This week | MARTIN'S QUICK BRIEFING: For more tips, alerts & awful puns, follow Martin on Twitter Act now to beat the APRIL cost boom
It's the month official bills are hiked - water, council tax, dentists & more April is price hike month, as official bodies do their annual hoicks, with tax changes too, due to the start of the new financial year. Here are the 10 big need-to-knows to steal a March (sorry) on April... | 1. | Will your pay packet swell on 6 April? That's when the new tax bands come in, and for once many will gain large. The amount most people can earn tax-free rises from £8,105 to a massive £9,440, and many who aren't higher-rate 40% taxpayers will take home more.
Use our Income Tax Calculator 2013/14 to find out how much you're likely to get in your pay packet over the new tax year. | | | | | | 2. | Water bills UP 3.5% - save £600/yr switching to a meter? 1 April. English & Welsh bills rise an average 3.5% (some up to 5.5%). Ask yourself: Are there MORE, or the same number of bedrooms in your home than people?
If so, savings may be huge, as Helen Bevington tweeted us: "Thanks, we've water-metered. Monthly DD down from £80 to £25." - that's £660 a year less. Full help and calcs to see if you'll save in Switch To A Meter? In Scotland, bills are up 2.8% but meters aren't free, so this rarely works. | | | | | 3. |  English prescriptions up 20p - save with prepay certificates. 1 April. Prescriptions are free throughout the UK except England, where the charge is up 20p to £7.85, though under-16s, under-18s at school, those on certain benefits and over-60s get them free.
If you regularly pay for prescriptions, there is a way to save. With prepay certificates, you pay a flat rate which covers all your prescriptions at £29.10 for 3mths or £104 for a year. So get 4 prescriptions in 3mths or 14+ a year, and you're better off (plus you can reclaim the past month's charge too). | | | | | 4. | More gas & elec hikes predicted - join the Cheap Energy Club. Energy hikes aren't fixed in April, they happen willy-nilly. Yet the continued winter means wholesale prices have rocketed, and regulator Ofgem’s head honcho predicts long-term prices are on the up.
To protect yourself, join our free Cheap Energy Club. It checks you're on the cheapest deal, switches you (plus up to £30 cashback) if not, and then constantly monitors to ensure you stay on the cheapest. | | | | | | | 5. | You've a NEW tax code - check it's right (and reclaim back £1,000s) As tax allowances are changing, many employees have a new tax code - this tells your employer what to deduct from your payslip.
In recent years, millions have been wrong. Use our Tax Code Calculator to check yours is right for this year. Check past years too, in case you're owed £1,000s in overpaid tax. | | | | | 6. | Council tax hikes - are you a Robbie (in the wrong band)? The Govt wants councils to freeze tax. Some have, but a significant number are hiking them 1%-4%. Plus, some eligible for council tax benefit will now have to pay about 10% towards their bill, even if they haven't done before.
Yet there are ways to save: 1. Are you in the right band? 100,000s are overpaying and need to do a Council Tax Check & Challenge. This can see a backdated payout of £1,000s and your bill cut. 2. Are you entitled to single person, student or other Council Tax Discounts? | | | | 7. | State pension up £2.70, and grab pension credit boost. 8 April. The full, basic state single pension rises from £107.45 to £110.15/week. Yet many on lower incomes are entitled to a top-up to £145.40 (more if you've savings), and don't claim it. If that's you, or you know someone in that boat, see Pension Credit info. | | | | | 8. | Use your cash ISA allowance by 5 April or lose it. Nine days to go. If you don't use your £5,640 cash ISA allowance (the amount you can save tax-free each year), you lose it. Anyone with savings who hasn't yet should consider. You can earn up to 3.1% AER. See Top Cash ISAs.
Then on 6 April, you get a brand new, bigger £5,760 allowance. If you're thinking, "that's enough for my savings, so what's the rush?", I'd still get it in this year, just in case you get an unexpected windfall next.
Junior ISAs also end on 5 April, when the £3,600/yr per child allowance rises to £3,720. Though this is a less clear-cut call, as kids tend not to pay tax anyway, and junior ISAs force you to lock cash away until they're 18. Full help & best buys in Top Junior ISAs and Top Children's Savings. | | | | | 9. | Drill down dental costs - they're on the up. 1 April. Basic NHS dental treatment in England rises 50p to £18 (up £5 on complex work), Wales 30p to £12.70 (90p on some work), NI up 0.5% this year (date TBC). Scottish charges are as yet undecided.
While they're not huge amounts, if you can get an appointment before the rises, do it, as it'll be slightly cheaper. | | | | | 10. | Petrol duty's frozen, but the Govt still gets 81p per £1.38 litre. The Chancellor may've scrapped Sept's fuel hike in the budget, yet on a typical litre, with duty and VAT, well over half still goes to the exchequer. Yet big savings are still possible...
a) Make your car efficient (check tyre pressure & dejunk your trunk).
b) You can save up to 30% with gradual acceleration & moving into higher gears sooner. See Fuel Efficient Driving Changes.
c) Don't fill up just anywhere, use Petrolprices.com for cheapest forecourts. | | | | | |
PS, Clocks spring forward to summer time (summer - what's that?) on Sunday at 1am GMT. |
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Join free: Cheap Energy Club |
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| The Ones Not To Miss | Wed 27 Mar 2013 |
Longest EVER balance transfer - 26 months 0%
Shift existing debts to 0% for even longer. A balance transfer price war means you could save £100s or £1,000s A balance transfer is where you get a new card that pays off the debts on other cards for you - so you owe the new card the money, but at a lower rate. A price war means 0% lengths have jumped this week as they fight to top the best buys. - New longest EVER deal. New Barclaycard* cardholders get a huge 26mths 0%, but the one-off fee is a high 3.5% of the amount transferred. Unless you really need that long, get a card with a lower fee, but enough 0% time to clear it. Less than perfect credit? Our Eligibility Checker shows which card you've the best chance of getting.
- The golden rules. a) Repay at least the set monthly minimum, or you may lose the 0% rate. b) Aim to clear the debt or shift again before the 0% ends, or rates rocket. c) Don't spend on these cards, it isn't usually at the cheap rate. d) If you're not sure which to pick use our Which card is cheapest? tool.
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| M&S £5 off £35 code & 50p knickers. Code works on full-price clothes & shoes. Or a sale knocks knickers down to 50p, 2-bra packs £3. M&S Deals Sainsbury's Tu 25% off EVERYTHING, Asos up to 30%, Wallis 30% code
SPRING SALES: Sains Tu 25% | K Geiger upto 50% | Asos upto 30% | Dotty P upto 60% | HoF upto 50% | ALL Sales
CODES: Wallis 30% | Boots £10 off £70 | Boden 20% | Lidl £5 off £35 | ALL Discount Vouchers Last chance: 50% off Sky TV codes. Only 3,000 codes left. Already got one? Redeem by Thurs. See 50% off Sky. Tesco Wine EXTRA 25% off if you buy 2 cases. Includes already-discounted cases, see Wine Deals. Be Drinkaware. |
Free office software and antivirus
New upgraded free office suite. Don't pay big bucks for big software - get legal, professional programs for nowt Don't feel a slave to the huge silicon conglomerates. Super high-quality software is available for free, written collectively by developers taking on the big boys. So, whether you've a new PC or are boosting an existing one, you needn't fork out...  FREE Office suite downloads. Our top pick LibreOffice, has just been upgraded so it's whizzier and prettier. It has Word, Excel and Powerpoint equivalents, and you can open most of the latest Microsoft-compatible files in them. OxygenOffice is another good alternative too, especially for added extras, full info in Free Office Software. - FREE antivirus. Without up-to-date protection, if you're defrauded, banks can argue negligence, leaving you liable. Luckily, many full versions of big names (incl McAfee and Kaspersky) are available free, & crucially include regular updates. Full info in Antivirus Software.
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"The Martin Lewis Money Show" Thurs, ITV, 8.30pm
This Thur: Reclaim flight delay cash, last ditch cash ISAs, save £100s on direct debits &more.
Last week: Reclaim £1,000s in Council tax & the big petrol fuel-duel - watch again. |  |
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| Free £20 3mth pass to 200 attractions in £2 paper. Art pass inc Kensington Pal, Cardiff Castle. Days Out Free Easter chocs. 60p Maltesers bunny at Tesco. See Hot Bargains. Wear specs? New lenses & frame MOT £9 code. MSE Blagged. Make do and mend. Cheap Glasses ISA watch: Nine days left, use it or lose it. You've only until 5 April to use your full 2012-13 tax year £5,640 cash ISA allowance. You can get 2.5% easy access or up to 3.1% if you fix. Full help in Top Cash ISAs & Top ISA Transfers. |
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| Premier Inn Ldn £29 | Days Inn 2 nights £50 | Ramada 30% off. Full run down of the latest Hotel Sales. Easter restaurant vouchers incl...
Harvester 2 kids eat 'free' (every day) | PizzaExpress 3 courses £13 (Fri-Sun) | Real Greek 2 courses £10 (Sun-Fri)
GBK 2 burgers £12 (Sun-Thu) | Slug & Lettuce kids £1 (Sun). See all Easter Restaurant Vouchers. 2for1 Ideal Home tix code. MSE Blagged. Get by Fri but use till Mon 1 Apr. Plus free mag. See Ideal Home. |
Switch PREPAY energy and get £90 cashback
Got a key or a card meter? Rare prepayment deal slashes £130 off annual bills, or better still, ditch prepay If you're on prepayment, you pay more and have less competition, choices and promos aimed at you. Yet for once there is a deal out there for you. Full help and info in the Cheap Prepay Energy guide, but here are the headlines. | | Cost/yr | Cashback | | Avg. prepay tariff | £1,395 | - | | British Gas Clear & Simple | £1,352 | £90 | | Spark Energy | £1,230 | - | | Cheapest credit meter tariff | £1,140 | £30 (1) | | Based on average monthly direct debit or prepay typical usage, varies by region. (1) Dual fuel | - Cashback of £90 on British Gas's Clear & Simple. BG's tariff (also for its existing customers) is only £40 cheaper than average for a typical user, but until Tue 2 Apr, switch via comparison site Energyhelpline's Huge Switch* & you get £90 dual fuel cashback (after c.3 months).
While the cheapest prepay deal's Spark Energy, we've had poor feedback on it, so we think BG with cashback is a strong option. Either way, the link above allows a full prepay comparison. - Can you switch to a billed meter? Far cheaper prices and more competition are available with billed meters (though some miss the budgeting advantage of prepay) which measure usage, then send a bill. Some providers move you to a credit meter for nowt, given certain criteria. For full help, see the Can I Ditch Prepay Energy? guide.
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| 15,000 'free' Ascot Racecourse £13 tix. 15,000 for Wed 1 May, incl parking & race card, pay £3.50 fee. Ascot Deals What to do if asked "pay in pounds or euros?" on cards abroad. Read Martin's Pay in euros blog. £9 off three-year 16-25 Railcard (usually £65). Card gets 1/3rd off train travel. Ends Mon. See Train Deals. Reminder. Free 6mth music streaming (RRP £30). Free 6mth trial with Spotify rival (incl existing custs). Important: Please remember it's ONLY free on PCs & Macs. Do it on your mobile and you pay. Rdio Free Trial |
New Government Help to Buy mortgages
The Budget promised two big new plans to help people get homes - but don't ignore record low rates now In an attempt to kick-start the housing market to boost the economy, Chancellor George Osborne signalled two new Help to Buy mortgage schemes. Yet if you don't need to wait for help, don't - as fixed rates are at record lows right now.  Govt provides 20% deposit (new-builds only). From Monday, anyone getting a new-build (it was just first-timers) under £600,000 with a 5% deposit can apply to get a 20% interest-free five-year loan from the Government, so you just need a mortgage for the remaining 75% (see more on Govt Loan Deposit Help).- Lenders to offer more competitive low deposit/equity mortgages? To push them to offer better deals for those with small (eg, 5%) deposits or low equity, from Jan 2014, the Govt will pledge to cover some lenders' losses, if those borrowers fail to repay. Yet the jury is still out as regulations mean lenders need to hold big reserves in those cases. See Govt Mortgage Backing.
- Fix rates at all-time lows - FREE MSE mortgage booklets. Those with decent equity can currently fix for 5 years at as low as 2.74%. So now's the perfect time to check you're not overpaying. To help, we've free 30-page MSE step-by-step booklets. Remortgage Booklet: Download instant PDF or Order Printed Version. First Timers: Download instant PDF or Order Printed Version. Also see the Ultimate Mortgage Calculator for more help.
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| Asda currency FLASH sale - ends 4pm Thurs. Includes dollars, euros and 4 others. See how it stacks up with TravelMoneyMax, and remember the cheapest way to spend abroad is on the right overseas travel card. £100 off Wii U, including free ZombiU game. £199 in-store for 32GB premium model. Hot Bargains
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Restaurant vouchers | Discount vouchers | Top deals |
| The Moneysaving community |
 MONEY MORAL DILEMMA:
Should I stop using my ex-housemate's Netflix account?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... My housemate used to watch films via his Netflix account using my Xbox, without asking. It was annoying, but I didn't say anything and he has since moved out. However, when I went to use my Xbox again after he'd left, he was still logged in. I'll admit I've watched a few films on his account, but as it's obviously not affecting him in any way and as he used my Xbox for it, I don't feel it's totally wrong. Should I carry on using it? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I stop using ex-housemate's Netflix account? | Suggest an MMD | View Past MMDs THE GREAT HUNT:
Which unexpected items can be composted?
To save waste and help the environment, which household items have you found can be composted? We want to dig into MoneySavers' green-fingered wisdom - suggestions so far include latex washing up gloves, full-up vacuum cleaner bags and woolly jumpers. Share yours/read others': What can be composted? Past topics: View all THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED:
Which gadgets were your biggest waste of cash?
You came up with some fascinating cash-wasters, including a chocolate fountain, a PDA (remember those?) and a juice press. You also told us about your can't-do-withouts. Do you know what a Spong is? CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT:
Airline: Flybe Offer: Under £49 seat sale Ends: Thu 28 Mar 2013
Our pick this week is Flybe's sale. A million seats are available for £49 or less, including taxes and charges, for travel from Wed 1 May 2013 to Sun 23 Feb 2014. We found Belfast to Jersey flights for £41.20. To find flights quickly, use the FlightChecker on a £50 one-way max search. Extra charges warning: Avoid payment and check-in charges - see Budget Airline Fee Fighting. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance back to top ↑ |
Quick forum tips | Freebies |
Martin's blogs | Martin's appearances 27 March
Ideal Home Show, 3pm.
Martin giving a talk. | 28 March
Daybreak, ITV1, 7.35-7.45am.
Deals of the Week. | 28 March
The Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV1, 8.30-9.00pm. Reclaim cash for flight delays and stop hidden direct debit payments.
PS. Missed last week's show? Watch it here. | | |
MSE team corner - Team appearances:
- No team appearances this week
| Board of the week The Motoring Board Share advice and tips on cutting the costs of driving. Discussions include AA Membership Renewal - Stand your ground, Van not used for 4 months and now will not unlock doors and Garage Reviews?. | Cheap travel money | UK's Best Currency Rates | | £100 will buy you: | | Best | Worst |  | € | 117.06 | 106.14 |  | $ | 151.01 | 137.92 |  | TL | 268.25 | 245.96 | | Rates correct at 5pm Tue | Find all top currency rates
Compare travel cash | |
This week's poll: Which companies have you best haggled with? Digital TV, broadband, credit cards, insurance and more. It's possible to haggle with call centres across the UK - whether for cheaper prices, better deals or reduced interest.
Which service companies have you successfully haggled with IN THE LAST YEAR? Including... | Poll resultsWhich gadgets do you own?
MoneySavers are happy snappers - 89% of you have a digital camera. We got the same top four as when we ran this poll in 2010.
- 89% have a digital camera
- 83% a printer/scanner
- 74% a DVD player (not Blu-ray)
- 73% have a non-Apple laptop
16,768 voted. See the full results. |
Question of the week Q: Can you return items once you've broken the seal, eg, software, electrical items, etc? Mark, by email. MSE Wendy's A: Rules here often depend on whether the item's faulty. If it IS, you can follow usual consumer rights and ask for a refund, replacement, reduction or repair regardless of whether something's open or not (see our Give Me My Money Back guide as this can depend on how long you've had the item). If something's NOT faulty, and you've simply changed your mind, you might be covered by the store's policy or the Distance Selling Regulations (for orders made by web, mail order or phone) within seven working days of delivery. The latter excludes sealed audio, video or computer software that's open, and my guess is most store polices will too. However, electrical equipment, if you've taken care and they're sent back in original packaging, can be returned. |
 Archna's free game of the week: Tiny Easter dash |
What a load of whoppers That's all for this week, but we thought we'd end with a few blatant mistruths, as we loved our forumites' stories about fantastic fibs. From mysterious neighbours with phoney military careers to students claiming to have superstar partners, enjoy these tales of Outrageous Liars. 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 barclaycard.co.uk, lloydstsb.com, natwest.com, tescobank.com, halifax.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, confused.com, directline.com, aviva.co.uk, admiral.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, nationwide.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, firstdirect.com, santander.co.uk, confused.com, postoffice.co.uk, bt.com.
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