A spellbinding deal for all Harry Potter fans
Lowcostholiday collapse help, top student accounts, cheapest Harry Potter, FREE posh soup and 16-17 summer holiday camp. 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.
Lowcostholiday collapse help Last Friday online travel agency Lowcostholidays collapsed, affecting nearly 140,000 people – made worse by the fact it wasn’t ATOL protected. Many of you have been in touch asking me questions. Full help and templates is available in Martin’s ‘Lowcostholidays collapse help guide’. Here’s some quick tips:
- For those on holiday right now. Your return flight will be fine in most cases. Yet it’s likely your hotel will ask you to pay it for your stay – meaning you have to shell out twice. Keep your receipts.
- For those yet to go. As long as you’ve got your flight confirmation, and most have, that should be fine. The main issue is with the hotel, they won’t have been paid so may have cancelled your booking or will expect you to pay for it again. While I will show you ways to try and get the money back, if you have to pay again, you need to seriously decide if you can afford to pay out for another hotel. If you can’t, speak to the airline and hope it’ll move the flights to a cheaper time of year or to a cheaper destination (be nice, you’ve no rights) or if not you may need to not go.
- Travel insurance is unlikely to cover holiday collapse (though check).
- You should put in a claim with the administrators and with the Spanish regulator but those are likely to be trivial.
The real key to getting your money back is based on how you paid. For practical tips on how to do this including template letters see Martin’s full guide above:
- On a credit card: Even if you paid for just the deposit on it, if your holiday cost between £100 - £30,000 you can claim through a legal protection called section 75. Here, legally the credit card is jointly liable with retailers if something goes wrong. So they should be able to refund you the money. Yet there are some issues here.
- On a debit card: Ask your bank to do a chargeback from Lowcostholiday’s bank – this isn’t a legal protection it’s in the card firms rules, but it can work.
- Via paypal: It says you’re covered by its buyer protection scheme, but you must claim within 180 days of paying.
- Bank transfer or cheque: Sadly here there’s very little option.
Top student bank accounts 2016/17 High street banks are competing in a red-hot battle to win students – as they’re likely to gain a potential high earner for life. But make sure they earn your custom and remember only stay with them while the deal’s good – don’t let them buy you cheaply.
To decide the best accounts it’s a mix between the best freebies and the longest 0% overdraft (as they give you most safety if you have financial issues).
Top pick for most is the Santander 123 Student Current Account. It gives a free four-year 16-25 Railcard, which gives a third off rail travel, worth about £90, and a decent up to £1,500 0% overdraft for three years. Alternatively, Co-op Bank gives a slightly higher £1,400 overdraft in year one, £1,700 in year two and £2,000 in year three – and if you’re accepted for the account you’ll definitely get the full overdraft amount, unlike with Santander. HSBC and Halifax advertise up-to-£3,000 0% overdrafts, but feedback shows people rarely get close to this, especially in the first year, with only the initial £1,000 guaranteed by Halifax, and £500 guaranteed by HSBC. Though HSBC does give a free £60 Amazon gift card when you open the account.
To open one you need to either have an unconditional place at university with the UCAS letter to prove it, or if your offer’s conditional you’ll need to wait until you get your A-Level results before you can open it (providing you get the results the uni wants). Some banks also require you to show a letter from the uni confirming your place there, so have that to hand too. If you’re an existing student you can switch student bank accounts. You’ll also be credit-scored, but as they know you’re a student and will have little credit history, you generally won’t be rejected unless there’s a ridiculous anomaly.
Martin’s Quickies:
Teen summer activity camp £50 (or free for some). The English and Northern Irish National Citizen Service scheme gets 16-17-year-olds abseiling, canoeing and learning life skills during the summer holidays (including up to two weeks overnight stay and 30 hours’ voluntary work in the community). It’s £50 or less, or even free for some as its subsidised by the Government.
It doesn't matter if your kids are at school or not. If a teenager's been on a course before, they unfortunately can't go again. To apply, enter your details on the National Citizen Service registration page and it will contact you to explain more. Register as soon as possible as once places are gone, they’re gone.
I’ve had great feedback on this about previous years such as “The change has been wonderful; it’s something that a parent only hopes to witness, their child growing into a better person."
£10 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book: This 350-page script book which is releasing on 31 July is likely to be massively popular. So if you want it you can pre-order it now for £10 at a range of places reduced from its listed £20. Top pick is Tesco Direct with free delivery and earn 100 Clubcard points (worth £1 in store and up to £4 on deals). There’s also Amazon (free delivery), Smyths Toys (£2.99 delivery or free store pick up), Waterstones (£2.75 delivery or free store pick up) and WH Smith(£2.99 delivery or free store pick up).
Free £2ish New Covent Garden Soup: Register on the New Covent Garden Soup Co website and print the £1 off coupon (you won’t be able to show it on your smartphone). Then at Morrison’s the soup’s half-price at £1 until this Sunday (24 July), so do it there and you can get it totally free. If there’s no Morrison’s near you Asda is £1.98, still not bad for a posh soup. There’s no end date on the offer but the coupon is valid for 30 days from when you print it, and there’s 10,000 vouchers available.