com, aph.com, fhr-net.co.uk, apply.mbna.co.uk, lloydstsb.com, scottishpower.co.uk, cbonline.co.uk, travel-guard.co.uk, uk.protectyourbubble.com, moneysupermarket.com, barclaycard.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, natwest.com, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, insurance2go.co.uk, edfenergy.com, gadget.insureandgo.com, gadget-cover.com, aviva.co.uk, directline.com, admiral.com, americanexpress.com, capitalone.co.uk, santander-products.co.uk, firstdirect.com, confused.com, primussaver.co.uk, productsandservices.bt.com.
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