Could marriage save you money?
Are you married? You may be due a free £212; a free Amazon £7 and Ikea gift; 20% off gift cards and cheapest-ever loan. These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Deals of the Week.
Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.
Are you married? Here's a free £212 – but hurry
Are you married or in a civil partnership? If so you may be entitled to a £212 tax-break called the marriage tax allowance. But you’ll need to act quickly to get the cash for this year before your employer's March payroll cut-off (if you leave it you’re still due it, it just takes longer to get the cash).
Last April, the Government announced a new tax-break for married people (or civil partners) but it’s recently been revealed that 3.6m of the four million eligible couples haven’t actually claimed it.
Both of you must be under age 80, one must be a non-taxpayer, ie, earning less than £10,600, and the other pays tax at the basic 20% rate, which is currently for those who earn under £42,385.
The non-taxpayer can then transfer £1,060 of their personal allowance – that’s the amount you can earn tax-free – to their partner. So they’ll have £1,060 of earnings they were paying tax on at 20% but now don’t pay owt on, so that’s a £212 gain.
Claiming is really simple, the NON-TAXPAYER should just go to www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance (or call 0300 200 3300).
‘Free’ £7 Amazon code
If you’ve had an Amazon account since at least 20 Dec 2015 and you haven't used it to buy gift cards since Dec 2013, you’ll be eligible for a free £7 promo code when you buy £30 of Amazon gift cards until Sunday 6 March.
Log in to your account and click this Amazon link to see if you’re eligible. For those who are, it will say ‘buy £30 in Amazon.co.uk gift cards, get a £7 promo code to spend at Amazon.co.uk’. You'll then need to press the ‘Click to qualify for the promotion code’ button, and buy £30 of Amazon gift cards in a single purchase.
Amazon says it will email your £7 promotional code two days after your gift cards are dispatched or sent via email (depending on which type you choose). As gift cards are valid ten years, this is effectively a ‘if you’ll spend £30 on Amazon in the next ten years here’s a free £7’ deal. The codes need to be used by Friday 22 April, and have no minimum spend.
Martin’s Quickies
‘Free’ gift when you scan a loyalty card at Ikea: This is basically a prize draw, but everyone will win something. The prizes range from a 60p hot dog, a £3.50 mirror, a £7 table lamp, a £50-£1,000 gift card, or a family trip to Sweden with £500 spending money. You’ll need the ‘Ikea family card’ and if you don’t have one, just grab one in store. Then use it when you pay. In the unlikely event you’re at Ikea and you decide you’re not buying anything, the cheapest item there is a 35p mug. It’s running at all stores except Croydon, Tottenham and Norwich.
20% off gift cards which can be stacked with other deals: Discounted gift cards are rare but till this Sunday, 6 March, at Tesco you can get 20% off gift cards for iTunes, H&M, New Look, Accessorize, Monsoon and Pizza Express. So buy £100’s worth and it’ll only cost you £80. Plus you can get an extra 150 Clubcard points if you buy over £50’s worth (afterdiscount). Better still, as they’re gift cards they count as cash in store so you can use them in sales or with other promos, eg, H&M right now has a 25% off on one item if you sign up to its newsletter.
New cheapest ever loan for £5,000 to £7,500: Borrowing should only be done when needed, if it’s planned, budgeted for and you are sure you can afford the repayments – if not, don’t do it. If you are going to borrow though M&S is the new lowest-ever at 3.5% rep APR on loans of £5,000-£7,499; we’ve never seen rates this low for that value. If you borrow more (though this isn’t a reason to) HSBC and Sainsbury's can both be as low as 3.3% rep APR.
Do remember though all these loans are representative rate, meaning only 51% of accepted applicants get the rate advertised. To find out which you’re most likely to get and cheapest for smaller amounts use Martin’s Loans Eligibility Calculator.