| | MARTIN'S QUICK BRIEFING: For more tips, alerts & awful puns, follow Martin on Twitter 10 ways to make technology pay
Cutting-edge tools to transform and boost your pocket Technology's shaping the future. Apps and tools let us mine data libraries it'd once have taken a football stadium of slide-rule geeks to analyse, while strangers can band together to crowdsource info in seconds. If you want your child to be a 21st century master of the universe, encourage them to be a data analyst, not a banker. As technology brings us a data explosion, more experts are needed to crunch & manipulate it. So in the Year of Code, this is a wee thank-you to clever techies at MSE & elsewhere. | 1. | Permanently ride the cheapest energy bills with 'tarting tech'. Switching tariff cuts many people's bills by £100s a year. Yet gains tend to be short-lived, as fixed deals end, or prices are hiked. The way to beat this is by being an energy tart and moving tariff each time you're overpaying.
So we built the MSE Cheap Energy Club comparison as tarting tech. Enter your usage and location, and it not only finds your cheapest deal today, but, each month without you doing owt, it does a background comparison for you, alerting you once it's no longer cheapest and is time to move.
In my view, it foreshadows Consumer Web 2.0. The next step is rather than just providing information, sites will act for you. And with nearly 1m people joining the club in the first year, it looks like it's got legs. | | | | | 2. | 'Robo' shop to boost your rights. Buy goods online and by law, you've nearly always got a 7-day no-fault right to a full refund. In-store, you're only due a refund if goods are faulty - so buy the wrong size or colour and you've no legal rights (though some stores allow it).
Robo-shopping means researching offline, buying online. To explain, imagine you look at a new sofa in-store, pick it, but then buy it online. This way, if it arrives and it doesn't fit through the door, you can send it back.
Of course, this threatens our high streets, so strike a balance. A halfway house is to buy from the site of the store where you viewed the goods. | | | | | 3. |  Earn cash from your sofa. The internet's opened up new forms of online work, as firms need folks to do tasks such as crowdsourcing, data entry & content writing. You can get paid to watch videos, Google, write, make your own YouTube clips & more - see our 30 (Legit) Earn Cash Online Tips. | | | | | 4. | Technology that cracks credit cards' hidden credit-scoring systems. No one has a universal credit rating - each lender scores you based on its own customer wishlist. Yet these systems are never published, so usually the only way to know if you'll be accepted (and at what rate) is to apply, and that marks your credit file.
This anti-shopping around system has been something I've lobbied on, and given evidence against in parliamentary select committees. Yet nothing's been done. So instead, we turned to technology to beat it.
Our Credit Card Eligibility Checker does a pre-application 'soft' search (that has no credit score impact). It then maps lenders' scoring systems to calculate your percentage chance of getting specific cards. It works for balance transfers, cashback cards, 0% deals, overseas cards & more. | | | | | 5. | Call 0800 numbers free on mobiles. Freephones aren't usually, er, free from mobiles (yet). They cost up to a nasty 40p/min, yet nifty Free 0800 Tools which work as sites/apps use a tech workaround so you can call them via a local number. So if you've inclusive minutes, the calls are free. | | | | | 6. | Calculate the exact probability your Premium Bonds will win. With Premium Bonds your money's safe, but your interest's a lottery. The current 1.3% mean-average rate is slightly less than Top Savings, but is tax-free.
Yet this figure is relatively meaningless. To pay all those who win £1m or £100,000, many must win nothing. A better measure is the median average, the amount the person halfway along would win if you lined up everyone with the same number of Premium Bonds in order of their winnings.
A few years ago, I tried to work out an exact answer - no chance. One of my team with a top maths degree tried. Nope. We asked a financial maths professor, and she said "you need multinomial probability" & wanted a specialist to calculate it.
Eventually, we found a post-doctoral cosmology statistician to write the algorithm, and then built the Premium Bond Probability Calc. It takes two hours to crunch the data each month. Try it, the results can be shocking. Someone with £1,000 of bonds and median luck is likely to win, over a year... nothing. Related: Are Premium Bonds Worth It? | | | | | 7. | Earn £100s for giving your view. Almost everywhere we travel online we're data-mined (not on MSE, see our Editorial Code), so why not cash in? If you're lucky enough to get selected for polls by one of the Top 20 Online Survey Sites, you can be paid to reveal your views on anything from Scottish independence to what goes on between the bedsheets.
Committed survey-doers can get £200ish a year, or max it like forumite Funnyguy... "Last year I earned £800 in cash & vouchers - comes in useful." | | | | | 8. | Locate hidden local eBay bargains. eBay sellers often specify items - from stags' heads to PS4s - as "collection only". These get fewer bids, so have lower prices. You can't search for 'em on eBay, so we built our Local eBay Deals Mapper, eBay Deals iPhone App & eBay Deals Android App, which tap into eBay's data to locate items near you. | | | | | 9. | Crowdsource cheap heating oil. More than 1.5m homes use it. With an under-regulated market, prices are up, hitting many in rural areas hard.
While there are comparison sites, the best results usually come from grouping together with others nearby in a similar position to bulk-buy and cut costs. A nifty piece of crowdsourcing by Citizens Advice can help find oil clubs near you. This and more help in Cheap Heating Oil. | | | | | 10. | Data-sucking mobile bill analysis. Rather than entering rough details yourself, BillMonitor* logs into your mobile bill, sucks out your usage data, then analyses it to find you the cheapest tariff. More help in Cheap Mobiles.
I like this because it shows the potential impact of the MiData changes. These will mean we'll each own our own usage data - rather than the bank, mobile network or energy company.
Then, hopefully, with one click you'll soon be able to transport this (likely via regulated sites or intermediaries) to find a highly bespoke, perfectly-matched deal in seconds - deleting much of the guesswork. | | |
And, of course, these are just the start. You can analyse the cheapest time to fly, check your tax code, create your own protected package holiday, rent your driveway, make free calls worldwide from mobiles and so much more. |
Blagged for MoneySavers |
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 Get permanently cheap energy Our club ensures you're always on the cheapest tariff.
Join free: Cheap Energy Club |
Reclaim PPI for FREE Claims handlers aren't more successful.
Free help & templates: Reclaim PPI |
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| Wed 5 Feb 2014 |
New. Cheapest travel insurance £13 for a year (£27 family)
Booked a holiday? You need insurance ASAP. New cheapest annual Europe policy £13, worldwide £27 Many people leave buying their travel insurance too late, risking problems if the holiday is cancelled, or you get ill before you get cover. If you're booked, sort it. Full details in our Cheap Travel Insurance guide, here are the latest best buys: - New. Year's cover from £13. MSE Blagged. Go away 2+ times a year & an annual policy covering all the year's holidays (usually max 24 days/trip) almost always wins. This link to Holidaysafe Lite* gets Euro cover for £13 (£20 incl winter sports). It meets our min cover levels and is a decent no-frills deal. Here's how it stacks up:
- Older travellers, single trips, or pre-existing conditions. The range of options can be huge, here are key links:
- Single trips: Depending on age & destination, cover is available from £6. Use the MoneySup* comparison.
- Older travellers: Prices rocket, yet there are competitive options. See our Over-65s Travel Insurance Guide.
- Had past medical problems? Always declare them. If getting cover's tough, see Specialist Medical Travel Insurers.
- Hitting the slopes? Add winter sports cover so you're protected for ski/snowboard accidents or lost/stolen gear.
Also see: Free EHIC Card | ESTA Help | Cheap Flights | Cheap Hotels | Cheap Package Holidays | Priceline Bidding Tricks back to top ↑ |
| The Great Tesco 1p hunt - 300g Thorntons toffee, hair straighteners & more. Can you find 'em? TODAY only: M&S Outlet EXTRA 20% off code. MSE Blagged. Use on items already up to 50% off. M&S Outlet Urgent £80 Love2Shop vch on hot TV, phone & b'band deal. MSE Blagged. Via this TalkTalk TV Essentials* link, newbies with non-cable phones get: 1) TV, calls & unltd b'band for £7.50/mth. (B'band avail to 85% of UK.) 2) You need its line rent. It's £15.40/mth, but cut that paying £126 for a year upfront. 3) £80 Love2Shop vch. Valid at Argos, Boots, etc (log on to get). The total? Over the 18mth contract it's £353. Take off the £80 vch, it's equiv to just £15/mth. TV Deals Converse trainers 10% extra off up to 50% sale. MSE Blagged. Ends Thu 10am. Converse |
Lock in card debts at 6.9% FOR LIFE, no fee
Shift debt to this card and the rate stays PERMANENTLY low - saving £100s or £1,000s by the time it's repaid If you've costly credit card debt, a balance transfer means you get a new card that repays your existing one(s) so you owe it instead. Normally they're short-term 0% deals, but some should instead be plumping for long-term rate certainty... - Do you want to be a tart, or have a stable relationship? If you can repay quickly, a 0% deal wins. If you need longer or are unsure of repayments, the cheapest route's to disloyally tart from 0% to 0% deal when each ends. If that's too much hassle, or you'd forget, go for a stable relationship card with a permanently low rate.
- 6.9% for LIFE, no fee. The top stable relationship deal is MBNA's Rate for Life* (check eligibility). Accepted customers transferring debt in the first 60 days pay 6.9% on it till repaid. Miss a payment & it's 18.9% rep APR.
The savings can be huge. On £5,000, repaying £120 a month on a standard 18% APR card, it'd take over five years to clear at an interest cost of £2,500. Shift to this 6.9% deal and it'd be clear after four years, costing just £710. - The top 0% deals. If you can repay quickly, aim for the lowest fee, provided you're sure you can repay in that time. To see which cards you're most likely to be accepted for, use our Balance Transfer Eligibility Checker.
| TOP PICK 0% BALANCE TRANSFER CREDIT CARDS | | Card | Intro offer | One-off fee (1) | Rep APR after | | Barclaycard* Longest | 30mths 0% (2) | 2.89% | 18.9% | | Lloyds* Long lower fee | 24mths 0% (2) | 1.5% | 17.9% | | Fluid* Lowest fee | 12mths 0% | 0.75% | 19.9% | | Cap One Bal* Poor credit scorers | 0% until Aug | 3% | 34.9% | | FULL INFO: Best Balance Transfers (APR Examples) 1) % of the amount transferred. 2) Some get shorter 0%. | - Balance transfer golden rules. a) Always repay at least the set monthly min, or you may lose special deals. b) Aim to clear debt or shift again before 0% deals end, or rates rocket. c) Don't spend on these, it isn't usually at the cheap rate. d) To help decide, try our Which Card's Cheapest? tool. e) FULL help: Best Balance Transfers.
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 Romance is great. Over-commercialised peer pressure ain't. While we've compiled 2014 Valentine's Deals for you, try promising something nice (or naughty), eg, a 'massage', brekkie in bed or candle-lit bath, at no cost: Free Valentine's Gift Cheques
♥ 12 red roses, £21 couriered. Next cheapest £22, incl chocs. Valentine's Day Roses ♥ Code gets £80 hardback photo book for £19 MSE Blagged. Photo Deals ♥ Personalised photo cards: Snapfish 50% off | Moonpig 2for1. See Valentine's Cards. ♥ £10 champagne: Louvel Fontaine champagne for £10. See All Champagne Deals. ♥ Knickers coming down (again...) Figleaves £10 off £40 code, Ann Summers 20% off. See all Valentine's Lingerie. ♥ Pay less for perfume. Incl Vera Wang £16 (was £33), Boots £5 off perfumes code. See Cheap Perfume & Aftershave. Or fancy a Valentine's quickie...
Hot Diamonds 32% off jewellery code | Chateaubriand 500g dine-in £29 incl scallops & 2 cheesecakes | 'Free' £7 Thorntons chocs Topcashback newbies ONLY | Red Letter Days 20% off code | Valentine's Restaurant Vouchers coming next week... |
Want solar panels? Now's the time
The 'feed-in tariff' you get for generating electricity will be cut from 1 April. So it pays to get it now
The amount paid for generating electricity with solar panels will drop for those getting it from 1 April. Sign up now and your rate's guaranteed for 20yrs, so speed should pay. We put the spotlight on in our Solar Panels guide, here's a flash:  You need a south-facing roof. To maximise the electricity you generate from solar and therefore max your payments, your roof should face roughly within 45 degrees of south, with little or no shade. See Solar Need-To-Knows.- It lowers your bills. Solar panels save a typical home £125/year (according to the Energy Saving Trust) in electricity, as it reduces the amount you need to buy.
- You're paid to generate too. The Govt ensures you get PAID to generate over and above what you use. This is called a 'feed-in tariff', and it currently pays you roughly what you pay energy firms for the same amount.
- Is it worth it? On £7,000 panels, estimated earnings are £650/yr plus reduced bills. This will drop to £630/yr from 1 April. So over 20 years, you'd earn £400 less than the current £13,000. Full pros & cons in Should I Buy Solar Panels? To get the higher rate you need to install the panels, register them and get your application for payments to your energy firm by 31 Mar. Solar panel installers tell us this is doable, if you're quick.
- Can I still get free solar? Here you get the energy savings, but the installer keeps the bigger 'feed-in tariff' payments. Previous feed-in rate cuts killed off many providers, but there are a few left. See Free Solar.
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| FREE kids' Lego workshops every month. Learn to build it, then take it home, incl spacecrafts and dragons (worth £5-ish). For 6-14-year-olds at 14 Lego stores - limited availability. Lego Deals New. Free £100 Co-op bank switch + £25 charity donation. Consistently highly-rated for service, the Co-op's Current Account Plus* now gives £100 to switchers + £25 to one of seven charities. It also has a £200 fee-free overdraft (min pay-in £800/mth, if not its Standard* account gives the bonus but not the overdraft). See: Top Bank Accounts Codes... Dotty P £10 off £40, Tesco £15 off £60, Evans 20% etc...
Tesco grocery £15 off £60 code for new custs | Dorothy Perkins £10 off £40 code | Topman 10% off + free del code
F&F Tesco Clothing £10 off £50 code | Boden £5 / £10 / £20 off code | Evans 20% off code | Full list: Discount Vouchers 25 oriental lily bulbs £9.50. Next cheapest we found was £20. Includes delivery. Buddy cheap |
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| Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2for1. Usually £12 each. At Nat History Mus till 21 Mar. Roar-some Unlimited London Midland train travel £15/day. 50,000 printable vouchers for travel 15 Feb-2 Mar. Train Deals
Show Best Buys |
Urgent. Travelex 2-hour FLASH sale
Boost airport rates on euros, dollars & more | Asda & ICICI deals boosted | Or grab CONSTANTLY cheap rates The pound is nearing recent highs against the dollar and euro. Here's how to ensure you benefit, not the bureaux... back to top ↑ |
| FREE Build It Live tix, 30% off Wedding Show tickets & more...
FREE Work & Family Show Ldn | FREE Build It Live Kent | National Wedding Show 30% off 3 locations | See all Days Out Last in the series... It's the final Martin Lewis Money Show of the series this week, incl the cheap holiday tricks challenge, how to reclaim PPI and "should I repay my student loan?". ITV Friday 8pm. Watch last week's car insurance show Show Best Buys |
| Show Vouchers and Top Deals |
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 THE GREAT HUNT
What's the best bank for piggybanking / jam-jar accounts?
Martin's "stick to your budget" system relies on piggybanking, where you use multiple accounts for bills, shopping, Xmas, holidays, etc, separating your cash as soon as you get it. We want to know who does it, and if so, which bank accounts make it easiest. Please share your wisdom. Share yours/read others': 'Piggybanking' bank accounts Past topics: View all CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
Tell George Osborne what you want in the Budget
On Wed 19 Mar, the Chancellor will reveal his plans for the economy. Before then, the Government is asking what you want to see in his Budget. All original and innovative ideas are welcome - but please keep them practical and polite. Email budget.representations@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk before Fri 14 Feb with your ideas, and let us know in the Budget Brainstorm discussion thread. MONEY MORAL DILEMMA
Waitress takes leftovers for a retirement home. Should I report her?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... I work as a waitress at private functions. After events, loads of cakes, sandwiches, etc are thrown away, even though they're still perfectly good. Our bosses say we're not allowed to take anything home, but one of my colleagues sneaks things into her bag. I was going to report her, but found out she gives them to residents at the retirement home her mum is at and they look forward to the treats. Should I say something?
Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I report leftover food theft? | Suggest an MMD | View Past MMDs CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT
Airline: Aer Lingus Price: Ireland from £19.99 one-way Ends: Sun 16 Feb
Our pick this week is Aer Lingus's offer for flights between 1 Mar and 31 May 2014 to five Irish destinations from 15 UK airports. It ends Sun 16 Feb and includes taxes and charges. To find flights quickly, use FlightChecker on a £50 return search. We found Manchester-Dublin flights for even cheaper than the advertised rate - £18.99 each way. There's no code to enter, the discount appears automatically. 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 THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED
How to have a romantic Valentine's Day on a budget
Our romantic forumites came up with some great ideas, including a date night at home where you both dress to impress, and leaving secret notes for your partner to find. One MoneySaver makes her own homemade gift cheques for very specific pledges, though you could download our Valentine's Gift Cheque templates instead. back to top ↑ |
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Martin's blogs | Martin's appearances 5 February
The One Show, BBC1, 7pm-8pm.
Pensions.
| 6 February
Daybreak, ITV, 7.35am-7.45am.
Deals of the Week.
Watch last week's show. | 6 February
Shelagh Fogarty, Radio 5 Live, 12pm-1pm.
Consumer Panel.
Listen to past shows.
| 7 February
This Morning, ITV, 10.30am-12.30pm.
The Money Vault with John McCririck. | 7 February
The Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV, 8pm-8.30pm.
Holiday money saving, PPI reclaiming, and student loans.
Watch last week's insurance special. | 10 February
This Morning, ITV, 11am-12pm.
Joint bank accounts.
Watch this week's show on reclaiming. | 10 February
The Agenda, ITV, 10.35pm-11.05pm.
Martin joins George Osborne on the panel. | |
MSE team corner - Team appearances:
- No team appearances this week.
| Discussion of the week What were your 20s like? A forumite about to turn 22 is pondering what the rest of her 20s have in store: What were your 20s like? Our forumites seem to have done it all, from travelling to nights out and holidays. Join the forum and share your memories. | Cheap travel money |
This week's poll: Is it OK to use a 2for1 voucher on a first date? Valentine's is coming, but has using vouchers finally broken through the last taboo? Is it acceptable to use 2for1 restaurant vouchers on a first date? We ask this each year - let's see if it's changed...
Imagine Ollie asks Samantha to dinner on a first date, saying he'll pay. When the bill comes, he pulls out a 2for1 voucher - what advice would you give Sam? | Poll resultsWould you support a 50% tax rate - if it didn't raise extra cash?
Most voters wouldn't raise the upper tax rate to 50% if it didn't raise extra revenue.
- 70% wouldn't raise it.
- 22% would back 50% on principle.
- 8% said 50% is too low.
11,465 voted. See the full results. |
| Q: Is there any restriction on which branch of a store you can return goods to? Must it be the branch you bought from? Richard via Twitter. MSE Wendy’s A: Unfortunately there's no clear answer, and it's tough to find out. If a firm is a chain, normally it isn't a problem to return it to another branch as they are all part of the same legal entity (this may not apply if the chain tells you differently before you buy).
However some stores operate on a franchise model (where the name & image is sold to small businesses to run their own version), and if so, returns are likely to be branch-specific as here you have a contract with the owner of a particular store. This could vary if one firm owns several franchises (so you can return to any) or if owners have agreed to accept returns on behalf of others. These details would usually be written down somewhere for you to check.
For far more help see our Consumer Rights guide. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
 Debs' free game of the week: Rescue a Chicken |
How much time have you spent wasted on Facebook in the last 10 years? Yesterday marked 10 years of Facebook. That's a lot of wall posts, status updates and photos you wish you hadn't been tagged in. If you're brave enough to find out, try this tool that estimates how much time you've wasted on Facebook. We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team |
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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. 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, and still writes this email each week (unless it says so). He's an ultra-focused money-saving journalist and consumer campaigner with his own ITV prime-time The Martin Lewis Money Show, weekly slots on Radio 5 Live, This Morning and Daybreak, amongst others. He’s a columnist for publications including the Telegraph and Woman magazine. More info: See Martin Lewis' biography 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 billmonitor.com, holidaysafe.co.uk, coverwise.co.uk, direct-travel.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, talktalk.co.uk, mbna.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, lloydsbank.com, fluid.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, halifax.co.uk, fairfx.com, co-operativebank.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, gocompare.com, google.co.uk, directline.com, aviva.co.uk, admiral.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, cbonline.co.uk, santander-products.co.uk, confused.com, comparethemarket.com, postoffice.co.uk, productsandservices.bt.com.
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