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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
Martin: It may be summer, but it's an energy switching sweet spot! Martin: "We're at an interesting moment for the over 65% of Eng, Scot & Welsh homes on a Price-Capped tariff (pretty much all who aren't on a fix or a special deal). The Price Cap dropped 7% on 1 July, but now sadly it looks like it won't keep dropping, meaning the cheapest fixes look strong. It's important to understand how it works... - The next Price Cap change is 1 Oct (each Cap lasts three months so that stays until 1 Jan). "So, we're pretty sure the current cheapest fixes, which are 12% below the current Price Cap, will be substantially cheaper until the year end, and likely (though less guaranteed) to continue to be cheaper afterwards. Now, over to the team to talk you through the cheapest deals."
Q. I'm on prepay - can I fix? Yes, if you're on a smart meter. Not if you're on old-school key or card meters. The cheapest smart prepay fix currently is EDF's Simply Fixed Aug26v3 (link goes via Energy Club so you can compare), but it's only 4.7% cheaper than the current Price Cap (including MSE cashback) and has £50 per fuel early exit penalties. Hopefully better ones will come out soon. Q. Is a longer fix worth it? It gives you price certainty for longer, and means you needn't switch as frequently. Yet no price predictions go much beyond a year ahead. So it's tough to know whether it'll stack up. The more certainty is important for you, the more you should consider it. Beware big early exit penalties though. Q. What is 'MSE cashback'? Some providers pay energy comparison sites to facilitate the switch (you still get the same price as going direct). But unlike other sites, we don't default to hiding tariffs that don't pay. Instead, we show them all, but when we get paid to switch you, we give you a chunk of it as cashback, so those that pay us are relatively cheaper for you, so likely more people switch to them. Win-win.
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State Pension error! Did you take time off work (1978 to 2010) to look after children? You may be due £10,000s. If you cared for a child or someone with a long-term disability between 1978 and 2010, you could wrongly have National Insurance gaps that reduce your State Pension. 100,000s could be affected, and while the Govt was contacting people, it isn't any longer - as highlighted by former Pensions Minister Steve Webb. Thus the onus is on YOU to proactively check. The impact can be huge, as Cilla found: "I've just received 15yrs' back pay from HMRC of £31,674 for underpayment of my pension. Thank you." Full help in our Missing out on State Pension guide. FREE £3 St Pierre brioche buns, FREE £2 Fuel milkshake, FREE £1 Florette salad & more. Check out all this month's freebies and discounts in 40+ supermarket coupons. It's getting hot out there - now SIX banks pay switchers up to £310, but not for long... Another week, another new bank fighting to pay you to switch, but the clock's ticking on other deals. These specific links get you... £59 Instant Pot 7.6L air fryer - our link gets £111 off (reduced from £170). 5,000 available. MSE Blagged. Next cheapest we've seen this elsewhere is £109. Instant Pot Martin's new pod: A beginner's guide to investing. Should you do it, how to start & more... Watch Martin's 1min 'Why risk isn't always bad' video, a snippet of his new 'A beginner's guide to investing' episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast where he's joined by two specialists to answer your questions (listen on BBC Sounds | Apple Podcasts | Spotify & elsewhere). Plus, what's going to happen to the cash ISA limit and Martin's explanation of Bitcoin. Jetting off imminently? 16 last-ditch travel checks to avoid panic stations. A reminder of last week's 16-point last-ditch TRAVEL CHECKLIST including passport check | cheapest travel insurance | GHIC check | beat car hire insurance hard-sell | book airport parking now | cheapest way to spend abroad | pay in euros. Plus, updated. Airport-by-airport how to avoid up to £15 drop-off charges. See how to ditch 'kiss & fly' charges. Puma 30% off almost EVERYTHING code including sale items, eg, £70 trainers £25. MSE Blagged. Top Tesco Trick! Turn £5 of vouchers into 1,000pts (£10) and get £10 of rewards too. Hugely popular last week, and ending next Tuesday, so here's a reminder of this Tesco trick. 'I claimed £2,500 for pothole damage thanks to your guide.' Our success of the week comes from Colin, who emailed: "In Feb, my car hit a pothole left by a utility company. After looking at the MSE Pothole claims guide, I submitted a 'fast claim' to the council. The response was in the form of a template rejection letter modified to suit my situation. I responded to the rejection with a 'full claim' using your template. The result is that my car is now repaired and the council fully reimbursed me for my repair costs (over £2,500). This would have been so much harder if it hadn't been for your website, so thank you." If we've helped you save or reclaim (on this or owt else), send us your successes. |
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While we await the car finance reclaiming decision... The car finance industry and millions of its customers are on tenterhooks, awaiting the Supreme Court's imminent decision on whether car finance was mis-sold on a massive scale (see Martin's car finance reclaiming warning). Meantime, we've been investigating a different (& compatible) way to cut costs... the little-known car refinancing route, where you take out new, cheaper finance to repay your existing Hire Purchase (HP) or Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) deal. Some can save £1,500+ in interest. Our new Car refinancing checker & guide has full details, but let's speed you through the basics here. PS: We've confirmed with the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, that generally refinancing shouldn't affect your right to claim, in the event any mis-sold car finance compensation schemes are set up.
This is new for us - do let us know how you found it... This is a brand new guide and car refinancing system. We've worked through it and been testing it, and we'd love your feedback and/or successes - that should help us refine it and make it even better in future. |
Don't let estate agents try to force you into using their mortgage broker or solicitor. It's called 'conditional selling' and it's illegal, though many skirt close to it. Panorama did an investigation into the scale of the practice last week - see our Don't let estate agents tell you 'use our services' guide for your rights and how to fight back. 10% off iPads or Macs & free AirPods for students (& sneakily parents) and teachers. Want to test our new Savings Hub? All the best rates at a glance. We've been working hard on a new hub with all of the best savings rates at a glance. It's still a work in progress, but we thought some of you may enjoy it early - if you do, please send feedback. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) protections to take force next July. The regulator has launched the start of the process to regulate BNPL, yet key protections will not be in place for a year. Martin warns BNPL care till then Achoo! 180 hay fever tablets for £5.99. How do you rate your bank account's service? Have your say in our six-monthly poll. |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK Your chance to ask MPs about the evidence behind policy decisions. Evidence Week in Parliament highlights how evidence is used and scrutinised in Westminster - with MPs, researchers and the public openly discussing the evidence behind policy decisions. Evidence Week is being held in November, but right now you can vote on the questions to be put to MPs in a live 'hot seat' event (including two from MoneySavingExpert) or put forward one of your own on an issue that matters to you. Find out more and vote here. |
THIS WEEK'S POLL How do you rate your bank account's service? Every six months, we ask for your help to track the quality of customer service provided by banks. By comparing your answers with last time, we can see which have got better or worse. Please vote based on customer service for your main current account over the last six months. Vote in this week's poll. |
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I give some of my lottery winnings to the relative who gave me the ticket? A relative always puts a lottery ticket in family and friends' birthday cards. In my most recent card, I won a decent sum of money on the ticket - should I keep it, or tell them about it and offer to deal them in on the winnings? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I give my relative some winnings? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma (MMD) | View past MMDs |
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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 22 JUL ONWARDS) Thu 24 Jul - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, midday |
Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com worksWe 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 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 LewisWhat is MoneySavingExpert.com? Who is Martin Lewis? What do the links with an * mean?Any links with an * 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 products at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to them. 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 edfenergy.com, ecotricity.co.uk, santander.co.uk, tsb.co.uk, barclays.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, experian.co.uk Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Note MONY Group Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA FRN: 303190). MoneySavingExpert.com Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number: 8021764. Registered office: One Dean Street, London, W1D 3RB. MoneySavingExpert.com Limited is an appointed representative of MONY Group Financial Limited. To change your email or stop receiving the weekly tips (unsubscribe): Go to: www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips. |