Martin Lewis' money-saving deals
Hurrah, we’ve made it, January is almost over and the last of the Christmas bills are dropping through the letterbox. The key now is to set yourself up for the year financially. Many people have good intentions, but fear, or apathy stops action. So our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis is here to break through your financial blockers.
To get you started here’s a few big and easy things to check …
Save £280ish on Gas & Electricity: Just get yourself on a comparison site, it takes five minutes, even if you don’t have your bills just your tariff and rough usage will work. 70% of the UK are typically overpaying by £280 a year. You can use Martin’s ‘ Cheap Energy Club Comparison’ which is whole of market and gives £30 cashback or any Ofgem approved comparison site (but then beware they don’t auto-select only those that pay them).
Can you slash your mortgage by £1,000s? Check now, rates are at all time lows. Do a comparison to see what rate you can get, and see whether you can leave penalty free.
Cut your water bills: If there are more or the same number of bedrooms in your home as people then check if you can save by switching to a free water meter in England and Wales (it’s not free in Scotland). The Consumer Council for water has a calculator which shows whether you could save by switching.
Save up to £500 in minutes haggling down Sky, AA, Virgin, etc: With breakdown cover, digital TV, broadband & mobiles, if you're near or beyond the end of your contract and don't want to switch then haggle. Call it up, ask for a better deal and let them know you'll go elsewhere if not – as then you get put through to customer disconnections department and its call centre staff have far greater authority to give you better deals.
Check if you’re owed old energy credit: If you’ve switched energy provider in the last six years you may be owed £100s. Quite simply they operated a ‘don’t ask, don’t get policy’ when it came to giving you your credit back. That’s now changed, but if you didn’t get it you can still ask.
Do you wear a uniform to work? If you or anyone in your family do (or used to) - it could simply be a branded T-shirt - and you wash and repair it yourself, you may be able to reclaim hundreds of pounds' worth of tax, going back up to four years. There are free template letters online to help you claim – no need to pay.
Check if you’re owed £1,000s in PPI back: Don't assume "this isn't me". Even some who rejected this insurance had it wrongly added to loans, credit cards, overdrafts, catalogues & store cards without knowing. And with a time-bar on claims on the horizon you need to check now. The ITV Martin Lewis Money Show will be covering this in detail on Friday night 8pm (repeat Saturday 4:30pm).
Cut exiting credit card interest to 0%: This is all about a balance transfer where you get a new card that pays off debts on old cards for you – so you owe it instead but at lower or no interest. Deals are ridiculously strong right now. If you are willing to pay a fee of around 3% you can get a 40 month 0% deal, if you can pay off quicker there’s 23 months 0% with no fee. Yet acceptance is all about your credit score – so try an online Eligibility Calculator first (both comparison site and some card firms have them) which shows your odds of getting top cards without impacting your credit score
£1,000s free cash for childcare: If you pay for childcare and are a single parent working 16+ hours a week, or a couple both working 16+ hours, with family income under £46,000 you may be entitled to childcare tax credits, these can be worth £1,000s a year. Or, see if your employer offers childcare vouchers letting you pay from your pre-tax salary – a potential gain of £1,000+ a year.