| | MARTIN'S QUICK BRIEFING: For more tips, alerts & awful puns, follow Martin on Twitter Have a play with our (MoneySaving) tools
Grab cheap holiday cash, check tax, slash rail fares, uncover hidden bargains, find mortgage best buys, bag cheap energy and MUCH more MoneySavingExpert is a colossal, info-packed site, and this week we make no excuses for showing off the pick of our free tools. They can hammer down bills, nail you a bargain or shine a torch on your true outgoings and financial health. Let's open our toolbox... | 1. | Free Income Tax Calculator. The Income Tax Calculator shows how much tax and National Insurance should be deducted from your pay (you can also factor in student loan repayments). Also use our Tax Code Calculator to check you're paying the correct tax. | | | | 2. |  Free TicketySplit tool slashes train fares. Bizarrely, buying two tickets for one journey can save large. So we built the TicketySplit tool - Colin's example explains it: "I do Derby to Banbury return. A peak day return is £90.50. But Derby to Birmingham and Birmingham to Banbury day returns, staying on the same train, are £39.50." | | | | 3. | Permanently cheap gas & electricity. Since we launched it in 2013, over 1.6m people have joined the free Cheap Energy Club, saving an average £200 per household. It finds your top tariff, monitors it each month and alerts you when it's time to switch again. Jeni tweeted: "Just saved £305 a year switching energy through Energy Club. Thanks." | | | | 4. | Grab the cheapest travel cash. There are massive variations in rates (yesterday you could get €1,230-€1,370 changing £1,000) so TravelMoneyMax compares 40 online bureaux to find which gives most on 70ish currencies. Also see Martin's Should I buy euros now? analysis. | | | | 5. | Benchmark your cheapest mortgage deal at speed. Rates are super-low but finding your best deal is tricky, so we created a comparison which finds your best bespoke deal, for remortgages, moving home and first-time buyers. As we're nerds, we also have an Ultimate Mortgage Calculator to answer everything you want to know about your mortgage. | | | 6. | Stamp Duty Calculator - how much will you pay? Buy a house or flat and you're likely to owe stamp duty (it's called that as the document once required a stamp). It's one of the biggest taxes, and thresholds recently changed. Our Stamp Duty Calculator shows exactly what you'll pay. | | | 7. | Free budget planner - analyse your finances. The huge Budget Planner tool answers the key financial question: do you spend more than you earn? If so, you need to change, or risk eating into savings and hitting debt hell. It analyses regular spending and one-offs incl birthdays & Christmas. | | | | 8. | Get up to £200 for old mobiles. 'Sell your mobile' sites spray the TV with ads, but there can be enormous differences per site and handset. We devised the MobileValuer comparison to speedily find top payers. You could get £121-£201 for an iPhone 5S 64GB, £90-£170 for a Samsung Galaxy S5. Flogging a newer iPhone 6 Plus 128GB could fetch up to £445. | | | | 9. | Never just apply for cards and loans - that marks your credit file. Use the free Eligibility Calcs. The only way to know if you'll get one is to apply which leaves a footprint on your credit file. Too many, especially in a short time, can hurt future applications. So we built free Eligibility Calculators which use a soft search (you see it on your file, lenders don't) to show your acceptance odds for top deals to minimise applications.
Free Eligibility Calculators include:
0% Balance Transfers | 0% Borrowing Cards | Cashback Credit Cards
Travel Money Cards | Poor Credit | Loans Eligibility | | | | 10. | Speedily unmask hidden shopping bargains. The Local eBay Deals Mapper, iPhone App & Android App locate bargains near you. Our Amazon Discount Finder manipulates the giant's URLs to create pages, eg, beauty 70%+ off* and TV 25%+ off*. Zoe tweeted: "Love the eBay app - grabbed a new VTech Baby Dancing Tower toy for 99p (was £40ish)." | | | | 11. | Join the complaining revolution. Automated, free complaints system Resolver* explains your rights, drafts a complaint letter, monitors replies and escalates to ombudsmen. It works on 3,500+ firms, incl shops, banks & energy companies. 18k+ have used it since we revealed we were working with it in Apr, incl Michelle: "Complained about Halifax on the Fri, by Tue I'd got £90." Full Resolver info. | | | | 12. | Give up that £1,750 coffee. A £2.50 coffee doesn't seem much, but one every day adds up. Our Demotivator tool shows the true cost of whatever fix you have. Sophie learned: "According to the Demotivator tool, in the last 5 years, I've spent £1,750 on lattes. Ridiculous." |
PS from Martin: I'm taking a break this week, so all the work here is the product of the very talented MSE team. |
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| Wed 17 Jun 2015 |
Urgent. £6 for year's Sky line rent & b'band (costs £106, £100 credit back)
14,500 codes avail, ends Thu 25 Jun. This is an intensely white-hot deal that could massively smash your costs If you're on a standard BT or Virgin package, you may pay £300+/yr for broadband & line rental (excl calls). The real key to slashing the cost is to jump on hot promo deals, and this is scorching. We believe it's this cheap because Sky's year end is soon and it wants to hit 'customer acquisition' targets. Regardless, it's ridiculously good.  Starts Fri - £100 bill credit on £106 line rent & b'band. MSE Blagged. For Sky newbies or those who left it 12+ months ago signing up to a 12-mth contract and paying by direct debit, via this Sky line rent & b'band* link. There are 14,500 codes - you can get one now via the link, but can only redeem it from Fri 10am - Thu 25 Jun 11.59pm. Here's how it works:
- Compulsory line rental. Blagged for half-price for 12mths at £8.20/mth - so £98.40 over the year. It rises to the normal £16.40/mth after the year but you can leave then.
- Unlimited broadband (avail to 90% of UK). Up to 17Mb speed, this comes 'free' with the line rent for 12mths. After that you can leave or pay £7.50/mth.
- Compulsory Sky router. It's marketed as 'free' by Sky, but the p&p costs £6.95.
- Call costs. Weekend calls (up to 60 mins per call) to landlines included; other calls to UK phones are incredibly similar to BT (see full call charges). If you rack up £100/mth in call charges (even if your account is in credit), you'll be cut off until it's paid off in full.
- A £100 credit we've blagged is applied automatically on your first bill. As this happens before you're asked for any payment, assuming you don't incur any call or other charges, the credit covers all payments for most of the first year - so you won't owe anything till a £5.35 balancing payment in the final month.
Analysis: A year's line rent plus the £6.95 router p&p is £105.35 over the contract (excl calls). You also get the £100 bill credit. Factor that in and you effectively pay £5.35 for a YEAR'S broadband and line rental - absurdly cheap.
A £20 installation fee may apply. Don't have a line, or switching from cable? You'll pay £20. A few on certain standard lines may need to as well. The only way to know is via the application process (it'll tell you before you commit, you'll need your exact postcode and landline number). See Installation info.
- Or pay £12/month for b'band & line rent (good if you have Sky). A simple alternative - no cashback, no vouchers, just sign up to an 18mth contract with SSE and pay £12/mth for line rent and b'band. SSE broadband.
More detailed info and alternatives, incl fibre broadband, in Cheap Broadband. Related: Cheap Home Phones, Digital TV. back to top ↑ |
Ryanair seats 3yr-old away from parents. See budget airline family travel warning news. Mulberry up to 40% off handbags sale. Not MoneySaving, but if you're going to buy anyway, do it when cheapest. Handbags, clothes & accessories. Eg, Alexa bag £770 (was £1,100) & Campden clutch bag £450 (was £750). Limited stock Shift credit card debt to 0% NO FEE for 18mths - new deal on the block. The price war rages on as Halifax* (eligibility calc) now offers up to 18mths 0% with NO FEE on balance transfers. Tesco* already offered 18mths 0%, no fee. Need longer? Barclaycard's up to 36mths 0%* card (eligibility calc) has a 2.39% fee. Clear before the 0% ends or they jump to 18.9% rep APR (Tesco 20.6%). Will you get 'em? Try our Eligibility Calc. FULL help: Top Balance Transfers, (APR Examples). New 'Which school will my child get into?' checker. A new mapping tool shows rough catchment areas, school quality and how likely your child is to get in. Plus check floods, noise, crime & more in 30+ house price valuation tools. Beat the BT Sport hike - everyone with BT broadband should check. Up £60/yr from Aug. BT hike |
Warning. Have you booked your holiday but not got insurance?
Buy ASAP so that you're covered for cancellation - and get it from £6/person with our top picks If you've booked travel but not your insurance you risk a money meltdown. It doesn't cost more, yet many leave it late - that's a nightmare. If you get an illness that lasts till you go away or a family death means you need to cancel, you're not covered if insurance wasn't in place at the time. Full info in Cheap Travel Insurance. In short: - Single-trip vs annual travel insurance. Go away just 2+ times a year (incl weekends) and annual policies usually win - less, and single-trip cover's often cheaper.
- Avoid sky-high prices - cover a year's trips from £13. We found mega prices via some airlines and travel agents - one worldwide annual family policy with winter sports was £466, our top picks smash that.
PS: If you're going to Europe, don't forget your Free EHIC Card (which gives state-run hospital care at the price a local pays) and check yours is still valid, as 5.2 million are due to expire in 2015. back to top ↑ |
| £1 sun cream - factors 15-50. See our cheap sun cream round-up incl full safety help. Free upgrade to Windows 10. Register now if you've Windows 7 or 8.1. Windows Upgrade Burt's Bees grab bag £23 del (£50 of stuff). Incl lip balm, hand cream & body lotion. 4,000 avail Free retro Snake smartphone game (looks like an old Nokia). Plus classics incl Tetris & Space Invaders. Games |
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Show Best Buys
'Free' ice cream, bread, Coke & more. Stacking cashback & promos. See Deals Hunters' Freebies blog. Kids go 'free' to West End Aug shows (incl Wicked & Lion King) with paying grown-up. See 40+ shows. SUCCESS OF THE WEEK: (Send us yours on this or any topic)
"I got £1,800 from RBS for mis-sold packaged account charges. It was easy using your template. Thanks." Important. Energy, phone, TV & b'band payments now affect your credit rating. Full info in Credit Scores. |
New. 2-YEAR 0% 'loan' - lowest credit card loan fee we've seen
Massively undercut standard loans via the power of plastic, with interest-free borrowing for a fee Don't borrow unless you need to. And if you need to, always ensure it's budgeted for, affordable and as cheap as possible. Of course, the cheapest lending is interest-free, so many ask, "Can I use a 0% card to pay cash into my bank account?" The answer is usually no - unless it's a special Top Money Transfer Card, which lets you do it for a fee.
 New. Up to 2YRs 0% credit card loan (1.7% fee). Accepted new MBNA* (eligibility calc) cardholders can now do a money transfer for up to 24 months for a fee of 1.7% (min £3) of the amount transferred, after the fee was cut from 1.94% last week. The card pays money into your bank, so you owe it instead. If you need longer, another MBNA* card (eligibility calc) gives up to 36mths 0% for a larger 2.99% fee (min £3). After the 0% ends, both are 22.9% rep APR. Full info in 0% Card Loans (APR Examples). Note, MBNA may offer those with slightly poorer credit scores fewer months at 0%.
- How does it compare to normal loans? It's especially useful for borrowing sub-£3,000, where even the cheapest loans are costly - eg, borrow £2,400 over two years and the cheapest standard bank loan is 14.9%, costing £365 in interest. Do the same borrowing via this up-to-2yr MBNA card and the only cost is the £41 fee. For larger amounts, see our Cheap Loans guide.
- The Money Transfer Golden Rules:
a) Want to cut cost of existing card debts? Both these cards also offer balance transfers (though with different 0% lengths & fees) so you can combine them. Yet if that's all you're doing, better deals are in Best Balance Transfers.
b) Don't just apply. The Eligibility Calc shows your acceptance odds, protecting your credit score.
c) Clear the card before the 0% ends - or you'll pay the higher interest rate (or at least balance-transfer the debt).
d) Always pay at least the monthly minimum - on time. If not, you may lose the 0% deal - direct debits help.
e) To replicate a loan, repay a fixed amount. To mimic a loan's disciplined fixed-repayment structure, add the fee to the amount borrowed. Divide by the number of 0% months, then pay that amount fixed each month.
f) Never spend or withdraw cash. Those aren't at the 0% rate and can be very costly. back to top ↑ |
| Father's Day restaurant deals. Incl dads eat 'free' at Harvester, 'free' dad's steak at Beefeater. See all meal deals. Comedy festival, incl Ed Byrne, Rich Hall, Jim Jefferies at Hyde Pk: 2 tix £25 (norm £55). MSE Blagged. Choose one-day tix on Mon 22, Tue 23 or Wed 24 Jun in London - 2,000 tix for each. British Summer Time LAST CHANCE. Ever had Sentinel (AI scheme) card protection? Vote YES for £100s. It had a card protection plan (similar to CPP) sold via Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, etc. It's agreed to repay possibly £100m+ to mis-sold customers. If you got a letter asking you to vote on an automatic redress scheme, vote yes - but you've only a week left. Sentinel reclaim £45 Sanctuary Spa travel set £22. Full- & travel-size lotions, scrubs, body butter and hand cream, plus Charles Worthington goodies. Boots
Show Best Buys |
| Show Vouchers and Top Deals |
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 CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
Questioning the EU question: We've seen the proposed question: "Should the UK remain a member of the European Union?" (which 24,657 of you already answered in our recent poll). Now the Electoral Commission is asking if the question could be clearer and whether "or leave the European Union" should be added. Tell it by Friday - and tell us what you think in our forum. MONEY MORAL DILEMMA
Is it wrong to take a free lunch when I don't need it?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... There's a man who serves plates of hot food (donated by supermarkets) on behalf of the Hare Krishna movement at a university near where I work. I've started going at lunchtime, but some of my colleagues think it should only be for those who really need it. The man knows I'm not a student, and I make a donation to his cause every time. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I stop taking free lunches? | Suggest an MMD | View past MMDs THE GREAT HUNT
Share your overseas medical or dental treatment experiences
We want your top tips on going abroad for medical or dental treatment. If you've ever done it, how did it go? Was it good or bad? Would you recommend it? Share yours/read others': Overseas medical treatment Past topics: View all THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED
Your tips for selling on local Facebook groups
We asked for your top tactics for flogging unwanted items on local Facebook groups. They included using it for bulky items and being wary of scams, plus another one that might not be so obvious - getting a separate mobile number for it. back to top ↑ |
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Martin's appearances (from Wed 17 June onward) Mon 22 Jun - This Morning, ITV, Money Monday, 11am.
Mon 22 Jun - Consumer Panel, BBC Radio 5, 12pm-1pm. Subscribe to podcast
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MSE team corner Team blogs:
A £30 surprise from my 19yr-old self Regular team appearances: Thu 18 June
Share Radio, MSE Eesha and MSE Rebecca, 10.30am
Fri 19 June
BBC Radio Manchester, 4.50pm | Discussion of the week Do couples pay the price for being in a relationship? According to a recent study, being in a couple is more costly than being a singleton. Share your experiences in the Do couples pay the price for being in a relationship? discussion. | Cheap travel money |
This week's poll: How many jobs do you have? Many people still find times tough, and a recent report showed 150,000 Londoners (up from 94,000 in 2005) now say they have to hold down two or more jobs to make ends meet. We want to see if this situation is replicated across the country.
So what is your situation? (If you do freelance/contract work, count it as one job.) | Poll results How do you rate your home phone and broadband provider?
Of the major firms (with 1,000+ votes), only Plusnet, as when we ran this poll in January, rated highly. Here's how major firms fared: - Plusnet was 70% 'great' on home phones, 68% 'great' on broadband.
- Virgin Media 49% 'great' on home phones, 56% 'great' on broadband.
- Sky 42% 'great' on home phones, 38% 'great' on broadband.
- BT 34% 'great' on home phones, 33% 'great' on broadband.
- TalkTalk 33% 'great' on home phones, 25% 'great' on broadband. 15,396 voted. See the full results. |
| Q: Could you please tell me if the law forbids a percentage extra charge for paying by credit card for goods or services? David, by email. MSE Helen's A: No, it doesn't. Charging extra for accepting payment by credit or debit card is permitted under the 2012 Consumer Rights Regulations. However, the charge made shouldn't be more than the cost the seller incurs to accept your payment. Businesses in certain sectors, including financial services and gambling, are excluded from these regulations. A credit card surcharge is almost always higher than the debit card surcharge because credit cards cost shops more. See the Crackdown on card surcharges MSE news story for more info. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
 Nick's free game of the week: Battlesnake |
What have you done to be nice today? That's it for this week, but before we go, this discussion just might motivate you to do the right thing. From taking in a stray cat to comforting a colleague, small but important acts of kindness abound. Read others' and share your own in our forum. 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. More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin Lewis What is MoneySavingExpert.com?
Founded in February 2003, it's now the UK's biggest consumer help website with more than 10 million people getting this email and about 13 million using the site every month. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple: saving cash and fighting for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 80 full time staff, more than a third 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 show The Martin Lewis Money Show and weekly slots on Radio 5 Live, This Morning and Good Morning Britain, among 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 resolver.co.uk, amazon.co.uk, sky.com, halifax.co.uk, tescobank.com, barclaycard.co.uk, protectyourbubble.com, leisureguardlitetravelinsurance.com, holidaysafe.co.uk, google.co.uk, confused.com, moneysupermarket.com, directline.com, aviva.co.uk, admiral.com, marksandspencer.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, mbna.co.uk, firstdirect.com, santander.co.uk, gocompare.com, directsavetelecom.co.uk, postoffice.co.uk .
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